Sukeban

“Go.” The command was a simple one spoken by her uncle. It was spoken in a tone that made it clear to Haruna how unhappy he was with her. He had made his unhappiness with her clear from the moment he walked into the school office. It didn’t surprise Haruna when her uncle walked in; she knew that when the principal called her parents, her parents would redirect him to her aunt and uncle.

The only part about this that surprised Haruna was that Madoka hadn’t come with Ken’ichi to come get her, she was sure that Madoka wouldn’t pass up a chance to come speak to her principal about her bad behavior. After thinking about it a while though, the surprise wore off and the creeping fear began again. If Madoka didn’t come with, then it probably meant that her aunt was at home. That was what scared her. In the time it took for Ken’ichi to get to her school and then for them to get home, Haruna knew her aunt had probably thought up the perfect punishment to give her for this.

Haruna was more focused on Rina though. She didn’t care what happened to her, her aunt and uncle couldn’t get much worse than they already were after all. She was worried about Rina and what could happen to Rina if the girls couldn’t turn the principal off her trail. Haruna already wanted Hana to pay for hurting Yukako like that, but now she wanted her to suffer for telling Rina’s secret. Hana was risking Rina being taken away from Haruna and the boss was not about to forgive her for that.

The teenager slowly made her way towards the house with her uncle trailing behind her. At this point, all Haruna really wanted to do was go lay down. Even something as simple as walking was hard for her at the moment. With every step she took, a new shock of pain would go flashing through her body. Hana had really managed to do a number on her leg in just a few hits, Haruna was positive that she would be limping for a few days, if not a few weeks.

Haruna continued to make her way to the house, her right hand gripping her schoolbag tightly and her left hand stretched out to her side, grasping onto anything she could find to hold. She needed the extra support to keep herself standing. Her injured leg couldn’t handle much support right now and her good leg certainly couldn’t carry her along by itself.

When the duo made it into the house, Haruna let her body collapse against a wall, her breathing heavy from the amount of energy she had to exert to get home. There were times when she really hated having to take public transit everywhere, and this was one of those times. Haruna groaned softly before beginning to take her shoes off slowly.

“Hurry up,” her uncle said in the same tone. Haruna shot him a glare, still not saying a word to him. This is how it had been since they left the school. She hadn’t said a word to her uncle and likewise, her uncle hadn’t said much a word to her. The entire way home, it was as if she didn’t even exist to him. He only held onto her wrist, dragging her along to make sure she didn’t try and escape. It was like she was a just a dead weight he had to carry around.

Haruna successfully managed to get off her shoes, a bit of pain coursing through her when she had tried to lift her injured leg high enough to reach her shoe. With her shoes off, Haruna began to make her way to the living room, her uncle giving her a rough shove as he did so. Haruna growled lowly at him but continued on her way, not seeing a point in fighting him.

Haruna was in no condition to fight anyone right now. She could try to escape but what could she do then? She couldn’t run and she couldn’t fight. There was no way she could ever escape what was coming to her. Regardless, the teenager attempted to slink past the living room but was quickly stopped by the very voice she dreaded to hear.

“Haruna Ono, stop right there.” Haruna’s footsteps did stop when she heard Madoka’s voice, the fear creeping into her again. She cursed under her breath when she felt the terror slip through her. Why did this keep happening? Why couldn’t she get rid of this? “Get in here this instant.”

The teenager complied, not seeing much of another option. She backtracked a bit before limping her way into the living room. She leaned her body against the wall furthest from her aunt, bending her injured leg and placing it against the wall. Her body relished the relief that was brought on when the weight left the injured leg. She looked up at her aunt, instantly noticing the angered expression on Madoka’s face.

The elder woman pushed herself off of the couch, coming closer to Haruna. The teenager could feel her heart beginning to pick up its beat as her aunt neared closer and closer. This is what happened every time Madoka got close to Haruna, her heart would always quicken and her blood would run cold. Madoka struck fear in Haruna’s heart, a sense that the teenager had long since banished from her body. She didn’t want to feel this emotion ever again, it was such a pointless and useless one, but she couldn’t control it. Every time she looked at this woman, she remembered everything that had happened to her as a child. Every nightmare she had ever had because of this woman came back to her.

“I’m very upset with you,” Madoka began. Haruna scoffed and looked away from her aunt. The fear didn’t control her. The fear didn’t control her. Maybe if she repeated that enough, she’d begin to believe it. “Fighting? This is inexcusable. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior!”

Haruna made no movement to react or speak to Madoka. She kept her eyes diverted, her arms crossed over her chest with a scowl on her face. If she looked at Madoka, her fear would only grow. Haruna simply couldn’t look at Madoka without that useless emotion attempting to take over her again. She could hear Madoka click her tongue before seeing the feet come closer to her out of the corner of her eye.

“Don’t ignore me, young lady. You’re already in enough trouble,” Madoka informed her.

Haruna looked over at her without thinking and Madoka reached a hand out, her fingertips gently touching the claw marks on Haruna’s face. The black haired woman could see the way Haruna tensed, knowing full well that the touch had caused her some pain. That was exactly what she was going for too; pain was the only way to get through to Haruna.

“Such a shame about your face,” Madoka mused aloud, continuing to stroke the marks and send more waves of stinging pain through her. Her aunt smirked at her. “But I guess it doesn’t matter too much, you never did have a pretty face, you know. Looks were never a thing for my sister, so it doesn’t surprise me that her daughter draws from her gene pool. It’s just a shame that the evidence of your barbaric behavior is sitting right here on your face.”

“Get your filthy hands away from me,” Haruna growled as she roughly pushed Madoka’s hand away from her face. Madoka pursed her lips before sighing softly, shaking her head. She squeezed the bridge of her nose and stepped away from Haruna.

“What am I to do with you? You’re immature. You’re disrespectful. You’re not smart in the least bit; you’ll never be able to take care of yourself. You always need someone holding your hand because you’re incapable of making good decisions.” Haruna clenched her hands into fists, her anger mixing with her fear. Haruna didn’t need anyone taking care of her; she was perfectly capable of caring for herself.

Haruna didn’t need anyone.

“You’ve always been an awfully weak person, you know. Ever since you were a child, you would always cry for help over the simplest things. Independence was never your strong suit and never will be.”

Haruna growled lowly. She was not weak. She had made sure to kill that weak little child she used to be. She had made sure to bury it so it could never come back.

“You know we need to punish you for this, don’t you? We cannot let such barbaric behavior go. It’s so unladylike for you to fight, it’s disastrous. A man will never want the likes of you if you can’t act like a proper lady.”

“Who said I wanted a man?” Haruna grumbled lowly. Madoka raised an eyebrow before letting out a bitter laugh.

“If you want to play that when then a woman would never want you either. Face it, Haruna; you’re undesirable as you are. No one but your family will ever want you, and most of your family doesn’t even want you. We’re all you’ve got and we’re all you’ll ever have. You won’t survive without us.”

Haruna shut her eyes tightly as the words rang in her head. You won’t survive without us. She couldn’t even count how many times Madoka had said that to her as a child. Haruna had believed it too. The impressionable young child was made to believe that she’d never be able to make it without her aunt and uncle; that she simply wouldn’t be able to live without them. When the two of them left when she was ten, she was torn between being glad that her tormentors were moving far away or worried because the people she truly believed she wouldn’t survive without were leaving her.

No.

They were wrong.

Haruna could survive without these two. She wasn’t useless; she wasn’t worthless. She had people who cared about her. Rina cared; all of the girls cared. The bond that the girls shared was something her aunt and uncle would never be able to understand. She wasn’t going to listen to this; she wasn’t going to let their words get to her.

“Enough of this talk, we can continue that later. For now, you need to be properly punished,” Madoka said, breaking Haruna away from her inner war. Haruna looked up at Madoka and her blood turned to ice at the smile her aunt was giving her.

“What punishment?” Haruna asked. She tried to hide her emotions, but the squeaky tone of her voice gave her away. She could tell Madoka noticed the squeak as well with the way her smile increased.

“You’ll see,” Madoka said as she stepped away. She moved over to Ken’ichi, wrapping her arm around him. “Ken’ichi here will handle your punishment today, Haruru. You know how much I hate these sorts of punishments but we really have no choice. A small one simply won’t do for this; you need to be properly punished to know what you did wrong. Fighting is a big thing, we can’t let you off easily or else you’ll never learn. You’ve got a terribly thick skull, Haruru dear, so we need to get through that thickness.”

Haruna’s expression fell; she wasn’t even trying to hide the worry on her face anymore. Her fear had her completely paralyzed. She knew exactly what Madoka was talking about. It surprised her; she hadn’t expected Madoka to turn to physical punishments again so quickly like this. Haruna wanted this to be a nightmare but she knew it wasn’t.

It was her old and her new reality.

Haruna watched as Madoka gave Ken’ichi a small kiss on the cheek before bouncing out of the room. The teenager got sick from the merry way her aunt was acting, although it didn’t surprise her. Haruna watched helplessly as Ken’ichi removed his belt, her heart sinking lower and lower.

“Come on, Haruna. Let’s just get this over with,” Ken’ichi told her.

Haruna didn’t move, she only continued to stare at her uncle. She was frozen in fear; she wanted to find some way out of this but she had the sinking suspicion that was not happening. Her uncle sighed, shaking his head.

“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be, Haruna. Just take the punishment or else you’ll force me to call Madoka back in here.”

“Are you taking pity on me?” Haruna asked in a low tone. She was trying to fight back her fear but it seemed useless by now. It only got worse when she heard Ken’ichi laugh lowly.

“Pity? Don’t be stupid, Haruna. I have no such thing for you. I feel nothing for you. I don’t even understand why Madoka is so interested in you. If it were my choice, we would have gotten rid of you long ago. But she likes playing with you; you’re a fun toy to her. You know you brought this punishment upon yourself, you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Haruna knew that wasn’t true, she had them to blame for this. They were the reason she had turned out this way. They were the reason she was terrified of being seen as weak and vulnerable; they were the reason Haruna always needed to have control. She knew they didn’t care about that though. Ken’ichi was right. Haruna was just a toy. She was nothing more than a mere doll to them.

“You know what to do, Haruna, so just do it. Bend over and pull up your skirt; make this easy. You will regret it if I make Madoka come back in here.”

Haruna didn’t make any movements, she wasn’t going to let them do this to her willingly. She wasn’t going to be vulnerable and compliant again. She knew she couldn’t stop it but she was going to fight it the best she could.

She heard Ken’ichi sigh softly before he shook his head and walked to the door Madoka had left through. Haruna looked down to the ground, her mind running with the memories. There were so many times this had happened in the past and Haruna could remember them all. She could remember every hit and how much it would sting. She could remember how they broke her down and took her spirit from her.

They were why Haruna did what she did. They were the reason she fought and tormented people. Haruna was simply tired of people tormenting her; she was tired of being on the bottom. For once, she wanted to be on top. So she learned to fight back and became the tormentor. Deep down, Haruna was terrified of seeming weak. Whenever she was weak or vulnerable, someone hurt her. Whether it was her aunt or her peers, someone always found a sense of satisfaction in hurting her.

Haruna had learned to associate pain with weakness.

“Madoka! She’s not cooperating; can you come in here and help me?” Ken’ichi called down the hallway. It was only a few seconds before Madoka re-entered the room, glaring menacingly at Haruna. She had had just about enough of Haruna. She was going to lose her temper and she was going to lose it soon if this behavior didn’t cease.

“Now listen here, Haruna. You will do what Ken’ichi says,” Madoka fumed at her as she approached Haruna again. Haruna’s breathing became labored as she willed herself to stand her ground. “We will not tolerate this disrespect. You acted out and now you need to be properly reprimanded for it, so stop causing more trouble.”

“I’m not causing any trouble,” Haruna retorted. She cleared her throat when she heard the squeakiness hanging onto it still. Why couldn’t she stop doing that? It was a ridiculous habit from her childhood, one she had not done in years. These two monsters were bringing back all sorts of bad habits from Haruna’s childhood.

Haruna could hear Madoka growl lowly before she felt a stinging pain on her cheek, her head snapping to the side. Haruna turned her head back, glowering at Madoka. Without thinking, Haruna raised her hand, slapping her aunt in the exact fashion that Madoka had hit her in. She could hear her aunt gasp and only seconds later, she felt the belt connect with her arm, slapping down onto her and wrapping around her petite arm.

The teenager let out an involuntary shout of pain, tearing off the leather belt and recoiling backwards. She held her arm against her chest, her wide eyes looking at her uncle. She glanced down at her arm, already seeing the red mark appearing. She could see a small cut created by the belt, a trickle of blood already coming from her.

She was ripped back to reality when Madoka wrapped an arm around her wrist, beginning to drag her. Haruna tried to resist but with her injured leg, she failed miserably. Her body slipped and slid as Madoka pulled. Soon, she found herself being thrown to the couch, crashing into the side of it. Haruna groaned softly, wrapping her arms around the arm of the couch and pulling herself off of the ground.

“You know, Haruna, you’ve got spirit. I’ll give you that much,” Madoka began. With heavy breathing and blurry vision, Haruna turned to look at her aunt. “You must get that from Daichi’s side of the family because you certainly don’t get it from my spineless sister.”

Haruna dug her nails into the cushiony material of the couch, glaring at her aunt. She could feel her legs beginning to shake beneath her from a combination of the fear and the new pain that surged through her thanks to being tossed like that. Haruna could hear Madoka let out a heavy sigh before grabbing something out of a drawer and making her way over to Haruna.

“But I never did like a child with spirit,” Madoka finished her taunting.

Before Haruna could find time to react, Madoka had forced her to turn around, bending her body over the arm of the couch. Haruna’s arms shot out to catch her body but she soon found her arms taken away from her. Madoka grabbed on arm before grabbing the other, forcing Haruna’s upper body down onto the cushions of the couch. She quickly tied the teenager’s hands together.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Haruna shouted, beginning to squirm uselessly. Her movement stopped when she felt the belt hit her on the back, a small portion of it catching underneath her uniform shirt and hitting her skin.

“You were very violent with your hands, Haruru. We can’t very well let you have them if you’re going to be so barbaric with them,” Madoka explained. Haruna saw her aunt come in front of her now, kneeling down so she was face to face with the bound teenager.

“Let me go,” Haruna growled. Haruna had hoped to be let out of this house after enduring her punishment so she could find and catch up with Rina but now, after everything she had done, she got the gut feeling that she wouldn’t be leaving this house today or for a while longer.

“I can’t do that, my sweetheart.” Madoka raised a hand, cupping Haruna’s cheek and running her thumb over the claw marks. A hiss of pain left Haruna but she was just glad Madoka hadn’t tried to touch the much larger, covered wound on the top of her forehead. “You need to face this.”

“Face what? Your sick abuse?”

“Such fire,” Madoka mused. “But we’ll break it. We’ll return you to the sweet child you used to be before this world corrupted you.”

Haruna let out a bitter laugh at Madoka’s words. Calling her a sweet child was one way to describe it. One could call her sweet, or someone else could call her a terrified child. A child terrified of invoking the wrath of her aunt and uncle, people who were supposed to be caring for her.

“We’re doing this for your own good, Haruna.”

At those words, Haruna felt a chill go down her spine. It was another set of words that were all too familiar to Haruna. She could remember those exact words being said every single time before she felt the familiar sting of her uncle’s belt. They repeated it over and over again until it was burned into Haruna’s mind. Those words made Haruna believe she deserved the hits and deserved the pain. Those words made her compliant to her tormentors.

Haruna’s body began to shake without her control as she felt her aunt lift her skirt up to her waist, her underwear being slid down partially. The teenager turned her head down; burying her face into the soft material she’d been forced to lean over. Her body stiffened, bracing itself for the first hit.

The first hit came only seconds after Madoka’s hands had left Haruna’s body. It sent a jolt through Haruna, the teenager biting down hard on her lip to keep herself silent. She wouldn’t scream. She wouldn’t make any kind of noise. She was not giving them that satisfaction.

As she felt the second hit, her hands instinctively began moving against themselves. Her fingertips attempted to reach whatever had her hands bound. She could feel the material of it and instantly, she knew she was bound with nothing more than a simple tie.

“Be good,” Madoka scolded her, slapping her hands. She could feel two more hits in quick succession, the hot tears pricking her eyes as the familiar taste of copper assaulted her taste buds. She hated this.

Haruna did her best to hold back the tears that pooled in her eyes. She would not cry. Crying was for the weak, Haruna was stronger than that. She wasn’t going to let them break her down. She wasn’t.

The hits came to a standstill for a moment and Haruna felt Madoka grab the back of her head, lifting her head up so the two were looking at each other. Madoka smiled when she saw Haruna’s watery eyes. Already she was cracking, and after one only time. She knew now that Haruna wasn’t as strong as she acted. On the inside, Haruna was still the frightened child that Madoka remembered. She never grew up; she only hid from her past. That would be her downfall; Madoka knew she could easily break Haruna’s fiery spirit by bringing up a few simple bad memories.

“You know we don’t like hitting you, sweetie. All you’ve got to do is apologize and this can stop,” Madoka cooed to her. Madoka smiled when she saw the watery eyes of her niece. Haruna was already breaking, and so quickly too. This little brat wasn’t half as strong as she tried to make herself out to be.

Haruna growled lowly, feeling some blood trickle down her chin from the bite mark she had made in her soft bottom lip.

“I hate you,” Haruna whispered hoarsely. Her throat burned from the emotion that poured through her veins like acid. It felt like she had just swallowed acid. Madoka pursed her lips before letting Haruna’s head drop to the couch again.

“You haven’t learned yet. Perhaps you need more to learn,” Madoka said softly. Turning her head to the side, Haruna could see Madoka wave her hand as she walked away. She wanted to cry. She wanted so badly to just break down and cry and beg them to stop. She couldn’t though; she was going to keep what little pride she had left.

The next hit came after Madoka had walked out of Haruna’s view. It had caught the teenager off guard, an impulsive whimper leaving Haruna’s lips. It hurt more than anything she could ever remember. Haruna could feel two more hits land onto her before they came to a standstill again. She sniffled softly, cursing herself for being on the verge of breaking down like this.

Why couldn’t she stop it?

Haruna could feel Madoka pull her underwear up again, the cotton material brushing over the new welts and causing the teenager to wince. Madoka pulled Haruna’s skirt down again before releasing her hands. She didn’t give the teenager any time to recuperate before she forced her to stand.

The teen’s legs buckled underneath her at the sudden standing position she was forced into. It didn’t last long because only seconds later, Haruna was being drug again. Only this time, the teenager resembled more of a rag doll than an actual human. Her body slipped and fell, the teenager making no movements to pull away from Madoka. She was in far too much pain to put up a fight.

Haruna’s body was thrown forward into the darkness that was becoming familiar to her all over again. Her body was overtaken by the darkness when Madoka closed the closet door, the familiar click of a lock sounding in Haruna’s ears. She didn’t care anymore.

She didn’t make any movements. She only laid where she had fallen, her chest rising and falling with the heavy breathing that left her lips. Her entire body felt like it was on fire now; she didn’t think there was a single part of her that didn’t hurt.

Haruna curled her body up into a ball, feeling the small trickles of blood continue down her arm and her chin. The teenager wrapped her arms around her body, the first few salty tears slipping down her face. How long had it been since the last time Haruna willingly cried like this? She couldn’t remember but she also knew she couldn’t hold it back anymore.

Haruna could feel her protective walls breaking down around her.