Prompt: Bleeding Out

Character(s): Kou

Warnings: Child abuse, blood, mild gore, general DL creepiness

From the time the adults at the orphanage had pulled him away from the group, insisted that Ruki and the others has to stay behind, Kou knew deep in him that something was very, very wrong.

They led him through parts of the building that Kou had never been in, down dark stairs and through a corridor that smelled wet and unpleasant. Like everything else in the orphanage, these places were dirty and in poor repair, dark and looking like no one had actually lived in them in a while.

When they reached the end of the corridor, one of the adults went ahead, through a heavy, wooden door and into the dark.

The other one stayed beside him, making a face like she was sick. Kou looked up at her, confused, but held himself back from asking any questions. The adults never liked it when the kids had too many questions.

“Now,” the adult said, forcing a smile, “you’re going to be good for us today, alright? The orphanage needs money, and we’re relying on you to behave. You don’t want the place you live to have to close, do you?” She looked at Kou with an expression of barely concealed unhappiness, contrasting the sickly sweet tone of her voice.

Kou thought to himself that, if it wasn’t for Ruki and the others, he might not care too much if this place had to close.

He didn’t say a thing, though, just nodded in agreement. The adult then grabbed him by the arm, grip tight, and hauled him through the door.

On the other side, there was a nicely furnished room, dark, but finer than anything Kou had seen before. There were a lot of adults seated around the room, chatting amongst themselves in low, pleased tones. Their clothes were nice, like the nobles Ruki had told Kou about.

When they saw Kou, the adults smiled, slowly turning towards him one after another as the conversation halted. Close to ten pairs of eyes were soon all on him and the adult holding his arm, and Kou squirmed.

He didn’t like this. Adults looking at him usually meant someone was mad at him, and Kou didn’t even know what he’d done wrong this time.

“Welcome, our little star,” one of the men smiled instead, standing up and brushing his coat out behind him. He walked over, kneeled in front of Kou, and took one of his little hands in his own.

“Ah, yes,” he murmured, looking Kou in the eye and brushing a bit of hair out of his face. “You’re a cute one, aren’t you? The orphanage really knew what kind of kid we wanted to see…” he looked up at the adult, smiling, “Thank you, ma’am. This is exactly what we paid for.”

The woman smiled, even though she looked more sad than happy, and excused herself with one last comment for Kou to be good.

And Kou was left alone with the room full of adults.

The adult who had kneeled in front of Kou stood up and led him towards the center of the room. There were close to ten adults, all smiling, and when one woman passed him a little cake, Kou was too overwhelmed to do anything but take a bite. Sweet burst over his tongue, and he made a soft noise, forcing the rest of the food into his mouth in a rush.

Laughing, the adults passed him something else, which Kou ate without thinking. So many people had never looked at him at once before, and he was nervous down to the pit of his stomach, tense.

Eventually, Kou had eaten enough that his stomach felt pleasantly full. The adults around him were smiling and laughing, each having handed him something nice, and Kou himself was in the lap of one of the women. He’d almost forgotten the bad feeling he’d had when he first arrived.

“Alright, that should be enough for preparation,” the first man said suddenly, and all at once, Kou was shoved off the woman’s lap.

He hit the floor hard, and had just long enough to look up and see the adult walking towards him with a knife before the first of the pain hit.

What happened next, Kou didn’t remember very clearly.

Kou was on the floor, hurting everywhere like nothing had ever hurt before. The adults had left the room, still laughing, leaving Kou to lay and suffer after they had had their fun with him for long enough.

He remembers laughter, pain like nothing else, metal slicing into his skin, and kicks and hits and shoves pushing him back and forth.

At some point, he’d already thrown up everything they’d given him, but Kou barely manages to roll over and heave again, spitting up bile and sour nothingness. Just moving makes every part of him ache.

There’s wet surrounding him, hot and soaking through what’s left of his clothes. It’s sticky when he tries to move, clinging to his skin.

Kou looks down and sees red covering every part of him he can see. There’s flesh hanging open in places, cuts still weeping blood, and–, and he’s starting to feel lightheaded, room spinning in place as he lays.

There’s a weightless, dizzy feeling settling down over him, and blood spreading under him. He hurts everywhere, pain a living thing eating him from the inside out. The adults are long gone, but Kou is still afraid, still unable to do anything but cry and hope that they don’t come back.

Tears streak down Kou’s bloody, bruised face, cutting hot, stinging trails into every open wound. Little sobs wrack him, even though every tiny movement makes everything hurt all over again.

He feels a bit like he might be dying, shaking from the pain.

Kou thinks of Ruki, Yuuma, and Azusa. He thinks that he might not ever see them again. He wonders what they’ll think of him being gone.

Closing his eyes, Kou barely feels himself being picked up.

@badthingshappenbingo