Serving Time [Open to Visitors I guess -_-]

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

The once famous and beloved by all Konoha Sorceress spent her night in the Konoha arrest facility after the trial. Sharing one cell with bunch of drunks and delinquents detained for the night, Mana was very much a sister of their fate except she wouldn‘t get released in the morning or when their parents would come to take them. She‘d be going straight to Bachi prison, the facility which she partially helped fill up during her days. The next two months were going to be literally Hell for the young girl and while some time back when she agreed with this deal because she didn‘t care, now the magician was afraid for her well-being and her life. But most Mana was afraid of the unknown, she was afraid of being unprepared for what was about to happen. There really wasn‘t any way to be prepared, it was going to be one of those worst things in one‘s life. Too bad Mana‘s life was just beggining...

The next morning some adults came in to take their delinquent children home, both mothers looked at Mana with those detesting looks that made the girl feel miserable just for being alive. They just dragged their disobedient sons out of the cells as if the magician was some sort of monster, as if she had done something that made her into a bane of society, someone who‘s only fault at the moment was that she was still alive. No, Mana would not do something like ending her life, she has thought of it after surviving her battle with Ayushi but decided against it. She was supposed to die there, be a martyr who saved the village and went out swinging. So far there wasn‘t really a point to Mana‘s survival and it annoyed the girl greatly.

The trickster believed that all life was supposed to have a point, seeing how she was still alive it meant that her survival had a purpose, that she was still supposed to do something, that she still had a purpose. The thing was that the girl‘s heart couldn‘t figure out any further purpose for her life – the village was saved, her father was in coma and will most likely remain like that for a long time. She was done, she had to die back then. Was her fate really to go through all of this? Was she meant to suffer those looks and stand in front of all that hate, to be the person who split the world into two sides: one thinking she‘s a hero and other thinking she‘s a monster. Was her point to just live and suffer? Suffer through the prison and then the hate of half the world? Was that all what Mana‘s been left to do?

„Heyo, girly, you got some cheese?“ an old man asked her from the other corner of the cell, now that there were only three people in the arrest home he was enjoying his full bed seeing how there were only two in the whole cell where usually four or more people stayed for the night. „No.“ Mana answered, the man looked very disapointed. „Too bad... You‘ll be hitting the morning shower?“ the man asked again „No.“ Mana answered, there were two different shower rooms for men and women in the Konoha arrest facility but those just weren‘t too separate for the girl to feel safe there from peeps. „I won‘t too...“ the old man answered, „Too bad... You smell like a dung-roll.“ Mana thought to herself as she turned towards the wall and bent her knees on her further side of the bed.

This entire situation the girl was in felt like the worst thing in the world, it felt like she was far away from anyone who loved or liked her, surrounded by evil people who only wanted her for things clear to only their own twisted minds. It felt like a nightmare which got way too real. The girl had to keep repeating in her mind that her mother and her friends were in the same village, that she wasn‘t in some mystical dimension or country. „Who knows, maybe someone will come to visit me when I‘m in prison...“ Mana tried her best to give herself positive thoughts but it didn‘t really work, „Who am I kidding, everyone hates me... How do I know that Kiyomi and Meiko, Yoroi and even Hokage-sensei doesn‘t hate me?“ Mana thought to herself. It was true, she didn‘t really get to see anyone she knew after the trial, as far as she knew – everyone hated her guts.

Mana‘s head weighed down in between her knees, she covered it with a ring of arms so that her temporary cellmates did not see her crying. What if prison-folk sees her crying, they‘ll take her for a child, for an easy target. Then again what did it matter when everyone already hated her, how much worse can it get? Most criminals already hate her for putting someone they know there and she‘s very well known because of her magic shows. Everyone will already hate her and target her no matter what she‘d do, all that mattered was what would she do about it? Will the girl give up and sink into the ocean of hate, at one point realize that she couldn‘t take it or will she do her best to stay afloat.

A guard came up to the bars, „Nakotsumi Mana, it‘s time, let‘s go.“ He said in a somewhat soft voice, it wasn‘t a voice of someone who hated her but someone who pitied her. It was likely that he knew someone who was kidnapped by Ayushi or at least knew that the man was mad. The girl stood up and wiped her tears, without saying a word she moved up to the bars and let the guard restrain her as he opened the bars and lead her out. „Don‘t cry...“ he whispered to the girl‘s ear, Mana knew he wanted to give her a better advice as to what to do but stopped halfway. There probably just wasn‘t anything that he could advise her that would‘ve helped her out given the situation. The man just lead the girl to the group of guards that helped her sit into a carriage which was supposed to take her to Bachi.

„Hell, here I come...“ the magician thought to herself as the doors to her carriage opened, the guards lead the girl to a fancy looking room which probably belonged to the manager of the prison. He showed for the girl to sit down. „Ah, Nakotsumi Mana... You‘re a rather strange case, we aren‘t really used to hosting people your age, and not a lot of women around here too... We‘ve had trouble to find you an acceptable spot, you‘re a ninja who did a great deal in filling this prison up, just know that there‘ll be no safe moment for you but we believe you should find something in common with your companion... We‘ll be sealing your chakra for the duration of your stay, just to keep inmates safe...“ the manager signaled the guards to seal Mana‘s chakra and after that told the guards to lead Mana away. The girl was taken into what was supposed to be her cell, the prison reminded the girl of a cave it was a large colliseum like hall of multiple floors filled with cells and the whole place was sunken in darkness. „It‘s because we‘re moving you in secret, we usually have some light so people don‘t go blind...“ the guard told the girl after somehow guessing her mind.

Right after Mana was placed into a cell very feint red light illuminated the entire place. Now it really did look like Hell, nothing but crimson red light and faces of death and evil all around, the smell of blood and sweat all over made Mana sick. After the guards walked away the girl heard „So... What‘s your story, brat?“ behind her.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

Mana did her best to ignore that masculine sounding voice, the girl just looked outside her bars and at the first sign of someone looking back at her from the other side moved further inside the cell with a quick step. The girl sat down on the right bed of the cell and laid down in a fetus position. Maybe she could just lay low until she really needed to move, maybe her scary cellmate will take her for some crazy sicko and ignore her. No. Loud and rapid footsteps suggested that won‘t be the case. The girl felt a rough hand grabbing her hair and lifting her head upwards forcing her to sit down and face her cellmate. It was a masculine and bulky woman, she looked like she seen a lot of life as she had a tatoo on her face and several scars, strangely enough her white rags were rather tidy and looked like it was ironed and made look perfect.

„Holy f***ing shit, that f***ing bald-head c***buster, the f*** was I thinking God f***ing damn that f***ing bullshit!“ the woman started swearing excesively and let go of Mana‘s head, the girl whined in pain and resumed her previous position. „Watch a f***ing kid, he says, will give you whatever the f*** you want just make sure that brat isn‘t a**f***ed somewhere in a corner... F*** that old p***. Shoulda known he‘d pull this f***ing bullshit on me.“ The woman kept raging around, the magician didn‘t know the source of her anger and didn‘t want to speculate, right now with no way of defending herself except her rather mediocre hand-to-hand skills the young trickster just didn‘t want to get in the woman‘s way. „The f***ing Sorceress... He says watch over a kid and he sends in the f***ing Sorceress... Un-f***ing-believable that‘s what I gotta say about this f***nut.“

Mana flipped over to face the wall, she was genuinely scared that her cellmate would try directing her anger somewhere. „Do you at least have something on you? Food pills or sneaked in some f***ing money, maybe?“ the woman asked. „No...“ Mana answered, this was not the right answer was what she thought right as she said the word. „No... This won‘t f***ing work, I can‘t watch over the f***ing Sorceress... I‘ve got standards, respect, authority... I‘m the main bitch in this joint and if I do this... Sorry brat, I can‘t help you survive this place, shouldn‘t have done whatever you did. I‘m gonna treat you like the other f***ing bitches I don‘t really f***ing care that that bald-headed f*** has a soft spot for you.“ The woman just kept talking to herself, she pulled out something out of under her bed and started doing something, Mana didn‘t want to look...

The girl spent that day and that night like that, in the morning the guard came in and called her cellmate out and taken her somewhere. The woman returned after an hour or two, she looked a lot more cheerful and happy about something now, after entering the cell the elder woman looked over Mana just laying helpessly on her bed and grinned. „Alright, brat, I‘ll watch over you, just two f***ing months, ain‘t that much I guess... Ya skipped the morning walk around the prison hall but trust me, it‘s for the best. So here‘s how the mother-f***ing cookie is going to f***ing crumble...“ Mana sat up on her bed and looked at her cellmate, „Could you not swear that much, please?“ the girl asked before being silenced by a back-hand slap. Mana could‘ve blocked it or avoided but something told her she really shouldn‘t.

„So I‘m going to treat you like all the other f***ing bitches so that no one suspects a f***ing thing, you‘re a f***ing idiot with a death wish, the f*** you came in here with that uniform for? Everyone will now know how you look“, the woman came up to Mana and took her jacket off, tore her sleeves and took the bowtie off of her, „There... No something‘s still missing...“ the woman thought for a second before without a single tell or reason punched the girl in the eye and messed up her hair. „There... Hopefully this‘ll help the first few glances to jump off of you.“ „As I was saying, I will treat you like all the other women in here – like f***ing dirt, however I will watch out for you, it‘s my thing to see to it that you‘re not killed off or... You know... In here. I‘ll tell everyone that you‘re my... Girl, that‘d keep em away from you, no one wants to mess with me... Damn, talking to kid like you is hard...“ the woman slapped her own face and sat down on her bed. „The thing is... I‘m interested for my own f***ing reasons to see to it that you leave this place alive both physically and... Other way... So my point is – I will be your worst nightmare but know that I wish the best for you. Normally you wouldn‘t have lasted a day in this place...“

The woman then flipped over on her bed and started looking at the ceiling. Something about her looked different then the last day, she looked like something filled her with happiness and joy. Mana switched back to her original fetus position and turned to the wall. „It‘s gonna be alright... You‘ll come back to your mommy and daddy mostly the same... Maybe even better.“ The woman briefly tried to comfort the magician before reverting to her old voice which lacked any sense of empathy or emotion and joy. „Some of my other bitches are going to come in today, we‘ll play some cards or something... I‘m sorry for anything I may do, I‘ll do my best to make our... Relationship... Look genuine, both of our a***es depend on it.“ Mana closed her eyes, she hadn‘t eaten anything since the arrest facility. Her stomach was eating itself and she was thirsty beyond belief. The girl would probably have to resort to meditation at some point if conscience becomes unbearable.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

The girl’s eyes were forced open after some strange loud noise woke her up. Mana looked around the cell but couldn’t tell what the sound was or what time it was. Every day, whole time the same dim red light was glowing, probably looked rather weird when all of a sudden it went out. The magician looked at her cellmate’s bed and noticed the woman standing up close to her with a plate, “Hey, magician brat, you got to eat… Took your tonkatsu, knew you wouldn’t mind. Also took your green tea but I’ll pay ya back in water… Eat it, if my other bitches find out you look as shitty as you do they won’t buy my story.” The woman kept shoving the plate to the girl rather rudely. The girl was hungry beyond description, the magician instantly jumped up and started stuffing the rice and bread into her mouth without any worries about how it looked. One advantage of prison was that girls didn’t need to worry about their looks and how classy they looked.

That evening some other prisoners came in, they were all exclusively women as guards probably didn’t let men near female cells. Mana would much later find out just how wrong she was, the guards simply did not care about those things as long as they didn’t happen on their watch. It was simply due to the fact of how ruthless and respected her cellmate was that kept the men away. Sometimes at night the girl could hear some feminine screams around the hall, some further away, some as close as the other side of the wall. It wasn’t that hard to understand that this place was not a great place to be in, no matter one’s gender. It was a place of very few rules. The only thing that kept this prison from being taken over was that it was inside a village filled with ninja.

The women kept drinking something from the kind of jars they were served tea in, the girl guessed that somehow the women got alcohol inside those and snagged the jars telling the guards they lost them. Not that guards cared, obviously they could’ve smelled the booze coming from prisoners, it was just that people like those in this prison didn’t know when to stop with their drinking, passed out prisoners were much easier to control, all the guards did was drag them to their cells and put them on their side so that they don’t drown in their own vomit. It happened a couple of times during the girl’s stay that some new guard forgot to put some young prisoners in the right position and they choked on their throw ups. Not much changed, they were just dragged off somewhere, no tears shed.

The women were initially very strange around Mana, first time they saw her they always sized her up, smelled her and looked her over. Then they got into trouble with Mana’s cellmate who acted as if she was enraged for “a bitch trying to steal a bitch from her”, who knew, maybe she actually meant it. The woman kept bossing Mana around, asking her to clean her shoes or make the women some tea, after every request was ignored by the girl she was often beaten up, the woman pulled her punches but not because she felt sorry, it was because she didn’t want to kill the magician. Once when she was drunk she took it too far and forgot to remove a diamond ring, left some nasty wounds all over Mana’s body. The woman slipped the magician some bandages later, said that guards don’t really help with those things so they were all about what they got from visitors.

The girl’s cellmate kept telling the girl to follow her requests, that once the other “bitches” would suspect that Mana’s disobedient and get a wrong clue, tried to scare her that there were people who if they got that wrong clue would’ve went for the girl and that then even the older woman wouldn’t have been able to stop them. The woman’s concern over Mana’s life was surprising, she kept bullying the girl into eating when she demanded it and drinking whatever she told her, told the girl not to drink what the others slip her. Told a scary story about one woman slipping one of her “bitches” some sleeping pills and dragging her to some guy who ordered it, said that Mana was too young to hear any more details about how it ended.

From what the young kunoichi understood the woman was some sort of supplier of women to the most respected men around prison. The cellmate did not brag about it, it was all Mana’s own deduction, putting small chips from numerous conversations together into one big picture. The girl could only imagine what her cellmate was supplying these so called “bitches” for. The worst part was that Mana wasn’t even the youngest of prisoners around, there were two or three boys and girls several years younger who were running a thieving ring. Turns out that any organized crime makes you end up in jail, even if you don’t yet understand what “organized crime” was. The magician didn’t even want to know if the younger girls were involved with her cellmate, the cellmate once was requested “a girl to serve tea for a game of cards” by none other then Moosehorn himself.

When the smug bald head of that muscle giant whom Mana had put in this prison not once but twice appeared on the other side of the bars the girl thought she was dead for a second. Turns out he not only didn’t know that Mana would be brought to this prison but also wanted to meet her cellmate and didn’t care much for the girl, only a small “Didn’t know you were picking them so young…” remark revealed that the girl's existance was even acknowledged. During one of the daily card games with her “bitches” one of the women called the magician a “Mankurt”, the girl did not know what that meant but her cellmate looked like she would die from laughter and asked for Mana to massage her feet again. At least the beating after Mana ignored the request was a little softer, the cellmate was in a better mood.

After several weeks of acquaintance the girl woke up to her cellmate looking her over with a creepy look, the woman appeared to even peek under her clothes as her shirt looked like it was messed with and Mana’s belly was exposed. “That tat, they sealed your chakra?” her cellmate asked pointing at Mana’s naked belly, the girl buttoned her lower part of the shirt and nodded, “And I thought you didn’t fight back because you’re smart… Wanted to warn you to keep being smart since you obviously have too much pride to obey my requests… Is it so hard to make us tea once in a while?” Mana ignored her cellmates question and flipped on the other side to face the wall. “If I ever find you looking at me like that again, I’ll scratch your eyes out.” The girl let out, usually such disrespect would’ve been followed with a beating but the woman laughed out and ignored it. “Was just curious… Wanted to see that tattoo, that’s all.” This was as close as it would ever get to an apology from that woman.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

“So whatever happened to that Sorceress girl…” one of the companions of daily card game sessions once brought up, “I mean I know she’s a trash for putting a lot of people in here but… My daughter kind of liked her.” That was all that the cell full of inmates needed to trigger a fight. Then again it wasn’t exactly a fight as a fight implies there are two sides of somewhat equal skill clashing. Mana didn’t even know the word which could’ve been used to describe what went on, it was basically bunch of women kicking the shit out of one of their companions who they were just playing cards with. “You don’t speak of trash that way, trash is trash, you either call them bad things or don’t speak about them at all.” Mana’s cellmate explained when the girl asked her what happened there later that night.

From what the magician gathered “trash” were people who put people inside prisons, whether it was Police force officers or ninja or anyone else who gave people in to be arrested. The girl couldn’t care any less about the prison vocabulary or rules, she just wanted to survive it. Something told the trickster that the violent outburst also had something to do with her “protector” wishing to spread the message that the woman is a real Sorceress hater and that she would be the last person to hide one of the most wanted person in the prison to be killed. The next day a guard knocked on the cell to wake the inhabitants up and then unlocked and entered the cell. The young inmate did not know why were their hands not restrained, it may have been a more casual visit than she thought. Her cellmate left with the guard without any exchange of words. The woman returned several hours later.

Right when Mana thought she was getting used to prison a very frightening event reminded just what kind of place she was in. A man ran up and entered the cell during the hours where the inmates could visit each other, it was just an hour before the usual get-together of Mana’s cellmate and her “bitches” for some card games. The man looked very angry, “The fuck did you c***s do with my bitch? Does she look useable to me now? Is this a f***ing joke or something?” and similar filth spilled out of his mouth, he did not seem to respect the usual personal space that men gave her cellmate, this one was really pissed. He kept talking in clues about the poor woman who was beaten up several days before. The older woman tried to reason with the man, tell him that her companion did not respect the rules, spoke positively about “trash” and so on.

Not that it did any good, the man started getting physical with the woman, shoving her around and thinking what to impose on her as a punishment. While the man obviously lacked the kind of respect for Mana’s cellmate that the girl had he did have some as he was hesitating as he tried to initiate things that came to his mind. First he tried to tear the woman’s shirt off but let go of it right as he grabbed it, then he lifted his fist which signaled a pretty hard punch but let it down as well. Then his sight turned to a girl which was sitting on the right bed and observing the situation through her black hair that were falling all over her face. The man appeared to be wondering about something for several seconds, evaluating the magician for his imagined punishment and then grabbed her hand and started dragging her forcefully outside the cell.

“What should I do? Resist? What if I attract attention, people will notice me, people who will see through me and know that I’m in here with them… No, I can’t… But I can’t just let him do whatever is on his mind…” Mana’s mind kept racing after she heard her cellmate rushing after the man, by that time the girl was already dragged out into the main hall, men and women from all the floors and most cells could see the strange girl with messy dark hair dragged out of a cell on the second floor. “What if someone recognizes me?” Mana started getting very afraid by how out of hand the situation was getting. “You can’t have her, she’s mine!” her cellmate was yelling and grabbed Mana’s other hand and was dragging her back into the cell.

“Don’t fucking taunt me, bitch! You messed with my girl, it’s only fair I rough up yours a little .” The man kept yelling out. By that moment the magician was certainly considering starting fighting back but that would attract attention. “Hey, let her go.” Luckily a guard noticed the brewing disaster in time and came to calm it down, “The fuck you so interested in this bitch, chief? What’s a little sad mankurt gonna matter? She ain’t gonna tell anyone anything… She never says anything to anyone, probably can’t even talk.” The prisoner kept trying to convince the guard. The amount of convincing that the inmate invested at was alarming, it was almost like successfully convincing the guard into “a blind eye” was a thing that sometimes happened. “You watch your shit, Anika, or your mankurt bitch is going to get it next time for real…” was all he said as the guard pushed him away to his cell.

“You okay, brat? Fuck, that was close… That fucking idiot, I’ll tell one of the smarter ones to fuck him up… This shit is just… Nah, he’s a fucking dead man… You okay?” Mana’s cellmate kept talking to herself, it was obvious that it was out of her comfort zone. Right now the girl was very interested into what was her cellmate’s part of the deal. Something really made the woman care quite a lot about keeping the girl safe, but she only seemed to care when things got really hairy. When it was due to her own hand the woman just did not seem to care because she knew exactly how hard and long to beat her. It was obviously not actual warm feelings or maybe long forgotten motherly instincts in her cellmate.

That evening her cellmate told Mana that it was safe to leave and eat dinner with all of the prisoners instead of going to bed starved and then eat breakfast like she haven’t ate for months. After what happened earlier Mana really didn't want to but eventually she agreed just to not get beat up again. One inmate came up to the two women who had a table all by themselves, he spoke with Mana and offered her his cinnamon buns to make up for what happened earlier, it just so happened that the man who tried to drag her away was his cellmate. The magician couldn’t not smile when accepting the buns from him, she thought long before doing it but her cellmate nudged her to do it. For some reason taking food from people who are apologizing was sacred around there, meant you no longer had any grievances.

Then the young man sat down and tried to speak to the girl, he kept asking her questions like where did she come from or what did she do to end up here, were there any problems he could help her with. He was genuinely trying to be nice, having spent several weeks in the prison Mana kept looking at her cellmate for signs that she should be worried but the woman just smiled and showed with her eyes to not ignore the young man who was talking to her. Out of the blue somehow the topic turned onto if the magician had any friendly people around, something told the girl that he meant more than friendly. “Alright, Romeo, you had your fun, the girl doesn’t want to speak to you, scram.” Mana’s cellmate grunted to shake off the youth. As he was standing up the youth dropped his chopsticks on the ground, picked them up and casually resumed eating back to his own table.

Several days later Mana asked her cellmate about that young man when her companion was in a better mood and wouldn’t bully her for asking. “The fucker’s dead… Got stabbed in the throat multiple times with chopsticks as he was trying to sit to someone he shouldn’t have, forgot you lose your fucking respect if you pick up your utensils from the ground, seriously, DON’T DO THAT.” The woman said. Since that day Mana refused to leave her cell for things like morning walks and dinner. That evening after a beating when refusing to massage shoulders of one of the card playing “bitch”, after the women left and her drunk cellmate went to bed Mana asked “What’s your name?” “You know my name, brat… You heard that fucker yell it…” “I want you to tell me…” “It’s Anika…” “That’s a weird name… My name’s…” “I don’t give a rat’s dump, you're just a trash. Go to fucking sleep…”

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

“I bet you’re pretty fucking happy, aintcha, trash-girl!” Anika asked the magician once after there was only several days left to the end of her time in jail. Only a handful of days until Mana would leave this place and can resume her ordinary life, as ordinary as it can be when half the world hates your guts… Mana did not say a word to her cellmate, that really happened to anger her cellmate, “You don’t need to keep your mankurt persona with me, I know you can speak. You tell me all kind of nonsense all the time. Come on, tell me, I want to know how it feels feeling hope in the worst place in the world.” The girl completely ignored Anika, didn’t even look her direction just keeping in her sitting position with her head on her knees. As a punishment for that she got a strong kick in her side, Anika’s rage must’ve filled over its limits again…

“Come… The… Fuck… On… Talk!” the woman kept huffing as she was pounding Mana in the ribs holding off a bit of her strength. “I won’t leave this place, I want to know…” the woman’s voice started rising “How does it feel… Hope… The feeling that kills you…” she said as she kept punching the girl’s ribs. The magician had to hand it to Anika, for such a strong and bulky woman she was definitely a professional of causing all the pain of a beating but none of the broken bones, bruises and blunt traumas was all that left after Anika’s touch. It must’ve taken the woman long years to perfect her traceless style. Prison guards never punished inmates who didn’t cause any serious damage, “Demons have to have their fun…” was what they usually said as if it was a mantra of some sort.

“You stupid… Brat… Don’t you dare to hope… Don’t you dare to dream…” Anika yelled out as she found a new way to torture her cellmate – by shoving the girl’s face into the pillow. Mana huffed and tried to push her head away to get some air but the woman was far stronger, eventually the girl stopped resisting – Anika can’t kill her anyway. Whatever Anika’s gain from protecting Mana was the girl knew that the woman was devoted to it, just like that one time… Once when Mana got daring enough to go to the woman’s shower she was cornered by four or five other male inmates, the punishments of entering the female showers were severe but there was nothing wrong in waiting for the girls to leave the showers… The men started bullying the girl, pushing her around. “I wonder what’s so special bout this mankurt bitch so that Anika loves her so much…” the magician remembered one of the men saying as he pulled an improvised knife, pushed the girl to the wall and while their friends restrained the magician played with his knife, letting the blade softly rub over the girl's body.

It was then that Anika intervened, she started just pummeling the men with her huge for a woman fists and the men just walked away laughing. They didn’t fight back at all, that was how much respect the woman had for supplying the whole male population with those “tea serving bitches” how the men called them. “She’s not for sale… This one’s fucking MINE!!!” Anika kept shouting and the men knew better then to fight back or say something to the girl’s cellmate. There was no indication that these men weren’t mad, Anika could’ve jumped straight on a group of knives wielding lunatics just like the one who dragged Mana out of her cell last month trying to have her “roughed up” in his cell. That was how much the woman valued her objective to keep Mana safe, whatever the prison chief promised the woman she valued it more than she did her own life.

The young inmate realized that she was passing out, that the air was falling short, “What if Anika goes too far, I need to warn her…” were the last conscious thoughts of the girl, she switched to instinct mode after that. “That’s how this place kills you, trash-girl… It makes you dream and hope and then… When… You think it’s upsy daisy… You get crazy men stabbing and beating you from all sides…” Anika switched back to punching. The woman probably viewed these sessions of madness as her motherly lesson-time. Mana started coughing and couldn’t cover herself properly over the erratic nature of her coughs, she skipped some very painful blows. “NO MORE!” the girl shouted in her own mind as she clenched her own fists, Anika jumped off of her as if the girl was the devil. “… I think it’s enough for today…” the woman said silently as if explaining the reason for her sudden stop of the violence but only after a rather long and awkward pause.

“Was she afraid I’d do something to her… Does she know… THAT?” Mana wondered, she’s been keeping a secret from the inmates the whole two months. It seemed really weird that Anika would just stop beating on the girl as she lost her mental balance, was the woman worried that something specific would happen, did she suspect of Mana’s secret? Those thoughts plagued the girl those several days left to her release. As there were only two days left the magician kept living her life as if it was just the beginning of her time in prison, always watching out her back, never leaving her cell unless Anika demands it. The guard came that morning just like he sometimes did and just lead Anika out of the room, the woman returned an hour or two later again, then left again, what was strange that the woman took her picture book with her and wrapped it into a small sheet of cloth. “Why would she do that? Does she not plan to return? Why did she leave her cell without guard authorization during middle of the day?” thoughts kept plaguing the girl.

“She’s going to escape! Try to escape anyway, no one escapes Bachi… But Anika isn’t stupid, she’d know that… She wouldn’t pull something like this unless she had a working plan.” Mana realized as she quickly opened the door and ran downstairs to the first floor, “Where are the guards? What is going on?” the magician wondered, it was the time of calm now, no prisoner was supposed to be outside their cells and if caught they risked some serious downtime in the lone cell and possible beatdown by the guards. But there were no guards and some cells were simply empty. “Hey, mankurt bitch is leaving too? Figured Anika would take her f***toy with her…” some inmate said as Mana was passing by. “So Anika is escaping, together with a bunch of others… I need to hurry down maybe I can still find where she went. Should just follow the unlocked doors.” Mana thought as she ran down the stairs.

Half an hour of walking through the prison pipeline and sewer systems later the girl noticed a brief light, “Something’s wrong, this place should have protective seals as well, have they been disabled?” the girl wondered as she hurried up ahead. Mana stopped by a corner and glanced over it, a group of inmates – little less than fifty people were traveling through the sewers, access to the village was only fifteen minutes away. “I don’t have any tools and my chakra is sealed… I have no way of fighting those guys or trying to stop them from escaping. They’d kill me pretty fast like this.” Mana kept hesitating to walk out and stop the escaping inmates. It was a setup, the guard lead Anika out for every day for a reason, the woman was making up for the guard’s blind eye and someone disabling the seals. It was a sophisticated plan, maybe more inmates were involved.

“Can I just stand here safe while the prisoners escape? Maybe my reason of survival was to stop them, to keep those evil people away from the peaceful villagers they’ve forsaken? Do I have a right to live if I let those bad people who beat up, abuse and murder people just because they can go? No… No I don’t. I’d rather die an unknown hero then live knowing that I did nothing to stop them.” Mana thought to herself and ran out of hiding. “STOOP!!!” she shouted, “Go back to your cells, now!” the girl yelled at the group of inmates. What followed was a loud and long session of laughter from the group, “Holy shit, the mankurt can talk.” “Where have I heard this voice?” “Dammit, Anika, I told you to not drag your stupid toy with you.” “We can’t let her go, she’ll spill it to the guards, those that are still conscious.” All kinds of speeches came from the group, mostly curses, threats and filth.

“Go back to your cells and there will be no more violence, I know you don’t want this…” Mana shouted, she knew deep inside that there was nothing these men and women craved more than violence. “Goddamit, brat, go back to your cell!” Anika grunted, her eyes looked just as angry as the other inmates, Mana knew that this woman was not the cellmate she knew – this Anika would kill her if need be.

Age : 31 Posts : 1495

The inmates looked like they were in quite a rush, they also didn’t want to just go for the exit for some reason. The kunoichi deduced it was because if she hurried back and alerted the guards the protective seals could still be re-activated in time to prevent their escape. That was the source of their rage and fear that they had in their eyes, they looked like giant animals confronted by a smaller one – while normally they had the bigger fangs if that was all that mattered the smaller animal wouldn’t have interfered. Mana knew that the bunch suspected something, they definitely thought that she had a plan. “Alright, I’m out…” Anika mumbled unexpectedly and went right past Mana to the direction of the main facility rooms. “Anika?” the girl thought to herself as she was confused about what could’ve happened. “Did she have a change of heart all of a sudden? Why would she abandon the plan…”

The rest of the inmates were even more afraid and shocked and angry then the girl was. The bunch rushed at the girl wielding their improvised knives or pipes that were soaking in blood, probably used in disabling some guards silently. The magician’s body offered no resistance, the inmates just kicked it down and started stabbing it wildly, bashing her head with pipes or for those unfortunate enough to wield a weapon just simply kicking it. It must’ve looked like a gruesome sight after the last inmate stopped bashing the lifeless husk of flesh. “I am very disappointed in you guys… I gave you a chance to remain honest and reformed people and you blew it, instead you acted like a bunch of animals…” Mana’s voice echoed from the other side, she was now directly blocking the group’s way to the exit.

“IT’S THE FUCKING SORCERESS!!!” one of the inmates finally got to their senses and fell down on his knees. The man was exhausted from pounding what he thought was Mana’s body with his heavy pipe. “No fucking way! / How? / How is this possible? / Why would she be here?! / If she’s an inmate how come her chakra isn’t sealed?” all kinds of shouts of surprise and shock went from the confused and tired group of inmates. It was true that Mana’s chakra was sealed when she visited the director’s office, however none of the guards were actual ninja and their seals were rather peculiar. They did not just make a seal which redirected the chakra flow to a non-sensical route making the body confused and unable to use jutsu but instead placed a blockage on the chakra, the strength of block only being as powerful as the level of the ninja who was getting sealed. The problem was that Mana’s own chakra level was far beyond that of a casual Jonin, plus the blockage was not made of steel or scrap, looking at it metaphorically, but of cardboard. A strong enough push of remaining chakra made it burst like a sheet of paper under a waterfall.

Mana had her chakra for more than a month, keeping herself from fighting back the difficulties that came up only to play by the rules as well as to not give herself away, also if the guards noticed that she broke the seal they would’ve invited an actual professional to place a far stronger one. One even Mana’s extensive meditation and chakra control could not overcome. Moving past the group of savage inmates and making them believe that they were stabbing and crushing her body was only a matter of a simple genjutsu, handseals could’ve easily been done in the darkness as she had plenty of time before the first blade reached her chest. As the inmates focused on her illusionary body the girl simply went past them to stand directly in their way, now the only way they had to go was back in their cells.

“I gave you a chance to go back, who had at least the smallest speck of brain took it. Do you guys really feel lucky enough to come at me in a closed tunnel space, seeing how crowded your bunch is I do not have a wide enough space to miss a single jutsu… I recommend you guys reconsider your life choices once again. I’ve put a lot of you in this place already and did so when I was a teenager, don’t make me do it again and do it harder.” Mana tried to imitate the voice that Yoroi used when speaking to criminals, ruthless, intimidating and tough. Seeing how she hasn’t tried it since before puberty started it now sounded much better then when she was 12. “FUCK YOU…. “ an inmate shouted, Mana was ready for him. Without needing any hand seals the girl just quickly raised her hand forward and shot out a lightning bolt into the unfortunate prisoner’s arm. The lightning cracked the man’s bones and utterly crushed his arm, the noise only sounded much more effective in the closed and dark tunnels of the sewer system. “Fuuuuuck!!! She broke my fucking arm!!! Kill her, SOMEONE KILL HER!!!” the poor man kept whining and writhing on the ground in pain, trying to keep his head above the sewer sludge.

“Fuck this… I’m getting released in six months anyway…” one prisoner turned back, with each passing second more and more joined him, none wanted to risk injury or even worse, they weren't sure that the time spent in prison didn't make the Sorceress who put so many of them in Bachi prison into a murderer. As the last one turned back the magician stopped him, “You… Wait, take this idiot with you.” She said to him pointing at the poor prisoner who had passed out by that point and was now drowning in the combination of excrements, water and no one knew what else. “What… Why me?” the bulky fellow tried to argue back, “I feel confident enough to drag you both back… Just one more word tough guy!” The girl shouted out in the same intimidating voice. The guy grunted and tapped around for a little but then took the guy out of the water and onto his back. After waiting for a little longer the girl followed the group back.

The guards were less than happy about the situation, Mana was instantly dragged to the prison chief. “Your cellmate explained to me what happened, she has no reasons to keep things from me so no need to tell me your version. And yet over all the years I’ve managed this place, I find it hard to believe that a fourteen year old girl shouted hard and loud enough to intimidate forty three ruthless inmates who planned an escape plan incorporating my own guards removing the protective seals and all taking a break at the same time while leaving twenty two cells and all the doors leading to the sewer system unlocked…” Mana let her head down, “I’ve broken the seal, until that time I played by the rules, played the quiet bullied girl and didn’t fight back. I did so only because I play by the rules that are imposed on me, but please understand that I couldn’t have stopped the breakout if I didn’t break the rules when I did. And even then, I am sorry that I did, there just was no other choice.” The chief nodded and said that because of her reputation with the inmates she’d now have to spend those couple of last days in solitary confinement. He sent five guards with the girl to her solitary cell.

Just like that Mana’s last days in prison passed, several days later the guards lead Mana into her room to pick up her stuff. As the girl was putting her things into the small bag she was given her cellmate looked at her casually, “Thanks to me keeping your ass safe they've reconsidered my life sentence, I’ll be let go in a couple of years, get to see my daughter again…” the woman grunted, her voice didn’t sound thankful but the magician knew it was because of this place, it changes people. “I’m glad for you, Anika-san. You’re a good person and you deserved it. I’m thankful you turned back when you did, wouldn’t have liked to hurt you.” Mana replied, the girl somehow felt a little sad to go, when one goes through so much pain and darkness in a way one bonds to the place of their suffering and misery, it remains a part of their life forever. “Pfff, don’t fuck with me, trash-girl. I turned back because I’m a natural sensor, I could sense you reawakening your chakra so I didn’t want to get messed up, even if we all went to fight you at once you’d have taken us all, I’ve seen you fight. Just one whistle and we would’ve fallen on the ground and drowned in sludge… I turned back because I knew what was good for me, not for the bullshit niceness you shove me…” the woman laughed out as if she tricked the magician in some way. “Stay safe, Anika-san. Not for me, for your daughter, she deserves to see her mother, don’t fail her again…” Mana said to her only somewhat of a friend in this evil place as she looked back at the woman while standing in the doorway.

Finally, Mana was free!

[TOPIC END]

My self-imposed prison exile is over!!!!

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