My breath came in short, sharp bursts. Their smiles clung to me like chains, suffocating, tightening.
I had to get out.
Before they closed in. Before I drowned in the rot of that shrine.
While their attention flickered between each other, I bolted. My bare feet slapped against the cold stone, up the stairwell, through the hidden panel, sprinting into the hall.
"Y/n!" Bokuto's voice cracked behind me. "Wait..-!"
I didn't.
I ran.
Past the portraits, past the candlelit walls, my heart beating loud enough to drown out their footsteps.
I knew where the front door was. I had memorized the layout of this cursed villa in my mind, waiting for a moment like this.
The grand entrance loomed ahead, tall and dark, iron-banded, a promise of freedom.
My chest burned as I ran, every breath a dagger in my throat. Almost there.
I threw myself at the heavy doors, my shoulder crashing into them with a crack that shot pain through my bones.
For one awful moment, I thought they wouldn't move, sealed like everything else in this cursed place. But then, with a groan of ancient wood, the latch gave way.
The door cracked open, a sliver of cold night air brushing against my face like salvation. My heart lurched. I shoved harder, pushing it wide enough to slip through.
Freedom. It was right there. Just one step. Just...
A voice cut through the night like a blade.
"You shouldn't be here, miss."
I froze.
Two figures detached themselves from the shadows just beyond the doorway. Not boys. Men. Broad-shouldered, suited in black, their eyes flat and empty. Kuroo's men. Guards.
"No..." My legs trembled beneath me. "Please. Please let me out. I'll give you anything, I'll-"
A hand shot out, clamping onto my arm before I could run. Another seized the other side, their grip cold and merciless as iron shackles.
"No!" I screamed, thrashing, nails clawing, heels scraping against the stone. "LET ME GO! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
But the night swallowed my cries.
They dragged me back inside.
Back into the dark.
A laugh echoed down the hall. Low. Mocking.
Kuroo.
He walked toward me like he had all the time in the world, the others fanned behind him like shadows of a nightmare.
"Kitten," he purred. "That wasn't very nice."
"YOU'RE INSANE!" I screamed, thrashing in the guards' grip. "LET ME GO!"
"You saw the rooms," Oikawa said softly, his voice dripping like honey over poison. "You think we'd leave the front door unguarded?"
"You really hurt us, princess," Atsumu added, his grin sharp and trembling with anger. "Runnin' off like that."
"Ungrateful," Tsukishima muttered.
Bokuto's voice cracked again, desperate. "We're doing this for you! Don't you see that?"
"Take her," Kuroo ordered.
The guards dragged me down the hall, my heels skidding against the floor. I kicked, clawed, screamed until my voice broke.
"STOP! LET ME GO! I'LL KILL YOU ALL, I SWEAR..-"
"Shhh," Osamu murmured. He brushed hair from my face as they pulled me past him, his touch soft, obscene. "Don't waste your voice, Y/n. You'll need it later."
They hauled me into my bedroom. My sanctuary-turned-prison.
And then..I saw it.
Chains.
Bolted to the bed frame. Heavy, black iron. Waiting.
"No..no, please...don't.." My knees buckled. I tried to dig my nails into the floor, anything to stop them from moving me closer. "DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"
But they did.
The chains clinked as they wrapped around my wrists, forcing me down onto the bedframe. Metal bit into my skin. My chest heaved, tears blurring my vision as the locks clicked shut.
I was trapped.
Chained like an animal.
Kuroo crouched in front of me, brushing his thumb across my trembling lip. His smile was calm. Too calm.
"You should've stayed where we put you, kitten."
"Please," I sobbed, my voice raw. "Please, just let me go. I'll forget everything. I'll never tell anyone...-"
Oikawa leaned down, his breath warm against my ear. "You're lying. You were born to belong to us. No matter how much you run."
Suna tilted his head, his gaze sharp. "The chains aren't to punish you, princess. They're to remind you. That even if you scream, even if you bleed, we'll still be here. Always."
"You'll thank us one day," Semi whispered, almost reverent, brushing his fingers against the metal biting into my wrists.
Terushima grinned from the shadows. "She looks perfect like that. Shackled. Ours."
Bokuto's voice broke again, but this time it was angry, sharp. "Why do you fight us, Y/n? Why can't you see we're all you need?"
"Because you're monsters," I spat, sobs shaking my body. "I hate you. I'll never love you. Never."
Silence.
Then Kuroo's smile widened, slow and dangerous.
"That's fine," he whispered. "Hate us. Fight us. Scream until your voice gives out. None of it will change what you are."
His hand closed around the chain, tugging it tight until the metal cut into my skin.
"Ours."
The chains rattled as I pulled against them, wrists burning, metal biting deep into my skin. My chest heaved, sobs tearing out of me, raw and broken.
Kuroo straightened slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, but the smile on his lips didn't reach them anymore. It was sharp, brittle..dangerous.
Then, without warning, his gaze flicked to the two guards still standing stiffly at the door.
"You fucked up."
The words cracked through the room like a whip.
The guards stiffened, their grips twitching at their sides.
"She opened the door." Kuroo's voice was calm..too calm but his eyes burned molten gold, a predator's fury barely leashed. "She breathed the night air. She put a foot outside my house."
"Mr. Tetsurō..." one of them started, but his voice faltered under the weight of that glare.
"Do you realize what could have happened?" Kuroo hissed, stepping forward. "If she screamed louder, if someone walked by, if she ran even one step further-" He cut himself off, his jaw tightening, teeth grinding.
The air in the room felt thick and dangerous. The other boys didn't move, didn't speak they just watched, some smirking, some stone-faced, some quietly entertained.
Kuroo leaned in close to the guards, his smile sharp enough to cut. "You had one job. Guard the door. And yet my kitten nearly slipped your leash."
My wrists ached as I tugged at the chains, my voice cracking. "Let them go… it wasn't their fault. I..-"
"Shut up." His voice sliced through mine, ice-cold.
I froze.
Kuroo's gaze never left the guards. "Get out. Now. Before I decide to make you part of the shrine."
The men exchanged a glance, stiff, pale and then hurried out without another word, the heavy door slamming shut behind them.
Silence settled. Heavy. Suffocating.
Kuroo turned back to me. His anger melted into something worse something soft. Patient. A lover's tenderness stretched over a wolf's grin.
He crouched low again, fingers trailing along the chain until they brushed my wrist, feather-light.
"See, kitten?" His voice was smooth again, like silk strangling my throat. "Even the men I trust most can't protect you from yourself. You run, you fight, you bleed and still, you end up here. Chained to us."
His smile widened.
"Where you always belong...To us"