Re: KINGDOM HEARTLESS [M] V .:. August 01
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I’M BACK!
Yes after my rather nice vacation away from the real world, I’m back and refreshed enough to keep going. I still need to catch up in RPG but I had VI planned since made week of the getaway, so I wrote it to get it out of way.
VirtualPlay: I’m glad you enjoyed that I tied it in, I thought it was necessary to put in more similarities between the Fic and the RPG. There are however, notably differences between the two as well, which I like, gives either of them their own feel.
What do you mean overprotective? ^^; sorry, maybe I’m just slow today but I don’t quite get what your referring to.
X3 I worked in the green orbs, I’m so proud of myself.
* * *
Asilynne:
IV
I was worried my news report was badly written, I kept trying to remember how the news sounded without actually watching any (it’s so depressing I stopped watching it regularly).
V
Was it intense? I have a critical mind to my own writing so I always read my scenes as corny, cheesy, badly written, etc.
She might :3, I reveal nothing.
The scientist may not be who you’re expecting… Tehehe.
Well I’m glad you both enjoy it, and I’m happy it comes off as an A/U fic, because that’s… Exactly what it is I guess.
* * *
ChobiChibi:
But it’s a fun pastime, trying to kill him ♥
Actually I meant ‘You’ as a general term, Dr. Kariya wasn’t Ai’s doctor. Sorry for the confusion!
Aww, but now I want to know what you think >_>;
Oh God more science? Do I have too? Really? That means I have to check my facts again, and I really do hate doing that. I’ll try to work in little tid bits of science here and there for you.
* * *
And without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, the chapter marking my return from vacation!
VI
Strong Language Used
“That was a complete and utter disaster Nagano-san!” The bitter words of Kaito didn’t even seem to faze Masato, who was carrying his suit jacket on one of his arms. “Masato don’t you even care?”
He laughed a little and looked at his partner. “Hayata-san did you really expect Shachou-sama to accept the proposal?”
Kaito frowned and looked towards the ground sadly. “It would’ve been nice...”
Masato patted the man roughly on the shoulder, and watched him straighten up a bit. Hayata-san was so easily put down now a days, it was a sad thing to see. Both of them worked for a company called ‘The Organization’, a name that neither of them particularly liked, a few of their co-workers had happily pointed out that such a title made it sound as if they all worked for an evil group of some sort.
Masato never really thought much of it, all companies were evil in some way; he had watched a program on television one night that had successfully proven that corporations fit the psychological profile of a psychopath. He kept himself disconnected from that idea, if he thought more on it he might feel guilty for working for a group that most certainly fits that description.
“It didn’t go as badly as you think,” Masato comforted, shrugging lightly and looking up at the overcast sky. “Shachou-sama gave you a compliment; you just need to sort your ideas out better.”
“He loved your idea!” Kaito spat, looking distinctly irritated by that notion. “Sea salt ice cream! How in the world was that better than my suggestion?”
He chuckled, and loosened his tie a little as they rounded the corner. The streets weren’t as crowded as normal, but the bad weather last night and the clouds today had practically guaranteed a slow time for shops.
“For one Hayata-san, my idea was possible.”
Kaito ran his hand through his highlighted hair and let out a sigh. “Right… Mine wasn’t completely out there.”
“True, but a security robot wouldn’t be well accepted anyways. People would lose jobs and the robotics team said the systems weren’t perfected yet.” Masato smiled kindly, nudging his associate in a childish manner. “Once it’s perfected, try again.”
“A glitch never killed anyone.”
“True, but security robots have guns; I think we can all see the problem if a glitch does happen.”
“Right…” Kaito stopped at the next crossing, partly ignoring the last point. “This is where we part.”
“Tomorrow will be better.” Masato reassured his friend, who was already walking away.
“If you say so...”
He stood there for another moment, watching as the small swarm of people swallowed up Hayata-san and made him vanish from view.
Masato frowned.
“Man needs to loosen up…”
* * *
The shopping district of Traverse was filled with neon signs, moving billboards, and the occasional teenager handing out flyers for some event or another. It reminded Masato of the images he saw of Las Vegas at times, especially at night, when the shady sort of shops began to open. It was nowhere near late though, only the afternoon, which he had happily gotten off.
‘Always good when the boss has those emergency meetings with the higher-ups, us lowly workers get the day off...’ He thought with a smile, eyeing some of the shops with curiosity before he stopped.
It was an art shop, newly opened as well, a couple of people were inside, but what caught his attention was one of the window displays.
The man neared the glass and tilted his head at the simplistic print, it had a black background, and as the sunlight caught on the nearly invisible dark blue ink, you could see a shape in the darkness. A part of him twisted inside at the sight of the picture, especially as he coldly noted the yellow eyes.
“… Interesting print…” He thought out loud, opening the door. “I think I might go talk the shop clerk.”
The inside of the shop was fairly clean and simple, pictures mounted on the walls and some displayed in the middle of the room on easels. Masato didn’t mind art, he wasn’t a critic or a big collector, but his apartment had some on display and he was always looking out for more.
But the print in the window was different; it was a frigid reminder of certain nightmares.
“May I help you?” The clerk was an old man, well-on into the later years of his life; he looked sort of miserable and very judgmental. His words had a hard edge to them, which caught Masato off guard. But he could deal with them accordingly, his superiors spoke with such a manner all the time so he was used to a harsh attitude.
“Oh thank you,” He smiled one of trade-mark smiles, but the man did not let that break his grumpy composure. “I was wondering, who made the print in the window?”
“Oh.” The old man sounded displeased. “You like that sort of abstract nonsense?”
“I find it interesting is all.” Masato chose his words carefully.
“Eh…” The worker turned from him and wandered to the back door, opening it slowly. “Mika, get in here.”
“The artist works here?” He questioned as the elder turned back to him.
“Yes, she does.” He frowned at Masato. “Good at organizing, horrible artist if you ask me.”
“I don’t believe he asked your opinion of my work Ozu-san.” The woman who spoke smiled politely at the two, and shut the door behind her. “May I help you sir?”
Masato smiled in return, noting how she looked very cute in that red blouse. As they moved away from the miserable shop-owner he began again. “You made the print in the display?”
She nodded.
“What inspire it, if I may know?”
Mika paused, and deep inside the man, he could feel a sort of fear and nervousness. Mika’s expression was one of disconnectedness, like she didn’t want to admit that the art was even hers. Masato was patient and kept quiet, keeping his friendly composure up.
Finally the girl shrugged. “Reoccurring nightmare.”
“Really?” He looked at back at the display in the window, his mind able to see those eyes despite it facing outwards to the street. “That’s rather odd.”
“What do you mean?”
Masato gazed into the woman’s hazel eyes; in the back of his mind took notice of the red tinge that lingered in them.
“I have the same nightmare.”
The silence between them was thick with curiosity and suspicion. Masato didn’t blame her, from what he could tell, Ozu-san thought she wasn’t much of an artist, and if he knew the reasons that inspired her, probably called her mad at points. He could just be an actor paid by the old man to get her hopes up and then kill them.
But he wasn’t that type of person, and he was genuinely interested in her art.
“Do you have any more pieces Miss…?”
“Yanagisawa… And yes I do.”
He nodded with a small smile. “Would you mind if I took a look Yanagisawa-san?”
Mika’s eyes narrowed a tad. “.. I suppose not.”
Her workshop was at the very back, and was nearly exploding with works. Whether finished or unfinished, they were absolutely everywhere. Every inch of every wall was covered, and battered easels held other pieces that couldn’t fit anywhere else. It seems she was an artist of many talents, not just printing, but painting in what could only be water colour, and the occasional acrylic showcase.
Almost all them featured the same thing as the print in the window. Yellow eyes, dark colours on black… The only difference was what they were doing at the time. Some were melding out of floors, others walking through walls; the occasional thing looked as if it were attacking the viewer.
A few others were very different; a cell phone lying on what looks like a forest floor, a park bench, a closet door… The half-completed one in the left corner featured a car seemingly running over the creatures that appeared so frequently in the other artworks. On the furthest display from him was a picture that made Masato stop in his tracks.
It was of a door, an old worn-out door that looked like it belonged to a medieval tavern, much like the one in his apartment that had appeared out of the blue. This door however, did not bare the same symbol that his did; it had a spiral crudely carved into its surface while the one in his shower had a crown.
Masato bit his lip. “Yanagisawa-san, where did you see that door?”
Her eyes drifted over to the canvas. “… In one of my dreams.”
“Have you… Ever dreamt of other doors?” He questioned, nearing the piece.
“No.”
The man swiveled around and faced her. “What happened in this dream of yours?”
* * *
The teddy bear sat in the corner of the room, its dark eyes staring at Ryou emptily as he looked up from the playstation he was putting back together. He found himself frowning at the plushie, and how it seemed to have a sad look on its face.
“What?”
It didn’t answer right away, and to be honest it surprised him when it did. Teddy bears weren’t supposed to talk.
“She forgot me.”
Ryou rolled his eyes and gently placed the top of the game system back on. “How sad…”
“I’m not important to you?”
He blinked, and looked up with a confused expression. “You’re a stuffed toy.”
“I made her smile.”
The man frowned and went back to fixing. “That’s nice.”
“You made her smile.”
He stopped as his and her voice fluttered into his head.
“It looks like it wants to eat me…”
“No!”
“Or you. Though I suppose better you than me.”
It won’t eat me!”
“Just wait, when you’re not looking, it’s gonna pounce.”
Ryou stayed looking at the contraption, his face held no expression as he finished the mending.
“What are you waiting for?”
He smirked. “For something to ruin this dream.”
“Ryou!” Came the all too real voice of his mother.
Both the bear and Ryou smirked.
“And there it is.”
As the dream world faded away, Ryou heard his room door open and silently he cursed himself for not putting a lock on the damn thing. The wounds ached from yesterday, and all he wanted to do was keep dreaming. He didn’t care if it was about talking teddy bears or evil monsters that wanted to kill him.
Anything was better than-
“Ryou! It’s two in the afternoon! GET UP!”
Her.
He groaned and brought the covers over his head, refusing to even look at her. His body was in pain, and he hadn’t got in until late last night, so the desire to get up and deal with his mother just wasn’t there today. The man turned over, hoping that with his back facing the door and her, she might just get the idea that he wanted to be left alone.
“Don’t you roll over, get out of bed!”
Ryou groaned. “Why?”
“Because it’s two! What other reason do you need?”
“The doctor said-“
“To hell with the doctor!” She roared her voice grating on his nerves. “You damn well look for trouble out there and then use the doctor as an excuse to do nothing all day!”
His eyes slowly opened, and the crimson colour seemed to turn darker as his grip on the covers tightened. Exactly what did she do all day? Nothing from what he could recall, she wandered around the house watching pathetic soap operas, moping or doing something that was entirely not helpful towards anyone.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.” He snarled, a sinister flicker appeared in his eyes, not that she could see it. Slowly he sat up, wincing a little and looking down at his bandages to make sure they were okay. “I’m up, now get out.”
She blinked, and crossed her arms. “Pardon?”
Ryou gritted his teeth. “Leave.”
“Don’t you dare take that tone with me young man.” The anger from his mother began to filter into him.
He stood up, not really meaning to be imposing, but the woman took a step back as he rose to full height, a fearsome look in his eyes.
“Alright, let’s try it dad’s way then.” He hissed, and spoke in a dark tone. “Fuck off.”
Haruka didn’t know what to think, she stood there stunned for a second, trying to even comprehend what her son had just said to her. It was rude, far beyond his normal sarcastic tone he usually took. Her control was slipping and in weakness she could only watch as her hand whipped out to slap him.
Only he caught it.
She let out a half-cry of anger and surprise as tore her arm free from his grasp.
“How dare you speak to me like that!”
“How dare I?” He growled, his voice steadily becoming louder. “You come in here and have the nerve to say[i]I[/b] don’t do anything! Exactly what do you do all day? You wander around the house watching some stupid show on television or cry because dad left you here, in some shitty house while he went to the city and became rich! You neglect your sick daughter and take off without as much as a note telling me when you’ll be back! Only that I have to take care of her, which wouldn’t be such a big deal except you come home drunk off your ass!”
His mother was silent, looking beyond hurt at his words.
“You didn’t even buy her the medicine.” Ryou added as the final argument. “I did.”
“Get out.”
Ryou raised his eyebrow. “What?”
His mother, trembling, gave him a cold empty stare. “Out.”
He laughed, which was the last thing Haruka expected. Her expression didn’t waver much, but he could see the confusion overlapping the emptiness in her gaze.
“Let’s see how long you last…” The man smirked as she backed into the hallway. “Until you come crying to me for help.” Her anger was swelling, and that only seemed to edge him on. “My bet’s less than a week, Otou-san would say less than a day. But you never know, maybe you’ll use your ‘talents’ to drag another man down. Though I don’t think it’s likely…” He smiled coldly. “You’re not exactly desirable.”
As she left, Ryou’s rage transformed from emotional to physical. The wall paid the price as his fist collided with it, crashing through the dry wall and hitting the filler in-between. It seemed to dispel after that, most of it anyways, there was still this lingering anger. But he wasn’t quite sure if it was at his mother, who he had just crushed, or himself.
‘Why should I be angry with myself?’ He growled inside his head as he quickly put on a pair of slightly worn jeans. ‘She doesn’t do anything; she might as well have someone tell her.’ Ryou slipped into a white muscle shirt and paused. Anger was turning into guilt, guilt that he really didn’t want to feel. ‘So I brought up Otou-san… She crossed the line, fair game after that…’
That didn’t make him feel any better; quickly he grabbed his cell and bag then moved out of his room. If she didn’t want him around, that was fine. Soon enough he’d get a call from her and he would be grudgingly invited back.
It wasn’t the first time she had kicked him out.
Ryou walked into the kitchen and could hear his mother crying in the next room. He didn’t doubt Ai had heard, and was probably too upset to say anything to him.
That thought made him feel terrible.
Refusing to linger any longer, he took his keys from the hook and stepped outside.
* * *
Today was a bad day.
It showed no real sign of improving.
Ryou was sitting in the park again, flipping through his phone, toying with the idea of calling somebody. He didn’t quite know who to call though, when he had dropped Karen off neither of them had said much, seeing as the creatures had pretty much killed their day. Birgitte was probably busy, though he didn’t actually know that… For all he knew she was at home, bored as well.
Truth be told, Ryou was looking for a fight or at least the opportunity to make someone feel worse than he did, he didn’t want to clash with the two people who seemed to put up with him. Of course, last he had talked to Birgitte; he hadn’t left her on a particularly happy note, so she could just be waiting for him to call to yell at him.
Which would be the exact opposite of what he wanted and Karen well… She didn’t deal well with his normal attitude, hanging out with her when he was angry spelt disaster.
“Her parents are probably home anyways…” He muttered; flipping through his other contacts and ignoring the fact it had only been a day. “She’ll want to hang around with them…”
‘Not some jerk like me.’
“Oh come on Naomi! I said I was sorry!”
Ryou looked up and felt a scowl appear. Stomping down the path, arms wrapped around books was that girl he had met before, truth be told he had forgotten her name until this little occurrence. He watched with slight interest as Akira ran up behind her, intent on catching her attention.
‘This outta be good…’ He smirked a little and watched as the boy grabbed her shoulder and made her stop.
“Naomi-chan!”
“Don’t call me that!” She snapped, as she swiveled around to face him. The brat took a step back, clearly not understanding. “If… If you think you can be that rude in front of girls, then… Then I’m not going to hang around with you anymore!”
It was sort of a childish threat, but the way she said it seemed to get to the boy.
“But they deserved it-“
“No Akira! They didn’t!” Her angry expression worsened. “Until you learn why, you can go hound another girl.”
She began to walk off, and Akira was stuck. Apparently he had never had anyone, notably a girl, stand up to him in such a manner, that all he could do was watch as she stomped down the path and wait at the bus stop.
Ryou snickered and the boy looked over at him.
“Oh.” He growled. “You.”
Ryou tilted his head at Akira and kept the smirk on his face. “Girl trouble?”
“None of your damn business is what it is.”
The man nodded and looked back at Naomi. “Girl trouble.”
“So what if it is?” Akira snarled and took a step towards Ryou.
“Boy, I’m itching for a fight, if you really want to go, I’ll happily oblige.” Ryou’s tone was cold enough to make the brat back off a tad.
“What’s with you?”
He blinked and raised an eyebrow at the kid. “What do you care?”
“You know my problem.”
“That doesn’t endear me to you the least prat, I’d rather explain it to a wall than you.”
Saotome-san smiled and crossed his arms. “Girl trouble?”
“No.”
“Oh yeah? You think you’re such the womanizer?”
Ryou chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Then you go and talk to her.” He gestured towards Naomi. “There’s no way in hell you can make her smile.”
“No?” The man looked towards the girl. “I think I could.”
“I bet you 10000 you can’t make her smile.”
“You have 10000?”
“I’m fourteen not some damn kid! Is it that hard to believe I might do odd jobs?”
‘Yes…’ Ryou’s lips formed a sly smile. “20000 I can get her number.”
“HA!” Akira laughed. “Alright, you’re on.”
Ryou stood up quickly, he doubted that the brat had that much but whatever he got off the kid, even if it was just a fuming expression, was worth it at the moment.
He approached Naomi cautiously, angry women, particularly teenaged angry women, were to be respected. Their slaps were faster than the elders of their kind, and while not quite as painful half the time; it was the embarrassment you wanted to avoid.
“Hi.”
She turned to him and blinked. “Saito-san…”
He tilted his head a little. “I kinda… Overheard…”
“Oh…” She grumbled, and huffed, looking down at the pavement. “I’m sorry you had to hear that…”
“That’s alright…” Ryou shifted a little. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine…” She shrugged. “He can be such a jerk…”
He smirked. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
Naomi smiled a tiny bit, and from behind Ryou could just hear a curse.
Akira watched the two talk with a sick feeling growing in his stomach. So she had smiled? There was no way Ryou was getting her number; Naomi didn’t just give it out to random people-
She laughed, and she was blushing. Naomi never did that sort of blushing around him; the boy had to hold back a cry of anger as he watched from the forest tree line. He kept watching the two talk until the most terrible thing imaginable happened.
Ryou got Naomi’s number.
His Naomi.
“I… But… He…” Akira stuttered as the bus came and Naomi got on, waving goodbye to a rather cocky looking Ryou, who turned back and sat down on the same bench he had been on before.
“What did you say?”
Ryou glanceed at the boy with a confident look and just shrugged. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“You leaned towards her! Whispered something! What was it!?”
The man stood and stretched, happily noting the rage pouring off the brat. “You owe me 20000.”
“That wasn’t fair!”
“How?” Ryou questioned. “You seemed to like my odds before.”
“You tricked me!”
He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Keep your money then, I got her number anyways.”
“Well, I know where she lives!”
Ryou smirked. “Yeah? I bet I’ll know a lot more about her soon enough.”
That’s all it took for Akira to throw the first punch, it connected roughly with Ryou’s lower jaw. He recovered quickly but didn’t return the favour; instead he caught the next punch and threw the kid to the ground.
“Asshole…” Akira muttered, and looked up at Ryou who had on an empty expression.
“Doesn’t it suck when someone takes what’s yours?” With that he turned from the brat and left the park, looking over his shoulder just once to make sure the kid wasn’t following him back to his car.
Inside the car, Ryou chuckled to himself and input the number into his phone. ‘Maybe today isn’t as bad as I thought.’
* * *
Karen sat in the living room with her fractured arm hanging in a sling uncomfortably. The memory of how she got it was so clear, and so was Ryou’s voice ordering her to stay by the car. She didn’t understand why she froze when he told her to stay in the light; she blamed half of the reasoning on fear.
‘Good to know fear would let me watch someone die..’ She thought bitterly, but she imagined that he hadn’t wanted her to die. ‘I didn’t want him to die either, but if I yelled at him, he probably wouldn’t listen… In fact he’d probably have some sarcastic comment to counter it…’
She was being childish of course, but in her mind Ryou refusing to listen wasn’t exactly fair. Though, she didn’t exactly believe she would ever see him again so it didn’t matter if he would’ve listened or not.
The girl had a notoriously bad track record with boys, most notably first dates.
Only first dates actually, as they had never gotten past that.
Karen blushed. “Not to say it was a date…”
“What was that?”
She jumped, and shot a weak glare over at the girl in the doorway, with dark brown hair and dark eyes. “Yuki-chan? When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
Yuki sat down on the floor next to Karen who was looking at her curiously before poking her in the leg. “You’re wearing jeans...”
“Bit cold today for a skirt…” The girl poked her back, playing with her hair a bit. “You’re still thinking about the date aren’t you?”
“It wasn’t a date!”
“Oh ho ho…” Yuki rolled her eyes. “Okay, so what was it then?”
“… Not a date.”
“Good defense Karen.”
Karen was about to stick her tongue out, but then she stopped. “He felt sorry for me was all.”
“A pity date?”
“It wasn’t a date!”
“Sounded like a date on the phone.”
Karen didn’t know what to say, Yuki was her best friend but sometimes she could get annoying, she decided it was better not to say anything.
“Did he make a move on you?”
The girl blinked, and was stunned for a moment. “What? No!”
Yuki was laughing now, seeing her friend’s abhorred face was certainly worth the shove that caused her to fall over. “It’s scientifically proven it’s what they’re after…”
“He didn’t really show he wanted that…”
“No?” She sat up, curious.
“No… well… there was one remark… But I think he was teasing me…” She recalled the memory with crystal clear precision.
“Which was?”
She flushed a bright red. “Don’t stick your tongue out unless you’re willing to share it…”
Yuki giggled. “So what did you do?”
“What do you mean what did I do?! I never stuck my tongue out again!”
“Awww…”
“What?”
“I would’ve.” She grinned.
“You think I should’ve?”
“Well from what you described on the phone this morning, I get the idea he’s interested in you.”
“I think I bombed it.”
“Oh…” Yuki sulked a bit. “That’s sad… Why?”
“I don’t want to say.”
“That bad?”
Karen thought back to falling into him, the monsters and the hospital. “Mmhmm…”
Her mind went back to that stupid remark, and she began to wonder what exactly would’ve happened if she had kept her tongue out.
She turned as red as cherry at the image.
Yuki frowned. “What are you blushing at?”
“N-Nothing!”
Shachou-sama: Mr. President (The leader of the company)
