Truths of the Heart
Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Ryvius or any of the characters except for the ones I have created meself!
My first fic for a while and I'm darn glad it's an Infinite Ryvius one because I haven't seen many Ryvius fics around at all. This is a Juli x Blue fic because I think they're the most interesting pair in the anime. I was so happy to find another JxB fic by Black Rose on the same page. Shows that there ARE JxB fans around!
Anyway please DO review as to give me some idea of how many people are actually reading the fic and hope you enjoy it!
And if you haven't seen the anime yet, do, because it's one of the better ones out there!
(A little warning: There's very, very mild language)
Chapter 1: Destined Meeting
"And I suppose you will like a share in the profits as well."
"Yes, we will take seventy percent of the profits that your company make from here on in."
The man at the head of the table laughed. "Seventy percent!" He blanched when unmoving blue eyes looked back at him. "B-but that's criminal!"
"Luther-san, let me remind you that you are in no position to negotiate. It is no secret that without our financial support, your company will fold and you yourself will be declared bankrupt. I very much doubt that you will receive a better offer than this."
Luther glared at the expressionless woman sitting at the other end of the table, his eyebrow twitching. "Fine," he said finally, between clenched teeth. "I will agree to those terms."
Minutes later, a brown-haired woman emerged from the building, a small entourage trailing behind her.
"I'll send for the car, Bahana-san," Jun, the dark burly man behind her said before barking orders into his cell phone.
Juli Bahana looked up at the tall building she had been in moments earlier. There was no doubt that it was impressive, looming several hundred floors above the ground. Its smooth, windowless exterior reflected the latest architectural style, which was designed to keep unwanted intruders out.
But its dull, metallic surface also gave Juli the chills. It was cold, lifeless, like all the other buildings in her world. The magnificent interiors with their expensive blood-red carpets and polished chocolate-brown tables only emphasised their superficiality.
"Bahana-san, the car has arrived."
On the ride back, Juli didn't say much as the two older representatives her mother had sent with her to the meeting began to discuss about business matters.
"You did very well, Bahana-san," Gretel, the neat blond woman said.
Sitting next to her was Kaisho, who had been part of the Bahana business scene for a long time. "Yes, I'm sure your mother will very be pleased."
"We're here Bahana-san."
The tall silver gates in front of the vehicle opened to a long driveway amidst a vast field of green that stretched the length of golf fields. The drive up was long and slow and it was several minutes before they reached the building.
Jun exited the car first, excusing himself to oversee ground security. Juli said her farewells to the two advisers and entered the mansion. Maids greeted her at the door, ushering her into the marble-floored hall and taking her coat.
"Shin-san asked what you would like for dinner, mistress," a young, pretty maid asked.
"I won't be having dinner, Yuki. I'm not really hungry." Juli said as she climbed up the winding stairs towards the bedrooms. "I'll be retiring now. Please don't disturb me for the rest of the night."
"Yes mistress."
Juli made her away along the many corridors to her bedroom. Once inside, she dropped her handbag on the floor and dropped on the ocean-blue sheeted double bed. She could still hear the whispers as she had walked from the meeting room towards the elevator.
"That's Juli Bahana. She's the daughter of Hisai Bahana, the head of Bahana Corporations, isn't she?"
"Really? She looks pretty young."
"Apparently she's only twenty. I heard that she's as bad as her mother."
"Yeah, they're bullies, aren't they, the Bahana Corporations. I guess she's no different."
Juli rolled on to her side. When… when did I become like this? She closed her eyes, and the thought echoed in her mind as she fell asleep.
When Juli entered the large dining room, her mother and brother were already finishing breakfast. Hisai Bahana looked at her daughter disapprovingly as she took a sip of tea. "A Bahana lady does not sleep in, Juli," she said.
"I'm sorry." Juli slipped into her seat at the table and gave Ryu a small smile when he glanced at her sympathetically.
"I heard from Gretel and Kaisho-san that the meeting with Jinpei Industries went very well yesterday."
"Yes, mother, that's right."
Hisai delicately wiped her mouth with the corner of the snow-white napkin and stood up abruptly. "I'll be leaving for Jupiter now. Remember that Nishikawa-san will be over for dinner tomorrow. I expect you to act like a high-class lady of the Bahana family. I have debriefed Shin and Eiko on the ball next week, but I hope you oversee the preparations and make sure that everything is perfect before I get back. Is that clear, Juli?"
"Yes mother."
"I will call Eiko now and again to make sure that things are going as planned. Fiona, come." And without another word, the tall woman walked out of the room, the maid right behind her.
"Yeah, bye mother. Have a good trip," Ryu said, as the tension in the room dissipated.
"What, are you sulking again, little brother?" Juli said.
"U-huh. Another morning of being ignored. And you! 'Yes mother', 'that's right mother', you're as obedient as ever."
"Be quiet. You sound like a squeaky mouse toy, trying to imitate my voice."
Ryu grinned at her. "Well, I'm off to school, neesan. At least I won't have to see your scowling face for the rest of the day."
"Ditto," Juli shot back. She sighed when the teenager left and looked down at the half-eaten toast in front of her. "Yuki," she said to the maid standing beside the fireplace, "you can take this away now. I'm not hungry."
"But mistress, you didn't have dinner last night."
Juli forced a smile. "Oh, I'm alright. I've just lost my appetite for a while."
"Yes mistress," Yuki took her plate, choosing not to argue that she hadn't been eating well ever since her participation in the handling of Bahana Corporations. "And if you don't mind me asking, what will you be doing today?"
Juli sighed. "I suppose I will be discussing plans with Eiko-san about next week's Annual Companies Ball. Do you know where she is now, Yuki?"
"Oh, I'll send for her mistress."
"No, I'll go. Where is she?"
"Well… I think Eiko-san is in the kitchen at the moment."
Eiko was a maid who had been in the Bahana household for sixty years. She had brought up Juli and Ryu as well as Hisai when she was young. As a result, she was very much respected by the family, as well as by the others serving in the household.
"No! How many times do I have to tell you that that plate doesn't go there, girl!"
Juli stopped in the doorway to the kitchen as the old woman's angry voice floated out. She smiled, as she remembered how Eiko had scolded her as a child when she misbehaved. But she also remembered the feel of her gnarled, old hands on her forehead, soothing her to sleep.
"Eiko-san."
The old woman stopped prodding the young kitchen-hand with her cane and turned around. "Young mistress, what are you doing here?" she said.
"Well I was going to discuss planning next week with y–"
Eiko turned back to the young servant with a frown. "What are you still doing here? Scat!"
Juli smiled as she watched the boy practically run from the kitchen, a white apron still tied around his waist.
"Well, it's good to see the young mistress smile for once."
She turned back to Eiko, the smile vanishing. "Please don't say that. I do smile, you know."
"Mmm, yes. The mistress has left for Jupiter, has she not?"
"Yes. She just left."
"That means your business duties are on hold, does it not? Why not take this time to fool around?"
"Huh?"
"Fool around. Do what you young people usually do. When I was your age, I had a beau and we used to go out all the time."
Juli stared at the bent, wrinkled woman in front of her. "You had a beau, Eiko-san?"
Eiko prodded her with her cane, prompting a small cry from her. "Yes, I had a beau. Is that so surprising?"
"N-no, not at all," Juli quickly replied. "But the point is, I have to help you organise the ball for–"
"What?! You think that I can't handle that on my own?"
"No, that's not…"
"I'll have it all taken care of, so scat! Get out of my kitchen and get some sunlight, young mistress. Your face is as white as my hair."
Juli sighed as she climbed the stairs to her room. Eiko was right. She needed to go out and have fun. Since she had started working as the successor to Bahana Corporations, the only times she had gone out were for arranged lunch and dinner appointments or business meetings. She turned around and walked back down.
"Yuki, please send for the car."
"Um, Bahana-san, I don't think I could do that. I've already disobeyed orders by driving you to the lower sections of the city," Kobayashi said as he glanced at the woman through the rear-view mirror.
"It won't be a problem, Kobayashi-san. After all I'm in disguise. No one will recognise me walking down the street, I guarantee it," Juli said as she adjusted her sunglasses. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail instead of a tight bun and in place of the usual formal suit, she was wearing a pink blouse and three-quarter length pants.
Kobayashi had to admit that she looked like a normal young woman. "I suppose," he slowly conceded.
"Okay, just drop me here."
"But when should I pick you up?"
"I'll give you a call, Kobayashi-san." She winked at the worried chauffer. "Don't fret. I'll be fine."
Kobayashi was taken back by the excitement that shone on the young woman's face. He hadn't seen her so animated for a long time. 'Well if it makes the young mistress happy...' "Very well," he said. "I will be waiting for you here when you call, Juli-san."
Juli felt as though a weight had lifted off her shoulders as she stepped out of the black vehicle. She strolled down the bustling street, which was filled with young couples and families, not with men and women in business suits hurrying to work, like in the upper class echelons of the city.
I'm not there anymore. I can relax at least for today.
And relax she did. She spent the entire morning entering gift stores and clothes shops and browsing through magazines. She bought takoyaki from a street stall and had lunch at a small coffee shop, slowly revelling the freedom she had been deprived of for so long.
This is great, she thought as she stepped back out onto the street. I haven't walked this way for ages. Not since…
She stopped as a familiar building caught her eye. "Ginji's!" she exclaimed out loud, startling several passer-bys. A bell rang as she stepped through the game arcade's automatic doors and into a world filled with psychedelic colors and mechanical sounds.
"Hi," the teenager behind the counter said, "do you have your card with you?"
Juli took her identification card from her pocket and handed it to the boy.
"Number 300658499. Ah, yup you do have membership, but it expired… two years ago?!"
"Heh," Juli gave an embarrassed laugh, "I haven't been here for a while. Can you just credit my account?"
"Sure, I can do that. And for a cute girl like you I'll even give you a discount."
The people in the arcade were mostly teenage boys, but it didn't bother Juli. She made her way past the many games on offer to the only game on her mind at the moment.
"Geduld II?! Come on, going to space is so old now. Let's play something cooler like Spy Hunt or Jet Racer!" A brown-haired teenager complained as he tried to pull his spiky-haired friend from a game.
"Are you two still playing?" Juli asked.
The two boys turned around. "Huh?" The complaining teenager asked, "Why do you want to play Geduld II?"
Juli took off her sunglasses and put then in her pocket. "Because," she said with a smile that made the both of them blush, "it's fun." She took the visual simulation device from the spiky-haired boy's hands, placed it over her head and was immediately transported to the bridge of a ship.
"The Sorakaze," the game's narrative started, "an A-class ship in need of a good captain to navigate its way through the dangerous Geduld Sea. Will you stand up to the challenge?"
"Captain Juli B," she said to the virtual reality crew in front of her, "reporting for duty."
Juli completed dozens of missions before a judgmental error forced the game to end and she was brought back to reality.
"Whoa," she heard a voice she recognised to be the complaining teenager's say as she took off the simulation device, "she's really good."
"Yeah, she smashed the top score!"
Juli shook her head as her senses slowly adjusted to the real world. She was taken back when she saw a crowd of admiring faces staring at her. "W-what's the time?" she stammered.
"It's past eight, neechan."
"Eight?" she replied dazed. She'd forgotten that time was very easy to lose track of in virtual reality games. "I have to go." She pushed past the crowd and blinked at the flashing arcade lights that were now making her head spin.
She finally staggered out the door and into the cold night air that bit at her bare ankles and arms. Her head began to clear as she leaned against the wall. Five hours spent in a game? What was on earth was she thinking?
Juli trudged up the street, staring at her feet. "Stupid!" she muttered to herself. How could she let a virtual reality game stir up feelings of longing and comfort she had tried so hard to forget?
She was so caught up in her thoughts that by the time she realised that somebody was following her, it was too late. She was grabbed from behind and pulled into a dark alley, the attacker clamping a coarse hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Juli kicked and bit the hand on her mouth only to receive a hard kick in her stomach that winded her. "No," she whispered as she stared up at the figures of two men.
"Bitch!" One of them spat at her as he nursed his hand. "You're going to pay for that!"
"Take it easy," the other said as he grinned. "We'll make her pay. Slowly."
Juli edged her way backwards, willing her legs to stand. She knew how to use self-defence, but the kick one of the men had given her earlier hurt her badly. 'Don't let it end like this,' she thought as she frantically searched for a weapon in the dark. 'Don't let it end like this!'
"Hey."
She froze. The two men whirled around towards the voice coming behind them.
"What do you want punk?" one of them asked. "There's nothing to see here."
"He… help," Juli croaked. "Help me."
"Shut up!" Another kick was aimed at her. "This is none of your business, pu–" The attacker was cut off as he was thrown backwards past Juli to land on the cold ground a few metres away.
"What the? You little…" Juli watched as the other man rushed forward only meet the fist of the intruder right in the face.
She pushed herself up, trying to make out the features of her saviour in the dark, but he turned around abruptly.
"Wait!" Juli stood slowly, supporting her weight on the brick wall of the alley. "I want to thank you."
"Don't be mistaken. They were in the way."
Time stopped for Juli as the man disappeared around the corner, his profile revealed briefly by street lights. Those words… that voice… and the glimpse of blue…
A newfound strength filled Juli as she ran out from the alleyway and into the street where the man had disappeared to seconds earlier. She looked up and down the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
"Juli-san!"
She whirled around, only to find the anxious face of Kobayashi peering down at her.
"Juli-san?" the driver asked as he took in her dishevelled appearance. "Oh my god, did something happen to you?!"
"No, no," Juli slowly shook her head.
"Well, come on. Let's go home."
On the ride home, Kobayashi mumbled about how worried he had been and how she had neglected to call. Juli, however, wasn't listening. She was in a world of her own. And the only thought running through her mind was:
Airs Blue.