A/N: Written for the Prompts in Steps Challenge, Step 3, prompt #05 – serenade.
A Breather for Softer Musics
Ruki is not a fan of the softer branches of music, but sometimes she can still relax while listening to it. Usually she has something upbeat pounding away in her ears though: something strong and loud enough to drown out the voices of the rest of the world. Somewhere where she can be alone with her blood pounding away in her ears, ready for a fight or a sprint to get even stronger, even when there's no opponent in her path left to face.
She thinks that if she wasn't so stuck, she might have wound up in a gang. She'd be a good gang member too, she thinks. She's a good fighter. She's fast. She's strong. She doesn't mind the blood. But gangs are made up of people from ordinary schools, people who can get away from their families. Ruki isn't desperate enough to run away, and she's in one of those flashy private schools were appearances are all too important.
And there are a few luxuries that come with her life that she isn't quite willing to give up on. She gets to go to the gym whenever she wants, thanks to her mother's paranoia. She gets to train up her strength in that controlled environment where there are no limits like on the street. She gets to eat a full meal three times a day and sleep in her own room, on her soft bed. And she can buy whatever she wants, plus a few things that don't.
And it's not like her mother's got the time to nag her all the time. So she actually has a pretty good life. Definitely not the sort of life she needs to give up for a bit of action, for a bit of getting spurred on. Other things are fine for that. Tournaments that lose their edge when there's no-one strong left in them. Music that can shut out the world when she wants.
But sometimes she doesn't want to be walking ahead. Sometimes she just wants to lay down where she is and take a little breather. In those times those soft serenades her mother is so fond of listening to don't seem that bad. Her mother's desires for facials and manicures every other weekend don't seem so bad.
Ruki's just a little kid trying to find something she can bury herself in to, but her mother's like that too, drowning in her work. Ruki just has things that seem less important in comparison to drown in. Either way, they both need a breather occasionally.