"Innocent Eyes"
Part One
by Vilsy
Jet Grind Radio
and all the related characters, locations, etc. belong to Sega Enterprises. Also.. I should add... as most do... 'Graffiti is art: however, graffiti as an act of vandalism is a crime and punishable by law.' (Gyaah no! Here come the missiles! Not the tear gas, waaaai!!! Er, sorry. Have a good read. ^_^; )The moon seemed brighter than usual on this Friday night. Gum sat on the edge of a roof in the high-tech setting of Benten-cho with her legs crossed neatly. Her long-time friend and fellow rudie gang member Beat lay on his back a short distance from her. Gum stole a glance at him, assuming that he was either star-gazing or watching out for police helicopters. The calm expression on his face suggested the former... or at least she would be able to tell if she could see his eyes. Perhaps he was lost in the tunes being streamed directly into his brain through his headphones. Gum shrugged and continued to gaze out across the cityscape. She had often spent evenings in Beat's company, exchanging playful yet cynical insults in an attempt to outdo each other with sharp wit. Other times they would race across the rooftops and through car-filled streets in order to prove who was faster. Occasionally they would have private tagging competitions to see who had come up with a "phatter" design than the other. Very rarely did the two find themselves alone together sharing nothing but silence and each other's company. This was one of those rare moments and it was a bit unnerving.
Gum was getting cold. The soft breeze sailing through Benten-cho was a bit nippier than usual on this night and the rudie-girl could feel the goose bumps rising on her soft skin. She wanted to go somewhere, but she was not sure exactly where. "Home" sounded like a nice solution. She looked down at the dark concrete below and pulled her knees up against her chest. "Home"... The run-down and abandoned garage in sunny Shibuya-cho was her "home". The GGs were her "family". Gum had pondered this scenario many times late at night when she was alone or just about to fall asleep. Her mind wandered to her mother whom she had left so long ago. A sigh was just about to escape her lips when Beat's voice suddenly startled her.
"You know what would be cool, Gum?"
Gum turned and gazed at the boy who still lay stretched out on the cold roof surface with his arms folded behind his head. "Huh? No, what?"
Beat paused for some time, then lifted his arm and pointed skyward. "If I could tag the moon."
Gum bit her lip but could not contain a laugh.
Beat did not turn to look at her but was obviously annoyed by her response. "Well what's so funny about that?"
"Oh nothing. Other than the fact that it's impossible and a really dumb thing to have said, there's nothing funny about it."
Beat let out a snort of displeasure and shifted a bit on his back. "I could do it."
Gum chuckled and turned her head in the opposite direction, trying to conceal a smile. "You and what rocket ship? You couldn't even tag that water tower over there."
Beat finally sat up on his elbows and turned to glare at Gum, recognizing a challenge when her heard one. "Is that a fact? Well I'm damn certain you couldn't either."
Although she had thought her companion's comment about the moon had been... dare she say... "cute"... Gum reverted to her cynical frame of mind and glared right back at Beat. "Is that so?"
The two rudies continued this staring match for about ten seconds before both were on their feet and skating towards the end of the roof, in the direction of the water tower. They both hit the edge at the same time, but Beat took a long lunging leap onto a balcony railing of the adjacent building. Gum slid her magnetic skates easily onto a wide winding rail that she knew would lead her directly to her destination. She noticed Beat was not following her path and shifted her eyes upward, hearing the sound of his skates grinding on metal, and then the sound was gone. She pushed this curiosity out of her mind and concentrated on her balance as her dismount approached at end of the curving rail. With precise timing, Gum launched herself from the rail and cleared a small gate, landing dexterously on her feet at the base of a rung ladder. She hastily grabbed onto it and started hoisting herself up and quickly as she could. Once she reached the top of the ladder, she grinned to herself triumphantly as the small water tower stood before her. Her gloved hand swiftly moved to her belt and removed a trusty spray paint can which she pointed directly at the surface of the water tower. Her finger was about to depress the nozzle when a large impact about two feet away from her startled the daylights out of her. "Gyaah!"
Beat had landed right next to her from some unknown height, spray can already in hand and grin already plastered on face. "Did I scare you?"
"Argh, you jerk!" was all that Gum could spit out, visibly moved by this sudden interaction. Without hesitation, she lifted the spray can to the surface in question and started tagging, but her cocky companion had the same idea. Gum paused, then shifted her eyes to Beat. "Excuse me. What are you doing?"
"Tagging."
"Yeah, no kidding. Get outta my space, now!"
"Who says it's your space? I got here first."
"No you didn't! I was here first! I won, now I'm leaving my tag. Move it, Beat."
"Nah, I don't think I will."
"Jerk! I'm warning you! Get out of the way! Stop spraying! This is my space! You jerk!"
This childish bickering went on for about fifteen minutes, and by the time were finished fighting it out, Beat and Gum had seemingly created a new tag.
The two, tired out from yelling at and pushing each other, sat down on the edge of the platform the water tower rested on and continued their silent gazing. The dripping work of art that stood behind them read something like, "BeGautm".
Gum found herself smiling again. Even though they would sometimes be at odds with each other, she always enjoyed being with him. Running with Beat gave her almost as much of an adrenaline rush as dodging bullets from Onishima's gun. And also... as she looked over at him... she realized she didn't only enjoy the social aspect of their time together, but also the physical aspect. She was sitting close enough to him that she could faintly feel the waves of heat coming off of his body. Any other girl might be repulsed by this, seeing as it indicated the boy had been sweating profusely from their late night race, but not Gum. She appreciated it and even enjoyed it. She also fancied she could feel the vibrations of his heartbeat.
Suddenly, Beat turned and looked at her, and slowly lifted his hand to his face. Gum watched curiously and intently. "Hey Gum-chan?"
He had caught her off guard by referring to her as this, and it delayed her response time. "Y-yes, Beat-kun?"
"You cold? Maybe we should go home."
Gum kept her eyes on his hand, then shifted her eyes down to her legs which seemed to be shivering. "Oh uh.. no. I.. have some things I still need to do tonight. You go on home without me."
"Things..." Beat repeated. He turned to the side and reached into his jeans pocket, digging profusely. "All right then, here." He pulled out about 500 yen and pointed it in Gum's direction.
Gum blinked a few times at the offering before she looked back up at Beat. "What's this?"
"Just take it. It's just a little money for something to eat.. or something. In case you need it."
"Beat, I can't take your money. I don't need it. Besides, you worked for it..."
Beat suddenly grabbed her hand and pressed the change into Gum's gloved palm. "Take it, all right? Don't be so stubborn."
Gum wasn't sure what to do, so she merely nodded and pocketed the money. When she looked back up she nearly jumped out of her skin. Beat had taken off his goggles and was looking at her with his 'bare eyes'. Gum tried not to gawk like an obsessed fan girl, or anything of the type, but the rare, rare sight of Beat's actual brown eyes seemed to fascinate her. "Ano.. uh... doumo arigatou gozaimasu, Beat-kun..." she stuttered, looking deep into his eyes.
"Dou itashimashite, Gum-chan."
His eyes seem so innocent, Gum thought to herself as Beat began to stand up. How odd for such a big tough-guy gang leader to have such soft, innocent eyes...
Beat slowly skated his way to the gate and rested one hand on it before looking back at Gum. "Hey, whatever it is you're doing tonight, be careful, huh? This isn't our turf yet."
Gum simply nodded and never broke eye contact. "I know. I will be."
Beat nodded back. "All right. See ya." With that, Beat let out a short grunt and boosted himself over the gate and plummeted down towards the streets of Benten-cho.
Gum turned and looked back up at the moon. She envisioned one of Beat's signature tags plastered across the surface of the glowing heavenly body. She smiled to herself and jingled the change he had given her around in her pocket. Deep inside, she hoped that, either through his ignorance or her will, she would be able to look into those constantly concealed eyes again soon.
