Chapter One: You Remind Me
By Kurohi Tatsaki
Disclaimer: I do not own Wild Arms 3, and I haven't beaten the game yet! It's a cool game, though! (I just finished the Glimmering Emblem as of 1/5/03. School's tomorrow and most likely I'll hate the first week or so.) I wouldn't be writing a fic about it if I didn't think that! Jet's so kawaii!
Jet: I am not kawaii! I deserve a better compliment, ya hear me?!
KT: Well... I AM using a character that stars offa some of my persona. And you're gonna like him! His basic idea came from while I was on a Yu-Gi-Oh! craze!
Jet: Oh, no, not Yu-Gi-Oh!! *faints*
Jet/OC, follows the story-line, so there're spoilers, Yaoi! Don't like it? Go away! Like it? Read on! I'm also getting good at lemons and some limes, but there aren't any in this chapter!
"speaking", (thinking), ~(present thoughts in a flashback)~
*************************************
The chamber bustled with activity. Gunshots blasted throughout the arena-like room. Suddenly, it ended. A few words were exchanged, and a group of four entered the next two chambers. The only female of the group, who had long brown hair and green eyes glared prettily at a blue-haired man and his cronies. The other three, males, were nearly unaffected, except for one white-haired, purple-eyed boy just as tall as the western-dressed teen girl.
"You may have beaten us last time, but it won't happen again! WE Drifters will be the ones to beat you to all the shields AND the Eternal Sparkle!" declared the over-confident blue-haired man.
"I doubt that!" reprisaled the girl. "We DID beat you last time!"
"Yes, but it was four on three. Now, we have another member of our group to replace Lucio! Get out here, you!" He looked around, then up onto a pillar. The pillar stood boldly next to a flame on a cross, which was next to yet another towering giant. A dark-colored boy sat quietly on the one closest to the threesome, but even closer to the group of four. "Hey! What are you doin' up there?! Git down!"
The boy blinked, then flitted down, landing with a quiet tap on his inch-heel, rounded, brown leather boots. His dark blue eyes regarded his leader coldly. "As you request." He stood just in front of the varied group of four.
One green-haired male wearing a black and orange trench-coat and rounded glasses said, "A new member or old? I thought you said another one of your group had fallen in battle... Lucio, was it?"
Janus, the blue-haired one, cackled loudly, then smirked evilly. "He did. But this one, here..." He gestured the five-feet, two-inches tall boy wildly. "...this one's a genius! If it weren't for his lack of self- confidence and risk-taking, I'd be dead right now! I swear...! He's like you, Princess! He'll point a gun, but he won't pull the trigger!! It's pathetic!"
"Don't rub it in," said the boy, moving toward his group until he was looking nearly eye-to-eye with them. His voice was just as deep as a cat's purr, and his dim eyes half-lidded, as if only semi-conscious to the world. "You only won because you blackmailed me." He raised his lips into a sneer, about to continue, but Janus interrupted him.
"And I'm gonna keep ya here, brat, until you fulfill what I asked for!"
"Call me by name, or I will not obey your commands like the sick puppy you try to mold me into."
(Obey...?) thought the girl. She glanced at her group.
"Fine, then, *Kurohi*... If that's yer real name."
The spiky-haired boy growled. "It. Is. My. Name." (I have been called that a long time... But I don't know if that's even true.)
"Either way, you WOULD obey. Even if it HAS been a few days since I brought you in."
The boy blinked his dim blue eyes and ran a hand through a few brown spikes of hair. One end of it was calm spikes, the other had an area that had flaming spikes, ending in a tip. [A/N: If you've seen Yu*Yu*Hakusho, it's similar to Hiei's hairstyle with a little bit of Kurama's wavy locks off to one side, but this character here was made up from Yu-Gi-Oh! while I was on a full-fledged Yami craze. He's just SO~ SEXY~! ^______^] "So. *boss*. what are we gonna do about them?" He aimed his sights at the group of four.
"Get rid of them. What else?"
(Kill them? I think not...) From behind his back, Kurohi yanked a semi- machine gun-like ARM out of a holster and aimed it at the leader, despite his mind's protests. "Allow me the honor, then. You guys go ahead and take the shield. I'll catch up later," he said coolly. (And then I'll...)
"No, you won't. We're fighting too! We can't have you run off afterwards!"
"Suit. Yourself," clipped the boy. (Damn. I'll have to try a different approach... I don't wanna kill anymore... but I gotta make this look real if I want to......-)
Virginia, the only girl, Gallows, one of the other boys, from Baskar, Jet, and Clive drew their Rapier Ex and Bantorain 93R, Modified Coyote M17F, Airget-lamb B/V2 and Gungnir HAG35, respectively. Virginia's guns were short, typical revolver or pistol type guns while the other ones appeared like machine or shotguns.
-...He had no time to finish his thought. Aiming quickly, he unleashed a flurry of bullets toward the white-haired one, Jet. He dodged to one side and retaliated with his own gun, eyes colder than ice and four times the shade. Kurohi mentally shivered in spite of that crystalline gaze, but held a physical one at bay with some difficulty. He doubled his onslaught, seeming to startle the other boy, who yelped when a bullet hit his skin roughly.
The other boy halted his attack suddenly. (Shit! I hit him!) Images and memories flooding his brain at an overwhelming rate, causing a fierce throbbing sensation to form in his skull. He nearly dropped his gun. (...No more! I don't want to......) Kurohi now saw something that had happened long ago, something dead as history could ever be, again through this lad who stood up before him, towering over him by a mere two inches. The only thing that overrode their height was Kurohi's held-high brown and silver hair. The silver locks, in the form of a half-star, moved slightly against the artificial breeze of combat around him. He stared down - or rather, up - his opponent. He felt as if he could not come to harm, let alone kill, the silver-haired boy.
His heart clenched in place rather painfully, and he nearly gasped aloud because of it.
But if he didn't... Janus would...
(NO! Don't make me see it again!)
***Flashback***
A blue-haired man staggers slowly up, blood dripping from various wounds. He glares at his attacker, then aims his Bayonet type ARM at a figure off- screen. The camera zooms in on Janus's target, which is a small girl. She is wearing a pink dress and white, high-heel boots with silver spurs. Her red eyes widen at the sight of an ARM pointed at her.
"Stop! Please don't hurt my sister!"
~(I can't bear this... don't make me see it again...)~
The camera pans over to the speaker, Kurohi. He blinks his blue eyes, one lithe arm outstretched feebly toward his sibling and slowly approaches with the steady, fluid movements of a feline. "Leave her alone, Janus."
"And if I don't? What if I shot her just now?" he taunts. The boy's eyes sizzle enough to seem as if lasers will come out of them.
~(...I wanted to protect her... I tried so hard...)~
"If you kill her, I will kill you," he murmurs. He then says firmly, "Don't force me to kill you... Don't force me to kill again! I'm a protector, not a killer!!"
"O-Oniisan.!" Kurohi's sister, a frail, green-eyed girl stutters in confusion. "I... I thought you..." Kurohi stares at his silver-haired, younger sister, then back at Janus, his long eyelashes not given the chance to hood his playful, but deadly blue eyes. He approaches almost suddenly, putting one foot firmly in front of himself, and Janus's finger slips on the trigger rather purposefully. A gunshot sounds out, echoing loudly, and Kurohi's sister falls to one side. A crimson pool of blood flows beneath her, staining her perfect shade of pink dress a horrible, disgusting rose color.
~(NOOO! Someone! Wake me up! I don't want to see this anymore! Wait, I *am* awake...! But why do I see this again?! Is it because of...)~
The brown and silver-haired boy's aquamarine blue eyes darken to a deep ocean sapphire, and widen. He couldn't hear anything! Why couldn't he hear her?! "......! S... Seishin...?" He strains his hearing even further in hopes to hear a sliver of life. He hears nothing save his own heart pounding loudly in his chest and ears, and the sounds of two people breathing: himself, deep breaths, and Janus, harsh pants, due to gunshot wounds.
He couldn't hear his sister's steady, strong heartbeat. No life...
She was...
...NOOOO!
"SEI...SEI--SHI-----N--!!!"
"Whoops..." he said carelessly, as if this were a game. "...finger slipped."
The last thread of Kurohi's well-being snapped. "WHY YOU LITTLE......!! GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER YOU ASSHOLE!"
~(...Dear mind... why do you torture me so...? To remind me? Of what?)~
He stares at his opponent carelessly. "Life don't work that way, ya know."
Widened blue eyes don't relax. The owner of the eyes' breaths hitch into restrained gasps. Tears well up in those eyes, then disappear as if they never were there.
(I know that,) he thinks. (But I can't face it... someone... make it go away...! Please! Dear god, Seishin...)
He screams, a high alto noise, before a deep shadow takes his place. The being sees that Janus has aimed the gun at his mother and other brother, and retreats into the recesses of its host's mind after the blue-haired male says, "Do as I ask, and I won't kill them."
"...As you request," he murmurs after he has reverted to his normal self, though he is slightly uneasy because now his clothing is in shreds, hanging limply from his limbs. He glares at Janus. "If you come to harm them, I will see to your death myself. I shall rip that heart of yours from your chest and feed it to the monsters after I crush it with my bare hands!"
Janus smirks. "It's a done deal, brat."
"......"
~(...my fault... I couldn't save her, and, instead, my family was thrown into the fray... I wish I could have done things differently... but... the past is the past... But... but why does it follow me?!)~
***End Flashback***
Kurohi physically shook his head free of the image of his sister. Seishin... Strange, how this boy reminded him of her. What was his name?
"It is not proper unless I know your name," murmured the boy. (Actually, despite the consequences, I want to know you... I can't *not* know you. Please tell me your name...!)
Deep inside his subconscious, he called to the boy.
The silver-haired one cocked an eyebrow. "What do you care for my name? I'm only a single face out of many."
"...I do not feel right fighting someone I do not know. Especially someone who reminds me of my sister..." (Sister... Only by hair color do you, boy, remind me of her... But... for some reason even I cannot come to grips with, I cannot kill you. You are too...)
"WHAT?! I am no girl!" (Who does he think he is?! Calling me a girl! Can't he see I'm quite male?!)
Deep inside, he felt sorry for unintentionally insulting him.
Kurohi regarded the amethyst-eyed boy coolly. "Did I say that? Only your hair color reminds me, anyway." He hesitated. "I do not want to kill you." (I can't... Why can't I? ... I don't want to, that's why...! I'm a protector... not a killer... not a murderer......)
"Hmph. That I doubt." (Don't believe him. Easier to be suspicious.)
"You still haven't answered my question." (I need to know. Please tell me...!) He was feeling desperate, like a drowning man clutching to a chunk of debris.
"Hmph. It's Jet." (A one-syllable word can't harm anything.)
"Jet, huh?" he asked. "Anyway, please believe me... What have I done of my free will to harm you?" (A part of me is uncontrollable... it thirsts for blood and carnage... It resides in my very soul. It scares me... Even more so, there's no one around to make sure my sanity remains intact... I need... I want......) "You shot me in the arm."
He blinked, his eyes taking on an apologetic glow. He bows his head slightly, brown spikes rushing forward." ......" (.Forgive me..)
"Aren't you gonna say somethin' sappy or cliché like, 'I'm sorry'?"
Blinking once, he murmured, "Why say something like that when I will not be believed by anyone?" (No one believes me... But I know I should apologize. ...But he won't believe me...)
"You have a point."
"...But if I don't fight you..." he murmurs, raising his head. (...Mother! Brother! I can't kill him! I can't kill his group! I. Can't. Kill. Them! But I can't kill you all either! Help me... someone? Anyone!)
"BRAT! You'd better be fighting before I kill You-Know-Whos!"
"...Damn!" he cursed, looking at his boss. He stared at Jet, muttering coldly, ".........One or the other... the other or one... face horrible moral pains either way... one over two... two over one... It makes a difference... what do I choose......? Why should I choose...? Choose one, I lose the other; choose the other, and I lose the first... Decisions, decisions..."
...
...
...
(Heh...)
...
...
(Hehe... Heheh... Hahaha! It's so stupid it just might work!!)
...
Inside Kurohi's subconscious, he wondered what the hell he was doing. He wondered why he would choose one person over his only links to his ever- fading past. Why sacrifice who you were to someone you just met, and why feel so deeply connected to this boy, Jet, upon first sight?
Why?
(......I can kill *HIM*!) He turned to his leader, and cocked his gun. "EAT LEAD, BASTARD!!" Kurohi opened fire.
Janus rolled to the floor, glaring at his unwilling partner-in-crime. "BASTARD!" he mirrored. "I thought we were a-ahhh!"
A bullet pierced his shoulder, then his chest, then grazed the side of his face, then broke into the wall behind him.
Blinking slowly, the unwilling villain slumped to the floor tiredly. (Oh... Oh, no... I blew it...) He shook his head. "...Now... they'll die because of me... Kurohi no baka [1] ... It's my fault..." He banged his fist so hard on the ground his popped a few knuckles painfully. He refused to wince.
"What're you blabbering about now?" clipped Jet irritably.
"...They're gonna die..."
...
"My mother... my brother..." he elaborated. "Since I broke the unwilling truce, Janus will kill my only family... my only memories... and... my memory as it is, I can't store things for too long..." (If I can't remember who I am... I'll be a wandering shell...! ...I'm all ready starting to forget...What was the name of the town I was banished from again...?)
"Hey! You there!" piped the cheerful girl. She dashed toward the shortest boy and looked down at his face. "Hi! Why were you with that jerk, Janus?"
"...A choice in which I had no say. Now that the treaty between myself and him is destroyed, he shall slaughter my family." (They shall pay the price... but not me. He won't harm me, because the ones he'll harm are the ones who mean most to me... Had I killed Jet and his group, I'd have saved my family......) His stomach dropped when he thought, (but lost a piece of... myself......? What...? ...but since I attacked Janus......)
Silence.
"...And I broke the treaty when I attacked Janus. I was supposed to kill all four of you." His ears picked up a soft sound, though he wasn't sure if anyone heard it. He kept quiet. "Anyway, I was told you four were moving around in a group. This is so?"
She nodded, her braid swishing slightly to one side. Her bright green eyes were illuminated with cheeriness. "Yeah. I'm Virginia. I am sure you've met Jet, there. And, behind me," she gestured with one white glove toward two other men. One with green hair and green eyes veiled slightly by thin-framed glasses. He wore black leather pants and yellow boots. His cloak settled against his back, trailing mere inches from the floor. The other man had brown hair with one white spike that fell limply off to one side of his face. He was a Baskarian. Though he wore no feathers, he wore tan-colored skins of various sorts. His boots were black with silver spurs. "These two are Gallows."
The Baskarian man waved.
".and Clive."
"How do you do," he greeted.
Kurohi cocked a dark, regal eyebrow at the gentleman. He could never get used to those kinds of people. They gave him the creeps.
Deep inside, he was flattered.
He heard the noise again, and looked up swiftly. "...Shit!"
He wasn't the only one to see. Jet moved, fast as lightening, and scooped the girl out of the way,-
Seeing the simple, heroic way he held her made Kurohi's heart clench up in a strange way.
...This was jealousy?
-and flitted back just as a boulder came crashing down, missing the duo by inches. He landed on one side,-
...Though knowing well enough Jet and Virginia would be all right, he felt a certain uncertainty. Were they okay?
-and Virginia, ever so angry, got up again, having been dropped from the hold by accident, and moved toward a blonde-haired girl.
The girl slapped her!
Reeling from the slap, the girl said, "You nearly put one of your comrades in danger! Wannabe Drifter, go back where you belong!"
The green-eyed girl said nothing.
"Anyway, here's the shield. You'll find answers in Ka Dingel." She handed "leader" the red shield. Her teammates protested. Why should they give the shield to the enemy? Their leader, Blonde, answered them. Actually, he later learned her name was Maya.
Kurohi walked over to Jet and offered a hand to help him up with blank eyes caused by brooding. "...I see I'm not the only perceptive one." The corner of his mouth twitched in a would-be sad smile. "...but I tend to think too much before I act." (You, certainly, are the better one.)
The silver-haired boy rose on his own. "I don't need help from anyone," he clipped, glaring at the shorter boy. "And that also refers to you!" (Why can't he just go away? The brat...)
Kurohi laughed as Jet moved back toward his group. It was a bitter sound, due to his unwanted feeling of being shot down. "That's what *I* used to think. And look where it got me." (Yeah... and I can't go back to where I came from...) He looked around the ruins. "...A sorry place of ruin where I only have a few days until my family's massacred by a blue-haired bastard......" He promptly stomped over to a pillar and leaned against it, muttering sarcastically, "Whoop-dee-doo... I'm soooo lucky..." (...Lucky to be the cause of my family's death...)
The girl and her group had left. Virginia walked over to the musing, sulking Kurohi. "Don't give up hope yet! Where do they live?"
"..." (I can't say... I only know things by sight... Not name... My memories are all getting blurry... I might forget my parents, brother and... sister... at this rate!)
"Em, Kurohi?"
"......Yeah?" He blinked, blue eyes losing their glazed over look to reveal something more clear, then it was gone. Virginia barely noticed this, but a pair of purple eyes knew what just flickered through those irises.
...pain. A kind of hard pain that, whenever rusted, got worse and stronger. Brittle and snapping.
"Answer my question."
He closed his blank eyes. "...I can't go back... They told me they were not there once Janus made that threat. Not only that, I was banished from the town right after I fought the bastard... I was also labeled as a murderer... not the protector I wished I was......"
"Oh..."
"I can only hope that they're okay." He visibly slumped into his dazed stupor again. (Damn it... I hate being helpless...)
"Weakling," cut in Jet. "Trying to get pity from us?"
"Shut up, Jet," said Gallows. The large man knew of Jet's behavior, but this was even more cruel than usual! "He don't need that crap to deal with right now!"
"...It's quite all right, Gallows," murmured the boy. "I get that a lot. I'm used to it." Prying open one dark blue eye, one could see a tinge of demon red in the iris had just decided to show up. The red mark encircled his entire pupil, and ended there. When he blinked, it disappeared. "......I take it you're the leader, here, Virginia. So, once you get some leads, where do you think that will take you?"
"What?" she asked, confused. "You don't want to come with?"
"I stated it as I did in case you did not want me to accompany you," came the quiet, slow reply. "...Maybe it would be better if I did *not* go with you. Who'd want me around, anyway? Jet seems to not want me around."
"We would!" piped "leader". "Don't mind Jet. He's a smart-ass."
Jet closed his eyes. "Hmph."
"There is always safety in numbers..." reasoned the bounty-hunter.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" the Baskarian man asked.
"Nani?[2]"
"Why do you look like a girl?"
"..." He nearly glared at the man. How dare he make such a blunt statement for his almost feminine structure?! It wasn't his fault he looked as he did! Not his fault both men and women alike hit on him! Men thought he was a she, and women knew the truth! "I cannot help the way I was born... Just as I cannot help that I like my hairstyle; the same way I cannot help my current situation. That good enough for ya?"
"Jeez... I didn't mean it like that, y'know..."
"Kh..." He turned his gaze to the brown-haired female. "So, leader, what are we gonna do now? I doubt you wanted to stand around and chit-chat here all day."
She nodded. "You're right. Let's all go to Ka Dingel!"
*************************************
Don't yell; I did this fic a long time ago! R&R! Oh, and can somebody PLEAZE help me title this thing? It's been untitled for a LONG time!
[1] "Kurohi the idiot", or "the idiot Kurohi". I'm not sure which. I'm not fluent in Japanese.
[2] "Nani" Japanese for "What"
By Kurohi Tatsaki
Disclaimer: I do not own Wild Arms 3, and I haven't beaten the game yet! It's a cool game, though! (I just finished the Glimmering Emblem as of 1/5/03. School's tomorrow and most likely I'll hate the first week or so.) I wouldn't be writing a fic about it if I didn't think that! Jet's so kawaii!
Jet: I am not kawaii! I deserve a better compliment, ya hear me?!
KT: Well... I AM using a character that stars offa some of my persona. And you're gonna like him! His basic idea came from while I was on a Yu-Gi-Oh! craze!
Jet: Oh, no, not Yu-Gi-Oh!! *faints*
Jet/OC, follows the story-line, so there're spoilers, Yaoi! Don't like it? Go away! Like it? Read on! I'm also getting good at lemons and some limes, but there aren't any in this chapter!
"speaking", (thinking), ~(present thoughts in a flashback)~
*************************************
The chamber bustled with activity. Gunshots blasted throughout the arena-like room. Suddenly, it ended. A few words were exchanged, and a group of four entered the next two chambers. The only female of the group, who had long brown hair and green eyes glared prettily at a blue-haired man and his cronies. The other three, males, were nearly unaffected, except for one white-haired, purple-eyed boy just as tall as the western-dressed teen girl.
"You may have beaten us last time, but it won't happen again! WE Drifters will be the ones to beat you to all the shields AND the Eternal Sparkle!" declared the over-confident blue-haired man.
"I doubt that!" reprisaled the girl. "We DID beat you last time!"
"Yes, but it was four on three. Now, we have another member of our group to replace Lucio! Get out here, you!" He looked around, then up onto a pillar. The pillar stood boldly next to a flame on a cross, which was next to yet another towering giant. A dark-colored boy sat quietly on the one closest to the threesome, but even closer to the group of four. "Hey! What are you doin' up there?! Git down!"
The boy blinked, then flitted down, landing with a quiet tap on his inch-heel, rounded, brown leather boots. His dark blue eyes regarded his leader coldly. "As you request." He stood just in front of the varied group of four.
One green-haired male wearing a black and orange trench-coat and rounded glasses said, "A new member or old? I thought you said another one of your group had fallen in battle... Lucio, was it?"
Janus, the blue-haired one, cackled loudly, then smirked evilly. "He did. But this one, here..." He gestured the five-feet, two-inches tall boy wildly. "...this one's a genius! If it weren't for his lack of self- confidence and risk-taking, I'd be dead right now! I swear...! He's like you, Princess! He'll point a gun, but he won't pull the trigger!! It's pathetic!"
"Don't rub it in," said the boy, moving toward his group until he was looking nearly eye-to-eye with them. His voice was just as deep as a cat's purr, and his dim eyes half-lidded, as if only semi-conscious to the world. "You only won because you blackmailed me." He raised his lips into a sneer, about to continue, but Janus interrupted him.
"And I'm gonna keep ya here, brat, until you fulfill what I asked for!"
"Call me by name, or I will not obey your commands like the sick puppy you try to mold me into."
(Obey...?) thought the girl. She glanced at her group.
"Fine, then, *Kurohi*... If that's yer real name."
The spiky-haired boy growled. "It. Is. My. Name." (I have been called that a long time... But I don't know if that's even true.)
"Either way, you WOULD obey. Even if it HAS been a few days since I brought you in."
The boy blinked his dim blue eyes and ran a hand through a few brown spikes of hair. One end of it was calm spikes, the other had an area that had flaming spikes, ending in a tip. [A/N: If you've seen Yu*Yu*Hakusho, it's similar to Hiei's hairstyle with a little bit of Kurama's wavy locks off to one side, but this character here was made up from Yu-Gi-Oh! while I was on a full-fledged Yami craze. He's just SO~ SEXY~! ^______^] "So. *boss*. what are we gonna do about them?" He aimed his sights at the group of four.
"Get rid of them. What else?"
(Kill them? I think not...) From behind his back, Kurohi yanked a semi- machine gun-like ARM out of a holster and aimed it at the leader, despite his mind's protests. "Allow me the honor, then. You guys go ahead and take the shield. I'll catch up later," he said coolly. (And then I'll...)
"No, you won't. We're fighting too! We can't have you run off afterwards!"
"Suit. Yourself," clipped the boy. (Damn. I'll have to try a different approach... I don't wanna kill anymore... but I gotta make this look real if I want to......-)
Virginia, the only girl, Gallows, one of the other boys, from Baskar, Jet, and Clive drew their Rapier Ex and Bantorain 93R, Modified Coyote M17F, Airget-lamb B/V2 and Gungnir HAG35, respectively. Virginia's guns were short, typical revolver or pistol type guns while the other ones appeared like machine or shotguns.
-...He had no time to finish his thought. Aiming quickly, he unleashed a flurry of bullets toward the white-haired one, Jet. He dodged to one side and retaliated with his own gun, eyes colder than ice and four times the shade. Kurohi mentally shivered in spite of that crystalline gaze, but held a physical one at bay with some difficulty. He doubled his onslaught, seeming to startle the other boy, who yelped when a bullet hit his skin roughly.
The other boy halted his attack suddenly. (Shit! I hit him!) Images and memories flooding his brain at an overwhelming rate, causing a fierce throbbing sensation to form in his skull. He nearly dropped his gun. (...No more! I don't want to......) Kurohi now saw something that had happened long ago, something dead as history could ever be, again through this lad who stood up before him, towering over him by a mere two inches. The only thing that overrode their height was Kurohi's held-high brown and silver hair. The silver locks, in the form of a half-star, moved slightly against the artificial breeze of combat around him. He stared down - or rather, up - his opponent. He felt as if he could not come to harm, let alone kill, the silver-haired boy.
His heart clenched in place rather painfully, and he nearly gasped aloud because of it.
But if he didn't... Janus would...
(NO! Don't make me see it again!)
***Flashback***
A blue-haired man staggers slowly up, blood dripping from various wounds. He glares at his attacker, then aims his Bayonet type ARM at a figure off- screen. The camera zooms in on Janus's target, which is a small girl. She is wearing a pink dress and white, high-heel boots with silver spurs. Her red eyes widen at the sight of an ARM pointed at her.
"Stop! Please don't hurt my sister!"
~(I can't bear this... don't make me see it again...)~
The camera pans over to the speaker, Kurohi. He blinks his blue eyes, one lithe arm outstretched feebly toward his sibling and slowly approaches with the steady, fluid movements of a feline. "Leave her alone, Janus."
"And if I don't? What if I shot her just now?" he taunts. The boy's eyes sizzle enough to seem as if lasers will come out of them.
~(...I wanted to protect her... I tried so hard...)~
"If you kill her, I will kill you," he murmurs. He then says firmly, "Don't force me to kill you... Don't force me to kill again! I'm a protector, not a killer!!"
"O-Oniisan.!" Kurohi's sister, a frail, green-eyed girl stutters in confusion. "I... I thought you..." Kurohi stares at his silver-haired, younger sister, then back at Janus, his long eyelashes not given the chance to hood his playful, but deadly blue eyes. He approaches almost suddenly, putting one foot firmly in front of himself, and Janus's finger slips on the trigger rather purposefully. A gunshot sounds out, echoing loudly, and Kurohi's sister falls to one side. A crimson pool of blood flows beneath her, staining her perfect shade of pink dress a horrible, disgusting rose color.
~(NOOO! Someone! Wake me up! I don't want to see this anymore! Wait, I *am* awake...! But why do I see this again?! Is it because of...)~
The brown and silver-haired boy's aquamarine blue eyes darken to a deep ocean sapphire, and widen. He couldn't hear anything! Why couldn't he hear her?! "......! S... Seishin...?" He strains his hearing even further in hopes to hear a sliver of life. He hears nothing save his own heart pounding loudly in his chest and ears, and the sounds of two people breathing: himself, deep breaths, and Janus, harsh pants, due to gunshot wounds.
He couldn't hear his sister's steady, strong heartbeat. No life...
She was...
...NOOOO!
"SEI...SEI--SHI-----N--!!!"
"Whoops..." he said carelessly, as if this were a game. "...finger slipped."
The last thread of Kurohi's well-being snapped. "WHY YOU LITTLE......!! GIVE ME BACK MY SISTER YOU ASSHOLE!"
~(...Dear mind... why do you torture me so...? To remind me? Of what?)~
He stares at his opponent carelessly. "Life don't work that way, ya know."
Widened blue eyes don't relax. The owner of the eyes' breaths hitch into restrained gasps. Tears well up in those eyes, then disappear as if they never were there.
(I know that,) he thinks. (But I can't face it... someone... make it go away...! Please! Dear god, Seishin...)
He screams, a high alto noise, before a deep shadow takes his place. The being sees that Janus has aimed the gun at his mother and other brother, and retreats into the recesses of its host's mind after the blue-haired male says, "Do as I ask, and I won't kill them."
"...As you request," he murmurs after he has reverted to his normal self, though he is slightly uneasy because now his clothing is in shreds, hanging limply from his limbs. He glares at Janus. "If you come to harm them, I will see to your death myself. I shall rip that heart of yours from your chest and feed it to the monsters after I crush it with my bare hands!"
Janus smirks. "It's a done deal, brat."
"......"
~(...my fault... I couldn't save her, and, instead, my family was thrown into the fray... I wish I could have done things differently... but... the past is the past... But... but why does it follow me?!)~
***End Flashback***
Kurohi physically shook his head free of the image of his sister. Seishin... Strange, how this boy reminded him of her. What was his name?
"It is not proper unless I know your name," murmured the boy. (Actually, despite the consequences, I want to know you... I can't *not* know you. Please tell me your name...!)
Deep inside his subconscious, he called to the boy.
The silver-haired one cocked an eyebrow. "What do you care for my name? I'm only a single face out of many."
"...I do not feel right fighting someone I do not know. Especially someone who reminds me of my sister..." (Sister... Only by hair color do you, boy, remind me of her... But... for some reason even I cannot come to grips with, I cannot kill you. You are too...)
"WHAT?! I am no girl!" (Who does he think he is?! Calling me a girl! Can't he see I'm quite male?!)
Deep inside, he felt sorry for unintentionally insulting him.
Kurohi regarded the amethyst-eyed boy coolly. "Did I say that? Only your hair color reminds me, anyway." He hesitated. "I do not want to kill you." (I can't... Why can't I? ... I don't want to, that's why...! I'm a protector... not a killer... not a murderer......)
"Hmph. That I doubt." (Don't believe him. Easier to be suspicious.)
"You still haven't answered my question." (I need to know. Please tell me...!) He was feeling desperate, like a drowning man clutching to a chunk of debris.
"Hmph. It's Jet." (A one-syllable word can't harm anything.)
"Jet, huh?" he asked. "Anyway, please believe me... What have I done of my free will to harm you?" (A part of me is uncontrollable... it thirsts for blood and carnage... It resides in my very soul. It scares me... Even more so, there's no one around to make sure my sanity remains intact... I need... I want......) "You shot me in the arm."
He blinked, his eyes taking on an apologetic glow. He bows his head slightly, brown spikes rushing forward." ......" (.Forgive me..)
"Aren't you gonna say somethin' sappy or cliché like, 'I'm sorry'?"
Blinking once, he murmured, "Why say something like that when I will not be believed by anyone?" (No one believes me... But I know I should apologize. ...But he won't believe me...)
"You have a point."
"...But if I don't fight you..." he murmurs, raising his head. (...Mother! Brother! I can't kill him! I can't kill his group! I. Can't. Kill. Them! But I can't kill you all either! Help me... someone? Anyone!)
"BRAT! You'd better be fighting before I kill You-Know-Whos!"
"...Damn!" he cursed, looking at his boss. He stared at Jet, muttering coldly, ".........One or the other... the other or one... face horrible moral pains either way... one over two... two over one... It makes a difference... what do I choose......? Why should I choose...? Choose one, I lose the other; choose the other, and I lose the first... Decisions, decisions..."
...
...
...
(Heh...)
...
...
(Hehe... Heheh... Hahaha! It's so stupid it just might work!!)
...
Inside Kurohi's subconscious, he wondered what the hell he was doing. He wondered why he would choose one person over his only links to his ever- fading past. Why sacrifice who you were to someone you just met, and why feel so deeply connected to this boy, Jet, upon first sight?
Why?
(......I can kill *HIM*!) He turned to his leader, and cocked his gun. "EAT LEAD, BASTARD!!" Kurohi opened fire.
Janus rolled to the floor, glaring at his unwilling partner-in-crime. "BASTARD!" he mirrored. "I thought we were a-ahhh!"
A bullet pierced his shoulder, then his chest, then grazed the side of his face, then broke into the wall behind him.
Blinking slowly, the unwilling villain slumped to the floor tiredly. (Oh... Oh, no... I blew it...) He shook his head. "...Now... they'll die because of me... Kurohi no baka [1] ... It's my fault..." He banged his fist so hard on the ground his popped a few knuckles painfully. He refused to wince.
"What're you blabbering about now?" clipped Jet irritably.
"...They're gonna die..."
...
"My mother... my brother..." he elaborated. "Since I broke the unwilling truce, Janus will kill my only family... my only memories... and... my memory as it is, I can't store things for too long..." (If I can't remember who I am... I'll be a wandering shell...! ...I'm all ready starting to forget...What was the name of the town I was banished from again...?)
"Hey! You there!" piped the cheerful girl. She dashed toward the shortest boy and looked down at his face. "Hi! Why were you with that jerk, Janus?"
"...A choice in which I had no say. Now that the treaty between myself and him is destroyed, he shall slaughter my family." (They shall pay the price... but not me. He won't harm me, because the ones he'll harm are the ones who mean most to me... Had I killed Jet and his group, I'd have saved my family......) His stomach dropped when he thought, (but lost a piece of... myself......? What...? ...but since I attacked Janus......)
Silence.
"...And I broke the treaty when I attacked Janus. I was supposed to kill all four of you." His ears picked up a soft sound, though he wasn't sure if anyone heard it. He kept quiet. "Anyway, I was told you four were moving around in a group. This is so?"
She nodded, her braid swishing slightly to one side. Her bright green eyes were illuminated with cheeriness. "Yeah. I'm Virginia. I am sure you've met Jet, there. And, behind me," she gestured with one white glove toward two other men. One with green hair and green eyes veiled slightly by thin-framed glasses. He wore black leather pants and yellow boots. His cloak settled against his back, trailing mere inches from the floor. The other man had brown hair with one white spike that fell limply off to one side of his face. He was a Baskarian. Though he wore no feathers, he wore tan-colored skins of various sorts. His boots were black with silver spurs. "These two are Gallows."
The Baskarian man waved.
".and Clive."
"How do you do," he greeted.
Kurohi cocked a dark, regal eyebrow at the gentleman. He could never get used to those kinds of people. They gave him the creeps.
Deep inside, he was flattered.
He heard the noise again, and looked up swiftly. "...Shit!"
He wasn't the only one to see. Jet moved, fast as lightening, and scooped the girl out of the way,-
Seeing the simple, heroic way he held her made Kurohi's heart clench up in a strange way.
...This was jealousy?
-and flitted back just as a boulder came crashing down, missing the duo by inches. He landed on one side,-
...Though knowing well enough Jet and Virginia would be all right, he felt a certain uncertainty. Were they okay?
-and Virginia, ever so angry, got up again, having been dropped from the hold by accident, and moved toward a blonde-haired girl.
The girl slapped her!
Reeling from the slap, the girl said, "You nearly put one of your comrades in danger! Wannabe Drifter, go back where you belong!"
The green-eyed girl said nothing.
"Anyway, here's the shield. You'll find answers in Ka Dingel." She handed "leader" the red shield. Her teammates protested. Why should they give the shield to the enemy? Their leader, Blonde, answered them. Actually, he later learned her name was Maya.
Kurohi walked over to Jet and offered a hand to help him up with blank eyes caused by brooding. "...I see I'm not the only perceptive one." The corner of his mouth twitched in a would-be sad smile. "...but I tend to think too much before I act." (You, certainly, are the better one.)
The silver-haired boy rose on his own. "I don't need help from anyone," he clipped, glaring at the shorter boy. "And that also refers to you!" (Why can't he just go away? The brat...)
Kurohi laughed as Jet moved back toward his group. It was a bitter sound, due to his unwanted feeling of being shot down. "That's what *I* used to think. And look where it got me." (Yeah... and I can't go back to where I came from...) He looked around the ruins. "...A sorry place of ruin where I only have a few days until my family's massacred by a blue-haired bastard......" He promptly stomped over to a pillar and leaned against it, muttering sarcastically, "Whoop-dee-doo... I'm soooo lucky..." (...Lucky to be the cause of my family's death...)
The girl and her group had left. Virginia walked over to the musing, sulking Kurohi. "Don't give up hope yet! Where do they live?"
"..." (I can't say... I only know things by sight... Not name... My memories are all getting blurry... I might forget my parents, brother and... sister... at this rate!)
"Em, Kurohi?"
"......Yeah?" He blinked, blue eyes losing their glazed over look to reveal something more clear, then it was gone. Virginia barely noticed this, but a pair of purple eyes knew what just flickered through those irises.
...pain. A kind of hard pain that, whenever rusted, got worse and stronger. Brittle and snapping.
"Answer my question."
He closed his blank eyes. "...I can't go back... They told me they were not there once Janus made that threat. Not only that, I was banished from the town right after I fought the bastard... I was also labeled as a murderer... not the protector I wished I was......"
"Oh..."
"I can only hope that they're okay." He visibly slumped into his dazed stupor again. (Damn it... I hate being helpless...)
"Weakling," cut in Jet. "Trying to get pity from us?"
"Shut up, Jet," said Gallows. The large man knew of Jet's behavior, but this was even more cruel than usual! "He don't need that crap to deal with right now!"
"...It's quite all right, Gallows," murmured the boy. "I get that a lot. I'm used to it." Prying open one dark blue eye, one could see a tinge of demon red in the iris had just decided to show up. The red mark encircled his entire pupil, and ended there. When he blinked, it disappeared. "......I take it you're the leader, here, Virginia. So, once you get some leads, where do you think that will take you?"
"What?" she asked, confused. "You don't want to come with?"
"I stated it as I did in case you did not want me to accompany you," came the quiet, slow reply. "...Maybe it would be better if I did *not* go with you. Who'd want me around, anyway? Jet seems to not want me around."
"We would!" piped "leader". "Don't mind Jet. He's a smart-ass."
Jet closed his eyes. "Hmph."
"There is always safety in numbers..." reasoned the bounty-hunter.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" the Baskarian man asked.
"Nani?[2]"
"Why do you look like a girl?"
"..." He nearly glared at the man. How dare he make such a blunt statement for his almost feminine structure?! It wasn't his fault he looked as he did! Not his fault both men and women alike hit on him! Men thought he was a she, and women knew the truth! "I cannot help the way I was born... Just as I cannot help that I like my hairstyle; the same way I cannot help my current situation. That good enough for ya?"
"Jeez... I didn't mean it like that, y'know..."
"Kh..." He turned his gaze to the brown-haired female. "So, leader, what are we gonna do now? I doubt you wanted to stand around and chit-chat here all day."
She nodded. "You're right. Let's all go to Ka Dingel!"
*************************************
Don't yell; I did this fic a long time ago! R&R! Oh, and can somebody PLEAZE help me title this thing? It's been untitled for a LONG time!
[1] "Kurohi the idiot", or "the idiot Kurohi". I'm not sure which. I'm not fluent in Japanese.
[2] "Nani" Japanese for "What"