Equivalency
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, Digimon and Sakuma Ryuichi ;) (who is going to be mentioned briefly).
Warnings: Violence, mature themes and so on.
Rating: M
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance
Summary: The last thing Kari Yagami expected to find in her bedroom was the attractive young man from before...There is a counterpoise for everything in this world.
Yukimura SeiichixKari Yagami
-§-
"I want you to choose who you truly are and where you truly belong. Not on a whim, not because you wish for someone you're not, but because you honestly know yourself."
Jeanine Matthews
from Divergent
-§-
"You sure it's her?" Yukimura Seiichi asked his partner as they sat under the protection of a parasol from the rain in front of a café.
At a white, retound table, the two young men had ordered a cup of coffee, however, only one was touched. As they watched a girl with brunette hair and ruby-eyed and slumping shoulders, walking past them on the opposite street, their features became shadowed with a fearsome expression. Her high-school uniform gave her identity as a student away and her posture exposed her lack of confidence, but at the same time it hinted at the burden she was carrying on her back away. Unlike them, she hadn't taken shelter from the drizzle and continued her way, completely different to how wet she was getting.
"There is mistake," Nemu answered, taking a gulp from his coffee and relishing the taste before putting the porcelain cup back down on the saucer.
"Kari Yagami. 16 years old. Height: 165,5cm. Weight: 46 cm. Has a younger sibling, named Tai Yagami. She attends the Asakura high-school. Average grades. Apparently an outcast in her class, too. According to rumors, she is getting bullied by her peers," Nemu read out the information about their target from his black mobile phone that was a "custom-built model".
"I don't think it's a rumor," Yukimura commented dryly with displeasure.
"Yeah, me neither."
"Any other interesting facts about her?"
"Hmm, let's see. She enjoys reading cheesy romance novels. And, she is a fan of the singer Sakuma Ryuichi. Oh and according to the data, she is supposed to be quite good at birdwatching."
"Birdwatching?" Yukimura frowned, then smirked sarcastically. "What kind of hobby is that?"
"Obviously one she quite enjoys," Nemu answered, then added tauntingly, "Not everyone is able to enjoy such sophisticated hobbies like chess and puzzles as you do, my lord."
Yukimura allowed an amused smile to cross his face. "At least more intellectually challenging than bike cycling and boxing."
"You forget about my passion of women hunting."
Yukimura rolled his eyes, then added dryly, "Yeah, that, too."
However, their serious conversation that had accidentally slipped into gossiping was disrupted as they had a shriek from their target, who got herself into trouble as she was ambushed and surrounded by a group of girls her age. Her classmates. Yukimura's and Nemu's eyes features obscured.
"Looks like they really weren't rumors," Yukimura stated.
"Yeah, unfortunately," Nemu agreed.
Both of them, left the money for the coffee on the table and along with that a generous tip, even though they hadn't had the opportunity to empty their cups. They rose from their chairs and headed to the unpleasant situation to deal with it.
"What now?" Nemu asked.
"Let me deal with it," Yukimura replied.
His partner smirked. "Ah sure. Since you have experience with such matters already."
An expression of loathe and rage washed over Yukimura's face at his partner's remark, but Nemu noticed none of it.
-§-
Kari Yagami suddenly found herself cornered by Yolei Inoe, Tomoka Osakada and their friends as she was on her "home", the route in front of her suddenly blocked by the clique. Her skin crawled in anticipation at what was going to happen as it had done countless times before whenever she was confronted with Yolei and her gang.
Yolei Inoe, her classmate, was an unusually tall a girl with her 170 cm height, and towered over her superiorly. Kari cowered as Yolei stared her down behind her gigantic glasses that made her brown eyes like arthropod eyes; the eyes of an insect. Even Yolei's long and smooth lavender hair didn't soften the negative impact of her hideous spectacles, not helping her complete lack of feminity at all. The nearby civilians spot them and watched them curiously as they passed, whispering to each other but didn't bother to interfere. They didn't want to get involved in Kari's problems, of course. However, just as a precaution to avoid unnecessary attention, Yolei grabbed Kari by the arm and dragged her to the gap between two buildings that was located far away, a blind corner where the witnesses could only see them if they stood right in front of them and squinted intensely.
As they were far away enough, Kari found herself shoved against the hard brick wall behind her.
"What about this month's payment?" Yolei interrogated her with crossed arms.
"I-I already gave you my pocket-money for this month," Kari told her, trying in vain to reason.
"But that's not enough, we've already spent it," her bully growled. "Give me something else instead in that case."
"But-but I don't have anything!" Kari stammered.
"Don't bullshit me!" Yolei barked. "Just give us something instead! Be it your keychain, hair-clip or pen! Or whatever!"
Suddenly Kari found herself grabbed by her brunette hair and yanked viciously towards Yole, crying out in pain.
"I already told you that I don't have anything!" Kari argued, trying to free herself by pulling at her bully's slender, but strong wrist and pushing at her shoulder. However, Kari had no chance as the other four girls joined the brawl, grabbing a hold of her arms to control and consequently stop her struggles.
"Let me go!" The girl, who was being victimized, screamed but in the end she was ultimately subdued. There was just no way that she could fight five girls of malevolent nature at the same time- it was like having to fight against five walls that were slowly, relentlessly closing in on her.
However, before she could earn herself a beating, someone interfered. It was the first time someone had interfered.
"That's enough," a dulcet yet strong voice cut through the air, freezing everyone in their movement.
In front of them, stood a tall, slender but muscularly-built young man. He was beautiful and would've probably turned heads if they had been standing on the open street, his unique beauty being made of delicate yet well-defined features, long-lashes and piercing blue eyes. His wavy hair was only a few shades brighter than his eyes and the formal blazer he was dressed in.
"I can't believe this kind of stuff is still happening, even though you should all know better. I thought the teachers had taught you that bullying is wrong," He said coolly, regarding them as if they were insects. Like croak roaches who deserved to be crushed to dust beneath his feet on the ground. They were worth nothing.
All four girls instantly released Kari and retreated, but Yolei, on the other hand, gave her a rough shove back that sent her crashing to the ground.
Under any other circumstances, Yolei would've been ecstatic to be confronted with such a hunk, but right now she was pissed off. She was teaching that bitch a lesson in what was going to happen if she didn't listen to her. "Piss off. That bitch is none of your fricking business."
"That girl is my business," the stranger contradicted smoothly, but with a hard edge. "Now get lost before you get on my bad side."
Yolei, however, didn't take him serious and smirked haughtily. "And, why should I listen to you?" She asked him haughtily, waving her hand dismissively as if to shoo him away. "It's not like a pretty boy like you would dare to hit a girl or something."
Yukimura found her assumption based on his looks really amusing and ridiculous. He smirked with cold and cruel amusement as he thought about having to correct her soon. "Too bad. Unfortunately for you, I'm not the gentle type."
He approached Yolei and grabbed a hold of her throat faster than she could react, strangling her. His hand tightened to the point where the bitch in front of him couldn't breath anymore because her windpipe was completely shut and no air was able to pass through.
Yolei gurgled and grabbed furiously at her assailant's arm, trying to break it.
"People like you should just…," Yukimura hissed under his breath, wishing from the bottom of his heart that he could just choke this girl, who was so reminiscent to someone he abhorred, to death. It wouldn't matter that killing her wouldn't bring his sister back. At least, it might appease his sister's soul a little. Another name to add to black list that was already growing endlessly, anyway.
"…disappear. Rotten, self-serving, malicious and devoid of any compassion for others. There enough people like you already in this world. We don't need any more of you." he finished, not caring that she was at the brim of suffocation, fully intending to crush her neck. "You may disappear now. Don't worry…I'll tell your parents that you loved them."
Yolei's eyes widened in horror, in absolute horror.
"Stop it!" The other girls cried out, alarmed, and Tomoka grabbed his arm along with another girl, but even with combined strength they couldn't make his arm bulge, let alone break his grip and save their friend from having the hell choked of her.
However just as Yukimura was about to finish his job, his phone vibrated in his pocket in the next moment, snapping him out of his trance and his murderous intent.
Shiratori.
He growled inwardly, guessing who the caller was and imaging what the person on the other line wanted to say. Yukimura, you're not supposed to kill that girl. She is just a civilized. You don't have the authorization for this kill, so Atobe will be furious.
Unwillingly, Yukimura opened his hand, allowing the girl to drop to the ground and clutch her bruised neck in agony, gasping for her life.
As he glared down at her, Yolei inhaled sharply in between her gasp, feeling a sliver of terror slicing through her, the feeling reminiscent to how her flesh was being sliced open. She could see clearly how many lifes he must've taken, or ruined, and how different he was from other people, and how little her life meant to him. With panicked noises, she struggled to get up, only to end up failing several times until her friends helped her up. However, Yolei didn't bother to acknowledge them and simply turned, fleeing into the opposite direction.
Yukimura staring after the girls coolly before he turned around to meet Kari, however, the rescued girl was frozen with terror. She looked at him aghast with an expression of horror instead of gratitude or joy, which infuriated him, even though he didn't show it.
Instead, he approached her and offered her his hand, asking her, "Are you ok? Can you stand?"
But she, too, struggled to get up as fast as she could -and bolted. Yukimura was initially stunned, then pissed, even though he didn't chase after her.
She was going to regret treating him like a bestie; she wasn't going to get away with that.
He was going to make sure of that.
-§-
Kari was terrified, petrified even. It was the first time in her life she had witnessed an almost murder in her life and it was even more shocking that the victim happened to be Yolei, the girl who had tormented her since the first day she had met her. At the beginning, Yolei Inoe had been a transfer student at the beginning just like Kari, but unlike her she had managed to fit in and befriend with her classmates. Kari, on the other hand, had not been able to, always remained an outcast – even now. At first, Kari had been lonely and hurt, of course but eventually she had gotten used to it, apparently you can get used to everything with enough time and detachedness. The need to find and have friends had dulled until it had eventually died. However, that hadn't been enough -what had not died, however, was the need to be freed from everything that constrained her. – Yolei. – Her aunt. -And sometimes even her own little brother, whom she loved above everything.
Today, she had been close to her wish, closer than ever before. As the beautiful and mysterious stranger had suddenly appeared in front of her, assaulting Yolei in place of her, almost killing her in the end, Kari had been torn between two extremes, coming to face with the different facets of her psyche.
A part of her, the malicious part of her, had insanely enjoyed it, and the other part of her, the compassionate part of her, had been disgusted and afraid for Yolei.
Kari laughed at herself in irony. Afraid for Yolei?
How ridiculous, Kari mused with bitter irony. This was going to be her downfall, wouldn't it? Her compassionate nature was going to ruin her one day, turn her into a wreck, which couldn't be saved anymore. How could she feel sorry for someone who had hurt and humiliated her daily just for sadistic pleasure? Kari wanted to cry and hit something just to make her pathetic compassion go away, not wanting to live with it anymore.
That was the root of all evil- if she hadn't been such a sensible girl who was so susceptible to other people's feelings, then she would've probably been able to be more cunning, able to use the kinds of methods – including the dirty ones- to get rid of Yolei's bullying instead of trying to understand her reasons. She would've probably been able to ruthless, pitiless and hard-hearted in general just like the people surrounding her, never caring if she hurt others or not.
She had never been able to embrace that part of herself, hadn't she? Always fluctuating between two identities, between light and darkness, never truly knowing who she should strive to be.
"I want you to choose who you truly are and where you truly belong. Not on a whim, not because you wish for someone you're not, but because you honestly know yourself."
Jeanine Matthews from "Divergent" had taught that doctrine to Tris, hadn't she? That was a line from the movie that had truly struck Kari and which she had tried to follow, but she truly didn't really know herself. Her childhood had been reminiscent a dark, gruesome tale of horror, and she had not been given the opportunity to grow up like an ordinary child. Of course, she had been grateful that she had been blessed with a little brother, who was just like an angel, and because of whom she never had to be truly lonely, but…something was still missing.
She just didn't know what.
A missing piece from the puzzle she had been searching for years.
However, pondering about it was probably pointless, she guessed and stopped.
A few blocks more and she was going to reach her aunt's house anyway.
-§-
Nobody was in the house, of course, not at this time. It was barely two o'clock in the afternoon. Tai was probably walking home with his friend, Matt, dilly-dallying on the way, and her aunt was working- thank god. That woman was awful, making her skin crawl even worse than Yolei does.
Kari sighed, not bothering to take off her sneakers since she felt too tried for it and irritated, too. Today had been awful enough to give her a heart-attack and as if that wasn't enough, she had forgotten her school-bag at school on the top of that. If Yolei knew, who knew what she was going to do to the poor thing? it would be not the first time that the other girl had damaged her possession.
With that grim thought, she headed to the kitchen and got herself a glass of water first, before she went to her bedroom. Thank god, she had one. Thank god, her aunt was still at work, otherwise Kari would feel even worse with her around; in her presence. With her head downcast, she opened the bedroom door, then closed it behind her.
"Welcome home, Yagami-san," a frighteningly familiar voice greeted her right after she had stepped into the room and closed the door behind her with another sigh.
Kari's ruby eyes widened- it was the stranger from before! The one who had rescued her from Yolei's and her friends' harassment, but at the same time he was the one who had almost strangled Yolei into unconsciousness. Now he was sitting cross-legged on her bed with extreme ease and a smug smirk. Kari panicked and swung around to yank the door open, all thoughts about her aunt forgotten as she prepared to escape from the dangerous young man in her bedroom.
Kari's heart was racing; he was probably going to demand something insane from her for having saved her -or maybe he was going to let her have a taste of what Yolei had gone through just out of spite. She had to get out. She had to get the police. To prevent Tai from coming home and to get him out of harm's way. However, just as her hand had touched the cold, silver door-handle, the man slammed his arm against the door with a loud slam, disabling her escape.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked coldly, all traces of amusement from before gone. "Aren't you going to thank me for helping you out today?"
"You- you physically assaulted my classmate," Kari stammered, keeping her back turned to him, too frightened to turn around. "That's a crime. You- you should be arrested."
She couldn't see him, but she sensed the slow, menacing smile creeping across his lips behind her. "I see, you don't understand the concept of gratitude, little girl."
Suddenly he swung her around by the shoulder, slamming her forcefully backwards against the door behind, drawing a pained whimper from her. Keeping a tight grip on her delicate shoulder, he glared down at her. "I saved you and this is how you're going to thank me? By treating me a criminal? Just so you know that little bitch neither has morals nor a conscience, that's the only reason why she can hurt you without any remorse." His piercing blue eyes darkened. "Such people aren't needed in this society," he added coolly.
Kari's neck was tense from being craned as she looked up at him fearfully. He was much taller than her, by one head and more, and he was bigger than her in spite of his slender frame, too. She would've no chance against him. Taking him on was out of question. She would be defenseless against him. Her vocal cords were frozen because of that realization along with her tongue and mouth, just like the rest of her body.
"What's the matter? Don't you want to talk back to me?" He laughed with just a slight hint of malice. "Too scared?"
His jab snapped Kari out of her stunned state, hitting a nerve somewhere deep inside her. A black seed of fear had been planted intto her psyche in her childhood and it had been growing unstoppably since then, poisoning her from the inside. For years. She had tried everything to stop it, but nothing had ever worked and it had been gnawing at her trust in She lowered her head as she said with a sad smile. "You are no different from Yolei. You enjoy making people feel less about themselves, too."
Apparently, she had hit a nerve because his eyes narrowed and an expression of rage flitted across his features before he grabbed her by the collar and shook her. "What did you say? You bitch! Take that back! I'm nothing like her! Don't compare me with that fucking bitch!"
He shouted at Kari, suddenly losing control over himself as he was confronted with something he didn't want. Kari gripped his strong, wide wrists, trying to break or at least to control his grip to a small degree, but it was pointless. She doubted that he even felt her struggles.
"You know nothing about me! Don't you dare to make such statements about me," he hissed at her face, his breath sharp like needles against her skin.
She pulled at his wrists but couldn't get his hands off the collar of her blouse; his fingers seemed to be made of steel, seemingly unbreakable. She would've told him to stop and let go of her, if it hadn't been for the fact that everything she said just seemed to make him angrier. As if she had the uncanny ability to make him snap and hit him where it hurt the most.
However, a vibration in his pocket made him stop. It was his mobile phone that snapped him out of his fit of rage, and he released her with an abrupt push that sent her against the door. Pulling his phone out, he drew his thumb across the screen, "Yes?"
"Yukimura, what the hell are you doing? You're not supposed to assault the girl!"
It was his partner, who had probably witnessed everything through a Cisterna Card.
"Shiratori," Yukimura growled into the phone, but unfortunately had to admit that his partner was right. He was acting like a lunatic.
Hanging up without a second word, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and regarded the girl who had faltered to the floor. Running a hand through his hair and a sigh, he collected himself.
"Are you alright?" He asked gently, even though he knew that it was hypocritical of him now. There was nothing gentle about him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I lost my calm. Can you stand up?" In a gesture of apology and pacification, he held out his hand to her to help her to get up.
The girl on the floor, however, had her arm around herself in a defensive and protective gesture, staring at him with hostile eyes. Without taking his hand -or rather glaring at it like it was a disease, she pushed herself up, groping at the door against her back as support. Yukimura kept a straight face, forcing himself not to show how irked he was at how she treating him.
"Get out," she hissed. "Before I call the police."
Yukimura smiled but unkindly. "So you do know how to threaten someone. So, I can assume that you enjoy being bullied by your classmates?"
The color drained from her face as she made the impression as if she was going to stumble down to the floor again. His smug smile vanished from his face in an instant as he said coolly, "I was just joking. If you let me pass, I will walk through the door."
He offered, and eventually the girl shuffled away from the door, making space for him to pass. Yukimura opened the door and stepped through the doorway without even sparing her a glance, however, he didn't leave the house on contrary to her expectation. No, he wandered to the kitchen instead, searched for container with instant coffee and got two cups from the cupboard.
Only two minutes later, Kari arrived in the kitchen, aghast to find him calmly making coffee. "Why are you still here? And, what are you doing?"
He smirked at her. "I'm making coffee. I just said I would walk through the door, I never said that I was going to leave the house, did I?"
She balled her fists, which was hardly intimidating considering the size of her small and frail hands. He just ignored her and continued making the coffee until it was done and told her, "Sit down. I made a cup for you, too."
He placed a cup on her side of the table, before he put the other one on his side. She couldn't believe his nerve, but he was only amused at her attempt to force him out of the house with her glare alone, and only repeated his invitation with a wave of his hand to the chair opposite him.
Realizing there was no point, her tense shoulders slacked and she took a seat opposite him. Cupping the porcelain of the white cup to calm herself and to use it as an emergency weapon in the worst case scenario, she was surprised at how hot the coffee was. She could feel the heat through the porcelain- whenever she made tea or coffee it was always lukewarm. Never hot enough. Always lacking something.
"I'm sorry, you know?" He began, his apology sounding sincere to her surprise, matching the unreadable but expressive look in his glassy blue eyes. "It was wrong of me to assault you like that. You already have a hard time because of your bullies, and I worsened your situation. I apologize."
Kari pressed her lips together and stared into the dark brown surface of the coffee, seeing her own reflection, the stream high enough to touch her lips. "How did you get in?" She asked quietly.
"I have my ways, but in this case I just had to pick the lock. It's a skill you can't live without nowadays," he teased sardonically, but Kari's mind was somewhere else.
"What are you after? Money? What do you want from me?"
"Money?" He purred with such a devious voice that Kari's skin crawled in a mixture between discomfort and pleasure. "That's the first thing you assume a man after when he breaks into your house?" He taunted her, and she startled.
As her gaze snapped to his, he smirked ambiguously while playfully tapping his finger against the cup and leaning on elbow. "I was just joking. Don't take it serious."
Then, he took a sip from the black coffee, which hadn't been softened by sugar and milk yet, enjoying it in its pure form. "Let's get to business," he said with a change in his tone after putting the small cup of coffee down. "Have you ever heard of the "Cisterna Cards"?"
Kari was bewildered and shook her head mutely.
"I thought as much. Someone like you would hardly be a Cisterna Card owner, but let's discuss this somewhere else. We are going to need more privacy. Let's go back to your bedroom," he finished with a demand disguised as a suggestion. Without waiting for her reply, he stood up with a jarring noise of the wooden chair and headed to her bedroom, taking his coffee with him, whereas she left hers on the table. Kari already knew it was pointless trying to stop him and followed him obediently, even though she should've taken the chance to run out of the house or something else. She was fully aware of her stupidity, but the years of had been hard on her, the mistreatment she had suffered at the hands of others had not gone by without having twisted her self-confidence beyond recognition. She had forgotten how it felt to have a will and to be autonomous.
As the beautiful young man reached her bedroom, he held the door open for her, waiting for her to walk through first. Kari did so and felt the slight touch of his hand on her shoulder as he ushered her inside. Afterward, he closed the door behind him and headed to the windows, drawing the curtains shut and submerging her room in shadows, which gave her a small heart-attack. If it weren't for the fact that the door couldn't be locked- courtesy of her aunt- she would've bolted. As if that wasn't enough, he headed to her bed afterward, taking another long sip from his cup before putting it on the nearby nightstand. Tilting his head to look at her with a suggestive smile, he invited her to sit next to him. "What are you waiting for? Sit down next to me."
Meekly, Kari approached him and tentatively sat down next to him, leaving enough space between him and her. The young man took amusement at her blatant discomfort, but at least didn't comment on it. Then, in an elegant motion he lifted his arm, slowly opening his closed fist to expose a card floating and spinning gently above his palm. Kari was flabbergasted. Was he a magician?
"What? How-" She began, stammering out her surprise.
He laughed. "Surprised? Looks like you've never seen a Cisterna Card from before. Neither from up close or afar."
The so called "Cisterna Card" was bigger than an ordinary poker card, but still smaller than a classic tarot card. It's back was a clash of russet and crimson, ornamented with an abstract cross that had a complex and elaborate structure, similar to the one of a real tarot card. On its front was an animal depicted- a reptile to be exact. An abstract of a snake that seemed to be made of black fire; it's black eyes were piercing and intimidating. Kari shivered. It felt as if it was looking at her, but at the same time she was helplessly drawn to its beguiling beauty. Her lips parted as her wide ruby eyes stared at it with the curiosity of a child- something the young man next to her hadn't seen for a long, long time.
He chuckled, which broke her out of her revere. "Want to touch it?" He offered.
"N-no! It's fine! It's just…a very beautiful card," she stammered.
"You seem to be very interested in it," he commented, delighted and amused at the same time. He extended his hand towards her, allowing her wordlessly to cup her hands below the mesmerizing, slowly spinning card and hold it.
"It's like as if the snake is staring right at me and as if it's alive," she said, fascinated.
"Actually, it is," he revealed, and Kari shrieked, pulling her hands back towards her body, causing the card to drop on her lap with that as it was no longer hovering in the air.
"In a metaphorical sense, at least," he finished and retrieved his possession from her lap with two fingers, staring at it with sad and heavy eyes.
"It was born out of my uselessness and despair after all," he said cryptically, but she was sure that the words had unintentionally slipped out of him. She strongly doubted that he had meant to say them. "I wanted it to have the ability to destroy all my enemies."
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
Her breath was caught in her throat as he turned and looked at her forcibly but compellingly with maniacal, shadowed eyes. She couldn't look away, even though she had wanted to. "You'll soon have to become a ruler of the Cisterna Cards, too," he told her, and she knew it was a demand, not a request.
Only now she had realized that she had accidentally shifted closer to him as she had inspected his Cisterna Card closer, her eyes accidently dropping to his crotch to her dislike. He was sitting with his legs spread and hands behind his back, his formal black pants standing out against her wrinkled, lavender-blue sheets.
"I don't want that," she refused, returning his oppressive gaze with a forceful one of her own.
"You don't have the choice or any saying in that matter," he riposted, displeased with her insolent refusal. "You'll become a governor and join my team. That's my order."
"I don't care about your orders," she talked back to him, albeit only softly. It was enough to ignite his bad side, though.
Suddenly she found herself grabbed by the chin, his long, strong and cool fingers closed around her jawline. "Shiratori might have told me to coax you, but we don't have to do it the gentle way."
Kari's breath hitched as he suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pushed her down with a sudden shove.
"We can always do it the hard way, you know?" He threatened.
Kari froze as the young man hovered above her, staring at her with an all consuming, dangerous look, making the impression as if he wasn't above using underhanded methods at all.