Chapter 1: Cold Heart
A crash sound echoed out of a dark side street. On the main street people walked their way as if nothing had been heard. They had heard the noise, it had been to loud to overhear it, but nonetheless no one wanted to know why it had echoed from there, and not wanting to think what could have caused it. They pretended that nothing was wrong that everything was ok…
…like they always did…
…because everyone knew what such a sound meant. It was common and so better to remain quiet about it.
Crashes out of a dark side street were normal at least in this city called Kyoto. Kyoto was an island city which the habitants were called the banned island. Why was it called banned? Isolated would have been a better description for the island that had mostly no contact to the rest of the world especially if it concerned diplomatic relations, isolated through the high distance from the mainland. It would have been a better choice. But the habitants didn't want to describe the island with their banned… they described themselves…
…their lives.
The habitants here lived in their own little world that was different…
…prepares not different just…
…obsolete compared to rest of the outside world. A city in which the time didn't seemed to go on. Poverty and crime ruled…
…the streets…
…most of the lives. Gangs controlled the streets just like the higher ups controlled the laws and taxes.
----- Dark side street----
With a fast movement the fist collided with the stomach, knocking all remaining air out of the owners' lungs and the punched owner gasped for air, stumbling backwards to the wall. It was a boy with short brown hair, whose eyes were torn open in horror.
The dustbins behind him tipped over as he tried to get his balance back by leaning on them. A crash sound echoed through the small side street corner in which he was snared. His breath was heavy and came in small gasp. One of his hands pressed against his stomach that sent waves of pain. He looked terrified up to his captor whose green eyes looked gelid down on him, not the slightest bit of pity was shown in them.
The boy pressed his body as much as he could to the wall behind him, wanting to gain more space between the two, whishing desperately that the wall would make a way for him to get away. The bangs of his brown hair glued on his forehead through the sweat on his face. Sweat arise from fear, he was scarred to death and wanted nothing more as to run away. But his captor leaved him no way to escape.
The collar of his shirt was roughly and without mercy grabbed tightly. He was hoisted up just to have a meeting with the knee of his captor who sung it powerful into his stomach. He gaped desperately for air as he was released and collapsed to the hard ground losing conscious.
Unimpressed by the condition of injured boy the other one with the green eyes reached down repealing a small transparent pouch with pink pills from the ground. It was something the boy had let fell as he was surprised by the unknown person who had interrupted his drug selling. He was nothing more than a drug vendor that had unfortunate stepped in the wrong territory. The city was divided in territory's each controlled by another gang that had ruled the area under a different law, their own law. One of the rules in the Middletown of Kyoto was no drug selling quite to pitch of the boy.
Taking the black jacket from the old hutch the unknown person brushed it off before toggling it. On the back of the jacket printed was a bleeding heart that was pierced by a huge sword from above, the distinctive mark of one of the most powerful gangs in the street, the blood heart gang who had ruled the streets of the Middletown.
As the member made the way out of the side street a coughing came from the unconscious boy and the green eyes gazed a moment back at him coldly, not even the slightest concern again flicked over as a small blood clot came out of the corner of his mouth.
The passing by people eyed the blue haired girl with the green eyes and the black jacket shortly with strange looks but as soon as they noticed the black jacket with the symbol on its back or the cold look in these her eyes, their stopped, avoiding anymore eye contact out of fear to get into trouble. The girl stuffed the pouch into her jeans pocket.
"Cold Heart." A grey haired guy shouted walking towards the blue haired girl who was some meters away. The crowds of people stepped to the side to make some space for him and the young boy who followed him, both wearing the same black jacket as the girl they headed to.
Cold Heart, a nickname with that everyone called the young girl, if they dared to speak to her. It was always Cold Heart never anything more as this nickname. No one used her real name and she didn't cared. She had abandoned that name…
…just like she was abandoned…
…since she lived and streaked through the dark and dangerous streets alone.
To gain a nickname on the streets was a sign of respect. The names always carried a trait of its owner; the same was valid for Cold Heart who trusted no one and gave everyone even the members of the Blood Heart gang the cold shoulder.
As the two members reached Cold Heart the grey haired guy began to talk to her. "I have a message from him…" He glanced at the girl who studied on the opposite of the street the shop windows. She listened but not looked at him. "… He is waiting for you at the headquarters."
Cold Heart gave the two members a short glance and then walked away not saying anything; she was already aware who the guy had meant with him´.
Like people had made space for the other two members they did now the same for Cold Heart. No one got in her way or held her back as she walked along the street, looking straight ahead of herself.
The young boy still starred in the direction Could Heart had leaved. "She is strange. Did you notice that look as if she wanted to freeze you, Oldster."
"Shut up Speedy. You should learn to control that mouth of yours. It's like you screaming for a fight with her again." The older guy scolded Speedy so that he stopped fooling around.
Speedy dropped his arms and his features hardened. He didn't like to be remembered of his first encounter with Cold Heart. It had only been thanks to Oldster that he had been left in one piece. "Pah she is just a bitch who had luck back then."
Oldster began to gaze the side street down as he answered. "How long are do you actually live on the street Speedy?"
"Since a year." Speedy answered proudly but did not get what Oldster wanted from him.
"And now how long do you think Cold Heart does?" Oldster continued his question without looking at Speedy.
"As if I …"
"More than 5 years Speedy so watch out what you are saying. Even for a bitch she has far more experience in street live as you." Oldster told the younger member.
Speedy followed the older guy quietly into the side street, rolling with his eyes. For Speedy Oldster was just like a big brother, someone to whom he looked up and respected but that didn't counted for Cold Heart.
"Look what we have here Speedy..." Oldster said as he saw what Cold Heart had leaved between the trash bins. "…seems like she had some fun without us while we were at the meeting."
"And now we have some fun without her." Speedys smile widened as he let the bones of his hands crack. His eyes starred dangerous towards the boy who gained his conscious back.
- Headquarters of the Blood Heart gang-
Cold Heart entered the room without bothering to knock on the door to announce her intruding. The first that she noticed before anything else was the black haired, young man on the couch who sipped calmly on a cup. He looked like a normal business man clothed in a suit. An appearance that deceived, he was a stranger, an outsider not from…
…here…
…this Island. Something about him was strange, something that Cold Heart however could not describe. She knew nothing about him only that he came from the mainland and had now and then some business in Kyoto to do. He had told her a long time ago that this was also the main reason why he had created the Blood Heart gang, a gang that had become in no time one of the most powerful in the city.
"It's nice to see you again Cold Heart." The man welcomed the blue haired girl as she closed the door behind her, his cup making a click sound as he placed it on the table.
"When did you come back Reito?" She asked while seating herself on the armrest of the arm chair. With her arms crossed she gave through her gaze Reito to understand that she wanted to get over with whatever he wanted to say.
"This morning…You weren't at the meeting with the new client and I know I made sure that you get the right date for it." Reito said.
"I was busy." She answered shortly.
Reito gave her a smile, one which he wore most of the time. "Streaking again through the streets at night and beating some people?" He asked amused.
Cold Heart gave Reito a dangerous glare, not liking the amused under tone in his voice. He made it sound like it was easy to life where she was. But it wasn't. It was a struggling to not know what would happen the next day, to know if she would get to sleep with an empty stomach or if she would be beaten up. Not that she had these problems anymore but she had these experiences and because of that disliked people who made fun of it even if it was the head of the blood heart gang.
The key to survive on the street was respect, power and the will to live. If you lacked the will you died soon. If you lacked power you were a wimp whose live was ruled by force from others. If you lacked respect you were less worth as the worst abhorrent rat.
Will strengthened the person and gave power, a power that helped to convince people of oneself and out of that respect followed. She had learned that long ago the hard way, an endless circle of living.
"I was just kidding Cold Heart." Reito lifted his hands in a defending gesture and smiled. A political smile.
"So what kind of job did you got from the client and what do you want from me?" She asked impatiently.
"A small robbery…" Taking his cup from the table he peered over to the young girl who watched him, her brows raised. "…you know the rosary area?"
Knitting her brows together Cold Heart thought for a moment. "It's in the east of Kyoto, a nearly untenanted residential area of the rich."
"Sounds like you know this area…" Reito draw the cup to his lips, drinking the lukewarm dark brown coffee. "…how about this mansion?" putting the empty cup down again he took a photo out of the book which lay on the table and shove the photo to Cold Heart who spared a short glance at it. A big 2-floor mansion with a loft, surrounded by a brick wall was shown on it.
"Maybe…" she paused a moment to study the house again. "…there are only three houses of this type I think but none of them should be inhabited, unless someone moved in since last year."
"Unfortunately I don't have any information about this Cold Heart. I only have the information about the desired object and its whereabouts." Reito informed her.
"If that's the case then get to the point what you want from me Reito." Not only known for her cold glare Cold Heart had also a timed temper that broke now and then out when she was in a bad mood. The impatiently tapping of her finger on her arm at the moment was a sign for it.
"Like I said before, the job will be a little robbery and you Cold Heart…" Looking directly at the blue haired girl his smile widened. He was unimpressed by her cold behavior to him since he was already used to it. "…will take the part of the thief."
Cold Heart of course was not´ delighted by this surprisingly news and gave Reito one of her famous growls. "Why should I want to do it?"
"How rare I never thought that our Cold Heart would be scared of little robbery?" He asked.
It was never wise to call the young girl scared, and if it hadn't been Reito who had called her that, she would have beaten the hell out of the other one right away. In contrast to others however Reito knew how he needed to motivate her. With a defiant glance in his eyes he waited, knowing that the fifteen year old girl could not withstand to proof him wrong.
"Tsk." It gave no more words that needed to be spoken from her side as she stood up and went to the door.
"Tomorrow 11 pm here. Speedy and Oldster will check the area out before you will head out then…"
The door slammed shut and Cold Heart was away. Long chats were a nerve-racking and boring venture so she avoided them as much as possible.
- Kyoto streets -
With a squeaking the tire of the motorbike stopped, leaving a small black trace on the asphalt. As Cold Heart took the helmet off her blue hair fell down back in place. The road sign next to her parked bike showed that she was in the market street. The only street that accommodated shops, bars and night club in one place added all kinds of people who visited them.
The doorbell ringed as Cold Heart entered the shop through the door. Packing fast the needed groceries for the week in her basket she headed to the point of sale to pay with the money from Reito. An advance payment for the job she would do tomorrow.
A woman with long brown hair blocked the exit, balancing two full bags in her arms. Cold Heart waited and watched how that woman tried to open the door, the longer the woman in front of her was the more she got irritated.
"Hurry up or I help you." Cold Heart growled and prompt she was holding on of the bags.
"Ah, thanks that would be a great help." The brown haired woman replied happily. She could not see how Cold Hearts expression hardened through the big bag in the young girls' hands.
The received bag had much more weight as it looked at first glance and Cold Heart wondered how it was possible for a weakly looking woman to hold such a weight for minutes without getting sweaty if even she needed both hands to hold just this one up while her own hung on her arm.
"The car is parked some meters away I hope it doesn't make too much trouble." The woman said cheerfully and walked out of the shop, down the street where a few cars were parked.
Cold Heart followed her quietly observing the woman in front of her who babbled friendly. She didn't listen fully only hearing snatches of the talk. Through them she found out that the other woman was an Outsider´. It was not just by the talk she found it out but also by a strange feeling she had, the feeling she always got whenever she meet one.
As they reached the end of the street she noticed a man in a chauffeur suit who stood next to a black lacquer limousine.
The man walked towards them. "Did you get everything you needed Miss Senho?" He took the bag from the woman and packed it into the boot.
"Yes, thanks for telling me where I could find the shop James-kun." Miss Senho smiled to James who replied with a no problem smile.
Cold Heart could no longer listen to that chit-chat of these people. "Oi you!" She called annoyed to James and stepped to him.
James gasped as the blue haired girl suddenly and roughly pressed the bag into his chest. He looked puzzled at the bag and then frowned at the cold gaze and the way Cold Heart hissed dangerously to him. "Watch next time where you send an outsider dog."
"What's wrong James-kun?" worriedly Miss Senho watched James who looked pale in the direction where the blue haired girl had leaved. He recognized the symbol which the girl had on the back of her jacket. "Nothing Miss …, it's nothing." He becalmed her and put the bag to the other one in the boot.
"It's a pity that she just leaved I couldn't even ask for her name." She said disappointed.
"It's better that she has gone…believe me …" replied James.
"Who has gone James-kun?" someone asked sweetly.
"Ah Miss Viola you're back." James made a slight bow to the woman who had stopped by him and Miss Senho.
"It finished faster as I had expected…" Miss Viola said, her long undone chestnut hair swayed through the wind that blew low. "… Aoi-san you should be a little bit more intent. You have lost this." She said holding a small white wallet out.
"Uh!" searching through her own jacket pockets the brown haired woman noticed now that her wallet wasn't there she had put it anymore. "I must have lost it after I had leaved the shop with the young girl." She guessed as she took the wallet from Miss Viola.
"Young girl?" the two were sitting in the back of the limousine as James started the motor and drove away from the market street.
"I meet a young blue haired girl in the shop; she helped me to carry one of the shopping bags to the limousine." Aoi said.
"Hm I think I saw that girl too…" thoughtful Miss Viola tilted her head to the side, her forefinger on her cheek. "…She looked kind of rebellious and wild to me." A short glimmer was in her red eyes as she memory of the short encounter with the said girl. The glimmer disappeared just as soon as it had come without Aois noticing.
- - - -
Her hand lingered millimeter from her left upper arm, the fingertips touching barely her jacket which were like a protecting cocoon over her skin. Someone had grazed her, someone she had not noticed till their way had crossed, till their clothes had grazed lightly against one another. She did not know who it had been. She hadn't seen much of the person; maybe it was because she never looked directly at the people around her, hating the looks in their eyes towards her.
A unique scent, light sweet, in a way exotic and somehow even alluring was there… a scent that didn't belong in a place like the one it had been. It was out of place and that thought was enough to let her expression hardened. She withdrew her hand, leaving the fading feeling on her upper arm alone. She had felt for the third time this day the strange feeling of a outsider but this time it hadn't been that strong like the first two but nonetheless it had been the same.
Stowing the groceries away she climbed on her motorbike and zipped her jacket unto. Half the way she stopped however, noticing the missing weight in her left pocket. As she checked the pocket for its contents she found out that it was empty.
´Interesting´ Cold Heart thought in her mind, her teethes gritting tightly together. The wallet she had ´borrowed´ before from the outsider girl was away and she had not noticed anything. It was not like it had cost her much effort to get it since the other one had practically gave her the chance as present. A habit that grew out of boredom like the small street fights she often had.
Putting the dark blue helmet on, Cold Heart let the motor loud roar. The dark toned sheet of her helmet hiding her angry glimmering eyes, she needed to calm down. Getting used as a porter and being stole without noticing weren't a very good mixture for a good mood. But at least it was interesting to have someone in the city who dared to challenge her in such a way, even if she wouldn't let it happen again and show this the outsider her way. Her hands grabbed tightly the handlebars as she drove in a fast speed away. The tempo limit far transcended.
- - - -
The streetlamps were already on as the door to the single room apartment finally opened, an old apartment in the second floor of a forlorn haywire blockhouse.
Cold Heart spared herself to turn the light on and look around, knowing that it wasn't the cleanest place. Often she leaved things where she had used them just like her clothes which were tossed here and there, one that needed to get washed, which she would have to collect and bring soon to the washroom in the basement where a single old washing machine stood if she didn't wanted to run out of clean clothes. But she didn't cared how her apartment looked like since it was her who lived there.
Careless she kicked her shoes off and locked the door from inside, going then to the single room in the apartment where a folded out couch took most of the space, her equipment for the night still laying on it just like she had leaved it this afternoon after she had awoke. A round table near the couch even still habituated the reminding of the day before, empty cola and beer bottles and a pizza box with a leftover quarter pizza in it. In the middle of all this messes a little TV.
Taking the groceries to the other end of the room where a white fridge stood she put them inside together with the bag. The long ride had warmed them up and at the same time cooled down her heated up temper.
Minutes later wafted the cool wind of the night through the two opened windows of the room. Cold Hearts was sitting on the windowsill, her green eyes looked down at the empty streets. Most of the people were around this time at home, if they had one. She was clothed in a black boxer short and a red shirt, savoring the silence with closed eyes.
"Still alive Icy." a voice disturbed moments later her peace.
"What do you want here?" Cold Heart knew the owner of the voice and not liked it a single bit to hear it. Her eyes opened and she peered towards the other window where a young woman with red hair sat. In her mind Cold Heart made a note to herself that she would lock the other window next time.
"How cold and here I thought you would be happy to see me again." Not being hectored by the dangerous tone in the young girls' voice the woman smirked. She already had expected to find the young rebel in the apartment as she sneaked through the window inside.
"Go away Nao." The blue haired girl growled, hopping down from the sill and walking to the couch where she laid on her side down, ignoring the other one completely. Her temper was calmed down but thanks to the visitor of the night right now it could soon heat up again.
The smirk on Naos face widened and she began to close the two windows. "You know that I don't have another place to stay Icy." Nao purred.
Cold Heart snorted. "Like I care." With her head she turned lightly to the side and peered out of the corner of her eye to Nao who stood still on the closed window, wondering if were was an invasion from outsiders these days in Kyoto.
But why would so many of them gather here? She had no answer on this question and she didn't cared why. It was none of her business but still hated the fact.
And how was it possible for them to come to Kyoto if it should be an isolated, a stand-alone island? It was probably only thanks to connection to the upper people or through enough money for buying the way through the controls of the fisher boats even if the young girl didn't understand why they took so much effort to come here to such a cast away island.
They were the same as the people here in Kyoto and yet different. They looked like normal people; it weren't a different someone could see at first glance. But Cold Heart did, there was always a different between the people from here and outside. She didn't know why whenever she met one she felt it, a feeling that had always proven itself as right. The young girls eyes closed again and she turned her head around to face the door at the other end of the room.
"As cold as ever…" ´like I love it´ Cold Heart didn't know when Nao had walked towards her only as the woman's sly words reached her ear she knew that she was right beside her. The young girl hated this, to be unable to hear the other ones movements even then all her senses were on alert but she still ignored the other one.
Nao didn't leave Cold Heart like she was, gripping roughly the young girls wrist and forcing her to roll on her back, sitting herself on top of the young girl, pinning both wrists from Cold Heart above the head of the girl.
The two of them were far behind from friends, far behind from lovers or anything in that direction. They had hardly anything in common leaving the look they gave people around them out. The reason behind Cold Hearts look was out of experience from live…
…from the past…
…it was a reason only she knew like Nao who had her reason and shared with no one.
Lips pressed on lips, a dominating kiss with no emotion behind. For both these was nothing more then a game of dominance. A game to which none of them gave in that easily and in which Cold Heart let her excessive energy, her hatred and frustration out...
Only as the sun began to raise both drifted to sleep...
Chapter 1: Cold Heart end.