CHAPTER 9 - Die Vergangenheit [The Past]
A weak shower cascaded over the metropolis in the dark, damp night. The wet roads were scattered of blaring honks of cars, scurrying people in umbrellas and raincoats, and the ever-open city lights of downtown Tokyo.
Fortunate it was for Kei to find her jeep parked in the outskirts of the forest where the manor lay concealed. Its main purpose was for emergency uses, and this incident was certainly no exception. She figured Falke's gang would be hunting her down…their mercilessness should not be underestimated.
Kei knew Falke well. She had served him for more than a decade…since she abandoned her heritage for a free life. Running away with Falke sounded free…but she had always felt a prisoner in his cold realm. Her skills he taught her well, and he had always been her master, however she had never considered him a father although that was what he offered her in the first place.
All her life serving Falke meant to live in cruelty, and to accept it as a way of life…
But her savage past had always agitated her endlessly.
She had considered herself a murderer at the age of nine. For four years her third stepfather had abused her mother, and Kei herself. She had been a battered daughter, receiving countless bruises everyday from his constant blows when he was high with drugs. The situation sounded typical for the modern world, she had always told herself. Watching television she perceived there were conditions worse than hers, hence she accepted her fate.
Her anger's outlet was her passion for running, and she ran miles everyday, pretending to run away from her destiny.
However, when her stepfather had threatened Kei's mother he would kill her, Kei could not resist the temptation to end her stepfather's life with her own hands. Frail and powerless she was, Kei ended up stabbing her mother instead.
Her mothers' death brought Kei to a state of trauma, that she grew numb to pain and to the relentless tormenting of her stepfather. Months crawled by after her mother's mortality, when a sudden feeling of vengeance surged through Kei, and she had ended her stepfather's life as well; with the expense of her dreams, her right leg, which had been badly damaged during their skirmish.
In his grave she swore to detest drugs.
When she got introduced to Falke, however, it was drugs that saved her life. He made her intake a certain drug, which healed and repaired mutilated cells. But her leg never healed completely. With that she had to stop the martial arts lessons Falke was giving her, but she had been too good a student, and had much perseverance that the pain in her leg was eventually ignored when her mind was set on physical activities.
With this miracle she vowed to serve Falke, despite the confusion and fear hovering in her heart. She also made oath not to kill anymore, and to forget and shut her eyes from violence. Perhaps that was the reason Falke rarely gave her field work, and harnessed her talent on hacking instead, and seducing their market's customers to buy more of their products.
Until this moment she had never imagined herself betraying Falke.
It surprised her she did…for someone she barely knew.
*
'We still have an unfinished business to accomplish,' Ken said grimly, fixing the gloves which contained his claws.
'Hai,' Yohji agreed, his face set.
'Hai.' Omi had received a phone call earlier that day, eight hours later after Ran had been kidnapped. He knew what it was for. To surrender the formulas, the copy of the shipment and the removal of the virus inserted in their enemy's system---in exchange for Ran's life. *How typical* mused Omi to himself. He knew Ran better.. He would not make himself a sitting duck for his enemies at all costs.
Although the Weiss did not know exactly what Ran's plan was, they prepared themselves for battle, which was scheduled in the ungodly hours of dusk, in the same mansion where Ran was held captive.
*
Carefully, Kei laid Ran onto the soft mattress of the bed and stared at him for a brief moment. She had brought him to a cheap inn in the middle of the city, where finding them would be most likely difficult.
He stared back at her, blankly.
She was still clad in the clothes she wore when Jin was kissing her in Ran's cell. Knee-length black boots, extremely undersized leather shorts, tight red leather midriffs with plunging neckline…and dark, heavy makeup.
'You haven't answered me yet,' he said weakly.
'I have nothing to answer,' she replied flatly. She placed herself on top of the bed and moved towards him, pulling up his greasy, gory white shirt to reveal his naked torso. He had a long open cut above his waist, about seven inches perhaps, and she presumed he had more in his back. She gulped as she ran her fingers along its edge, and he winced. It must have stung him.
'Wait here,' she said softly, with what it seemed like a gentle smile curling upon her lips.
*
The reason behind why she helped him, Ran could not comprehend. There was mystery even at the sound of her voice. He just lay there, barely believing his fate, and his life, was in the hands of a woman.
She came back shortly after he had almost drifted to sleep. In her hands she carried a basin of water, and a small face towel. Where she got them, he cared not to know. She laid it upon the table beside the bed and sat on the mattress alongside him. Quietly she dipped the towel into the water, squeezed it, and cleansed Ran's wound.
He flinched at the touch of the towel upon his wound.
No words were spoken.
When she was done, she sat him up, and removed the rest of the shirt, which still clung upon his gashed body. She washed his back next, and grimaced at the numerous cuts in his back. Falke had whipped him back in the basement, countless times…and he knew she dared not remember it.
The basin and the towel were laid upon the table. Lightly she took his face with her hand, and turned it towards her. For a brief moment he thought she would be kissing him…but all thoughts were lost when she looked at him kindly.
He had never noticed how beautiful she was as he felt everything about her.
Soft auburn hair...her mystifying gaze…her hazel eyes, which shone luminous against the dim light of the moon…her supple cheeks…the fine slope of her nose…her delicate lips, parted slightly as if inviting a kiss…
And the soft touch of her hand on his face…like the feel of the petals of a Japanese rose…
'Take this,' she whispered, detaching her stare as she lifted a pill to his lips. 'The antidote of the drugs you sought for. In 24 hours your wounds would have almost healed.'
With that she stood up and wandered away from him.
*
A weak shower cascaded over the metropolis in the dark, damp night. The wet roads were scattered of blaring honks of cars, scurrying people in umbrellas and raincoats, and the ever-open city lights of downtown Tokyo.
Fortunate it was for Kei to find her jeep parked in the outskirts of the forest where the manor lay concealed. Its main purpose was for emergency uses, and this incident was certainly no exception. She figured Falke's gang would be hunting her down…their mercilessness should not be underestimated.
Kei knew Falke well. She had served him for more than a decade…since she abandoned her heritage for a free life. Running away with Falke sounded free…but she had always felt a prisoner in his cold realm. Her skills he taught her well, and he had always been her master, however she had never considered him a father although that was what he offered her in the first place.
All her life serving Falke meant to live in cruelty, and to accept it as a way of life…
But her savage past had always agitated her endlessly.
She had considered herself a murderer at the age of nine. For four years her third stepfather had abused her mother, and Kei herself. She had been a battered daughter, receiving countless bruises everyday from his constant blows when he was high with drugs. The situation sounded typical for the modern world, she had always told herself. Watching television she perceived there were conditions worse than hers, hence she accepted her fate.
Her anger's outlet was her passion for running, and she ran miles everyday, pretending to run away from her destiny.
However, when her stepfather had threatened Kei's mother he would kill her, Kei could not resist the temptation to end her stepfather's life with her own hands. Frail and powerless she was, Kei ended up stabbing her mother instead.
Her mothers' death brought Kei to a state of trauma, that she grew numb to pain and to the relentless tormenting of her stepfather. Months crawled by after her mother's mortality, when a sudden feeling of vengeance surged through Kei, and she had ended her stepfather's life as well; with the expense of her dreams, her right leg, which had been badly damaged during their skirmish.
In his grave she swore to detest drugs.
When she got introduced to Falke, however, it was drugs that saved her life. He made her intake a certain drug, which healed and repaired mutilated cells. But her leg never healed completely. With that she had to stop the martial arts lessons Falke was giving her, but she had been too good a student, and had much perseverance that the pain in her leg was eventually ignored when her mind was set on physical activities.
With this miracle she vowed to serve Falke, despite the confusion and fear hovering in her heart. She also made oath not to kill anymore, and to forget and shut her eyes from violence. Perhaps that was the reason Falke rarely gave her field work, and harnessed her talent on hacking instead, and seducing their market's customers to buy more of their products.
Until this moment she had never imagined herself betraying Falke.
It surprised her she did…for someone she barely knew.
*
'We still have an unfinished business to accomplish,' Ken said grimly, fixing the gloves which contained his claws.
'Hai,' Yohji agreed, his face set.
'Hai.' Omi had received a phone call earlier that day, eight hours later after Ran had been kidnapped. He knew what it was for. To surrender the formulas, the copy of the shipment and the removal of the virus inserted in their enemy's system---in exchange for Ran's life. *How typical* mused Omi to himself. He knew Ran better.. He would not make himself a sitting duck for his enemies at all costs.
Although the Weiss did not know exactly what Ran's plan was, they prepared themselves for battle, which was scheduled in the ungodly hours of dusk, in the same mansion where Ran was held captive.
*
Carefully, Kei laid Ran onto the soft mattress of the bed and stared at him for a brief moment. She had brought him to a cheap inn in the middle of the city, where finding them would be most likely difficult.
He stared back at her, blankly.
She was still clad in the clothes she wore when Jin was kissing her in Ran's cell. Knee-length black boots, extremely undersized leather shorts, tight red leather midriffs with plunging neckline…and dark, heavy makeup.
'You haven't answered me yet,' he said weakly.
'I have nothing to answer,' she replied flatly. She placed herself on top of the bed and moved towards him, pulling up his greasy, gory white shirt to reveal his naked torso. He had a long open cut above his waist, about seven inches perhaps, and she presumed he had more in his back. She gulped as she ran her fingers along its edge, and he winced. It must have stung him.
'Wait here,' she said softly, with what it seemed like a gentle smile curling upon her lips.
*
The reason behind why she helped him, Ran could not comprehend. There was mystery even at the sound of her voice. He just lay there, barely believing his fate, and his life, was in the hands of a woman.
She came back shortly after he had almost drifted to sleep. In her hands she carried a basin of water, and a small face towel. Where she got them, he cared not to know. She laid it upon the table beside the bed and sat on the mattress alongside him. Quietly she dipped the towel into the water, squeezed it, and cleansed Ran's wound.
He flinched at the touch of the towel upon his wound.
No words were spoken.
When she was done, she sat him up, and removed the rest of the shirt, which still clung upon his gashed body. She washed his back next, and grimaced at the numerous cuts in his back. Falke had whipped him back in the basement, countless times…and he knew she dared not remember it.
The basin and the towel were laid upon the table. Lightly she took his face with her hand, and turned it towards her. For a brief moment he thought she would be kissing him…but all thoughts were lost when she looked at him kindly.
He had never noticed how beautiful she was as he felt everything about her.
Soft auburn hair...her mystifying gaze…her hazel eyes, which shone luminous against the dim light of the moon…her supple cheeks…the fine slope of her nose…her delicate lips, parted slightly as if inviting a kiss…
And the soft touch of her hand on his face…like the feel of the petals of a Japanese rose…
'Take this,' she whispered, detaching her stare as she lifted a pill to his lips. 'The antidote of the drugs you sought for. In 24 hours your wounds would have almost healed.'
With that she stood up and wandered away from him.
*