I never thought I'd see anything like that...
My Eiri has gone insane... right before my eyes.
And there was nothing I could do.
And probably there'll never be.
I can feel myself getting weak from all the Red Suffering I've prepared with my own blood.
***
"Kojirou... aren't you going to bed?"
"No, onee-chan... not now..."
"What's wrong with you?" the maiden looked worriedly at her brother.
"Eiri..."
Hime widened her eyes. "What happened to her?"
Kojirou looked down. "You know when everything you've believed turns out to be one big lie? What's left to do then, sis?" he smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry... this is just... too much for me..."
Hime walked closer to Kojirou and put her arms around his shoulders. "Get a cold bath and go to sleep, honey. It won't help Eiri to hurt yourself like this."
Kojirou leaned against his sister, his body weak from blood loss. She helped him walk to the bathroom and cleaned the cuts that spread all over his body.
"Onee-chan?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you... I probably wouldn't have stopped."
"I know. You don't know when to stop."
The kid smiled at that. "Yeaown, you can talk..."
***
"I'd like twenty black roses, please. And a white one."
"Twenty one roses? That's a lot of love, little boy."
"Yes it is." Kojirou grinned. /And that's not all.../
When the bouquet was ready, Kojirou clawed his left forearm strongly, leaving the blood to lightly taint the white petals. He gave the clerk Eiri's address and didn't bother sending a card with the flowers.
***
Rensei had been working for a long time now... fixing up people and adding his art to their bodies. But he felt he was about to come across something different when that tanned kid crossed the studio's door. He had a determined look in his eyes. The doctor looked at him for a short while, trying to guess what he was up to. Without getting to a conclusion, he smiled and asked.
"Yes, can I help you, young man?"
Sid bowed, unconsciously a martial artists bow, with one hand covering a fist, held at chest level. He spoke in his still fairly new Japanese. "Greetings. Have come to inquire about having some *special*, *custom* work done." He said, putting as much innuendo into his flat, angry sounding voice as he could.
Doctor Rensei scratched his long beard and bowed back. "How you got to know about it?"
"Contacts." He said simply, not wishing to give too much away. "People who prefer to remain anonymous." He added. "And some former patients of yours..." He finished.
"That's good enough for me." Rensei went to get the "closed" sign for the studio. After he had the doors closed, he led Sid to the back of it, and opening a secret passage on a wall, indicated him the way down an unexpected clean corridor. "Come in... we can talk in privacy there."
Sid let his eyes rove over the entranceway. Finding no hidden traps, he stepped in, making sure to keep one hand on the switchblade he kept in his pocket. The doctor appeared nice enough, but Sid knew from experience that it was always best to be cautious. After a short walk, the two arrived at their destination, a large, well lit room packed with medical instruments and electronic parts. Still, it wasn't messy. Everything was perfectly set in order. The doctor got chairs for both of them.
"Now, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"That depends on what's medically feasible. First, can you implant this?" He replied, pulling something small and electronic from his pocket. The tiny NAVI was a model of engineering. Folded up, it encompassed only half his palm. Sid unfolded it to reveal an lcd screen, and a miniature keyboard, with keys so small they had to be press with toothpicks. An eraserhead that could be pressed to click it sat in the middle of the keys. Sid held it up for Rensei to see.
"Ah, cybernetics... now I see." He looked curiously at the small jewel. Even in his experience, he had never seen anything like that. "You made this yourself?"
Sid decided to go out on a limb. "Stole it, actually." Sid said deciding to trust the doctor. Tachibana had been dumping its industrial byproducts in the river that ran parallel to his old neighborhood. Sid felt no sense of duty to them. "Must be somewhere discreet, preferably the chest or upper thigh, and it must not cause ill effects when struck or submerged. Can you do that?" Sid said.
"No, kid, I can do better than that." the old man answered. "And if you know where to get good gadgets like this one I don't think you'll have to worry about paying."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Doctor, but this wasn't gotten at the consent of its owner. But if you don't mind acquiring your stuff that way we can surely work something out." He said. Sid wondered if the doctor sympathized with the resistance.
"Hm..." the doctor grinned. "That sounds good. But first and foremost let's have a look at your body. We need to know if it can handle what I have in mind."
Sid considered that for a moment. Stripping in front of a stranger (or anyone else for that matter) was new to him. "Hai. What needs to be taken off?" He said.
"Just take off your shirt and lie down there," he gestured towards an operating table. "I'll take care of the rest."
Sid did as told, tossing his shirt and jacket somewhere he could see if the doctor made a grab for them. Shirtless on the operating table, he mentally catalogued all the equipment, while he waited for the doctor.
Rensei came to him wearing surgical gloves and carrying some sort of scanner with him. He started by running it over the boy's chest, then down to his abdomen. The doctor then asked him to turn round, and proceeded to scan his back, stopping when he reached Sid's spine.
"What I have in mind is that you get a NAVI that will connect directly to your neural system. So... do you have any sort of neurological problem?"
"No neuro problems. But a NAVI that goes straight to the neurons runs the risk of brain hacking. One that doesn't hook up to the nerves, only running off my" ,and there a perceptive person could catch that Sid did not seem to like referring to himself, "body heat'd be much better."
"Yes, there IS a small risk of brain hacking... well, I'll do as it pleases you. But, this isn't something I can do by myself, let alone do it right now. You'll have to set an appointment, maybe next week. Come here." he gave Sid his shirt and jacket and waited for him to put them on before leading him back to the tattooing studio.
"Is next Wednesday optimal?" He said. He added The Doctor to his mental list of minimally trustworthy people.
"Next Wednesday... let me see..." Rensei checked his appointments for the following week. "Is ten PM good for you?"
"Hai. One last thing... can you have a catalogue of your more common weapons implants ready by then?"
Rensei knew what not to ask, and "why do you need such a thing" was a good example. "My less uncommon you mean, right?" he asked grinning. "Yes, I can have it ready. We'll discuss about payment later."
"Arigatou Doctor." He said with another bow, before exiting into the busy Tokyo streets.
***
Eiri looked down at her hands on the steering wheel as she drove off.
"I'm so sorry, Kojirou..." she whispered to her hands.
It had all been an act. She had to leave; there was something she was aching to do, something that she knew that he would stop if he had the power. She knew that Kojirou would hurt himself because of her act, but only in her own house, with Yi-Xue and Noah sleeping, could she do what she was dying to do. Caressing her stomach lightly, Eiri looked down with tear- clouded eyes.
"I'm sorry... that you never had a chance to see Tokyo."
She looked around at the bright lights that she had encountered hours before, but there were now considerably less Harajuku-types and now the sidewalks were beginning to show signs of the business life. Minutes later, she arrived at home, parked the car, and headed to the kitchen.
Noah awoke a bit past dawn to see that Eiri was no longer in bed with him. He assumed that she was preparing breakfast and headed to the kitchen to see what they would be having. As he entered and over at the counter, he didn't see Eiri, but rather the handles of at least twenty knives sticking out of the countertop. He took one step forward... and was able to see that there was a crimson liquid running down the blades. He ran around the counter and saw Eiri.
She was sitting in pool of her own blood.
The blood was coming from deep, self-inflicted cuts all over her arms, legs, and torso. As he walked around, she was slicing her right wrist. She looked up at him with a sadistic look on her face.
"Is this worthy of mention, Dr. Bradford?" she hissed as she cut her left wrist swiftly and without as much as a wince, reopening the old scar.
Noah's lips moved, but no sound came out. She smiled at him as blood ran down her face from a cut on her upper forehead.
"Oh... I have a question for you, doctor! If my heart..." she pointed to her chest. "...is ruthlessly stabbed twice, does it still bleed?" she waited for a few seconds for an answer from him. When Noah started coming closer, her voice became shrill. "Let us find out!"
A psychotic grin on her face, she clasped the knife that she had used on her wrists in her blood-stained hands and held it in front of her. Suddenly, she started plunging it towards her left breast. It had slightly pierced her skin when Noah jumped and pulled the knife out of her hand. He grabbed her and held her lightly so that he wouldn't hurt her further. Yi- Xue entered moments later, and after the uttering of various obscenities, she left the room as quickly as she had arrived, heading to the phone to call the paramedics. Neither of them noticed her.
"Look at my beautiful art..." she giggled insanely. "Kojirou would love it..." she whispered.
He held her closer, tears gathering in his eyes, then whispered in her ear, rocking her as he spoke.
"I didn't mean to hurt you... you have to understand... we met because of deception... but when I saw you... you are so beautiful... and you spoke to me, your voice so soft and soprano-like... you opened your soul to me, and I loved you for your soul. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I broke proper conduct and morals to be with you. I risked everything to make you mine. I love you, Eiri... please... don't you love me too?"
Eiri numbly felt his tears as they ran down her face. She closed her eyes as he ran his fingers idly through her blood-matted hair. He could feel her body relax in his arms and the stickiness of her blood as it soaked through his shirt. Her breathing was labored now and her face was becoming paler as her madness diminished. She pressed her face against his shoulder and her lips parted, as if she was going to speak. Her head fell back into the crook of his arm. She became limp and lifeless.
***
My Eiri has gone insane... right before my eyes.
And there was nothing I could do.
And probably there'll never be.
I can feel myself getting weak from all the Red Suffering I've prepared with my own blood.
***
"Kojirou... aren't you going to bed?"
"No, onee-chan... not now..."
"What's wrong with you?" the maiden looked worriedly at her brother.
"Eiri..."
Hime widened her eyes. "What happened to her?"
Kojirou looked down. "You know when everything you've believed turns out to be one big lie? What's left to do then, sis?" he smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry... this is just... too much for me..."
Hime walked closer to Kojirou and put her arms around his shoulders. "Get a cold bath and go to sleep, honey. It won't help Eiri to hurt yourself like this."
Kojirou leaned against his sister, his body weak from blood loss. She helped him walk to the bathroom and cleaned the cuts that spread all over his body.
"Onee-chan?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you... I probably wouldn't have stopped."
"I know. You don't know when to stop."
The kid smiled at that. "Yeaown, you can talk..."
***
"I'd like twenty black roses, please. And a white one."
"Twenty one roses? That's a lot of love, little boy."
"Yes it is." Kojirou grinned. /And that's not all.../
When the bouquet was ready, Kojirou clawed his left forearm strongly, leaving the blood to lightly taint the white petals. He gave the clerk Eiri's address and didn't bother sending a card with the flowers.
***
Rensei had been working for a long time now... fixing up people and adding his art to their bodies. But he felt he was about to come across something different when that tanned kid crossed the studio's door. He had a determined look in his eyes. The doctor looked at him for a short while, trying to guess what he was up to. Without getting to a conclusion, he smiled and asked.
"Yes, can I help you, young man?"
Sid bowed, unconsciously a martial artists bow, with one hand covering a fist, held at chest level. He spoke in his still fairly new Japanese. "Greetings. Have come to inquire about having some *special*, *custom* work done." He said, putting as much innuendo into his flat, angry sounding voice as he could.
Doctor Rensei scratched his long beard and bowed back. "How you got to know about it?"
"Contacts." He said simply, not wishing to give too much away. "People who prefer to remain anonymous." He added. "And some former patients of yours..." He finished.
"That's good enough for me." Rensei went to get the "closed" sign for the studio. After he had the doors closed, he led Sid to the back of it, and opening a secret passage on a wall, indicated him the way down an unexpected clean corridor. "Come in... we can talk in privacy there."
Sid let his eyes rove over the entranceway. Finding no hidden traps, he stepped in, making sure to keep one hand on the switchblade he kept in his pocket. The doctor appeared nice enough, but Sid knew from experience that it was always best to be cautious. After a short walk, the two arrived at their destination, a large, well lit room packed with medical instruments and electronic parts. Still, it wasn't messy. Everything was perfectly set in order. The doctor got chairs for both of them.
"Now, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"That depends on what's medically feasible. First, can you implant this?" He replied, pulling something small and electronic from his pocket. The tiny NAVI was a model of engineering. Folded up, it encompassed only half his palm. Sid unfolded it to reveal an lcd screen, and a miniature keyboard, with keys so small they had to be press with toothpicks. An eraserhead that could be pressed to click it sat in the middle of the keys. Sid held it up for Rensei to see.
"Ah, cybernetics... now I see." He looked curiously at the small jewel. Even in his experience, he had never seen anything like that. "You made this yourself?"
Sid decided to go out on a limb. "Stole it, actually." Sid said deciding to trust the doctor. Tachibana had been dumping its industrial byproducts in the river that ran parallel to his old neighborhood. Sid felt no sense of duty to them. "Must be somewhere discreet, preferably the chest or upper thigh, and it must not cause ill effects when struck or submerged. Can you do that?" Sid said.
"No, kid, I can do better than that." the old man answered. "And if you know where to get good gadgets like this one I don't think you'll have to worry about paying."
"Arigato gozaimasu, Doctor, but this wasn't gotten at the consent of its owner. But if you don't mind acquiring your stuff that way we can surely work something out." He said. Sid wondered if the doctor sympathized with the resistance.
"Hm..." the doctor grinned. "That sounds good. But first and foremost let's have a look at your body. We need to know if it can handle what I have in mind."
Sid considered that for a moment. Stripping in front of a stranger (or anyone else for that matter) was new to him. "Hai. What needs to be taken off?" He said.
"Just take off your shirt and lie down there," he gestured towards an operating table. "I'll take care of the rest."
Sid did as told, tossing his shirt and jacket somewhere he could see if the doctor made a grab for them. Shirtless on the operating table, he mentally catalogued all the equipment, while he waited for the doctor.
Rensei came to him wearing surgical gloves and carrying some sort of scanner with him. He started by running it over the boy's chest, then down to his abdomen. The doctor then asked him to turn round, and proceeded to scan his back, stopping when he reached Sid's spine.
"What I have in mind is that you get a NAVI that will connect directly to your neural system. So... do you have any sort of neurological problem?"
"No neuro problems. But a NAVI that goes straight to the neurons runs the risk of brain hacking. One that doesn't hook up to the nerves, only running off my" ,and there a perceptive person could catch that Sid did not seem to like referring to himself, "body heat'd be much better."
"Yes, there IS a small risk of brain hacking... well, I'll do as it pleases you. But, this isn't something I can do by myself, let alone do it right now. You'll have to set an appointment, maybe next week. Come here." he gave Sid his shirt and jacket and waited for him to put them on before leading him back to the tattooing studio.
"Is next Wednesday optimal?" He said. He added The Doctor to his mental list of minimally trustworthy people.
"Next Wednesday... let me see..." Rensei checked his appointments for the following week. "Is ten PM good for you?"
"Hai. One last thing... can you have a catalogue of your more common weapons implants ready by then?"
Rensei knew what not to ask, and "why do you need such a thing" was a good example. "My less uncommon you mean, right?" he asked grinning. "Yes, I can have it ready. We'll discuss about payment later."
"Arigatou Doctor." He said with another bow, before exiting into the busy Tokyo streets.
***
Eiri looked down at her hands on the steering wheel as she drove off.
"I'm so sorry, Kojirou..." she whispered to her hands.
It had all been an act. She had to leave; there was something she was aching to do, something that she knew that he would stop if he had the power. She knew that Kojirou would hurt himself because of her act, but only in her own house, with Yi-Xue and Noah sleeping, could she do what she was dying to do. Caressing her stomach lightly, Eiri looked down with tear- clouded eyes.
"I'm sorry... that you never had a chance to see Tokyo."
She looked around at the bright lights that she had encountered hours before, but there were now considerably less Harajuku-types and now the sidewalks were beginning to show signs of the business life. Minutes later, she arrived at home, parked the car, and headed to the kitchen.
Noah awoke a bit past dawn to see that Eiri was no longer in bed with him. He assumed that she was preparing breakfast and headed to the kitchen to see what they would be having. As he entered and over at the counter, he didn't see Eiri, but rather the handles of at least twenty knives sticking out of the countertop. He took one step forward... and was able to see that there was a crimson liquid running down the blades. He ran around the counter and saw Eiri.
She was sitting in pool of her own blood.
The blood was coming from deep, self-inflicted cuts all over her arms, legs, and torso. As he walked around, she was slicing her right wrist. She looked up at him with a sadistic look on her face.
"Is this worthy of mention, Dr. Bradford?" she hissed as she cut her left wrist swiftly and without as much as a wince, reopening the old scar.
Noah's lips moved, but no sound came out. She smiled at him as blood ran down her face from a cut on her upper forehead.
"Oh... I have a question for you, doctor! If my heart..." she pointed to her chest. "...is ruthlessly stabbed twice, does it still bleed?" she waited for a few seconds for an answer from him. When Noah started coming closer, her voice became shrill. "Let us find out!"
A psychotic grin on her face, she clasped the knife that she had used on her wrists in her blood-stained hands and held it in front of her. Suddenly, she started plunging it towards her left breast. It had slightly pierced her skin when Noah jumped and pulled the knife out of her hand. He grabbed her and held her lightly so that he wouldn't hurt her further. Yi- Xue entered moments later, and after the uttering of various obscenities, she left the room as quickly as she had arrived, heading to the phone to call the paramedics. Neither of them noticed her.
"Look at my beautiful art..." she giggled insanely. "Kojirou would love it..." she whispered.
He held her closer, tears gathering in his eyes, then whispered in her ear, rocking her as he spoke.
"I didn't mean to hurt you... you have to understand... we met because of deception... but when I saw you... you are so beautiful... and you spoke to me, your voice so soft and soprano-like... you opened your soul to me, and I loved you for your soul. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I broke proper conduct and morals to be with you. I risked everything to make you mine. I love you, Eiri... please... don't you love me too?"
Eiri numbly felt his tears as they ran down her face. She closed her eyes as he ran his fingers idly through her blood-matted hair. He could feel her body relax in his arms and the stickiness of her blood as it soaked through his shirt. Her breathing was labored now and her face was becoming paler as her madness diminished. She pressed her face against his shoulder and her lips parted, as if she was going to speak. Her head fell back into the crook of his arm. She became limp and lifeless.
***