*Push me again
This is the end
(One) Nothing wrong with me
(Two) Nothing wrong with me
(Three) Nothing wrong with me
(Four) Nothing wrong with me
(One) Something's got to give
(Two) Something's got to give
(Three) Something's got to give
Now
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Skin to skin, blood and bone (?)
You're all by yourself, but you're not alone
You wanted in and now you're here
Driven by hate, consumed by fear*
*Drowning Pool - Bodies (Album Version)*
Two months later...
Angel came home in a foul mood. She had narrowly avoided cracking a few skulls today, and she was sure that the phone would ring any minute. Kenji would listen, hang up, then tell her yet again what a useless, disobedient outcast she was. And then he would demand that she fix his dinner. Freak or not, she was still a human being, dammit, and she was more than tired of being Kenji's lifelong maid/cook.
The TV was on in the living room. In what Angel now regarded as a permanent fixture in that room, her brother sat slouched on the loveseat with a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other. She could hear Kenji in his workroom, tapping furiously on the computer keyboards and muttering loudly to himself in Japanese. Then Takeru came bounding joyously toward her, tail wagging and tongue flopping in excitement. She gave the gigantic dog a hug, and scratched his favorite spot between the ears. A yip and a doggie grin was her only thanks. Story of my life, Angel thought.
"Tenshiii!!" came the angry squeal from Kenji's office. She really hated his voice. When he was nervous or angry, his nasal tone had just that pitch that grated painfully on the eardrums of the sensitive. It looked like the call had come earlier than she'd expected.
She drew herself to her full height and ran her fingers absently through her gleaming silver hair. Kenji came barreling out of his office, a stormcloud almost visible above his head. Through her increased sensitivity, Angel could feel the air vibrating between them, like standing next to the subwoofers in a movie theater.
"Tenshi, you worthless, disobedient child! You caused another fight at school today! You dishonor me!" Kenji said in his whining tone. Takeru flattened his ears and whined, and Angel gave him a sympathetic pat on the head as she faced her guardian.
"You dishonor yourself by breathing," Angel snapped. "I can't help it if the Breakers have it in for me." The Green Breakers were a large, obnoxious gang that dominated most of the downtown area. They had tried more than once to beat her into submission. Each attempt had had disasterous results. The latest attack had ended with Derrick, the Breaker leader, earning himself a broken nose and a pair of cracked ribs. The two boys with him had suffered extreme whiplash and broken wrists, respectively. One would think that they would have learned by now that Angel could not be beaten in a fight. Unfortunately for them, the Breakers were slow learners.
"I do not care! You must not start fights! You must come home and do as you are told! I say so!" Kenji insisted, his nasal whine taking up an air of importance. He was a control freak, through and through, and had been that way her entire life. He insisted on dominating every aspect of her life, and she was now at a breaking point. The first thing she would break would be Kenji's neck.
"Screw you! I'm not cooking for your lazy ass any more! I got a job today, and I will not spend another evening of my life cooking for you!" Angel's temper was being stretched VERY thin. Kenji, however, was not one with the ability to read people.
"You must have no job! You already have job: To cook for me and clean my house! I am your father, and you will do as you are told!"
"Bite me, asshole. My days of being your slave are over. And you're NOT my father! No father, foster or otherwise, would ever treat a child like this! You're a goddamn control freak, and I've had it with you!"
"Who you call freak? YOU are freak, with your wrong eyes and wrong hair! You should appreciate that I took you in when no-one else would! How dare you speak to me in that manner!"
"I have a job, and I will keep the job. You're just gonna have to cook and clean for yourself. At least I'll get paid for it at Jerry's."
"You got a job at a BAR?!" Kenji was ALMOST speechless. He did not find this situation to be the least bit palatable. He must control her! He must!
At the mention of a bar, Bryan tore his gaze from the TV. "Hey, superkid! You get discounts?" Angel gave him a frosty nod before turning back to Kenji. "Finally, somebody in this fucking household with a REAL job," Bryan muttered, returning to the TV.
"There is no real job! You must obey me! Tenshi, you will turn the job down, and continue to work in this household!" Kenji stamped a little foot, and Angel almost laughed. He was at least a foot shorter than her, and spent all his days fixing computers. He would be no challenge at all.
Like swatting a fly, Angel thought. "I'm taking that job, asswipe, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
Kenji went pale. "No. You must stay. I... have spoken. You must... not... I cannot lose..." His voice had taken a new note, one Angel hadn't heard in a while. It was a tone of panic, of desperation. He was losing control of Angel, he had lost it a long time ago. He was beginning to sweat heavily. "You... you must not go. I say so."
Kenji's tone once again brought Bryan back to reality. Damn, he's losing it, he thought. The little Japanese man was finally losing it. He muted the TV. This could get interesting.
In a moment of desperation, as Angel began to walk out the door, Kenji gave a little yell and ran to block the doorway. He couldn't lose control! The girl must be controlled, or they would kill him! He must control her!
Angel glared at him, and Kenji almost lost it right there. Those on the recieving end of one of Angel's glares usually didn't last very long. In one slow-motion move, Angel backhanded Kenji in the face. The little Japanese flew through the air and smashed against the doorframe.
"Bryan, stop her!" Kenji's tone was now a full-blown screech, and Angel covered her ears instinctively. Thus referred to, Bryan raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't move. Kenji screamed, and raced toward Bryan while whipping something out of the pocket of his housecoat. It was a small black something, and before he could identify it, it was pressed against Bryan's bare arm.
Instantly, pain shot through Bryan's entire body. A tazer! A fucking tazer! The pain was incredible, and Bryan let out a long, tortured scream that all but froze the blood in Angel's veins. Damn! It was like every single nerve in his body was on fire!
Kenji withdrew the tazer. "Bryan, stop her! I must regain control!" Kenji had completely lost it, but he still had that damn tazer. After a moment, Bryan raised himself off the couch and deftly interposed himself between Angel and the doorway.
"Fly or fry, wino," Angel growled, "but I'm going through that door." Bryan crossed his arms and looked threatening, but Angel could still sense the pain coursing through his body. There was also an odd smell, like melted plastic, but Angel didn't have time to dwell on it. "Out of my way, you worthless drunk. I have to go to work now, and earn some money, unlike some people."
"Barmaids don't earn much, you know," Bryan said almost offhandedly. "Besides, you're not old enough to sell beer, anyway."
Angel's temper finally broke. "At least it's a job. At least I'm gonna go earn some money and start supporting myself. At least I don't sit at home all day, in a drunken stupor, trying to forget a past that I don't even remember!"
Bryan's features tightened for a second, and his unblinking steel-blue eyes fixed intently on her lavendar ones. "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about."
"Then enlighten me."
Bryan hesitated, and threw a look at the still-ranting Kenji. The Japanese raised the tazer threateningly, and Bryan turned his gaze back to his sister. "Listen to me, superkid. You ain't going nowhere. I'm not above hitting girls, you know."
"Good. Neither am I."
What a smartass. Bryan sighed and took up a fighting stance. "Come get some, then."
Angel was already moving, coming at him like a silver-haired torpedo. Bryan timed his attack, and swiftly threw a left hook. He hit nothing but air as the platinum-haired whirlwind hit him in a full shoulder tackle. They both flew through the door, tumbled down the porch steps, and landed Bryan-down on the front lawn. Angel lept quickly to her feet and took a fighting stance. Bryan was a bit slower getting up, but nontheless took up his own stance. There was a moment's pause, and then Angel attacked.
Bryan had once been a tough figher. He had beaten some of the greatest fighters in the world, and in any other lifetime Angel would have been honored to meet him. However, two months of heavy drinking had somewhat dulled his reflexes.
The first hit was a swift kick to the knee, enough to throw him off balance. She then ducked, almost right under him, before raising herself up for a powerful jumping right-uppercut to the jaw. By the time he recovered, she was coming again. Six swift hits to the exact same place to the gut, too fast for the eye to follow. His newly-aquired beer-belly was taking a serious beating, and he began to retreat.
Not fast enough. Angel was truly pissed off now, and she was taking out her aggression on anything in her path. She rushed in for a powerful right hook to the cheekbone, and she both heard and felt his jaw pop out of place. To add insult to injury, she leapt in the air for a spinning kick that left a foot-shaped bruise in his chest for weeks to come. The force propelled him backward, and he slammed into one of the support beams for the porch with a loud grunt before falling to his knees.
After staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, Bryan reached up to grab his jaw with both hands and yanked it swiftly to the right. It popped loudly into place, and Angel winced before fixing him with a harsh stare. "You finished?" She asked haughtily.
Bryan was speechless. She'd handed him his ass on a silver platter, and she hadn't even broken a sweat. He was breathing heavily, and he quickly raised his hands in surrender. He hadn't landed a single hit. She smiled almost sweetly at him, and began walking towards her car.
Kenji snapped. "Nooo!!" He screeched, and rushed the defenseless Bryan. "Failure!" he shouted, and buried the tazer in the back of Bryan's neck. Bryan screamed again, and he felt himself blacking out from the pain. It was as though his entire body was on fire. Damn, he'd never felt a hurt like that before! Then there was a loud thud, and Kenji went flying yet again as Angel nailed him with a full-on tackle. She grabbed the tazer and threw it to the ground hard, where it shattered. Her gaze flew back to Bryan, who was writhing pitifully on the ground in agony. Once again, the air was thick with the smell of melted plastic.
"Bastard!" She yelled. She reached Kenji and picked him up by the throat with one hand. In a swift, fluid motion, she flung him at a support beam on the porch. He struck hard, and crumpled silently to the ground in a heap. He was still alive, she knew. She could still feel his life-force. Once again she turned back toward her brother, who had subsided a bit.
She called his name softly, and he didn't respond. She lifted him in a fireman's carry and brought him into the house. She took him all the way to his room before depositing the unconscious form on the bed and covering him with a light blanket. She gazed at him silently for a moment, then turn and left. She spat on Kenji's still-unmoving form as she climbed into her car, and headed for Jerry's.
This is the end
(One) Nothing wrong with me
(Two) Nothing wrong with me
(Three) Nothing wrong with me
(Four) Nothing wrong with me
(One) Something's got to give
(Two) Something's got to give
(Three) Something's got to give
Now
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Skin to skin, blood and bone (?)
You're all by yourself, but you're not alone
You wanted in and now you're here
Driven by hate, consumed by fear*
*Drowning Pool - Bodies (Album Version)*
Two months later...
Angel came home in a foul mood. She had narrowly avoided cracking a few skulls today, and she was sure that the phone would ring any minute. Kenji would listen, hang up, then tell her yet again what a useless, disobedient outcast she was. And then he would demand that she fix his dinner. Freak or not, she was still a human being, dammit, and she was more than tired of being Kenji's lifelong maid/cook.
The TV was on in the living room. In what Angel now regarded as a permanent fixture in that room, her brother sat slouched on the loveseat with a beer in one hand and the remote control in the other. She could hear Kenji in his workroom, tapping furiously on the computer keyboards and muttering loudly to himself in Japanese. Then Takeru came bounding joyously toward her, tail wagging and tongue flopping in excitement. She gave the gigantic dog a hug, and scratched his favorite spot between the ears. A yip and a doggie grin was her only thanks. Story of my life, Angel thought.
"Tenshiii!!" came the angry squeal from Kenji's office. She really hated his voice. When he was nervous or angry, his nasal tone had just that pitch that grated painfully on the eardrums of the sensitive. It looked like the call had come earlier than she'd expected.
She drew herself to her full height and ran her fingers absently through her gleaming silver hair. Kenji came barreling out of his office, a stormcloud almost visible above his head. Through her increased sensitivity, Angel could feel the air vibrating between them, like standing next to the subwoofers in a movie theater.
"Tenshi, you worthless, disobedient child! You caused another fight at school today! You dishonor me!" Kenji said in his whining tone. Takeru flattened his ears and whined, and Angel gave him a sympathetic pat on the head as she faced her guardian.
"You dishonor yourself by breathing," Angel snapped. "I can't help it if the Breakers have it in for me." The Green Breakers were a large, obnoxious gang that dominated most of the downtown area. They had tried more than once to beat her into submission. Each attempt had had disasterous results. The latest attack had ended with Derrick, the Breaker leader, earning himself a broken nose and a pair of cracked ribs. The two boys with him had suffered extreme whiplash and broken wrists, respectively. One would think that they would have learned by now that Angel could not be beaten in a fight. Unfortunately for them, the Breakers were slow learners.
"I do not care! You must not start fights! You must come home and do as you are told! I say so!" Kenji insisted, his nasal whine taking up an air of importance. He was a control freak, through and through, and had been that way her entire life. He insisted on dominating every aspect of her life, and she was now at a breaking point. The first thing she would break would be Kenji's neck.
"Screw you! I'm not cooking for your lazy ass any more! I got a job today, and I will not spend another evening of my life cooking for you!" Angel's temper was being stretched VERY thin. Kenji, however, was not one with the ability to read people.
"You must have no job! You already have job: To cook for me and clean my house! I am your father, and you will do as you are told!"
"Bite me, asshole. My days of being your slave are over. And you're NOT my father! No father, foster or otherwise, would ever treat a child like this! You're a goddamn control freak, and I've had it with you!"
"Who you call freak? YOU are freak, with your wrong eyes and wrong hair! You should appreciate that I took you in when no-one else would! How dare you speak to me in that manner!"
"I have a job, and I will keep the job. You're just gonna have to cook and clean for yourself. At least I'll get paid for it at Jerry's."
"You got a job at a BAR?!" Kenji was ALMOST speechless. He did not find this situation to be the least bit palatable. He must control her! He must!
At the mention of a bar, Bryan tore his gaze from the TV. "Hey, superkid! You get discounts?" Angel gave him a frosty nod before turning back to Kenji. "Finally, somebody in this fucking household with a REAL job," Bryan muttered, returning to the TV.
"There is no real job! You must obey me! Tenshi, you will turn the job down, and continue to work in this household!" Kenji stamped a little foot, and Angel almost laughed. He was at least a foot shorter than her, and spent all his days fixing computers. He would be no challenge at all.
Like swatting a fly, Angel thought. "I'm taking that job, asswipe, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it."
Kenji went pale. "No. You must stay. I... have spoken. You must... not... I cannot lose..." His voice had taken a new note, one Angel hadn't heard in a while. It was a tone of panic, of desperation. He was losing control of Angel, he had lost it a long time ago. He was beginning to sweat heavily. "You... you must not go. I say so."
Kenji's tone once again brought Bryan back to reality. Damn, he's losing it, he thought. The little Japanese man was finally losing it. He muted the TV. This could get interesting.
In a moment of desperation, as Angel began to walk out the door, Kenji gave a little yell and ran to block the doorway. He couldn't lose control! The girl must be controlled, or they would kill him! He must control her!
Angel glared at him, and Kenji almost lost it right there. Those on the recieving end of one of Angel's glares usually didn't last very long. In one slow-motion move, Angel backhanded Kenji in the face. The little Japanese flew through the air and smashed against the doorframe.
"Bryan, stop her!" Kenji's tone was now a full-blown screech, and Angel covered her ears instinctively. Thus referred to, Bryan raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't move. Kenji screamed, and raced toward Bryan while whipping something out of the pocket of his housecoat. It was a small black something, and before he could identify it, it was pressed against Bryan's bare arm.
Instantly, pain shot through Bryan's entire body. A tazer! A fucking tazer! The pain was incredible, and Bryan let out a long, tortured scream that all but froze the blood in Angel's veins. Damn! It was like every single nerve in his body was on fire!
Kenji withdrew the tazer. "Bryan, stop her! I must regain control!" Kenji had completely lost it, but he still had that damn tazer. After a moment, Bryan raised himself off the couch and deftly interposed himself between Angel and the doorway.
"Fly or fry, wino," Angel growled, "but I'm going through that door." Bryan crossed his arms and looked threatening, but Angel could still sense the pain coursing through his body. There was also an odd smell, like melted plastic, but Angel didn't have time to dwell on it. "Out of my way, you worthless drunk. I have to go to work now, and earn some money, unlike some people."
"Barmaids don't earn much, you know," Bryan said almost offhandedly. "Besides, you're not old enough to sell beer, anyway."
Angel's temper finally broke. "At least it's a job. At least I'm gonna go earn some money and start supporting myself. At least I don't sit at home all day, in a drunken stupor, trying to forget a past that I don't even remember!"
Bryan's features tightened for a second, and his unblinking steel-blue eyes fixed intently on her lavendar ones. "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about."
"Then enlighten me."
Bryan hesitated, and threw a look at the still-ranting Kenji. The Japanese raised the tazer threateningly, and Bryan turned his gaze back to his sister. "Listen to me, superkid. You ain't going nowhere. I'm not above hitting girls, you know."
"Good. Neither am I."
What a smartass. Bryan sighed and took up a fighting stance. "Come get some, then."
Angel was already moving, coming at him like a silver-haired torpedo. Bryan timed his attack, and swiftly threw a left hook. He hit nothing but air as the platinum-haired whirlwind hit him in a full shoulder tackle. They both flew through the door, tumbled down the porch steps, and landed Bryan-down on the front lawn. Angel lept quickly to her feet and took a fighting stance. Bryan was a bit slower getting up, but nontheless took up his own stance. There was a moment's pause, and then Angel attacked.
Bryan had once been a tough figher. He had beaten some of the greatest fighters in the world, and in any other lifetime Angel would have been honored to meet him. However, two months of heavy drinking had somewhat dulled his reflexes.
The first hit was a swift kick to the knee, enough to throw him off balance. She then ducked, almost right under him, before raising herself up for a powerful jumping right-uppercut to the jaw. By the time he recovered, she was coming again. Six swift hits to the exact same place to the gut, too fast for the eye to follow. His newly-aquired beer-belly was taking a serious beating, and he began to retreat.
Not fast enough. Angel was truly pissed off now, and she was taking out her aggression on anything in her path. She rushed in for a powerful right hook to the cheekbone, and she both heard and felt his jaw pop out of place. To add insult to injury, she leapt in the air for a spinning kick that left a foot-shaped bruise in his chest for weeks to come. The force propelled him backward, and he slammed into one of the support beams for the porch with a loud grunt before falling to his knees.
After staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity, Bryan reached up to grab his jaw with both hands and yanked it swiftly to the right. It popped loudly into place, and Angel winced before fixing him with a harsh stare. "You finished?" She asked haughtily.
Bryan was speechless. She'd handed him his ass on a silver platter, and she hadn't even broken a sweat. He was breathing heavily, and he quickly raised his hands in surrender. He hadn't landed a single hit. She smiled almost sweetly at him, and began walking towards her car.
Kenji snapped. "Nooo!!" He screeched, and rushed the defenseless Bryan. "Failure!" he shouted, and buried the tazer in the back of Bryan's neck. Bryan screamed again, and he felt himself blacking out from the pain. It was as though his entire body was on fire. Damn, he'd never felt a hurt like that before! Then there was a loud thud, and Kenji went flying yet again as Angel nailed him with a full-on tackle. She grabbed the tazer and threw it to the ground hard, where it shattered. Her gaze flew back to Bryan, who was writhing pitifully on the ground in agony. Once again, the air was thick with the smell of melted plastic.
"Bastard!" She yelled. She reached Kenji and picked him up by the throat with one hand. In a swift, fluid motion, she flung him at a support beam on the porch. He struck hard, and crumpled silently to the ground in a heap. He was still alive, she knew. She could still feel his life-force. Once again she turned back toward her brother, who had subsided a bit.
She called his name softly, and he didn't respond. She lifted him in a fireman's carry and brought him into the house. She took him all the way to his room before depositing the unconscious form on the bed and covering him with a light blanket. She gazed at him silently for a moment, then turn and left. She spat on Kenji's still-unmoving form as she climbed into her car, and headed for Jerry's.