He opened his eyes to see wide, innocent slate grey staring intently at him with approximately three inches space between his face and hers.
"Ryu, are you alright? You sort of zoned out there for a moment. I was just speaking to you, and you looked as though you were trapped in a dream or something,"
Trapped in a dream. How poetically ironic. And how perfectly accurate. "I apologise,"
A short silence. Looking at her, so serene, so… beautiful… what? He had to break the serenity, break the silence. Break her.
"Did you know that Kasumi is dead? Murdered,"
"What?"
Where did that come from? He chastised himself furiously. I can't believe I was so tactless as to say that! What was I thinking?
"No way. Dead?" The girl looked absolutely distraught. "I don't believe it. How come? Why? Who did it? Why did she have to die? When did she die?"
Good god. What was I thinking? I'm a fool. There's nothing else to it.
She couldn't believe it. Simply couldn't believe it. She glanced up at him, hoping that he was joking. Any second he would start laughing, go 'Leifang, you fell for it! You silly girl!' and it would all be alright. But he said nothing, simply letting his hair fall over his shoulder as he looked at her probingly.
Couldn't he have laid it down a bit softer? Great conversation starter, oh, how are you, by the way, one of your friends is dead?
"Why? How? What for? Why would anybody want to kill her?"
"She's wanted for being a runaway. Don't you know that?" he chided gently.
She shook her head. "Anybody who could even think of killing her deserves to die,"
"So harsh," His emerald eyes were betraying something, but what it was exactly, she couldn't tell. "Does anybody really deserve to die?"
"Whoever killed her does," she said defiantly. "Without question,"
She felt warm, crystalline tears welling up in her eyes. "She was my friend,"
He made a sudden movement as to embrace her, but then thought better of it. "Everybody has their time eventually. It's just a shame that hers was so soon,"
"But she was my friend. She was a good person. A pure-hearted, good person. Good people don't deserve to be killed in cold blood!" Her voice was rising; uncontrollable fury seeping through her veins, as shaking overtook her limbs. "She didn't deserve it!"
The next thing she knew was dizziness as swirls of colour spun past her, burning tears dripping painfully from half-closed lids.
After waiting for the world to stop spinning around her, she looked up dimly, into a pair of emerald green eyes.
"You will be alright. You are luckier then she. Be grateful for the life you do not have to lead,"