As she slowly came to, the first thing she noticed was pain. Her head was throbbing angrily as she struggled to sit up and look at her surroundings.
Luckily, it was light. That was a bonus.
It didn't take long for her to realise that she was chained up to the wall. What did surprise her, though, was the person standing beside her, just out of her reach.
"Miss Leifang, is it?"
Miss again? It must be him! But the voice doesn't seem familiar… "What the hell do you want from me?" she opted for, summoning up as much defiance as she could muster being chained to the wall.
"You might remember me from a few years ago. Hayate, Kasumi's brother. Remember?"
Distantly. She remembered something about him being important in the job he did, but what that was, she couldn't be certain. "I'll cut to the chase, then. You know Ryu's whereabouts. Where are they?"
"Hold it," she took a minute to gather her thoughts. "If you know that I know where Ryu's whereabouts are, then why can't you find them out yourself instead of knocking me out and chaining me up against my will? I could get you arrested for this,"
"Believe me, by the time the police come, I will be long gone," A cruel smile crept across her captor's face. "Just answer the question, please; Leifang, then I can set you free,"
"Why do you want to know?"
Hayate sighed. "I've done a lot of travelling to get here, please just humour me,"
"Look… I don't give a toot as to how much travelling you've done! You're holding me here against my will. Why should I answer any of your questions?"
Golden brown orbs suddenly narrowed. "Because I will kill you if you don't,"
What the? How… how dare he…! "You killed her, didn't you!" she shouted suddenly. "You killed your sister, and now you want to kill Ryu, too!"
"You understand nothing of the life we lead," Hayate hissed. Déjà vu. Ryu said that to me before… or something to that effect… "It was necessary for me to do so, for the sake of our clan. And Ryu here has killed members of my clan, and as leader it is my job to avenge their deaths. Now tell me where he is or I will have no choice but to add you to the list of casualties,"
"No!" she shouted. "You might have the evil conscience to be able to kill your sister, but as much as I am able, I will not let you hurt anybody else! You'll have to kill me first!"
I sound so confident. Truth is… I'm terrified.
"Leifang, I don't want to have to kill you," Hayate's voice had softened to a surprisingly considerable level. "As much as I know of you, I like you. Don't make me do this. Just tell me where Ryu is and I will leave you in peace,"
"I am here, Hayate," a soft voice came from the shadows. Her head snapped around to where the voice came from. Sure enough, he was standing there, head down, leaning against the wall in a somewhat mystical manner, if indeed it was possible to simply lean against a wall mystically.
"How…" she managed to stutter. He cocked his head to the side, a seemingly and rather ironically innocent gesture as he eyed her intently, before speaking.
"Hayate, if your aim was to attempt subtlety then you failed abysmally. The noise alerted me as I left Leifang's apartment that something was wrong. So I simply came back and saw you go out of the window, and I followed you,"
"Why did you kill him?"
Ryu's eyes snapped up, so that emerald green met golden brown. "He wouldn't give me information. Isn't that the custom nowadays? You kill those of no value to you?"
"You didn't have to," Hayate's voice was soft. "He was only a rookie. He had all his life ahead of him, yet you truncate it with one cruel swipe of your sword,"
"As you did not have to kill your sister so cruelly in the same manner. Yet, no doubt you deemed it necessary. As did I. I didn't want to, as no doubt you did not, either. But sometimes practicality comes above emotion,"
"What…" her eyes were wide. "What do you two do for a living?"
Ryu smiled, but it was a bitter smile that left his eyes icy cold.
"We kill, Leifang. We kill,"