Chapter 11
The hot, July sun beat down upon the Earth and the trees surrounding the small area that the girls used as their training spot, gave little or no relief to the scorching heat coming off the bright ball that sat high in the clear blue sky. A cool breeze was about the only relief they had to the unbearable heat and that wasn't doing much of anything for any of them. The sounds of weapons clashing and clanging together rang throughout the area as their users fought adamantly against each other in a battle of strength and strategy. The aging charge, Leinto, stood off to the side of the fighting arena, watching the young girls as they fought against each other as part of their training. His aging and weathered face showed no emotion as his gray eyes surveyed each of the girls' moves and fighting techniques.
He had to hand it to the Ronins, they had taught their daughters very well. The Ronins' fighting styles shown greatly in the ways that the girls fought; everything from their personalities to even some of their favorite moves and tricks. He smiled softly as he watched the strongest of the five, Keish, obviously going easy on her much smaller opponent Kami. The two were more so playing than they were fighting as they were supposed to be.
Figures. Kami does not like to fight and since Keish is much stronger than her smaller friend is, she would rather go easier on her then fight her like she would with Rylea, thought the charge with a smile in their direction as he watched them go at it.
His eyes then glanced over at the other two fighters. Rona and Heather were paired together today, the blond bearer of Halo actually participating in the training without her usual complaining and whining. This surprised and elated Leinto to see the young girl fighting as he knew she could, without the added extras that usually accompanied anything she did that required physical exertion.
Maybe Heather is starting to accept and go along with the fact that she must work and sweat to be able to get anything done. Leinto smiled as he watched Rona, the royal-blue-haired bearer of Strata. Her smart thinking and ability to come up with strategic plans quickly was going to be very useful on the battlefield. What Rona didn't have in strength, like say Keish, she made up with her brain and ability to think quickly.
Leinto nodded his head in thought as he watched over the girls, studying and memorizing their unique fighting styles. He had most of them figured out and memorized, almost knowing every one of their moves and how they thought when in battle. Rona's strategic planning, Keish's strength and Kami's ability to see past fighting, will all come in handy when they begin to fight the evil that I feel beginning to grow stronger with each passing day. Heather will be able to keep them busy if needed to, I hope.
The charge frowned as he thought, flicking his gaze over onto the only girl who was not currently paired with some one. Rylea sat off to the side, lazily watching the other four girls as they trained, her katanas rested at her sides, waiting to be picked up and used in battle. The aging charge frowned, sensing that time was also running out for the hot tempered bearer of Wildfire.
He knew a secret about Rylea that she herself was probably not even aware of yet. A secret so terrible, that if it were to ever get out to any of the other girls, it might tear the group apart. Rylea was not like the other girls for she held something dark and evil within her. Something that very shortly could take over her completely, turning her from their side to the enemies and with that,also turning the tides in favor of the one thing that she had been sworn to protect the world from.
While this secret of hers she still held deep within her, so far being able to keep control over it, Leinto knew that not much longer would she be able to. Her birthday was drawing ever so closer, bringing with it the looming feeling of dread. The unnerving sensation that Rylea would soon be turning, feeding into that demon side of her; letting her cravings for power and blood turn her into a soulless monster and thus causing her to betray her family, hung thick in the air around Leinto. One question still bewildered the charge the more he thought about it: How had Rylea ended up with a demonic power, a demon side to her when she comes from a long line of ninjas and fighting for the side of good? How could a descendant of the great Ryo of Wildfire, a new bearer of the Wildfire armor, be evil?
The more Leinto pondered over this the more confused he became. Something was missing along the lines, something he was overlooking. There was no way for a child who came from the Sanada bloodline to carry such a demonic presence within her. There was just something about the whole thing that didn't quite set right with him. The way Luna had died and Rylea had been left for dead, but survived against all odds, the way no clues had been left behind andthe crime scene was just too clean for this to have been just your ordinary murder. Leinto suspected there was more to the story then what he was seeing, but had kept his findings to himself. He didn't want to alert the Ronins about her and then have it turn around and not be true. No, Leinto would wait and find out more about his suspicions before he would bring it to their attention.
Settling his pondering mind, Leinto cleared his throat as he stepped closer to the girls who were training. "Alright, girls. That is enough for today," he spoke to them as the four girls training stopped to look over at their aging charge. "You are all free to leave."
"Well, great. It's about time you gave us the word," Keish grumbled while recalling her subarmor and twirling the three-section staff in her hand. "Do you have any idea what its like training in this kind of heat?"
"It is a little too hot for this kind of stuff," Kami added, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm after she too had recalled her subarmor.
"Yeah, well a certain someone didn't have to worry about the heat," Heather huffed as she recalled her green and white subarmor. "She just laid around while the rest of did what we were supposed to do."
Rylea climbed back to her feet from her spot on the ground, shedding her red and white subarmor as she picked up the katanas from the ground, twirling them thenexpertly before pointing them at the blond. "How bout I do my training now," she challenged her. "You and me can go right now if you'd like."
Heather sneered at her challenge, crossing her arms over her chest and snapping her head away from Rylea with an arrogant smirk. "Like you're worth it," she replied with a wave of her hand. "I've already done my training for the day. You're the one who didn't do anything, so why should I have to train with you now?"
The dark haired girl growled, tightening her hold on the hilts of her katanas as she narrowed her vivid blue eyes into slits at the pretty blond's back. Rona, now back in her street clothes, stepped in-between the two feuding girls, pushing her cousin back away from Heather to keep a fight from breaking out. A flash of pictures raced across Rona's mind when she touched Rylea with such a strong force that she reeled back from it, grabbing her head in her hands in an attempt to block out the scenes and voices in her mind.
Caught up in the mini movie playing in her mind, Rona jerked back in surprise when a hand touched her shoulder. "Whoa," she heard the familiar voice of her cousin, but her voice sounded as if it were coming from the end of a tunnel and was being distorted and changed. The royal-blue-haired Lady Ronin of Strata cracked her eyes open, the light from the sun blinding her temporarily before she regained her sight and glanced around at the confused and concerned looks she was getting from the other girls around her.
"You ok?" Rylea asked her cousin as she laid her hand on her shoulder.
Rona once again found the mini movie involving her cousin play across her mind's eye, this time with more depth and reality to it. She could make out what the Rylea in her mind's eye was saying and doing, but couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Rylea narrowed her eyes at her cousin as she frowned, concerned by her actions. "Rons?" she said her name timidly, trying to gain her attention.
Rona jerked her head up suddenly at the mention of her name, almost as if she had been snapped from a daydream and brought back to reality. "Huh? Nani?" the usually well spoken girl stuttered out as she blinked rapidly to rid herself of the lingering pictures in her mind.
"You ok, Rona?" Kami's soft and concerned voice asked her.
Rona took a deep breath, trying to settle herself as she attempted to make sense out of what she had just seen or more like, what had just happened to her. Smiling to reassure them she said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I think the heat's starting to get to me. Why don't we go some place where it's nice and cool?"
"I say hai to that," Keish replied, draping her arms over the shoulders of Rylea and Rona as she smiled brightly.
"Yeah, I think getting out of the sun might be best. I'm going to start turning red if I stay out here any longer," Heather agreed, examining over her skin to make sure that no red spots had started to form. Heaven forbid that she were to get sunburn.
"You guys go ahead," Rylea said as she retracted Keish's arm from around her shoulder and began to walk ahead of them to a place of her own choosing. "I got something I need to do."
"But Lea-" Keish started and was shushed by Rona who put her hand up to stop her.
"Let her go," Rona told her, sensing that her cousin needed to be left alone to do whatever she had to do. "She'll meet up with us later if she wants to."
Keish frowned, but didn't press the issue, instead she watched as the dark haired ninja disappeared into the thicket of trees and bushes; leaving them to go off on her own. The ash-blue warrior of strength couldn't understand why her best friend had all of a sudden begun to hang by herself more and more, but figured that Rylea would talk to them sooner or later if she wanted to about it. Brushing the issue from her mind, she smiled once again, "So we going?"
"I guess so," Kami answered with a shrug of her shoulders as Keish and her began to walk ahead of the others to their destination.
Heather started to walk behind the two before realizing that Rona wasn't walking next to her and turned around, questionably looking at the girl who still stood where she was, seemingly staring off into space as if deep in thought. "Rona?" she said, gaining her attention. "You coming?"
"Yeah," Rona replied and reluctantly started taking steps towards the blond, "I'm coming."
Heather eyed her peculiarly, but said nothing to her as the two ran to catch up with the other two members of their group who were already ahead of them, leaving Leinto alone in the training area they used. The old charge frowned, wrinkles forming on his forehead as he mused over what he had witnessed.
She saw something, maybe a prediction of what's to come? I'll have to find out later from her about what it was she had seen in her mind that could have startled her so. I hope it's not a foreboding message of something that's going to happen, Leinto thought as he slowly turned from the fleeing forms of the four girls, disappearing into the air and out of sight.
-
Loud clapping and cheering could be heard halfway down the block as Tadin approached the large Cathedral style building ahead of him. Iron gates surrounded the huge Cathedral with its twisted gargoyles and towers that seemed to spiral up into the black skies that hung low over it. Tadin smirked as he passed one of the stone lions that stood guard at the entrance to the Cathedral, its mouth open wide in a ferocious growl. Sirous must be giving another one of his speeches, the dingy blond thought to himself as he neared the entrance to the building.
Pushing one of the large wooden doors open, the dingy blond walked into the building, ignoring the two demon guards inside the doors as he slipped into the back so as to not be seen. A hundred or so demons of all races, sizes, shapes and colors stood before him, gathered inside and all looking intently at the speaker before them. Anyone who would have seen it would have thought it was a Sunday sermon with the way the speaker and crowd were carrying on.
He smiled lightly as he leaned against the stone pillar next to him, listening to the speaker at the front of the room go on and on about something. After listening to the useless rambling of the lecturer, it became evident to Tadin who the person was. Sirous sure knows how to work a crowd. Poor saps, they'd do anything he told them to or believe it for that matter.
A round of clapping and cheering signified that Sirous was done giving his speech now. Some of the demons started to disperse while others stood in groups and talked amongst themselves about what had just been said. Tadin uncrossed his arms, pushing himself away from the pillar he leaned against as he strode towards Sirous before the purebred could get away. A few of the demons were talking to the tall purebred as Tadin walked up to him.
Sirous stopped talking when he noticed Tadin, excusing himself, he walked over to him. "Tadin, I had a feeling you'd show up," he said to him smoothly, his slate gray eyes sparkling with a glint of something as he smiled at him.
"I need to talk to you Sirous," Tadin said to him, taking the purebred by the arm and leading him away from the crowd.
Sirous glared down at the hand that was holding onto his arm as Tadin retracted it quickly. The purebred had a problem with anyway who was ranked lower than he was, touching him in anyway. Brushing it off he said, "What do you need, hybrid."
Tadin gave him a glowering look, but shrugged it off. Figuring it wasn't worth him going off on Sirous, he let it go. "I think the time to act is now," he told him, checking over his shoulder to make sure that no one was listening into their conversation.
Sirous fixed his posture, bringing himself up to stand at his full height as he looked down at the dingy blond before him. His gray eyes studied him carefully, "Is that what you honestly believe?"
Tadin nodded his head firmly, his eyes never leaving the purebred's. "Yes, I have this feeling that if I wait any longer then I might not be able to bring her over," Tadin explained for him.
"I see," Sirous replied as he stroked his chin in thought. "Don't do anything now. Making a move at this stage in the game might tip the scales in the favor of the enemy. She hasn't known you that long, has she?" At the nod he got from Tadin he continued, "Try to gain her trust a little more. I'll let you know when the time is right."
Tadin eyed the dark skinned man in front of him. There was something different about his attitude towards the whole thing, but he couldn't put his finger on just what it was. At first he couldn't wait for him to try and turn her and now he was telling him to wait. Tadin was starting to get the feeling that Sirous had an agenda all of his own involving the hybrid, Rylea.
"Yeah, well if you say so," he replied back hesitantly as he turned from him and started to walk back towards the exit to leave. He didn't like being this far into the demon dimension as it was.
Sirous watched the young hybrid walk away, leaving once again. His eyes were set into a glare at his back as a demon appeared behind him. "Master," the thing gurgled out in a voice that sounded as if he were choking on some kind of liquid.
"Soon," Sirous replied, now smiling as he kept his back to the demon. "Tadin is getting in way over his head. Soon, I will send you to do get what is mine."
The demon behind him nodded and retreated to the shadows once again, leaving Sirous to smile as he thought about his plans. His plans that had been put off the last eleven years, but no longer would be once he got his hands on the one thing he still needed. Soon. Soon what I started almost eleven years ago will finally be finished. It's only a matter of time now, the purebred smirked at his musings while turning to go back to the crowd of demons to socialize amongst them.
-
The four young girls sat at a booth in the food court of the Toyama mall. A pizza with half the slices to it gone sat in the middle of the table, signifying that they had had lunch already. Small talk was about all that the girls could bring themselves to do. Rona sat at the booth with the rest of them quietly as her mind reeled over and contemplated what all she had seen earlier. She didn't understand why she had seen a glimpse of, what must have been, the future when she had touched her cousin, but she had and what she had seen was not settling well with the royal-blue-haired lady Ronin.
It couldn't have been real. It just couldn't. Trying to convince herself that she had just hallucinated what she had seen wasn't working for the young genius. Somehow, deep down, she knew, just knew that what shehad seenwas real and was going to happen. Frown lines creased her forehead as she thought more over what she had seen, trying to recall every detail about it, hoping that she had come up with the wrong conclusion.
"Hey Rona?"
Rona looked up when the sound of Keish's voice interrupted her thoughts; jerking her back to the present. She blinked several times as if clearing her vision as three sets of eyes stared at her with concern. "Nani?" she asked back as if nothing were wrong.
"Ah," Keish stammered out and looked to the petite brunette next to her for help.
"Rona, are you ok?" Kami asked her blue-haired friend as her sea green eyes set into a frown at the girl.
"Hai," Rona answered quickly and the three girls all looked at each other with a smirk, knowing full well that it wasn't.
"Spill Rons," Heather said, pointing her cup at her before she took a drink from it. "You've been staring off into space in your own little world ever since we left from training today. So out with it already, what's wrong?"
Rona dropped her eyes to the table, not really sure how to word what she had seen to them. She knew that she had to tell them, they deserved to know. "I- I saw something when Lea touched me," she told them cautiously, still trying to figure out how she wanted to explain it to them.
"You saw something?" Keish repeated with a raised eyebrow at the blue-haired girl.
"Hai," she said back to confirm her right. "Don't ask me how, but when Lea touched me I saw something. It might have been a glimpse of the future, I don't know, all I know is that I saw something and it doesn't look good."
"Can you tell us what it was you saw?" Kami asked her, now intrigued by what the young Strata had said.
"I can try," she replied as she straightened and got ready to recall what all she had seen. "What I saw really doesn't make sense. I saw Lea, but the person looked different in a way. She seemed evil almost and had this feeling of death surrounding her. To make this worse, she was fighting us, all of us. Not just us three, but she was fighting our fathers too."
Rona stopped as a frown set over her face and the other girls looked intently at her, waiting for her to continue withwhat she was saying. "She was fighting us and didn't seem to feel remorse at all for it. By what I saw, she was beating us as well and seemingly enjoying the fact that she was."
Silence fell over the table as the girls thought over and imagined what all Rona had told them. None could say anything, they were all too awestruck and taken back by it. Somehow they couldn't imagine their best friend and teammate turning on them like that. They just couldn't picture Rylea fighting against them and enjoying it, it wasn't possible to them. They had grown up with her, laughed with her, shared tears and fears with this girl in Rona's story and could never, ever picture her turning against them for any reason. It just wasn't Rylea. There had to be some kind of explanation for Rona's premonition. Something that they were over looking or reading wrong.
"Maybe we should tell Leinto about this," Kami suggested quietly, looking around at the faces of her friends for a reply.
Rona nodded her head in response, agreeing with Kami thatit might be the best thing to do. If anybody would be able to decipher and understand what the real meaning behind what she had foreseen was, it was Leinto. "Lets go," she said and got up from the booth they occupied, heading for where she knew Leinto would be. The others quickly got up and followed after her, trying to catch up with her before she got too far ahead of them.
-
The phone rang in Ryo Sanada's office as he was in the middle of conversing with Sage about business. He glanced down at the phone, considering whether he should pick it up or not. Deciding it might have been important, he answered the phone with a, "Yeah?"
"Your son is on line one," came Saksai's voice from the other end.
"Alright, thanks," he replied with a sigh and pressed the line one button on the phone, switching it over to the line his son was waiting on. "What, Rye?"
"Well that's a nice hello," came the reply from Ryu on the other end.
"Sorry, I'm just a little busy at the moment," Ryo apologized to his son.
"Oh, well you're going to be a little busier because Lea didn't come home from training today," Ryu informed him, seemingly sounding annoyed that he had to waste his time tracking his sister down.
Ryo's mind started to run wild with possible things that could have happened to her, none of them being good ones. "What do you mean she didn't come home!" he shouted back into the phone at his son on the other line.
Sage looked over at Ryo after he had shouted into the phone. He knew of 'who' they were talking about, but not of 'what' they were discussing. Judging by how Ryo was now yelling into the phone, though, he figured Rylea had done something, yet again, to anger him. The man's hot tempered daughter getting into trouble was not a new thing to any of them by now.
"I mean, Lea didn't show back up at the house when she was supposed to," Ryu calmly clarified for his father.
"Well did you call the girls? Maybe practice ran over late today," he asked back, fear now creeping into his voice.
"Hai, they said that she left by herself to go do something and they haven't seen her since."
Ryo's heart plummeted to his stomach and he almost dropped the phone, catching himself before it slipped from his hands and placed it back against his ear. "Ok, don't go anywhere in case she comes home and I'll figure something out," he instructed his son.
"Will do, Ja Ne," Ryu replied and hung up before Ryo could say anything else to him.
Ryo replaced the phone shakily back onto its cradle. His mind was racing a mile a minute as to where his daughter could be or even what could have happened to her. Sage looked over at Ryo from where he lounged in the chair in front of Ryo's desk, now worried about what was going on. "What was that all about?" he asked him with a confused frown.
"Lea-" Ryo said simply and took another deep breath to calm himself. "Lea didn't come home from practice and none of the girls have seen her since she left by herself."
Sage frowned deeply at what the dark haired man had informed him of and replied, "Well, what are we going to do? Where do you think she could be?"
Ryo racked a shaky hand through his wild black hair as he leaned against the front of his desk, "I don't know Sage. I just don't know."
"Well we can't just stay here. We need to go and look for her," Sage told him as he started for the door to Ryo's office with Ryo close at his heels.
The two men passed a surprised Saksai, on their way out,who asked where it was they were going. "If my daughter shows up here, tell her to wait in my office and call me immediately," Ryo informed her as he and Sage rushed past her, not even waiting for the old woman to reply as they exited the building as quickly as they could without running leaving a gaping and confused Saksai behind.
-
Rylea walked along the sidewalk of the Toyama city, heading for her Dad's place of work. Hours had passed since she had left the girls to go off on her to do some thinking about what all had been happing to her lately. She would have just gone home, but figured since she was in the area, she could just get a ride with her father instead.
The short, dark haired girl looked up at the towering building in front of her as she approached it, having to shield her eyes from the still glaring sun. She walked into the building, taking the elevator once inside, to the fifth floor where she got off and walked down the carpeted hallway pushing open the double glass doors that led into the lobby when she came to them. Rylea didn't have to wait in the lobby though like everyone else, she simply walked over to the receptionist where she spotted Saksai behind the desk, busy doing something related to her work.
She strolled over to her, smiling as she leaned over the desk to see what the old woman was doing. "Hey Saki," Rylea greeted the woman cheerfully. Saki was her nickname for the aging woman, something she had called her when she was little, since she couldn't pronounce her name, and it just kind of stuck.
Saksai looked up to see who had said her name, noticing Rylea and smiled ruefully at the young girl. "I had a feeling you'd show up here Lea," she replied to her. "Your father is very upset with you though, sweetie. He told me to tell you to wait in his office."
Rylea frowned, seemingly confused by the fact that her father was upset with her. She didn't think she had done anything wrong lately, "What did I do now, Saki?"
Saksai shrugged her shoulders lightly, "I don't know sweetheart. All I know is what he told me and that wasn't much as he and your Uncle Sage went rushing out of here about an hour ago."
"I'm always in trouble for something," Rylea replied with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes. "I guess I'd better go wait in his office. Wouldn't want to upset him any more then he already is."
Saksai smiled and patted her arm softly in condolence, "That's right baby, now you run along and go wait in his office."
Rylea smiled at the old woman as she went off in the direction of her father's office, disappearing inside it and closing the door behind her. Saksai thought for a moment once she was gone, thinking that she had forgotten something. "Now what else did Sanada-san want me to do?" she pondered out loud. Remembering, Saksai picked up the phone and dialed Ryo's cell number.
-
Not long after Saksai had dialed the number, and told Ryo that his daughter was there and waiting for him, then he and Sage came trampling back in ---the dark haired man looking a little more than annoyed and mad. "Is she still in there?" Ryo asked Saksai, pointing to the door to his office while heading in the direction of it. His foot falls were heavy and just about screamed anger.
"Hai, but-" Saksai answered as she stood from the swivel chair, stopping when she knew he wasn't paying her any heed.
Sage sighed and leaned against the edge of the counter of the desk Saksai sat at. "I give it two minutes and there will be a whole hell of a lot of yelling coming from that office," he told her with a nod in the direction of the office Ryo had gone to.
"Yes, but yelling at the poor girl isn't going to do any good. He's just going to make matters worse," Saksai reasoned with the blond in front of her.
Sage nodded lightly at her words. Saksai did have a point, but trying to explain that to Ryo when he was this mad was like speaking Japanese to a deaf man, it did no good. Sighing, Sage walked away from Saksai and headed for the cafeteria to get something to eat while Ryo went off on a rampage on his daughter.
Ryo was fuming when he reached his office. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been this mad at her before. His heart beat loudly in his ears and his breaths came out in short, forced huffs through his nose. Anger, it seemed, ran through his veins. All of the anxiety and worry he had had only moments ago, now had turned into a rage that burned through him. The man had tunnel vision now, the only thing in his sights was the door to his office that he knew his daughter sat behind.
Throwing the door to his office open, it hit the wall, before he then stepped into the room and slammed the door shut behind him causing the door to shake on its hinges and bang loudly against the doorframe. Fear at not knowing where his daughter was, had now been transmuted into a blinding rage that clouded his thoughts and only grew more at the sight of her sitting in the leather high-back chair in front of his desk.
Rylea, startled by his entrance, jumped and looked up at the man who had now come into the room; confused by his actions and then seeing the mad gleam in his eyes, knew she was in for the lecture of her life.
"Rylea Marie Sanada, what in the name of the ancient do you have to say for yourself?" he said to her from behind gritted teeth, trying his hardest not to yell at her, yet at least anyway. His hands balled into fists at his sides to subdue the rage that was building within him.
Rylea looked away from his stern glare, nervously now twiddling her thumbs. He had used her full name and he only used her full name when she was in serious trouble. "Ah, konnichiwa Otousan?" she replied cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood the best she could.
"Don't you 'konnichiwa Otousan' me," he shot back at her, placing his hands on his hips now and glaring at her. His breathing was short and ragged now as hetook one hand from his hip and pointed it angrily at her while saying with words that shouted anger,"Do you have any idea what kind of hell you just put me through!"
"Ah, if I say no are you going to yell at me?" she asked him back timidly. Rylea could take on people twice her size, but her father and his temper was a whole 'nother story.
"What in the hell were you thinking!" Ryo shouted at his daughter at the top of his lungs, his temper was now boiling over. His vivid blues were like piercing daggers that nailed her to the seat she sat in and he didn't care who heard him yelling at that point.
Rylea winced at his voice, "I'm sorry! For whatever it was I did anyway."
Ryo blinked in outraged shock at her audacity to try and apologize for what she had done and then act as if she didn't know what she had done wrong. "You're sorry?" he repeated and then chuckled cynically, crouching down in front of his daughter who sat in the chair in front of his desk. "You're sorry?"
Rylea stared at him, a little afraid by the way he was acting. It wasn't like him to be like this. "Hai," she replied cautiously, almost afraid that her reply might send him into a frenzy.
"Do you have any idea how scared and worried you had me!" Ryo shouted at her, taking his daughter firmly by the shoulders and giving her a rough shake. His anger had a tight grasp on him now and all rational thinking had been thrown completely out the window.
"Ow, Dad you're hurting me!" Rylea cried out, now frightened by the one person she trusted more then anyone else. Never in her whole life had her father ever put his hands on her.
"You had your brother, me and your Uncle Sage all out looking for you!" he yelled at her again as he gave her another rough shake. "And all you can say is you're sorry, but you don't know what you did wrong?"
Tightening his grip on her upper arms, he shook her again while shouting at her,"I don't know what's been going on with you lately Rylea, but you'd better get your head out of your ass and get your act together and fast! Where were you anyway? Out meeting up with your dealers to get your next fix? Huh, where were you?"
"Dad you're hurting me!" Rylea shouted at him again as tears sprang to her eyes. "I'm sorry, ok! I really didn't think that whatever I did would be such a big deal and I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have any dealers, I don't do drugs!"
"Well that's just the problem Lea, you don't think!" raged Ryo, still keeping his grip on Rylea as his temper flared even more, if possible, at her words. "You had me worried to death about you! Did the thought even cross your mind that you might have people who care about you worried when they didn't know where you were!"
He stared at her a moment, eyes unwavering on hers, trying to see if he could detect that she was lying about the drug part. "Why should I believe you, Rylea? You've been acting weird lately; mood swings, hanging by yourself more, distancing yourself from everyone, and then end up in the hospital for no known reason," Ryo replied, eyes still fixed on hers to see how she would react to what he was saying, hands still tightly gripped onto her upper arms. "You're acting like someone who is on drugs, Rylea. Do you know what your uncle said the cause for your trip to the hosiptal was? A drug overdose, Rylea, a fucking drug overdose! Now, you tell me again how you're not doing drugs."
"Why the hell should I! You've already made it up in your mind that I am, what good would it do! My word isn't going to mean shit to you and you know it!" Rylea shouted back brazingly in her father's face, at this point not even caring what kind of trouble she'd end up in for it.
"Don't you dare shout at me young lady!" he replied, voice louder than hers as he gave her another rough shake. "You have no idea how much trouble you are in now."
"Ow, you're hurting me! Let me go damnit!" she yelled as tears welled in her eyes, butshe refused to letthem fall in front of him; squirming nowin his hold in hopes of maybe getting him to release her.
Ryo blinked nowas he realized what he had been doing and let go of herarms quickly, now aware that his hands were there. He stared at them as if they were foreign objects, not believing that he could have actually have put his hands on his daughter and done her harm. Ryo had done it in his moment of rage and hadn't even known it. Regret now replaced his anger and his eyes softened, replacing the hard, angered glare that had been there before.
"Lea," he started quietly as he looked at her again, his eyes showing remorse for what he had done. "I'm sorry, baby I didn't mean to hurt you."
He tried to hug her, but Rylea just flinched away from his touch and stood up, side stepping her father to move as far away from him as she could.
"Yeah, I'm sure you didn't," she threw back at him bitterly. "You'd never lay a hand on me right? Could never even think about hurting me? Well, guess what, you did! I hate you!"
With tears streaming from her tiger blue eyes, Rylea threw open the door to his office and without a second glance back at her father, ran from the room and away from him, ignoring his shouts for her to stop.
Rylea just ran, she ran right past Saksai who asked her what was wrong and all the way towards the elevators, just wanting to get as far away from her father as she possibly could. Sage walked around the corner from the elevators, on his way back from the cafeteria on the third floor and was surprised to find his niece running towards him looking upset and like she were crying.
Frowning in concern, he clothes lined her, wrapping his arms around the struggling girl as she kicked and screamed at him. "Lea! What's wrong sweetie? Stop it!" he shouted at her adamant squirming and fighting.
When the sounds of foot steps down the hall became evident to him, Sage looked back down the hallway in the direction that she had come from and was surprised when he found Ryo running down it towards him. "What's going on?" he asked the girl in his arms again.
"Just let me go!" Rylea screamed at her uncle, without really thinking and acting more on instinct, she planted her elbow firmly in his gut. With the wind knocked out of him now, Sage let go of her to double over in pain.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Rylea was off again. She could hear her father behind her, yelling and pleading for her stop, but she wouldn't, she couldn't force herself to stop and allow him to catch up to her. She didn't want to be anywhere around him. Deciding that if she waited for the elevator he'd get her, she instead slammed the emergency stairs doorway open and bolted down the long, winding staircase. Rylea was about halfway down the first flight when she heard that same door fly open and bang against the wall, then a second pair of feet were on the stairs along with hers, pounding just above her.
Rylea could barely see where she was going; her tears were blinding her vision now hot, angry tears flew from her eyes as she ran. She tripped on one of the steps and almost went tumbling head over heel, but caught a hold of the railing before she could. From there, she regained her balance and continued on her way down the stairs, but could hear her father's feet pounding louder and closer behind her. Rylea ignored them though, focusing on getting to the exit that was only one flight away from her. She could see the bright, red neon sign now just a little farther and she was there and free from the monster she called father.
Ryo saw the exit sign as well and how close she was to it. He panicked, not wanting her to get to it and out. Deciding that it was the only thing he could do to keep her from getting to it, Ryo jumped over the railing and the remaining seven steps landing right on top of her. Quickly, before she could get away, he threw his arms around her from behind, snagging her around the waist and stopping her from going any further.
Rylea thrashed, kicked and squirmed as she tried to get out of his tight grasp, trying to get away from him. Ryo wouldn't let go of her though, he just held onto her as tightly as he could. "Rylea! Stop it!" he shouted at her, but she just ignored him and Ryo tried again to get through to her. "Baby please just stop."
"No!" she yelled back at him and planted the heel ofher foot in his shin with a swift kick. Ryo cursed loudly and let her go to grab his shin and hop on one foot.
Rylea bolted out the door and it slammed against the wall as she entered into the underground parking lot as fast she could. Ryo wasn't far behind her though, quickly running to catch up with her despite the fact that his shin was still throbbing from the kick she had given him. "Lea! Would you just stop!" he yelled to her, still trying to catch up with his daughter. "Please, Jouchan, just stop!"
Rylea just ignored her father's pleads for her to stop, just letting them go in one ear and out the other as she headed for the way out not noticing the car that was now coming around the corner and headed straight for her. Ryo thought for sure it was over as he watched in slow motion, the car come barreling down on his daughter. He could picture the next thing he would be doing was standing over her open casket as he asked himself how he could have let that happen to her. Instead of the car hitting her though, it squealed on its breaks and stopped just in front of her. Rylea banged on the hood of the car, shouting something in Japanese to the driver before taking off again.
Ryo thanked whatever gods were watching over him and ran around the still non moving car, but when he came to the other side of the automobile, he couldn't see his daughter anywhere. He turned around and searched the other side of the parking lot and again came up with nothing. "Lea! Come on, please don't do this!" he shouted helplessly as he looked around for any signs of her and found nothing.
A car's horn honked behind him and Ryo moved out of the way to let the car pass by. Panic seized the young man as he ran a hand through his hair and cursed loudly. Giving up on trying to find her, he turned and headed back into the building to try and think up a way to find her before something bad happened to her.
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A/N: Ok, well what can I say. Here's the chap and I hope you all like it. More action and heart pounding suspense awaits you all. Anyway, here's the special thanks as always. (clears throat) Gracias to BlackBull289, MorganRay, Two-BitGortez and of course, Sifirela. Thanks for reading and reviewing my story.