Seeing the Sun
Chapter 6
A/N: I had to start working on this immediately even though it's late and I'm feeling strangely hyper. Probably cuz I know what to write (mostly). Anyways... on with the story!
Jo's Past
Part 1
Shivering, the thirteen-year old girl makes her way through the streets of Tokyo. She'd somehow snuk onto a boat going there, wanting to get as far away from New York as possible. Mission accomplished, she guesses.
She can feel her newly acquired marks burning as she runs her fingers through her now-short silver hair. By doing some not-so-legal things, she managed to get some money, but she was trying to save it for as long as she could. She wasn't starving yet, so waiting would be the best thing to do.
As she walk, she sees a small girl, crying in the alley. There's a pang of familiarity in her chest, and something wills her to walk over to the girl.
"What's wrong?" she asks, thanking god that she knew Japanese. She'd taken some classes, and it was like her second language now. "There's nothing to cry about." She kneels down, holding out a hand to help the young child up. She seems to be about seven years old, notes the older girl.
"I haven't eaten in forever," the girl sniffs. "My parents are gone and I have nowhere to go."
Her crimson eyes soften. "My parents are gone, too. Come on, I'll buy you some food."
"Really?" the younger girl's eyes light up, and she grabs onto the sleeve of Jo's short red jacket. "Thanks!" The two make their way down the street, going to one of the restaurants.
"Let's eat here." She stops, causing the small brunette to stumble a bit. "It looks good."
They order some take out, sitting on a bench in a park as they eat. After a while of sitting in silence, the silver-haired girl holds out her hand. "I'm Jo, by the way."
The other kid takes her hand, shaking it. "I"m Amy. Thanks for the food."
Jo and Amy sit in silence for a little while before Jo talks again. "We should stick together. Neither of us have parents, and I can help you out. Deal?"
Amy nods, and the two sit in silence. None of them have a home to go to. Amy slowly falls asleep, leaving Jo awake. She can't sleep, she realizes. Not after what had happened. She watches the moon lazily make it's way across the sky. It's all she can really do.
Jo throws down the rusty tools, smiling in satisfaction. She's fixed it. It took a long time, but she did it. She looks at the beat up, rusty car. She's just repaired it. She knocks on the glass, waking Amy up. "I fixed it; we can get out of here now!"
The two had been living in a dump, hidden in a beat up car, for the past months. Jo had been trying to fix it since then, and finally succeeded. She manages to start it up without keys, seeing as she rigged it in a way that made that possible. With the help of Amy, of course. But now, they could finally move it. Or at least turn the heat on.
Jo does both, driving out of the area and turning on the heater. She rarely slows, but the old car can't go too fast yet. They would fix that later, she decides. She parks it on a curb, going into the backseat next to Amy for the night. She sits there, awake as the sleeping child leans against her.
The criminals run down the street, away from the sound of sirens. The bags of stolen money are heavy, slowing them down. They need a place to hide. They see a beaten up, old car sitting in front a convenience store and smirk at eachother. They could camp out there.
But as one of them struggles to hot-wire the car, a pair of gloved hands grab his head, smashing it into the hard headrest. Startled, the bank robber turns to see a glare hotter than the deepest pits of hell.
"Get out of my car. Now."
To his credit, the criminal manages to get the will to speak. "P-piss off."
The rest of the group watches as their companion flies out of the car. Jo slowly gets out, cracking her knuckles menacingly. Though she's only fourteen right now, she's tall for her age. She takes out a long pocket knife that she got from some guy who tried mugging her, looking each one of her enemies dead in the eye. She's telling them what they already know with that look. They're going to die.
One of them charges at her, only to be kicked down easily by the strong girl. Another runs up to her, only to be stabbed in the chest. The last two, each holding a pistol, run up, firing various shots. Jo runs toward the pair, dodging bullets expertly. With a calm, cool face and a quick movement of her arm, both of them have slit throats. As they fall, she takes their money.
And their guns.
Amy sits up slowly and smiles as Jo speeds away and the police investigate the crime scene. They share a glance before grinning at eachother.
"I didn't think you would be okay. They had guns."
"I'm Jo," she says this whole thing like it's a world re-known fact. "Of course I'm okay."
The black-haired girl walks her way through the alleys, tired. She's been walking for days. She's sixteen, her parents having died in a car accident. Her house is gone, along with her job. She needs money. She needs food. She needs a home.
She leans against the alley wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. As she does, she comes face to face with a small girl on what looks to be a small laptop. There's some sort of data running on the laptop, not looking generally legal. Being a mostly responsible person, the girl asks:
"What are you doing on that laptop, kid?"
The small girl merely turns the screen away from her, brown eyes wide. She seems to visibly relax after a while, smiling just a bit.
Amy watches as Jo grabs the girl from behind, spinning her around and picking her up by her collar. Though the girl is older, Jo is just as tall as her, if not taller. The eight-year-old laughs a little at the bewildered expression on the teen's face. Jo looks her dead in the eyes, an expression of calm anger set onto her face.
"What are you doing to my little sister?" she snaps, venom coating her quiet, controlled voice. "Tell me right now, or you'll lose more than a couple body parts."
Responsibility be damned. She has to tell this chick the truth. "I was just asking what she was doing. She looked like she was hacking into something. It's not like I was going to report her or anything; I've done some bad stuff myself."
"Good," Jo drops her, making her fall onto the ground. She sits next to her, sharing a somewhat apologetic glance with her. "Sorry. Overreacted. What's your name?"
"Sei. Yours?"
"Jo Carpenter." They shake hands. Jo falls back, exhausted. Sei sees the noticeable bump in one of her pockets and raises an eyebrow.
"Bank robbing, then? Just how old are you, anyways?"
It wasn't through height that she could tell, but despite her maturity she could tell by Jo's face that she wasn't as old as her. The girl rubs her left arm,gritting her teeth a little. "Fourteen. But I can handle myself better than most adults. And I can handle Amy," she ruffles said girl's hair. "So I'm good."
Though Jo says that, she looks extremely tired. She's pale and there are dark bags under her eyes, but the strength she used to pick Sei up still remains. The skin by the markings on her face looks reddish, infected.
"You know, at your age you shouldn't have tattoos."
"Scars."
"What?"
Jo doesn't answer. Amy does. "She won't explain it any more than that. She doesn't like talking about it, or something. She just says that they're not markings, not tattoos, but scars. Don't ask her more. It usually gets her in a bad mood."
"So you're alone?" asks Jo, changing the subject after glancing at Amy. "Because you seem like you're pretty weak at the moment. Health-wise, I mean. I could help you out," she looks up at Sei. "I'm good at supporting people. I even bought Amy a laptop because she really wanted one. I don't want to just leave you to die or anything. You look hungry. Starving. Stick with us or at least let me get you something to eat."
"Why are you being so nice to me?" questions Sei, bewildered.
"I went through some pretty horrible stuff when I was abandoned. I was left to die without money or food. It was hard. Really hard. But I can handle myself better than most. Not everyone could've done it. And I hate that." She stands, helping the older girl up. "So let me help you."
"So... I could stay with you guys?"
"Yeah."
"Well... let's go."
A/N: This was back before Jo was even more hardened. So yeah... the "Jo's past" chapters will go in this order:
Part 1- Meeting Sei and Amy.
Part 2- Becoming part of the Syndicate.
Part 3- How and why Jo was put in prison.
Part 4- The story behind the scars.
They will be spread out throughout the story. So stay tuned!