Mirage (closed/dead)

[Ryuuno Haruka]

Akira paused to let Junko down off her shoulders then pulled a canteen off of where she had clipped it to her pants. Opening the container, she offered it to her family - who all refused the offer - and took a long drink from it. Sighing, she moved the canteen in a circular motion and listened to the noise.

About half empty. She was going to have to find clean water soon.

Akira capped it and hung it back on her belt. The streetfighter felt like she needed a good stiff drink...and a cigarette. A fight would be nice too, but she wasn't going to get one unless she found another human. Perhaps she would challenge the next Type One to simply see which one of them was a better fighter.

Raising her voice in an old Japanese drinking song, Akira continued on.  

[Niht]

The unmistakeable sound of Mirages wandering the city broke the silence that filled the barren land, echoing throughout the empty streets and torn buildings. To think that once this had been a great, rich city was now a thought little conceiveable.

Besides the thudding of mechanical feet on the ground, only his breath could be heard, carefully low in the midst of the shadows. He crouched, pressed against a wall, a steel pipe tight in his hand to defend himself. Sure, a small part of him told him he could try and beat them with his bare fists, but his mind took him back to his senses, making him realize this was no martial arts tournament. This was survival.

He could hear then the thudding of feet. Human feet, however. He could tell by their intensity it was of a light person. He peeked from the shadows, seeing the figure come steadily close at a considerable speed. He went back into the shadow and let it steadily come closer, a hand tightly gripping the pipe.

Without warning, just as Chi passed by the shadow, a strong arm reached towards her, wrapping her mouth and pulling her in. The arm was powerful and held her very tightly so that she wouldn't struggle so. Immediately, Ryutarou's voice whispered harshly into her ear.

"Shh! Don't speak! Don't.. move..." Each word was very cautious, pronounced carefully and with a tone of urgency. Ryutarou was of great build, and his body seemed to envelop her own in its warmth. Contrasting, cold black eyes sought from the shadows any sign of the Mirages. He heard none now, but he knew they were there.

"We'll be out of here before you know it.. Calm down. And trust me.."
He was sure they'd be found soon. Surely, they had been picked up on radar by now. How Ryutarou got into this mess, he didn't want to remember. Great idea, to separate from Dourage and search the city. Sometimes, he acknowledged he didn't have enough muscles in his brain. Now the place was surely swarming with Mirages, and he had no idea what had happened to Dourage. Some friend he was.

"Come on, I know you're out there.." He whispered, but not to the Mirages.

((There! Sorry about the delay, and sorry I don't post a Stats first, but Mandanessables hasn't given me them yet. Still, I could come up with this. Hope it's good enough. And yes Q, I'm rping Ruka, so deal with it razz Jk. biggrin ))  

[Mandanessables]

((Would've posted yesterday, but when I did, it didn't take, and I was sooo tired... and sore. >.O And to Niht... what stats? When was I suppsoed to give you these stats? I'm so confused. o.0))

"Hello? Hey, I'm here to help you! Hello?" Kym called out, wandering over and through the rubble. Her old, broken-in boots were covered in a layer of dust as were her clothes and her normally darker skin was dusted a shade lighter. You couldn't avoid this stuff in the Outside World, especially if you were speeding by on a hoverboard in the polluted air. "Pen, no one's responding."

"I can't see her. I saw a male heading off towards a cluster of buildings by your right. You'll see a destroyed billboard," Pen responded. Kym looked around and spotted a toppled billboard propped up against a building, one of many identical clusters in this city, although most of them were reduced to rubble or mere foundations. The billboard, although weather worn, clearly pictured a rather busty woman holding a mug of beer. Lovely. Kym started heading towards the busty blonde as Pen continued, "Went somewhere near there. Briefly saw a male. He headed towards there earlier, but I can't see them. That area doesn't have good camera coverage." Pen coughed suggestively.

"Yeah, yeah. Make a note to have it taken care of," Kym grumbled, rolling her eyes. Pen squealed. "Hello? Hello?" Kym shouted as she approachedthe billboard, walking around it to examine the cluster of buildings. "I'm here to help you! I know you're out there, please talk to me!"  

[Niht]

Ryutarou recognized the unmistakeable sound of the hoverboard as it approached them, whistling over the silence that enveloped them. It was moments later that he heard Kym's voice, and a mixture of feelings came over him. He recognized her. Definitely Kym. He debated for a moment on whether or not to answer, inwardly frowning upon the memory of their relationship. What a disaster, he thought. Not even a relationship to begin with. Just a girlish crush.

But then, he had an idea why she was there, why she offered her help to these people, this young woman he still held tightly, protectively in his embrace. He slowly let go of the young woman's mouth, then whispered gently.

"Stay here. Don't move unless I say so." He then peeked out. He saw the hoverboard floating around and, unmistakeably, Kym. It had been a while, he thought. Both of them had grown up. He contemplated her for a moment, though not in any kind of admiration, simply watching, his short black hairs waving with the rushing wind of the city. Afterwards, he called out.

"Whose great idea was it to send you out here?" He tried to make it sound joking, but utterly failed. Not the most cheerful greeting, he knew, but he couldn't help the pent up grudge towards her.
For a moment, he looked menacing, tall for an Asian with great build, those black eyes staring piercing even through the cloud of dust that rose over them. He was wearing a thick black jacket with long black pants, boots and underneath a white sleeveless shirt. He stood as though facing an old enemy who had become an acquaintance much more so than a real threat.

((Well, it was my suggestion to post his and Kym's stats, to clear up doubts as to how they look like towards the rest. It'd also help me greatly to get a better grip on his personality, since currently I have a faint image of him in my mind. Your choice.))  

[Mandanessables]

((Well, that's mostly for you to mold and shape. You could be different from the original Ruka. It all depends on the kind of person and RPer you are. ~shrug~ I'unno. The original was very mellow, level-minded, very resentful towards his father, forgiving, determined, and otherwise your typical male stereotype. Anything else, PM me.))

Kym looked over towards the voice and froze. For a good moment or two, her breathing stopped all together, her eyes widened, and color drained from her face. She looked like she had seen a ghost and, in some ways, she did. He looked alot like Ruka. Alot alot. Only shaggier... and older... but it couldn't have been him. Ruka was on the other side of the country. There was no way he could have escaped Nozomu and her father after she ran away.

But it was. And she knew it was, but she kept trying to convince herself that it was just a very close resemblance. She didn't exactly part with him on good terms. They were... dating or something. She was never exactly sure what they were, what was going on in his head, or if it was really their fathers that arranged the whole mess. They had dinner together sometimes. They'd walk around her father's home occasionally. They'd kiss. Then she left. She didn't mean to... it just happened that way. Besides, she doubted it mattered. She was the one with the stupid, girlish crush, but she had gotten over that... right? Of course. Every girl went through that phase where they have a crush on their older brother's best friend, right? And it wasn't like she had alot of options. Ruka was the only male outside of the family she ever saw on a consistent basis.

But it couldn't be him. How could he have gotten here? How did he know where she was? Then, a horrible though crossed her mind. Ruka never liked Jesiger Industries. He never liked his father's line of work. He never liked his father much period, but what if he had turned around, become daddy's little pet like Dourage did? Kym took a step back, looking around as if expecting to be ambushed or something.

"Wha..." She looked back at Ruka. "What are you doing here?"  

[Catwagon]

Chi felt herself being grabbed, startled and alarmed at first, but then she heard words: "don't.....Move...." The voice's owner sounded dead serious, and, normally, Chi would turn around and deck whoever the hell just grabbed her in the face, but oddly, she did't... she sat still.  

[Niht]

Ruka couldn't help but raise a thick, black eyebrow. Sure, they'd been in a horrible relationship, but it puzzled him the cautious step that she took back. Of course, he didn't show this, not in his face nor his eyes. His features were impassive, almost giving him the look of what she feared.
He kept his hands inside his jacket's pockets. He even answered in that strong tone of voice, no longer that of the young man she used to know. "What else -could- I be doing here? Surviving the terror that our parents have put this miserable world through. Nowadays, it's the only thing you -can- do. Run. Hide. Fight, survive.. or die."
His tone emphatized that he had seen and known first hand the situation the world was in. A certain anger was built up inside him, towards her, towards her father, towards his own father. It was hard to give her a smile and a cheerful greeting, not the only reason why he didn't even try.
"I could ask you the same thing, but I think that's obvious.." He turned towards the spot that hid Chi and called out, "You can come out now. It's safe.."
While he turned back to face Kym, he added in a low voice, "..relatively."
"Stories of you and your circle travel far, Kym. You help people escape this parasitic malice. You should know running is not a definite option. Someday.. we'll tire out.. and they -will- catch us."
He turned to look at the scenery, then, the torn down city, populated by rubble and desolation. He shook his head, and for a split second those dark eyes were filled with a sense of sadness and loss. Only a split second, then he waited for Chi to come out before addressing Kym again.
"There are more people in the city. We should go get them and get out of here." And at that moment, he gave out a strong sense of leadership, almost overwhelming to the young Kym's. Whereas she and Pen tracked the people by radar, Ruka much apparently already seemed to know where they were. He simply went for the one that most needed help.  

[Mandanessables]

Kym didn't like the way he sounded. It was unfamiliar. He changed. Change was a bitter taste to swallow nowadays for this little leader. Her father changed. Her mother changed. Her brother changed. The world changed. Her life changed. She had enough change to last her a lifetime.

"Yeah, well.." Kym started with a scratchy throat. It had dried out rather wuickly from the shock and nervousness. "You always were the fighter. You never knew when to drop your guard and just abandon. That was your problem. That's why-" Whoa, where did that come from? Kym bit her tongue before she could say any more. She didn't want to talk about it.

"I have other people getting them," Kym stated matter-of-factly. Ruka was trying to tell her what to do. Ruka telling her. Ha. Ruka had about as much brains as a desert had snow. At least when they parted, that's the way he came off. Either way, he had no right to talk to her in that tone, like she didn't know what she was doing.

"How... how did you find me?"

"Kym?" piped up Pen from her headset. "What's going on?" KYm didn't bother to reply to the robot.  

[Niht]

Ryutarou crossed his arms over his ample chest, suppressing himself as she spoke. He didn't like her tone any better. Luckily, he was looking away while she did, otherwise he would have shot her the most venemous look he had, and it wouldn't have been nice. He decided not to speak of the matter further. Whatever happened then, it was useless to talk about it now. That was dead and buried.

"Don't get me wrong. I wasn't trying to find you." He looked at her from the corner of a dark eye, his words firm and cold. He didn't want her to feel 'special'.
"I'm looking for my father. If there's a way to get out of this hell hole, is dealing with him. Him, and your dear dad." He looked back at her, then, and a strong determination was set in his eyes.

"It's better than chasing out Mirages randomly. You want a weed out, you'd better take it by the roots. ..It's what I should have done a -long- time ago..." A long time ago, back when he watched him, his father, do what he did to his mother. It still burned brightly in his mind, the memory, clear as crystal.

He looked out, lost in the memory for a moment, and it felt as though one of the Mirages had gripped him and locked him in that memory. A moment; he resisted stumbling from it, closing his eyes tightly, shaking it out of his head, then looking back at Kym, recomposing himself.

"I will find them, and I will set this right.. Even if it costs me my life.."  

[Mandanessables]

Kym was stung by his words. Why, she wasn't sure. It wasn't like they were serious or anything. It wasn't like he didn't have the right to talk to her like that. Her eyes narrowed at the mention of his plans. She had to laugh. Her suspicious had been right. Even after going through that whole parental rebellion thing throughout his teenage yeas, Ruka turned into a model daddy's boy, just like Dourage.

"My father is dead," she started. And it was true, in her mind. Her father died a long time ago. She didn't have a father any more. There was just Vincent. "Do you honestly think that you can reason with Vincent or your father?"

She shook her head and took another step back. "Kym...?" ventured Pen's timid little voice. Kym didn't answer.

I guess some things never change, Kym thought as she shook her head at him like he was some foolish little child. All brawn, no brains.

"Where's the Outsider, Ruka?"  

[Niht]

Ryutarou narrowed his own eyes at her as she questioned. No surprise. She could never understand him then, why would she do so now? He shook his head, then started walking towards her. Step by step, each lifted a new cloud of dust between them. His face had no emotions, the short, cropped hair waving over deep eyes, set intensely upon her.

He didn't stop until he was mere inches from her, looking straight into her eyes. He would tower over the girl, casting a dark shadow as light hit his back. He frowned lightly then began to whisper.

"The only reasoning I'll need is their gasps when I squeeze the life out of their throats... You don't know me, Kym.. You never did." Then he turned around, letting his back face her, burying his hands into his pockets as he took a couple of steps from her.

"She's over there.." He finally got around to answering her question, pointing towards the shadow where he had told Chi to stay put. He stopped once a couple of feet were back between them, and looked at her with that intense stare over his shoulder.

"And don't call me 'Ruka'.. You no longer have the right to call me that. To you.. my name is Ryutarou Kashima."  

[Mandanessables]

Kym's heart was beating furiously against her rib cage, threatening to break her fragile frame as Ruka approached, but she didn't bother trying to protect herself, even with her suspicions. Maybe because she was hoping for some sort of look or feeling of compassion from her childhood sweetheart, so you can imagine her disappointment when she only got annoyance and hatred. What did she even do to HIM?

She ground her teeth as she looked down at her worn boots. She had been wrong. And he didn't want her calling him Ruka. She remembered when she was young... maybe eight or nine years old... she ran into Ruka on accident at a party and started stuttering her apologies, using his full name. He winced when she did and told her that she could just use 'Ruka'. That was the first time she felt like she had made a connection with the boy she'd secretly admired since before she could remember. Now she wanted him to refer to him in the name only one other person used: his father. She took a deep breath, feeling her quivering heart sink into her chest.

"Well, you're heading the wrong way. Vincent wouldn't leave California. You know that. He's all about home. He won't be here on the east coast. So if you just want to go and persue this stupid plan, you do that. Don't let me delay you, even though there are plenty of reasons why it won't work. But obviously you don't want to talk to me anymore so..." Kym started hard at his back for a minute, willing him to turn around and stop hurting her like this, but she knew he wouldn't. "Goodbye... Ryutarou Kashima."

She turned on her heel quickly, hiding stubborn tears that rolled down her face and hurried off in the direction he pointed. "Hey! Let's go!"  

[Niht]

It was that 'Goodbye' that touched him, then, like a needle deep in his heart. He stood there, closing his eyes tightly, clenching his hands into fists in his pockets. Why was he being such an idiot? At some other time, not long ago, he would have been glad to see her, to reunite with her, and know each other once again.

But his heart had filled with hatred, and he had left no room for compassion in it. It had been so ever since that night. Dourage had told him. 'We'll stop them, but stop being so cold about it. Don't give in your humanity over it'. Out of all the bad advice that Dourage had given him, he considered he perhaps should have taken that one. He had hurt Kym, he knew. And though before he thought he would do so without feeling, he felt himself soaked in regret.

He had become no better than the Mirages themselves. But he couldn't turn time back. He couldn't go up to her and withdraw all he had said. He looked at her as she turned to get the girl, briefly, then turned and started to walk away. So immersed was he in the moment, that he almost did not notice it when the thing jumped right in front of him.

His eyes went wide and, as he regained his senses, quickly composed himself. He was unarmed, now, and his mind raced with a thousand thoughts. He looked back once again, then ran for the two girls and mechanical feet thudded loudly on the concrete.
"Kym!! Kym, it's the Mirages!"  

[Mandanessables]

It was so strange. When they were kids, Ruka could hardly harm a flea unless he was pinned against one in some-match-or-other. He used to be so indifferent and passive. What happened to the Ruka she knew? But Kym wasn't the same either. She wasn't that shy little girl who didn't know her way in the world, who only knew the world inside her father's estate and never questioned authority. People changed, she supposed, but it didn't numb the sting she felt.

"Huh?" Kym wihpped around, mildly distracted by her own thoughts when she spoted the Mirage. It only took her a split second to react. She spun back around and sprinted for the Outsider. "Pen!"

"Gotcha, gotcha!"

Kym grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her away and out from behind the building, heading for Ruka. He could be a jerk later. They needed to get out of here NOW, so she grabbed his arm too and ran, dragging the two along until the hoverboard whipped out in front of them. "Jump on and hold onto me!" she shouted before she leaped onto the board, glancing back at the Mirage. It was getting much too close.  

[Niht]

Ruka was already running when Kym grabbed his arm. The whole conversation had been forgotten by then, for it didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that they survived. And it struck him how fiercely he thought that simply could -not- let Kym die at the hands of a Mirage, or anyone else's. He was barely holding her own arm, continuing to run, when it pulled it.

The Mirage had grabbed him by the jacket, and was slowly pulling him back. He struggled against it, but Kym's arm slipped his grasp and she saw the two girls keep on running. He kept struggling, kept thinking that he couldn't give in. He jerked his arms violently, the jacket beggining to rip, in an effort to free himself. He had finally broken from it when he slipped his arms through the jacket's sleeves and was running again, but he stopped dead in his tracks.

It was playing its mind tricks again. He tried hard to fight against it, but his vision was beggining to blur. The city began to disappear around him, replaced by that horrid dark, damp lab. Then there was his father, standing idle and emotionless, and his mother, bound as a guinea pig for that terrible experiment that costed her her life. It was always the same image, and he'd grown to believe the Mirage liked to pick that one over all.

He tried to keep running, but began stumbling and slowing down. He was still trying to reach for Kym and the girl, but the grip was too hard. His eyes blurred out completely, beggining to be filled with the rage and the sorrow that that moment had burned into him for a lifetime, and he could only pronounce softly towards her.
"Kym... run.. Kym.."