The Little Things - Seravy
Part 5 - Everything and Anything (Part 2)   

Summary: (pre-series) Revenge is like a drug.

NOTE:

50 000 yen $461.53 US (just to give one a better idea of the amount)

gokigenyou – good day. A very polite phrase. Just seemed like something Shizuru would definitely use

-----

She read the beer sign as they passed it, distracted by its flashing, multicoloured lights...

“My, what a coincidence,” came a third voice.

The sudden intrusion kicked her reflexes. Natsuki pushed the man away, twisting around in alarm and sudden shame. Still dressed in full uniform, Fujino Shizuru looked utterly out of place within the dingy filthiness of the alleyway. Her probing eyes found Natsuki, who stood staring at her, stupefied. Natsuki’s tongue felt like lead in the sudden dryness of her mouth.

“Friend of yours?” the informant mumbled in his deep raspy voice. “She gonna join us?” The words rolled out of his mouth heavy and slurred.

“No!”

The denial in her voice echoed so loudly in the alleyway that it surprised her. Even though the baseball cap was covering half of the man’s face, it was obvious as to where the stranger was looking. She remembered the way his eyes had run over her own body with undisguised hunger. It sickened her to even think about it touching another human being.

“Get out of here, Fujino! This is none of your business!” warned Natsuki. Words never came to her easily and with panic chasing down the back of her neck, these were the best she could come up with.

The older girl merely smiled. Eyes that were narrowed just that tiny fraction exuded the smug arrogance that Natsuki had always knew to lurk beneath the surface.

“He does not have whatever it is that you’re looking for,” said the Kyoto girl, her accent ringing deep in her words.

Somehow, neither Natsuki nor the man found their voices to refute the claim under the cool omniscient gaze. The smile widened with just a small quirk of the left corner. This slight change wounded around Natsuki’s thumping heart. She had never noticed it before but instead of a burgundy brown, Fujino Shizuru’s eyes were actually a bloody red. They seemed to be leaping out from the shadows, blazing and thriving on the darkness that surrounded them. They first grazed Natsuki then finally settled on the man beside her.

“You pitiful man,” said Shizuru, her voice gentle yet cold.

“A failure at work, a failure in life, friends and family having long abandoned your incompetent self. Having nothing better to do, you drink your life away, even sinking so low as to using and cheating young girls for their pocket money.”

The clear insult got its desired effect. The man was now spewing a string of threats, swaying a couple of steps as he swung his fists. Natsuki pulled him back by the arm, yelling for the other girl to leave.

Fujino Shizuru simply ignored them both, calmly reaching into her left jacket pocket as the man continued to exhaust his empty words. From its shallow depths, she extracted a small wad of cash, neatly folded into halves. She casually fanned the money out like a hand of poker until the five 10 000 bills were clearly exhibited in plain view. The man trailed off into silence.

“50 000 yen and it’ll be all yours if you leave now.”

Before the reward, Natsuki and the man both stared in complete silence. The sheer amount and simplicity of the offer left its beholders stunned in disbelief. The only thing that kept the man from reaping the incentive was the little bit of pride left in his corroded mind and body. This intruder had just offered to buy his dignity.

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you time to think. But for every five seconds that you stay though, I’ll take one of these away,” she said, her voice even and light. Natsuki noted the familiar smile that was playing on the Kyoto girl’s face but under the dim light, it took on a whole new meaning.

“5.”

“4.”

“3.”

“2.”

“1.”

As promised, Shizuru plucked a bill away and gently tucked it back into her left pocket. The man’s eyes followed the fluid movement, his entire body twitching with conflict and indecision.

“Your chance to start over,” she added before the start of the second set of countdown.

However, before Shizuru even started, the man had rushed forward with a sudden fever, finally breaking under the psychological lost of 10 000 yen and a whole new life. The money was quickly snatched away. With his head bowed low so that the baseball cap covered his entire face, he rushed past his former potential victim. Natsuki immediately twisted around to follow the hunched, stumbling body but was stopped by the firm grip around her arm.

Natsuki immediately shook off the physical contact, reeling around with unbidden anger that had suddenly filled her chest.

“You’ve ruined everything!” she screamed.

Natsuki spun around, eyes searching wildly for her hard-fought hope. She caught a glimpse of a shadow and quickly began to move towards it. However, her progress was stopped yet again when her footing was choked by the clasp that had shot out and grabbed her arm.

“Let go!”

Natsuki struggled when her demand went unheeded. She tried pulling away but the hold held firm, igniting a desperate frustration from the center of her body. This lanky suspicious man, her final spark of hope, was getting away. Natsuki couldn’t really remember what she did but in a wild fight for control, her limbs moved with blind instincts. The grip soon loosened and fell away. A hefty dose of guilt shot through her insides when she turned to find the other girl on the hard cold cement.

Natuki reached out to help but immediately stopped herself. This nosy girl had asked for it. However, even though her mind and attention were still focused on her original purpose, she found herself paralyzed with indecision.

Brushing her skirt, the Kyoto girl stood up. Natsuki had expected anger or some form of retribution but instead, it was yet another smile that had greeted her.

“I wasn’t going to do what you think I was going to do,” lied Natsuki. It was a feeble attempt at getting the other girl to leave.

“What were you going to do then? Threaten him for the information? Interrogate him with violence and torture?”

Natsuki looked away.

“This man does not have what you want,” repeated Shizuru, drilling her logic with rational calm into the younger girl’s stubbornness, “A true person of resource would never be intoxicated in front of his clients. The fact that he took an amount that wasn’t even a tenth of his request should be proof enough. Did he even give verification of his source or a sample of the information?”

There was a pause as the Kyoto girl waited for the response that she knew would never come.

“And most importantly, his personal hygiene was beyond appalling. There’s a world of difference between pretending to be some street garbage and real street garbage. Furthermore--”

“I know what I’m doing,” interjected Natsuki.

“No, you don’t.” came the quick comeback, “This man does not have what you want and yet you were going to pursue him. Even if he does, how do you know for certain that he’s going to give you what you want after? How do you know if it’s even going to be worth it?”

The words pelted her like a blizzard of hailstones. Every fact rung with harsh truth, puncturing her defenses mercilessly like a storm of soldiers. However, to acknowledge them would mean defeat. Something she could never accept.

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” was her quiet answer.

“Risks are taken for the certain value that it has to offer. They are not acted upon with irrational emotions.”

“I don’t care. There’s something that I must do and I’ll do anything to achieve it.”

“Don’t say “anything” so easily.”

Spoken in deep melodic tones, the command vibrated with authority. The voice reached out and unwounded its liquid control like a boa snake before its prey. Natsuki found herself listening in awe and fear.

“I do not know what it is that you’re trying to accomplish but what is there to celebrate when you’ve sunken so low to achieve it?”

The Kyoto girl paused before she continued.

“You’re thinking… just this once. This very once and it’ll be over. No more. But it’ll only be the beginning. The once justifies the twice. There’ll be a third time, a fourth, a fifth…then suddenly, it won’t matter anymore. You know what that would make you?”

Even though it was a question, Natsuki found her voice frozen and disabled. The deep red in those eyes held her in thrall, ravaging her defenses and leaving her bare. They spoke with intensity and unspeakable consequences. She could feel her entire body shaking under pure power and domination.

“Some sort of inhuman beast capable of all atrocities… And by the time you realized it, it would be too late.”

Shizuru’s voice ended with a whisper. A car passed by, its headlights filling the dark alleyway with a flood of light. When it was gone, the angry red in those eyes had also left. Natsuki found herself breathing again. Her head swam with drunkenness, the hypnotic spell’s imprints still intoning its warning. Nothing was clear anymore except the oath she had taken the day she woke up from her three month coma.

“I have to do this. Someone like you can never understand.”

“I don’t need to. As a third party, I can see this situation a lot more objectively than you can. Don’t let your pride and stubbornness get in the way of doing what’s right.”

Something snapped inside her. A renewed anger burned its way through her tired body. It felt so raw and hot, it entirely removed the last of her self restraints.

“Stop talking like you know exactly what I’m thinking because you don’t. I know what I’m doing and nothing can stop me... especially you.”

“Natsuki…”

“You think you’re better than everybody else. You think you have everyone wrapped around your fingers. I know what you’re thinking. You pity me, don’t you?”

There it was. The main reason as to why she hated this girl.

“No, I don’t. I’m doing this because I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“Sure,” scoffed Natsuki. The soft calmness in that voice only worked to fuel her blind anger. How she wished her mouth would just stop.

“I hate people like you, pretending that you care when you’re just laughing behind my back. Run back to your rich daddy and your little popular crowd where you belong. This is my choice to make. Not yours.”

Natsuki could feel herself breathing again. Through her words, she had poured her anger, frustration and utter helplessness into them. It was the only thing she could do before the truth, shouting senseless noise to disguise the confusion tearing her apart inside.

The other girl closed her eyes as if in quiet reflection. Natsuki could hear her own ragged breathing huffing into the silence.

“You’re right. Please excuse me for overstepping my bounds,” Shizuru said with soft politeness. She wasn’t smiling though.

“Just remember that whatever you do, it’s irreversible.”

The Kyoto girl curved forward in a gentle bow.

“Gokigenyou.”

Once she was certain that the other girl was gone, Natsuki turned and headed in the direction that the man left towards. She broke into a run, hurrying towards the opposite end of the alleyway. It no longer matter whether the man held the information or not. She was going to prove herself to the world, her mother and that damn Kyoto girl of her resolve. The murderers must pay. She will and could do everything and anything… right?

As the path came to an end, she found herself slowing, jolts of pain attacking her every stride. Her naked heart was crying out in anguish, begging her to end this torment. It had gotten so painful that she simply couldn’t continue.

Hot wetness was streaming down her face. Natsuki knew what it was and immediately grabbed her lighter and the package that resided in her right pocket. Almost ripping off the cover, she dug a cigarette out and rammed it into her mouth. Next came the lighter. She flicked her thumb over but the flame refused to come out. Her jaws tightened with frustration as she squeezed her shaking grip. But even with both her hands working, the spark wouldn’t catch.

A cry escaped her throat as she hurled the lighter into the wall. She then slammed the package of cigarettes into the cold cement and crashed her heel onto it again and again. Her eyes stung, involuntary tears overflowing. There was nothing she could do but cry, emptying everything she knew as Kuga Natsuki.

Her mother loved her and would have never wanted this. This man may have been a fake but what if another similar opportunity showed up with critical information? Was she truly capable of doing anything for revenge? Questions banged against the confinements of her head.

Her purpose was to deliver justice to the people who murdered her mother and she had almost ruined the integrity of that promise by even considering that offer. Natsuki prided herself on being self-sufficient, independent and most importantly strong. She was the complete opposite of those traits tonight. Perhaps it was her imagination but the man’s smell still hung around her.

Natsuki didn’t know how long it took but her tears finally stopped. Complete silence settled into the darkness. Even the neon lights had been switched off by now, her singular presence more apparent than ever.

Never had she felt so tired. Fatigue, that she had ignored and accumulated over what felt like years, presented itself in all of its full glory, latching onto every fiber of her now vacant being. With leaden steps, she trudged out the alley into the streets. The openness was like an endless void, sucking her into nowhere. Just as she turned the corner though, the arduous weight around her body was suddenly suspended.

There she was, the annoying Kyoto girl, standing by the sidewalk, the dull sunrise outlining her figure. Her skirt was ruffled without its usual primp perfection. The pure white of her blouse was crinkled with gray spots on the sleeves. Even that light chestnut hair was out of its usual neat arrangement. What Natsuki noticed most though was that smile she had seen time and time again, now offered to her without judgment or disappointment. A swell of warmth, something she hadn’t felt in a long time, swept through her and she relished in its familiarity.

“Hey,” came the greeting. For the first time, Natsuki noted its soothing and gentle texture. Now, for certain, she knew she had made the right choice. A lump gathered in her throat, a collision of words and thoughts rampaging through her exhausted mind. There were so many things she wanted to say yet none of them left her when she opened her mouth, fear trapping them tight in her chest. This was the only way she knew how to handle her emotions. A look into those exotic ruby eyes though and Natsuki knew she didn’t need to say anything.

“Buses don’t operate at five in the morning,” shrugged the older girl, casually.

Natsuki looked away, mumbling the best reply she could come up with.

“I’ll pay you back next month.”

“Plus 5 prime rate.”

A habitual glare shot from her eyes.

“Just kidding,” teased Shizuru.

Natsuki tried to retain her fierce glower but knew she was failing miserably. She didn’t really know how to react. It had been too long since someone had joked with her.

“It’s still a little early but would you accept my breakfast invitation? My treat.”

Even she herself was surprised by the tentative softness in her usually gruff and deepened voice.

“…Sure.”

The smile on Fujino Shizuru’s face widened, and even though she couldn’t return it at the moment, Natsuki somehow felt that one day, she just might be able to.

Follow the flow of the river and navigate with the least resistance. Such was her philosophy, having long learned the consequences of doing the opposite. Tonight was an exception though.

She could have easily pulled the man aside for a little chat, paving the way for a compliant exit for all. Natsuki would then have no choice but to leave and have the much needed time to calm down. She had no doubt that Natsuki would make the right decision. This girl was too kind and gentle to harbour that kind of resolution and killer instinct… unlike herself.

However, seeing his hand around Natsuki’s waist, the way his filthy body slid up against the younger girl completely changed the plan. She was so scared that once she left, Natsuki would run to him even when logic told her otherwise. She hadn’t felt the control of anger, frustration and fear in a long time, utterly humiliating and degrading that man as she bent him to her will. Broken in already by the harshness of reality, she played with the man’s cowardice and weakness with a sudden thirst for revenge. It was unnecessary, sadistic, cruel and very satisfying. And all it took was one antisocial and stubborn teenager to bring that part of her buried self back in full force.

“What are you doing to me…?”

The whisper floated unanswered into the silence.

For once in her life, she didn’t know what she was doing… for once, she wanted to protect instead of destroy. She was hooked after just a glimpse at the utter innocence and gentleness hidden beneath the loneliness and hurt. Never had she seen anything so pure, its presence reaching out to revive her dead, black heart. It sickened her to even think about her purpose for approaching Natsuki.

Shizuru lifted the cover on her newly registered cell phone and dialed the number. After three rings, the line was answered in silence. She began counting the usual sixty seconds. Anything more or less would be dangerous.

“Hello…”

“….”

“Yes… It has been a while…”

“….”

“Your payment is already in your account.”

“…”

“I have a job for you. I need you to run an account check on a Kuga Natsuki. I’m looking for some sort of monthly or recurring transfers.”

“…”

“…”

“That’s the one. Starting next month, intercept and add to that transaction. Funds will be from #780.”

“…”

“I’ll give you the exact amount later.”

“…”

“No, I don’t need to know. Just make it believable.”

“…”

“Nice doing business with you too.”

Shizuru casually dropped the cell phone to the ground and crushed it under her left heel.

Forty-seven seconds. Without a trace.

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Fujino Shizuru & Kuga Natsuki © SUNRISE
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