Ryuichi was turning 16 this day. 16 years ago he was brought into the world as a crying baby with no blood on his hands, and no desire to become what he was becoming. These thoughts had made Ryuichi forget his past two birthdays, only being reminded of this one because of a note sent to him at the teahouse he called a home.
'Ryuichi. It's time we talked for the first time in a while. I think you're old enough to be told some things about your mother.
-Otani Kai' Was all it said. Typical of him. Simple, to the point, not wanting to waste time. It was almost ninja like.
Ryuichi held the note in hand, and decided to grab a small paper bag full of dry, left over pastries from the day prior and walked towards Conopolis while devouring the stale sweets.
He arrived at Cronopolis while walking at a steady pace, empty paper bag in hand. The pastries were still delicious, and easily better than any other place he could get them when they were made by the owner of the teahouse. Really, he owed that man alone more than his own father. Always offering food and company in return for chores and idle chat. When he talked to him it was like he had an actual...
Parent.
When Ryuichi was thinking of his patron, he froze in his tracks as a robed figure bumped into him.
"Sorry." The robed figure said, before walking off, and turning into a nearby alleyway. Ryuichi stood dead in his tracks, heart racing and hands shaking. Something about her voice rang in Ryuichi's head, over and over again until it grew to be far too much to handle.
He bolted to the alleyway the woman walked into, only to find nothing. Ryuichi looked around carefully, not wanting to miss any details. The alleyway was just a space between three buildings for trash cans, and assorted junk. The woman was gone. The white haired teen glanced around the area, only to see....a puddle of blood. No, two puddles. There were droplets of blood that had landed on the concrete of the Cronopolis ground. Looking back in the direction she came from the droplets were forming a trail.
Ryuichi bolted through the streets following the faded trail of blood, thinking if he found out where she come from and why she was hurt he could possibly figure out why she seemed so...familiar. The trail was straight forward, and easy to fallow. Almost too easy. It was almost like setting out a trail of food for an animal, and that fact was crawling around in Ryuichi's gut.
That feeling was quickly spiked to unbelievable levels when the trail led into a certain apartment complex. Three stories, terrible railing on the balconies that lead into each apartment...This was his home. It's also where the blood trail lead to. All the way to the second story, where his father lived. Ryuichi jumped up with all his might to land on the second floor and still have enough kinetic force to bash through the door.
He stood up straight and saw what could only be described as a nightmare. Blood covered the entirety of the room, furniture was thrown around everywhere. Ryuichi doubled over with a hand over his mouth as the metallic scent of blood invaded his nostrils. He took a few seconds to stand up straight, albeit shaking, before walking in.
The blood was everywhere. every crevice or wall had some kind of red taint adorning it. Ryuichi's expression was one of absolute horror, walking through the room with shaking legs and hesitation in every action he makes, all the way down to breathing. However through sheer determination and willpower he made his way to the kitchen.
He wished he hadn't. The kitchen was devoid of almost all of the blood that was seen in the living room of the small apartment, however in the bloody mess's place was a mutilated corpse with bloodstained white hair and a kunai lodged in his once aquamarine left eye.
Ryuichi fell to the ground backwards, staining his white cloak with the red liquid that was running across the hardwood floor. Someone had just murdered Otani Kai.
The ANBU in training walked forward to see the the details of what the hell happened. He was leaning against a wall with a loose hand up against his stomach, over a kunai. Another kunai was lodged into his eye, and a third in his leg. "W-what kind of....sick fucking freak..." Ryuichi cursed, tears welling in his eyes. This man...He may have been a drunk. He may have left Ryuichi to raise himself.
But he was the reason Ryuichi was even here. He offered proper food and shelter, overworking himself in an attempt to raise a child on his own. And how did Ryuichi repay him? He made it clear he wanted to have nothing more to do with the man, only visiting on occasion.
His father died thinking he had no one in the world at his side.
Ryuichi punched a wall beside his father as his tears fell onto the dead man's lap. "Dad..I'm so sorry..." He wept, going onto his own knees in front of him. "Who did this...." He sobbed, shakily using his other hand to pull out the note from before. "What did you need to tell me...does this involve Mom?" He said, slamming the note into the floor.
"So it is you."
Ryuichi froze, hearing the same voice as the robed figure from before. His hear beat so hard he could have sworn he heard it in his ears. THUMP
"You've grown so much it was hard to tell it was you...little Ryu."
THUMP
The sound of walking was heard and Ryuichi shot up onto his feet, and turned around wide eyed. In front of him stood his mother, looking just as she did in the photos from over ten years ago. Her hair a dark black with unrivaled shine, her eyes a violet that seemed to be formed from the most royal or gems. She stood at about the same height as Ryuichi with her entire cloak from before discarded onto the bloody floor in the other room.
"M...Mom?" Ryuichi asked, stepping backwards into the wall beside his dead father. Why was she here? Why was she unphased by her husband's corpse? Did she....was she the one who killed him? "Why are you here? Why did you leave!? What happened to Da-!"
He was cut off by the woman simply launching forward with a kunai, lodging it into Ryuichi's stomach. He spit up blood onto the shoulder of her red kimono as her facial expression never once wavered from it's emotionless state. The young man reached for his kodachi in his sleeve but was greeted with his mom shoving the kunai deeper, causing him to hurl over.
"My little Ryu...if you live through this you'll understand." She said, running a hand through his white hairwith her left hand while the right was still holding the kunai. "You'll be okay, sweety....sleep." She whispered lullingly into his ear before pushing Ryuichi down, letting him fall to the floor. The last thing Ryuichi could see was his mother pulling a metal tool from her sash, and slowly putting it close to Ryuichi's eye.
Then....nothing
[wc: 1,227]
[part 1/2]
'Ryuichi. It's time we talked for the first time in a while. I think you're old enough to be told some things about your mother.
-Otani Kai' Was all it said. Typical of him. Simple, to the point, not wanting to waste time. It was almost ninja like.
Ryuichi held the note in hand, and decided to grab a small paper bag full of dry, left over pastries from the day prior and walked towards Conopolis while devouring the stale sweets.
He arrived at Cronopolis while walking at a steady pace, empty paper bag in hand. The pastries were still delicious, and easily better than any other place he could get them when they were made by the owner of the teahouse. Really, he owed that man alone more than his own father. Always offering food and company in return for chores and idle chat. When he talked to him it was like he had an actual...
Parent.
When Ryuichi was thinking of his patron, he froze in his tracks as a robed figure bumped into him.
"Sorry." The robed figure said, before walking off, and turning into a nearby alleyway. Ryuichi stood dead in his tracks, heart racing and hands shaking. Something about her voice rang in Ryuichi's head, over and over again until it grew to be far too much to handle.
He bolted to the alleyway the woman walked into, only to find nothing. Ryuichi looked around carefully, not wanting to miss any details. The alleyway was just a space between three buildings for trash cans, and assorted junk. The woman was gone. The white haired teen glanced around the area, only to see....a puddle of blood. No, two puddles. There were droplets of blood that had landed on the concrete of the Cronopolis ground. Looking back in the direction she came from the droplets were forming a trail.
Ryuichi bolted through the streets following the faded trail of blood, thinking if he found out where she come from and why she was hurt he could possibly figure out why she seemed so...familiar. The trail was straight forward, and easy to fallow. Almost too easy. It was almost like setting out a trail of food for an animal, and that fact was crawling around in Ryuichi's gut.
That feeling was quickly spiked to unbelievable levels when the trail led into a certain apartment complex. Three stories, terrible railing on the balconies that lead into each apartment...This was his home. It's also where the blood trail lead to. All the way to the second story, where his father lived. Ryuichi jumped up with all his might to land on the second floor and still have enough kinetic force to bash through the door.
He stood up straight and saw what could only be described as a nightmare. Blood covered the entirety of the room, furniture was thrown around everywhere. Ryuichi doubled over with a hand over his mouth as the metallic scent of blood invaded his nostrils. He took a few seconds to stand up straight, albeit shaking, before walking in.
The blood was everywhere. every crevice or wall had some kind of red taint adorning it. Ryuichi's expression was one of absolute horror, walking through the room with shaking legs and hesitation in every action he makes, all the way down to breathing. However through sheer determination and willpower he made his way to the kitchen.
He wished he hadn't. The kitchen was devoid of almost all of the blood that was seen in the living room of the small apartment, however in the bloody mess's place was a mutilated corpse with bloodstained white hair and a kunai lodged in his once aquamarine left eye.
Ryuichi fell to the ground backwards, staining his white cloak with the red liquid that was running across the hardwood floor. Someone had just murdered Otani Kai.
The ANBU in training walked forward to see the the details of what the hell happened. He was leaning against a wall with a loose hand up against his stomach, over a kunai. Another kunai was lodged into his eye, and a third in his leg. "W-what kind of....sick fucking freak..." Ryuichi cursed, tears welling in his eyes. This man...He may have been a drunk. He may have left Ryuichi to raise himself.
But he was the reason Ryuichi was even here. He offered proper food and shelter, overworking himself in an attempt to raise a child on his own. And how did Ryuichi repay him? He made it clear he wanted to have nothing more to do with the man, only visiting on occasion.
His father died thinking he had no one in the world at his side.
Ryuichi punched a wall beside his father as his tears fell onto the dead man's lap. "Dad..I'm so sorry..." He wept, going onto his own knees in front of him. "Who did this...." He sobbed, shakily using his other hand to pull out the note from before. "What did you need to tell me...does this involve Mom?" He said, slamming the note into the floor.
"So it is you."Ryuichi froze, hearing the same voice as the robed figure from before. His hear beat so hard he could have sworn he heard it in his ears. THUMP
"You've grown so much it was hard to tell it was you...little Ryu."
THUMP
The sound of walking was heard and Ryuichi shot up onto his feet, and turned around wide eyed. In front of him stood his mother, looking just as she did in the photos from over ten years ago. Her hair a dark black with unrivaled shine, her eyes a violet that seemed to be formed from the most royal or gems. She stood at about the same height as Ryuichi with her entire cloak from before discarded onto the bloody floor in the other room.
"M...Mom?" Ryuichi asked, stepping backwards into the wall beside his dead father. Why was she here? Why was she unphased by her husband's corpse? Did she....was she the one who killed him? "Why are you here? Why did you leave!? What happened to Da-!"
He was cut off by the woman simply launching forward with a kunai, lodging it into Ryuichi's stomach. He spit up blood onto the shoulder of her red kimono as her facial expression never once wavered from it's emotionless state. The young man reached for his kodachi in his sleeve but was greeted with his mom shoving the kunai deeper, causing him to hurl over.
"My little Ryu...if you live through this you'll understand." She said, running a hand through his white hairwith her left hand while the right was still holding the kunai. "You'll be okay, sweety....sleep." She whispered lullingly into his ear before pushing Ryuichi down, letting him fall to the floor. The last thing Ryuichi could see was his mother pulling a metal tool from her sash, and slowly putting it close to Ryuichi's eye.
Then....nothing
[wc: 1,227]
[part 1/2]