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Author's Notes are at the end. :)
Chapter One:
Solitary Confinement
“Hai-echoo! Augh...” Kina snatched another tissue and blew her nose, sniffing. “This is torture,” she sighed, tossing the tissue in the trash. Sniffing again, she let her dark blue eyes fall back on the glowing screen of her laptop, brushing long, dark blue hair away from her face.
Eden entered the room with Sin and poured herself a cup of coffee with one hand. In the other she held a light blue book that matched her eyes. Strands of her clipped up lemon-yellow hair hung beside her slightly tanned face, framing it nicely. When she turned, her steady gaze was visible under the light pink eyeshadow she wore today.
“Hey, Kina. You seen Reni today?” she smiled, pulling back perfect lips coated with salmon-pink lipstick to reveal shining white teeth.
Kina looked up at her from the laptop, her indigo eyes meeting Eden’s blue ones as she sneezed again. “No,” she said, pulling cupped hands away from her face, “But my allergies are going crazy.” She brushed her hair out of her face again.
Sin put a hand on the tissue box, tipping it towards him slightly. He raised an eyebrow, looking up at Kina through black bangs with startled onyx eyes. “I’ll say. You’ve used half a box of tissues in two days.”
Eden raised an eyebrow and swallowed black coffee. Frowning at the taste, she set the mug back down and reached for the sugar.
“Do you not find it a bit strange that you’re having allergies in the winter?” Sin added, watching her clicking away on the laptop.
Kina stopped typing abruptly, appearing to give that serious thought. “You know what? Now that I think about it, that is a little strange.” She went back to typing.
Eden watched, settling herself down at the table with her modified coffee and closing the book. “It could just be a cold,” she shrugged. When twin what-the-hell stares met her, she shrugged. “What?”
Kina continued to type. Something hit her laptop, and she picked it up, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.
“What’s this?” she asked, staring at the small orange capsule in her palm.
“Allergy medicine,” Sin replied, holding up the box. “To stop the sneezing. Don’t chew it, whatever you do.”
Kina opened her mouth and swallowed the pill. “Thanks.”
“But seriously, it’s twelve degrees outside!” Eden cried, staring out the window at the falling snow as she attempted to protest her point.
“It gets that way here in Manitoba. You shouldn’t be so surprised, Eden.” Sin said, standing up and grabbing his black leather overcoat from beside the door.
“Don’t tell me you’re going out in this weather, Sin,” came a soft, amused voice from the direction of the living room. Three gazes landed on Reni as the chestnut-haired 23-year-old entered the room and headed over to the coffee machine.
“Yeah, I am,” Sin laughed. “Guess I’m a little bit crazy for doing it, huh?”
Kina stood up with a laugh and closed her laptop, picking up a piece of paper as it came out of the printer. “If you’re crazy, then I must be, too. I have to drop this off at the office,” she explained, folding and pocketing the paper and pulling on a brown trench coat.
“You’re both definitely crazy,” Eden mused, draining her coffee and meeting Reni’s emerald eyes. “Although, that’s how you’ve always been. See you later.”
“This snow comes up to my knees! I’m freezing!” Kina laughed.
“That’s what you get for wearing a pair of black slacks and boots that aren’t made for snow,” Sin smiled.
Kina punched him on the arm playfully. “Yeah, right; like you’re any better.”
“I’m serious!” Sin laughed. It was true, though; his choice of clothing today had been little more than a dark blue long-sleeved sweater and black pants. His own black boots weren’t meant for snow, either.
“Yeah, yeah...but you forgot one thing..”
“What could that be?”
“This!” Kina cried, and a second later Sin was hit with a handful of snow in the face. He backed up and fell backwards into the snow. More of it fell into his lap. He shoved snow off his face and lap, standing up quickly.
“Damn! That’s cold!” he laughed.
Kina was doubled over with giggles. “I can’t believe you fell for that,” she laughed, pointing at him.
“Come here, you!” Sin cried, scooping up a handful of snow and giving chase as Kina took off. “I’ll get back at you!”
Laughing, Kina turned to face him, still jogging. Suddenly, she tripped over a rock in the snow and lost her balance. She cried out as she collapsed to the ground in a heap, snow covering her back and soaking through her clothes.
“There, you see? I told you I would get you back,” Sin said as he caught up with her, the snow in his hand having melted. He stopped beside her and leaned down, concerned when she didn’t respond. “Hey, are you all right?”
Kina opened her eyes and pushed herself up, spitting out snow weakly.
“My ankle. I can’t move it.”
Sin picked her up in his arms and walked over to a nearby park bench, setting her down gently and pushing up the left leg of her slacks to study her ankle, pressing on it lightly and then turning it slightly to the right. He winced when she cried out in pain.
“Definitely sprained, maybe even fractured,” he sighed, letting go of her boot and pulling the slack back down before moving to sit beside her.
“Wonderful. How am I supposed to fight now if we get a mission from DARIET?” Kina muttered, sitting up and resting her leg on the bench.
“You aren’t.”
Kina looked up at the woman who approached steadily, her eyes flicking to the pocket laser melting the snow before they moved back to the woman. “Robyn!”
“Hello,” Robyn smiled, raising a hand to push black hair from her crimson gaze.
“Hey, Robyn.” Sin smiled as well.
Robyn stopped in front of them, her smile fading into a look of contempt as she delivered her next words. “Darscia asked me to deliver a message to you.” She extended her hand to Kina, who took the note, looking away.
Kina unfolded the note and her indigo eyes flashed over cursive manuscript in neat black letters.
Meet me by the fountain at twelve. We have something to discuss.
Discuss? What did he mean by that? It was well known by all of them that Darscia was a not-so-pleasant person to be around, a man that liked to mess with them far too much and had been quite a nuisance for their group in the past. He’d done some things to Robyn that were horribly wrong when she was a few years younger.
“What’s it say?” Sin asked, bringing Kina out of her thoughts.
Kina shook her head and pocketed the note. “No,” she commented, a quiet but firm denial.
Robyn sighed, the smile back on her face regardless. “You’ll never be able to get there on foot with that ankle. Come on,” Robyn smiled, taking Kina by the arm and helping her to the hospital.
“Why won’t she tell me what the note said?” Sin persisted, pacing the kitchen in agitation.
Eden took another sip of her coffee and set the mug down harder than necessary, causing some of the liquid to slide over the cup and onto the marble table. “Would you let that stupid question go? Kina already told you that she doesn’t want to talk about it!” she said irritably.
Reni sighed. “Yes, I imagine she’s been through enough today.”
“Not to mention the fact that you were the one who started it. So, technically, it’s your fault and Kina has good reason not to want to talk.” Robyn said, her face remaining carefully expressionless.
“But she threw the snowball at me,” Sin protested.
“Even so, you started the argument,” Reni commented, watching him.
At that particular moment, Kina entered the room and sank into a chair, which got everyone’s attention. The doctor had told her simply to be careful when she walked and not to put too much strain on her foot–a diagnosis that she promptly ignored. While she did respect the doctor and his orders and knew that what he said was for her benefit, she also knew that there was the matter of work and it would be impossible for her to follow the directions.
“All right,” Sin said briskly, stopping in front of Kina to gaze down at her. “Explain.”
Kina gave him a bored look. “Explain what? There’s nothing to explain.”
Sin laughed; a hollow, sarcastic laugh. “Oh, really?”
Kina nodded and took the cup of coffee offered to her by Reni with a small but grateful smile. She sipped at it and said nothing.
“The note, Kina. What did it say?” Sin asked, annoyed. His eyes were starting to harden in that cold way only he could pull off.
Kina swallowed a long drink of coffee and still said nothing. Her blue eyes flashed a warning, though.
“Dammit, Kina! Answer me!” Sin yelled. Reni winced and rubbed his temple.
Kina drained the cup and slammed it down on the table, standing up.
“Why the hell are you so goddamn curious!” she screamed back angrily. “It’s none of your business, so stay out of it!”
Sin growled and ran towards her, “I’ll give you business!”
“Amon, please!” Robyn said, standing up in front of him. “You’re only going to make it worse for Kina!”
“Get out of my way, Robyn! And don’t call me that!” Sin yelled, striking Robyn’s face with a fist.
Robyn tripped backwards and hit the table, knocking over the remaining mugs of coffee.
Reni and Eden stood up quickly, alarmed.
Eden rushed over to help Robyn, snapping, “That was uncalled for, Amon! You know just as well as the rest of us that it’s nothing more than an alias...Sin, Kina...they’re fake names. You should have stopped using them at the end of the last mission, like we did.”
Reni stepped in front of Kina cautiously, his green gaze focused on his livid friend with more than a little wariness.
“Listen to me, Sin,” he said, doing his best not to lose his temper even as he kept up the aliases, “Kina hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s right, the note is none of your business.”
“I told you never to use my real name, Eden! That isn’t her real name, either, and everyone knows it. She’s Kanesuma, and nothing will change that! Ever! The only reason we’re still keeping the fake names is for protection, something you don’t have anymore!”Amon yelled.
The lines in Kina’s face deepened. She was returning to her former state of calm, but her voice still shook. It had been awhile since anyone had used her regular name...
“Amon, you have to stop pretending like you’re the best there is!” she cried.
Amon glared at her. A flicker of something appeared in his eyes. Recognition?
“What are you talking about?” he growled, advancing towards her.
Kina took a step back and ended up landing with her back pressed to the door. Reni, Eden, and Robyn watched the two, the latter terrified.
“Eden is right, Amon. It’s time you both dropped the aliases, we’ve no need for them anymore and they only cause confusion,” Reni said calmly, but he slowly stepped to the side.
“You can’t be the best, Amon,” Kina said quietly. “Nobody can. None of us are perfect.”
“Shut up!” he roared, taking another step forward and picking Kina up by the neck of her shirt so that she was hovering just above the floor. “You won’t ever understand the pain I’ve kept inside for these years! I have to make them understand. They have to see. They have to feel it, they have to feel everything I’ve felt in my life!” he said angrily, and with the last few sentences he seemed to be talking to himself. “You aren’t going to get in my way, Kanesuma, nobody is!”
“Amon...listen to me,” Kanesuma managed, looking at him with soft, pleading indigo eyes. She’d finally given up on using her alias and just dropped it, resolving that it was better for everyone.
Amon continued to glare, but it softened.
Time for a pity story.
“I know...what it’s like to feel the way you do...like you’re an outsider in a world full of people...people that don’t understand who you are and why...why you came to be. You can pretend that nobody truly understands, but there...are people...who have gone through the same thing...you have. They all had friends to watch over them...and help them get through whatever it was they were dealing with. I...I know how you feel...I ...went through the s-same...thing...” Kina said, struggling to get the words out.
Robyn stood up, leaning on Eden.
“Amon, that’s right,” Robyn said quietly in a strained voice. “We all want to help you. That’s why we’re here. We’re all friends, and friends stand by each other. In a job like the one we have, protecting people...we’re all we’ve got. It’s time you accepted that.” She lowered her crimson eyes. “It’s time we all accepted that.”
Eden squeezed Robyn’s shoulder comfortingly.
Amon stared at Kanesuma, his eyes losing their hard outer anger and filling with tears as he realized what he was doing. He blinked them away and let go of Kanesuma, crossing over to the window.
Kina fell to the floor and gasped for breath, one hand to her throat. Reni quickly moved over to her to make sure she was okay.
“Amon, please, I....” Robyn began, but she fell silent quickly.
“I don’t believe it,” Amon said in a sort of shock. “All these years. The people I knew and loved. They understood. They were trying to help me. They knew what was going on.”
He turned angrily again, slamming a fist into his hand. “Everyone knew from the beginning. They understood. I just couldn’t open my eyes or care enough to see it!”
Robyn took a breath.
Amon grabbed his coat and shrugged it on, throwing open the door and rushing out into the snow.
“Amon, where are you going!” Kina cried, despite her shortage of breath.
“Out,” Amon replied coldly, and shut the door.
Nobody said anything for a long time. They all stared at the door.
Finally, Eden spoke up, sighing. “He’s gone. For now. There’s nothing we can do.”
Amon sighed.
When are they ever going to learn? I can’t deal with my past. It’s hurt too many people, he thought bitterly. Besides, the past is the past. For right now I have to worry about the present. I mean, my past doesn’t matter that much.
Right?
Ah, well. That's the first chapter. This multichapter story is only one in a rather long series of four that I'll be typing up and uploading for people to read. Comments and criticism (read: reviews) are still greatly welcomed, and if there happens to be any glaring error pointed out--despite my going through on every chapter and Spell Checking/Grammatiking--let me know and I'll find a way to fix it. Now then...
In Case You Didn't Get It
"Kina" and "Sin" are two of the fake-names that were used in a previous mission (not described) that the characters went on. Obviously they all had fake names (aliases, I guess), but the others also obviously came to their senses and dropped them when the mission was over. Looking back now (I started this one when I was 13 years old--I'm15 now, so...), I can't remember exactly why I started out the chapter with those particular names and then switched...-shrug- Ah, well. Hopefully that explanation clears at least some things up for you?
