Not to be.
((An IM RP: In an alternate universe setting, Ginta is force to avenge Aya-chan's death.
Warning: Entry contains graphic violence and character death.
And I'm blatantly stealing the titles of the entries from "Hamlet" and episodes of "The Highlander".))
He checked in her room. Not there. In the front shop. Not there. In his room, in the kitchen, in the other two apartments. Not there, not there, NOT THERE. He was starting to get a little bit worried. Yes, she had other places she could be but... He went back to his room and retrieved the communicator that X had given him. Maybe he could call her or get a signal, or something. He dialed the number to her comm while heading towards the back room behind the main shop to check that as well.
Aya doesn't pick up the phone, but Ginta should be able to pick up the signal from her communicator. Aya, or at least her comm, is at an upscale hotel in the middle of Tokyo.
He notices the location and stops midway in opening the door to the back room. "Huh... weird."
He goes upstairs to grab a coat from one of the closets before tromping through the slush covering the Tokyo streets. When he gets to the hotel he asks the man at the front desk if he's seen anyone by the name of Fujimiya Aya around.
The man behind the desk sneers at the way Ginta is dressed before telling him he has never heard of anyone by that name. Whether or not he actually listened to the name is up for debate. The comm signal instantly indicates Aya-chan is on the top floor.
The man's reaction barely registers. He's not what's important, as far as Ginta is concerned. Ginta absently thanks the man for his help, even though there was none, and mutters something about needing to use their restroom before sneaking off towards the elevator.
He walks down the hall, following the trail to where the signal is strongest and knocks on the door.
No one answers the door, but it swings open under his hand. A mans hand and a small pool of blood are barely visible.
Ginta steps back, startled at the sight. This he wasn't expecting. And then it hits him. The smell of some of that blood is FAMILIAR. He runs in, shouting. "AYA! Aya, answer me!"
A young man's head is near Ginta's foot. His body is across the room. Aya-chan's body is next to him. Her eyes and mouth are open in an expression of surprise. The blood on the front of her dress is starting to congeal.
There are a half dozen other bodies in the room, all men who look like they could defend themselves.
When he catches sight of Aya his stomach lurches violently. The mixture of sickness and numbness is odd. When he moves toward her it feels slow and surreal, like those dreams where you can't move fast enough. 'This isn't happening,' he thinks.
He starts to pick her up, slightly. 'Maybe she's not dead. Maybe I can get her to hold on until I can get help.' Her body is not as warm as it should be and there's nothing he can do. The first of many violent sobs wrack his body.
Aya's katana lays beside her body. Her body is cold and unyielding and without question dead.
Ginta has Aya's body clutched close to him and has buried his face in her neck. It is a while before he notices that detail. "That... can't be," he says, voice barely audible due to the horseness of crying.
He reaches out for the sword, sniffing it. There's so much blood that it reeks of many people. But the only one it smells of that is not here in the room, the only smell that isn't blood is of her brother. Ginta's eyes narrow and he lets out an enraged growl.
He lays Aya-chan on the bed. Carefully, oh so carefully, he folds her hands over her stomach and closes her eyes. Her body doesn't deserve to be neglected and he has every intention of coming back for her and removing her from this place for a proper memorial.
Once that is done he picks up the sword again. Eyes flashing and instinct taking over, he begins the hunt.
Aya's scent goes as far as the emergency exit stairs. There he seems to have recovered himself and travel by PINpoint. He isn't going to be easy to track.
Not having anything to track takes the wind out of Ginta's sails. But the sudden disappearance does remind him of his own PINpoint. He takes the time to go back and remove Aya from the hotel and lay her on her own bed.
The sadness is almost too much to bear so he quickly switches to focusing on the anger again. Every inch of the city. He will search the entire thing, if that's what it takes.
Aya's not trying to make himself difficult to catch, but his movements are erratic enough to make finding him difficult. He never stays in one place for long. Ginta may more easily find him when reports of a vigilante killer emerge.
The killer not only targets mobsters and corrupt politicians, but their families and servants as well. Police are having difficulty tracking him down, as there seems to be no pattern to his crimes.
Eventually, when passing by an electronics store displaying TVs turned to a news channel, Ginta hears of the vigilante. He's not sure if he thinks it's Aya or not but the style of the killing spree doesn't seem unlike what he saw in that room. Whoever it is, he wants to have words with them. The problem is, he's not sure where to find these people that are being targeted. The only thing he can think of is to go to other upscale hotels like the one he found Aya-chan in hopes that it attracts the kind of targets the killer is after.
It is overcast enough that fog reflects the neon lights, making the night seem even more surreal. Outside the Akira hotel, a man in a long white coat brushes past Ginta. There is something stiff in his posture that suggests he is concealing a weapon, however what Ginta is likely to find more interesting about him is his scent. Aya. There can't be any question.
Aya continues walking as if he didn't notice Ginta.
Ginta is not about to let Aya just walk by. The moment the scent registers he whirls around, pouncing in Aya's direction and letting out a feral growl. "YOU."
At the sound of the shout, Aya is able to turn and reach for his weapon. Aya lets out a muffled grunt as he is knocked backward. His body is partially pinned beneath Ginta.
Ginta is going to go for the throat. Rather than rip it out (which is his first inclination) he is going to try to use it as leverage to smack Aya's head hard against the ground. He wants some sort of explanation for all this.
"Why?! You bastard, why did you do it?!"
Aya is even thinner that before. His hair is streaked with white. The dark circles beneath his eyes and hollowed cheeks make him look several years older.
Aya's eyes roll back in his head as it smacks the pavement. There is a wet sound as Ginta lifts Aya's head again. The back of Aya's head is sticky and warm. If Ginta wants an answer, he is going have not hit Aya quite so hard.
His lips form a grimace, and he laughs. He laughs.
If Ginta looked angry before its hardly anything compared to his expression when Aya starts laughing. He grabs onto Aya's collar to pull him up from the ground as his lips curl back, baring his fangs. He means to ask Aya what the hell he's laughing at but all that comes out is a snarl.
“Do it if you can, boy. It's the way of the world.” Aya raises his knee and aims a kick at Ginta's gut.
The kick connects, causing Ginta to let out a wheezing grunt. He tries to hook his legs around Aya's knees in order to keep him still until Ginta can regain his breath.
Aya is off balance as Ginta hooks his knees around him, and Aya falls backward. His long, need-like weapon is in his hand. He tries to jab it beneath Ginta's throat.
Oh crap, that's not good. Ginta dodges enough so that it does not strike where Aya aimed... but it still doesn't feel that great being lodged between his scapula and clavicle like that. He grimaces before grinding out the response, "What, no more katana?" He tries to throw a punch at Aya's face with the arm that is not connected to the shoulder connected to the weapon.
There is wet, meaty slurping sound as Aya pulls the weapon out again. Aya blinks dazedly as the punch connects. Blood fills his mouth. He spits out a tooth. “I left my katana with her.”
Ginta yells, nearly screams, as Aya extracts the weapon. For some reason, it feels worse going out than going in. "I SAW." The mention of Aya herself compels Ginta to go for the arm that just stabbed him, attempting to catch it and bend it in an unnatural way.
There is a loud snapping sound and Aya screams in pain. The scream slowly dies and becomes an unnatural sounding laugh. There are other screams from on-lookers. A woman's voice cries out for someone to call the police. Aya laughs hard enough for tears to come to his eyes.
Ginta narrows his eyes in the direction of the scream. He could try to finish it up now or... Or.
He starts to get up, making sure to keep one foot on Aya's gut to keep him down. The other he'll try to plant on Aya's arm so he can speak without him trying anything.
Aya isn't struggling. He almost appears to be waiting.
"You know what? You can live with it. The guilt. The pain." At this he'll move his foot a little bit, to punctuate. "All of it. It's what you deserve."
Aya's eyes bulge. He lets out a roar and reaches out to grab Ginta's leg with his good arm, trying to pull his leg out from under him.
Ginta loses his balance and starts to fall. Once he gets closer to the ground and within reach he's clawing at Aya. Meanwhile, a siren in the distance is getting closer.
Aya is beyond caring. Blood wells up from the scratches Ginta leaves. Aya reaches for Ginta's throat and tries to strangle him.
"Guhg...!" Ginta's own eyes bulge once Aya starts applying pressure. He reaches up and grabs at Aya's wrists. He squeezes in an attempt to break something and stop the obstruction of his airflow.
Aya's wrist snaps. He kicks out, but with a broken arm and a broken wrist there is little he can do.
The kick connects, making Ginta growl in pain and frustration. "You don't know when to QUIT, Fujimiya." He refuses to call the man Aya anymore.
Nearby, a police car squeals to a stop. Flashing lights flood the area as the cops climb out of the cars yelling things like "Freeze!"
Aya's face is close to Ginta's ear as he snarls, “She was trying to get me to quit when I killed her.” Aya lunges to bite Ginta's throat at the same moment he aims another kick to Ginta's gut.
Ginta screeches, though he's not sure if he started when Aya kicked him,bit him, or when he shared that little tidbit about Aya's death. All of his perception is becoming fuzzy, melting into a red haze of rage, and his screech is starting to bleed into a howl. Aya might notice that, along with the taste of blood, there is the texture of thickening fur on Ginta's skin. He's stretching, growing, contorting. A policeman drops his flashlight at the sight. "Holy shit..."
A low growl comes up from Aya's belly. He sounds almost satisfied. His eyes are sharp and bright. He reaches out with his hand with a broken arm and tries to close his fingers around the needle.
Now fully formed, the creature, a wolf about nine feet in length, ceases its howling. It knows little about what grudges it had a moment ago, the sorrow and rage it felt is dulled. What it does know, now, is hunger. Yellow eyes turn toward the closest target, which is Aya. It crouches, the movement causing the blood clinging to the fur on its neck to drip onto the ground, and readies itself to spring.
Aya manages get his fingers to close around the needle. His grin is bloodly as he raises it to blindly jab the wolf. The panicked policeman fires. At the wolf. At Aya.
In true anime style probability, the shot misses but the jab connects. The wolf yowls in pain, snapping at Aya's mid-section.
Aya howls as the wolf tears chunk of meat out of his body. He tries to reach for another stab, but be doesn't have the strength to pull the needle out again.
The chunk seems to have only wet the creatures appetite. It leans forward to finish the meal when another shot rings out from the direction of the police, grazing the flank of the wolf. The creature lets out a cry, backing away.
This prey seems to come with more pain than most, and even in a monstrous form, a lone wolf knows when to cut its losses and run. It starts edging away from the direction of the police, growling in warning.
“What the Hell was that?!”
The police seem surprisingly reluctant to give chase.
There is a scream of siren as an ambulance approaches. Aya's body is still on the ground. His eyes are glassy. His jaw is lax and has fallen back in what appears to be a grin.
Warning: Entry contains graphic violence and character death.
And I'm blatantly stealing the titles of the entries from "Hamlet" and episodes of "The Highlander".))
He checked in her room. Not there. In the front shop. Not there. In his room, in the kitchen, in the other two apartments. Not there, not there, NOT THERE. He was starting to get a little bit worried. Yes, she had other places she could be but... He went back to his room and retrieved the communicator that X had given him. Maybe he could call her or get a signal, or something. He dialed the number to her comm while heading towards the back room behind the main shop to check that as well.
Aya doesn't pick up the phone, but Ginta should be able to pick up the signal from her communicator. Aya, or at least her comm, is at an upscale hotel in the middle of Tokyo.
He notices the location and stops midway in opening the door to the back room. "Huh... weird."
He goes upstairs to grab a coat from one of the closets before tromping through the slush covering the Tokyo streets. When he gets to the hotel he asks the man at the front desk if he's seen anyone by the name of Fujimiya Aya around.
The man behind the desk sneers at the way Ginta is dressed before telling him he has never heard of anyone by that name. Whether or not he actually listened to the name is up for debate. The comm signal instantly indicates Aya-chan is on the top floor.
The man's reaction barely registers. He's not what's important, as far as Ginta is concerned. Ginta absently thanks the man for his help, even though there was none, and mutters something about needing to use their restroom before sneaking off towards the elevator.
He walks down the hall, following the trail to where the signal is strongest and knocks on the door.
No one answers the door, but it swings open under his hand. A mans hand and a small pool of blood are barely visible.
Ginta steps back, startled at the sight. This he wasn't expecting. And then it hits him. The smell of some of that blood is FAMILIAR. He runs in, shouting. "AYA! Aya, answer me!"
A young man's head is near Ginta's foot. His body is across the room. Aya-chan's body is next to him. Her eyes and mouth are open in an expression of surprise. The blood on the front of her dress is starting to congeal.
There are a half dozen other bodies in the room, all men who look like they could defend themselves.
When he catches sight of Aya his stomach lurches violently. The mixture of sickness and numbness is odd. When he moves toward her it feels slow and surreal, like those dreams where you can't move fast enough. 'This isn't happening,' he thinks.
He starts to pick her up, slightly. 'Maybe she's not dead. Maybe I can get her to hold on until I can get help.' Her body is not as warm as it should be and there's nothing he can do. The first of many violent sobs wrack his body.
Aya's katana lays beside her body. Her body is cold and unyielding and without question dead.
Ginta has Aya's body clutched close to him and has buried his face in her neck. It is a while before he notices that detail. "That... can't be," he says, voice barely audible due to the horseness of crying.
He reaches out for the sword, sniffing it. There's so much blood that it reeks of many people. But the only one it smells of that is not here in the room, the only smell that isn't blood is of her brother. Ginta's eyes narrow and he lets out an enraged growl.
He lays Aya-chan on the bed. Carefully, oh so carefully, he folds her hands over her stomach and closes her eyes. Her body doesn't deserve to be neglected and he has every intention of coming back for her and removing her from this place for a proper memorial.
Once that is done he picks up the sword again. Eyes flashing and instinct taking over, he begins the hunt.
Aya's scent goes as far as the emergency exit stairs. There he seems to have recovered himself and travel by PINpoint. He isn't going to be easy to track.
Not having anything to track takes the wind out of Ginta's sails. But the sudden disappearance does remind him of his own PINpoint. He takes the time to go back and remove Aya from the hotel and lay her on her own bed.
The sadness is almost too much to bear so he quickly switches to focusing on the anger again. Every inch of the city. He will search the entire thing, if that's what it takes.
Aya's not trying to make himself difficult to catch, but his movements are erratic enough to make finding him difficult. He never stays in one place for long. Ginta may more easily find him when reports of a vigilante killer emerge.
The killer not only targets mobsters and corrupt politicians, but their families and servants as well. Police are having difficulty tracking him down, as there seems to be no pattern to his crimes.
Eventually, when passing by an electronics store displaying TVs turned to a news channel, Ginta hears of the vigilante. He's not sure if he thinks it's Aya or not but the style of the killing spree doesn't seem unlike what he saw in that room. Whoever it is, he wants to have words with them. The problem is, he's not sure where to find these people that are being targeted. The only thing he can think of is to go to other upscale hotels like the one he found Aya-chan in hopes that it attracts the kind of targets the killer is after.
It is overcast enough that fog reflects the neon lights, making the night seem even more surreal. Outside the Akira hotel, a man in a long white coat brushes past Ginta. There is something stiff in his posture that suggests he is concealing a weapon, however what Ginta is likely to find more interesting about him is his scent. Aya. There can't be any question.
Aya continues walking as if he didn't notice Ginta.
Ginta is not about to let Aya just walk by. The moment the scent registers he whirls around, pouncing in Aya's direction and letting out a feral growl. "YOU."
At the sound of the shout, Aya is able to turn and reach for his weapon. Aya lets out a muffled grunt as he is knocked backward. His body is partially pinned beneath Ginta.
Ginta is going to go for the throat. Rather than rip it out (which is his first inclination) he is going to try to use it as leverage to smack Aya's head hard against the ground. He wants some sort of explanation for all this.
"Why?! You bastard, why did you do it?!"
Aya is even thinner that before. His hair is streaked with white. The dark circles beneath his eyes and hollowed cheeks make him look several years older.
Aya's eyes roll back in his head as it smacks the pavement. There is a wet sound as Ginta lifts Aya's head again. The back of Aya's head is sticky and warm. If Ginta wants an answer, he is going have not hit Aya quite so hard.
His lips form a grimace, and he laughs. He laughs.
If Ginta looked angry before its hardly anything compared to his expression when Aya starts laughing. He grabs onto Aya's collar to pull him up from the ground as his lips curl back, baring his fangs. He means to ask Aya what the hell he's laughing at but all that comes out is a snarl.
“Do it if you can, boy. It's the way of the world.” Aya raises his knee and aims a kick at Ginta's gut.
The kick connects, causing Ginta to let out a wheezing grunt. He tries to hook his legs around Aya's knees in order to keep him still until Ginta can regain his breath.
Aya is off balance as Ginta hooks his knees around him, and Aya falls backward. His long, need-like weapon is in his hand. He tries to jab it beneath Ginta's throat.
Oh crap, that's not good. Ginta dodges enough so that it does not strike where Aya aimed... but it still doesn't feel that great being lodged between his scapula and clavicle like that. He grimaces before grinding out the response, "What, no more katana?" He tries to throw a punch at Aya's face with the arm that is not connected to the shoulder connected to the weapon.
There is wet, meaty slurping sound as Aya pulls the weapon out again. Aya blinks dazedly as the punch connects. Blood fills his mouth. He spits out a tooth. “I left my katana with her.”
Ginta yells, nearly screams, as Aya extracts the weapon. For some reason, it feels worse going out than going in. "I SAW." The mention of Aya herself compels Ginta to go for the arm that just stabbed him, attempting to catch it and bend it in an unnatural way.
There is a loud snapping sound and Aya screams in pain. The scream slowly dies and becomes an unnatural sounding laugh. There are other screams from on-lookers. A woman's voice cries out for someone to call the police. Aya laughs hard enough for tears to come to his eyes.
Ginta narrows his eyes in the direction of the scream. He could try to finish it up now or... Or.
He starts to get up, making sure to keep one foot on Aya's gut to keep him down. The other he'll try to plant on Aya's arm so he can speak without him trying anything.
Aya isn't struggling. He almost appears to be waiting.
"You know what? You can live with it. The guilt. The pain." At this he'll move his foot a little bit, to punctuate. "All of it. It's what you deserve."
Aya's eyes bulge. He lets out a roar and reaches out to grab Ginta's leg with his good arm, trying to pull his leg out from under him.
Ginta loses his balance and starts to fall. Once he gets closer to the ground and within reach he's clawing at Aya. Meanwhile, a siren in the distance is getting closer.
Aya is beyond caring. Blood wells up from the scratches Ginta leaves. Aya reaches for Ginta's throat and tries to strangle him.
"Guhg...!" Ginta's own eyes bulge once Aya starts applying pressure. He reaches up and grabs at Aya's wrists. He squeezes in an attempt to break something and stop the obstruction of his airflow.
Aya's wrist snaps. He kicks out, but with a broken arm and a broken wrist there is little he can do.
The kick connects, making Ginta growl in pain and frustration. "You don't know when to QUIT, Fujimiya." He refuses to call the man Aya anymore.
Nearby, a police car squeals to a stop. Flashing lights flood the area as the cops climb out of the cars yelling things like "Freeze!"
Aya's face is close to Ginta's ear as he snarls, “She was trying to get me to quit when I killed her.” Aya lunges to bite Ginta's throat at the same moment he aims another kick to Ginta's gut.
Ginta screeches, though he's not sure if he started when Aya kicked him,bit him, or when he shared that little tidbit about Aya's death. All of his perception is becoming fuzzy, melting into a red haze of rage, and his screech is starting to bleed into a howl. Aya might notice that, along with the taste of blood, there is the texture of thickening fur on Ginta's skin. He's stretching, growing, contorting. A policeman drops his flashlight at the sight. "Holy shit..."
A low growl comes up from Aya's belly. He sounds almost satisfied. His eyes are sharp and bright. He reaches out with his hand with a broken arm and tries to close his fingers around the needle.
Now fully formed, the creature, a wolf about nine feet in length, ceases its howling. It knows little about what grudges it had a moment ago, the sorrow and rage it felt is dulled. What it does know, now, is hunger. Yellow eyes turn toward the closest target, which is Aya. It crouches, the movement causing the blood clinging to the fur on its neck to drip onto the ground, and readies itself to spring.
Aya manages get his fingers to close around the needle. His grin is bloodly as he raises it to blindly jab the wolf. The panicked policeman fires. At the wolf. At Aya.
In true anime style probability, the shot misses but the jab connects. The wolf yowls in pain, snapping at Aya's mid-section.
Aya howls as the wolf tears chunk of meat out of his body. He tries to reach for another stab, but be doesn't have the strength to pull the needle out again.
The chunk seems to have only wet the creatures appetite. It leans forward to finish the meal when another shot rings out from the direction of the police, grazing the flank of the wolf. The creature lets out a cry, backing away.
This prey seems to come with more pain than most, and even in a monstrous form, a lone wolf knows when to cut its losses and run. It starts edging away from the direction of the police, growling in warning.
“What the Hell was that?!”
The police seem surprisingly reluctant to give chase.
There is a scream of siren as an ambulance approaches. Aya's body is still on the ground. His eyes are glassy. His jaw is lax and has fallen back in what appears to be a grin.