Description: Kazue shows up home after having run away for several days and the two learn a little more about each other.
Kazue has been gone for a few days since that day she admitted to stealing something, and putting it back. Has something terrible happened to her? Has she decided to go back to her life of crime? Did she just get lost somewhere? Who can say?
Finally, however, she walks up to the door of Rick Knight's residence, and stares at it. She lifts her hand to knock, then hovers her hand over the doorbell, then chews on her lip. Finally, she sits down next to the door, and just stares out into space for a little while, before pulling out a coin and passing it back and forth between her hands quick enough so it's not visible, then going on to practicing other coin tricks.
It's a while before anything happens, but maybe an hour later Rick comes up the stairs at the end of the hall with a big bag of groceries in his arms. It's held in front of his face so he doesn't notice her sitting there until he shifts the bag into one arm so he can get out his key and unlock the door. As he does so he stops and blinks, looking down, "Kazue! I... had thought you'd decided to move on."
The coin dances back and forth across her fingers, slowing down as Rick moves closer. As he says her name, it drops out of her fingers, landing on the floor.
"Yeah, well." She shifts her body a little, glancing up towards him, but looks away before she actually gets there. Her eyes go down to the coin on the ground, and she picks it up, palming it. "I was angry with you, so..." She lapses into silence for a long moment, then mumbles something inaudibly. She glances up at Rick, trying to get a quick read on his expression, then looks back down again.
He stands there for a few moments in contemplation, visibly confused about what to do until finally he finishes unlocking the door and stepping inside, "You can come inside if you want. I'm going to put this away- I found a market not too far from here that sells fresh meats and produce." Even as he talks he sounds preoccupied with something in his mind, looking back at the door as he starts unloading the bag to see if she's come in or not.
"...A market. That's nice." Kazue follows him inside, although she doesn't close the door behind her. She pockets the coin, starts toying with it's surface inside her pocket, her face blank. Her other hand moves up to shift her hair a lock of her hair out of her eye. "You're thinking about something else." She glances back at the open door behind her.
Rick unloads the fresh food into the refrigerator, which hasn't appeared to have lost too much food over the last couple of days. When she mentions what he might be thinking he stops, and turns to face her. "No, I'm thinking about what to do now. Today was the first I didn't go looking for you. You're hard to find, when you don't want to be found. I just don't understand-" He starts to say something and stops, only to give a small shake of his head, "Much of anything, really."
"I was in Metro City. Caught a plane." Kazue lapses into silence, then clears her throat. "...I didn't think you'd look for me." She glances back at the door behind her, then eases it shut with her foot most of the way, before walking up next to Rick and the refrigerator, and looks up into his eyes. "Why did you look for me?" She moves to start helping him put the food in the refrigerator, in a very broad sense of the word 'help' - no particular order or organization.
"Metro City..? You flew to America." He shakes his head a little in surprise at that, and then laughs softly. "Of course I did. You know me better than that, don't you? You had just gotten into a fight and then disappeared. It took me a while to realize that you had gone on your own volition. I still can't figure out why." When she looks into his eyes he looks into hers as well and says plainly, "Because I was worried you could be hurt, or worse, and that if you were it was more than likely my fault for causing it. I took it upon myself to make sure you would be okay, and when I take things on I see them through." He doesn't seem to have any plan for organization either other then that the meat and vegetables should be in different places. "It didn't occur to me that you might not want my help."
Kazue looks away after a moment of eye contact. "Yeah. Beat up some Maki chick there. She beat me up more, though." She sits down at the table, drawing a finger against it's surface for a moment, then peering at it as she checks for dust. "You don't have to worry about me surviving. I did it without you for years. You don't really...." She trails off, and crosses her arms against her chest. "It's not your fault if I get hurt. Just, if you're going to look down at me...."
Rick looks taken aback a bit, "Maki? Maki Genryuusai? If you mean her then that must have been a hell of a fight- she's known all over in Metro for helping clean up Mad Gear." He gives her a respectful look, "If you could fight her and even stand a chance you have a lot more natural talent than even I was seeing, and you must have if you're not in the hospital." For now he lets slide why she would be fighting a notorious crime fighter in order to give her a really strange look instead, "Look down at you? When have I ever done that, Kazue?" After a moment he adds, "...other than simply being taller than you."
"Oh yeah. She was all about Mad Gear this Mad Gear that for a bit. Is that a Metro City gang? I couldn't remember if I had worked with them." Kazue is silent for a long moment. "I was in the hospital for a bit. Fine now, though." Another long pause. She doesn't really want to answer that last question. "You think I should feel bad for being a thief. And even if I fail, you act like it's a success. So... you don't really have high hopes for me. I'm just a charity case."
"Yeah, they terrorized the city for a while and had quite the spree of kidnappings. They're a pretty rough group, but Maki, the Mayor and a few other guys mostly cleaned 'em up. They're a lot lower profile, these days." Rick looks worried when she mentions she was in the hospital, but since she isn't sporting any casts he takes her at her word. He frowns a little at her response to him, and then sighs, finding a chair to slunk down into, "You are not a charity case. Charity would be giving you money and telling you to spend it wisely. I see potential in you, and the ability to change. I don't think you should feel bad for having been thrust into circumstances that forced you to do whatever it took to survive. That you could survive at all is a testament to your strength of character- if I was put on the streets when you were I would have ended up in an orphanage, a sweatshop, or dead."
Siting up straighter in the chair he is quiet for a moment before adding, "And if I thought so lowly of you, would I have asked to marry you?"
Kazue turns a bit red, and remains perfectly still as she listens to Rick. Finally, at the question: "I don't know." When she speaks, though, her voice is without emotion. Pause. "I learned how to fight, though. I mean... The mental state for fighting."
She stands up, and walks away from the table a little, staring off into space. "I can't do anything besides fight and steal, so I guess I should live honestly. I'll join Neo League so I can start helping pay rent here."
"I think you could do almost anything if you can take all the skill and energy it took into surviving and put it to use somewhere else. If you want to contribute right away... yes, the Neo League would be a good place to start. And in fact I've been meaning to join as well, now that I've started to get settled down." Rick can't help but grin a little as he stands up as well. "Did you feel it, then? The blood pumping through your veins and the thrill when you land a solid blow? The pain can hurt... but it's nothing compared to the exhilaration. If you do think it was exciting wait until you taste your first victory. Once I had mine I knew I had to find more, to know that I could grasp the situation with my hands and force it to go my way!"
Kazue nods at Rick's first words, then raises an eyebrow slightly as he goes on about pain and victory. "I applied all my skill and energy to fighting against Maki. Still not enough to win. And I don't think it would work with math or customer service. But fighting is my third skill. It might be possible to make a living off of it at least."
She looks over at Rick, and is silent for a very long moment, until it seems she isn't going to say anything. Then: "It was certainly exciting."
"If this is what you want to do I'll support you one hundred percent, Kazue. But before you commit make sure it is what you want. Try out the Neo League, get in some good fights with others at your level. If you like it, run with it. If not... don't write school off just yet." Rick wanders back over to the fridge and starts rummaging through it, pulling out some of the things he just bought, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry. Let me show you how to cook the best steaks in the country!"
Kazue listens with interest, tilting her head a bit to one side, but her eyes narrow slightly as Rick brings up school. "We'll see how Neo League goes. It might be my fight against that bitch was a fluke." Said with all the emotion Kazue usually brings to a conversation. She watches him pull out all of the things, and nods evenly, cracking her knuckles, and observes his ingredients and movements carefully. "I'm ready to learn."
Log created on 02:49:23 07/03/2012 by RickKnight, and last modified on 04:45:04 07/03/2012.