Why don't you try and leave me?

Some Things Never Change

Yet here was a lovely girl, clinging to her like she was a treasure chest while everyone else in her life had abandoned her and chosen death.

She felt something akin to happiness, knowing that there was someone who had decided to care for her in this uncaring world.

But life is unpredictable.

When all was said and done. When the dust finally cleared. When Kei finally returned to the real world, graduating from ANHS, it was with eyes as dead as her loved ones.

The little girl who craved for love was nowhere to seen. 

Only a cold woman whose heart had hardened to the likes of steel remained.

She despised any form of human connection. She wanted herself completely detached from others at all times.

Not knowing any of this, Aoi tried to keep her end of the promise.

But.

"Kei, what's wrong? Why are you like this?" Aoi shouted uncharacteristically when Kei walked past her like she didn't exist. She was not the kind of person to lose her cool.

"Leave. I want nothing to do with you." Kei slammed the door on Aoi's face with a harsh thrust.

"Kei."

Bang.

"Kei."

Bang.

"Kei."

Bang.

The banging got progressively louder and the voice increasingly lighter.

"Kei." The voice pleaded with all its vulnerabilities exposed for everyone to hear. It was plea from the hidden depths of her heart.

But Kei ignored it.

Even though some part of her itched to open the door and hug her lovely cousin. To believe that there was truly someone in this world who cared for her. Someone who saw her as a human. Not as a victim to bully or a tool to use.

But the much bigger part of her was done with putting her trust on anyone. All that awaited her when she cared for someone was pain and despair. Suffering she was all too familiar with. It was her indestructible fate.

They either die. Or they leave her in cold blood.

One way or the other.

She will be abandoned.

Maybe she was just unlucky. Maybe the gods despised her for some reason since the moment of her birth and deemed her unworthy of love.

"Leave." Kei spat out in an hardened voice which cut through all hopes of reunion.

Silence.

An inaudible laugh soon followed.

"It seems you need some time alone. I will come back tomorrow. Wait for me." Aoi declared with an unfathomable strength at the face of such stark rejection.

But Aoi didn't come the next day.

Or the day after that.

Kei did not see her for another two years.

*********

Present

"Is this your choice, Kiyotaka? Ever since you escaped to that goddamn school, you have become weak at heart." That man stared with a ferocious intensity that would have sent normal human beings sprinting.

But the opponent was not normal. In fact there wasn't anything normal about him in the first place.

Kiyotaka gazed back indifferently, unaffected by the fearsome tone his biological father used on him.

It was funny how, for years, he had been shackled in the name of blood, in chains smeared with blood, restraining him in his place. Trapped inside a metallic cage built by this very man. Now that man had given him the key that will unlock this impenetrable cage and somehow expected him to stay behind like an obedient servant. How ridiculous.

"Are you done?" His cold monotone cut through the tense atmosphere.

"You will regret this. This plan of yours will absolutely fail. You will lose all your power and come back to me running." His warning echoed in the silent room eerily, as if his prediction was doomed to come true.

"Maybe it will happen. Maybe you are mistaken about the intricacies of a system you designed in hopes of holding me hostage." Kiyotaka spoke in circles as though not wishing to reveal any more than that.

His eyes were still frozen cold, full of ice. Ice was so dense that even the worst summer heat could not hope to melt it enough for a single water drop to trickle down. Ice was everywhere, spanning kilometres and kilometres in an never-ending assembly.

Ayanokouji sighed as if it could not be helped.

"How childish of you. I thought you were past your rebellious phase." The man complained nonchalantly, not feeling threatened by the plans of his young son.

"Children never do. Not that you will ever know. You are not a father, are you?" Kiyotaka mocked the man unintentionally.

Suddenly the man's gaze hardened, with a coldness comparable to Kiyotaka's.

"Remember. You are not in control." He declared firmly, choosing those to be last words, before moving towards the door.

"I know." Kiyotaka agreed as the man grabbed the doorknob and exited the room swiftly.

Yet. He thought humming before proceeding to fill out the mountain of the paperwork in front of him.

The sound of the door being burst open was sharply heard as his eyes still continued to scan the documents before him.

"Emergency. You have a meeting now, Supreme Leader. The ministers of the administration have been selected and ready at your command." Manabu said quickly while trying to regain the rhythm of his breathing. It was clear that he had chosen to run in to the office with full force.

Interesting.

"And?" Kiyotaka probed, still keeping his eyes fixed on the paperwork.

"He is here." Manabu commented calmly as though that explained everything.

"I see." His chocolate eyes met those amethyst pools of his secretary as a knot of mysterious understanding tied them. Respect and loyalty shined through the tangled thread of gold.

"More importantly, the possibility of the problem you talked about earlier has come true." Manabu straightened his glasses and stared head-on at Kiyotaka, who looked every bit as indifferent as a rock.

"Proceed with plan A." Kiyotaka ordered without a moment's hesitation.

********

Well......

So this was mostly about Kei and her weird relationship with her cousin who will be a minor character in the story.

I think I'm almost done with all the vague stuff. Atleast from Kei's side of things. From next chapter, the story will properly start. Probably.

I'm done with the all the world building needed for the story to begin I guess.

Who do you think this "he" is?

Any guesses for the ministers?

I really like how this story is shaping up to be :)

I hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you for reading.