One Hundred Moments In Time [Part Five]

13. Seeing Red

White liked red. She actually, truly, really liked red. It was a color that wasn't too bright or too dark, and went well with pretty much every other color in the visible spectrum.  At least that's what she used to think. Now… now she couldn't associate the color red with anything but dread and hatred. With death.

It had started out as a normal day; go to the Battle Subway to hang out, team up with Black on the Multi-Line while trying to ignore his obvious infatuation with her, maybe beat Nobori and Kudari (it depended on the day) and then spend her afternoon with the twins until something came up. That was how it had been going ever since White got her Trainer's license, and that didn't change even after she became Champion. Her life was about as close to paradise as it would ever be; how could she ever guess N would come back? How could she ever guess that N would come back, completely out of his mind, and blowing up subway tunnels left and right?  Why couldn't she have stopped him before it got to this point? Why couldn't she stop this from happening?

"I tried to warn him, White." N said softly, shirt splattered with blood and fists trembling at his sides. His faithful Zoroark was standing next to him, licking its claws clean of the crimson liquid. White didn't care, she could hardly hear N's half-hearted attempt at a justification for his actions. All she could see was him, Nobori, lying on the ground with his stomach sliced open.  He was ice cold to the touch, his body limp and lifeless in his arms, and that blood tricking from his mouth looked so sickening against the ashen white tone his skin had become.  It wasn't supposed to be like this… Nobori wasn't supposed to be covered in blood… "I tried to warn him, I really did. He just wouldn't listen…" N continued, although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself he was in the right. Of course, why wouldn't he be? He was King N Harmonia, and he was never wrong about anything.  

White slowly set Nobori's body down, trying to ignore how his head rolled over to the side, or how much his shirt had been ruined by slash marks and blood. She couldn't even bring herself to cry. Was it shock? Anger? Was she simply overcome by too much emotion to cry? She didn't know… White got to her feet, swaying slightly as if her legs were unused to her body weight.

"Of course you did…" White croaked, looking at N from behind her bangs. "It's his fault it came to this. Not yours. It's never your fault, is it?" She let out something that sounded like a manic laugh and a pitiful sob before swaggering over to the greenette.  "You know what I think about that logic?" She questioned, hands folding behind her back, a mockery of innocence.  She didn't give N any time to respond. "Bullshit." She snarled before she charged at N, knocking him to the ground and causing his head to snap sickingly against the concrete floor.  Before she knew what she was doing White had her hands at N's throat, the young man beneath her gasping and clawing at her hands, trying desperately to pry them off. White only pressed harder against his windpipe in response.

"You think you just know better than everyone, don't you?! You just think everyone is inferior, don't you?!" White demanded, a twisted grin coming to her face at the sound of N's chocked breathing.  "You're not a murder! It was HIS goddamn fault he didn't listen, am I right?!"  She continued to rant, feeling the adrenaline and hysteria ebb away at what remained of logical thought. This was karma. N had it coming.  And if he was going to die, who would be a more fitting killer than his counterpart hero?

The sweet feeling of hysteria –and borderline insanity- was instantly stopped when White felt something long and sharp slash across her back. Pain blossomed as she sucked in a shocked breath, blood gurgling up in her throat shortly after, which she spat out in what was supposed to be a cry of pain.  Her hands loosened from around N's neck and she felt something knock her off N's body.  Through the haze that clouded her mind she could see N's Zoroark standing protectively over its Trainer, teeth bared menacingly and fur bristling in fury. Ah. So that's what hit her…

White just barely saw N sit up, the sounds of his coughing sounding muffled and distant to her ears. Not that she even cared.  She grit her teeth and tried to lift herself onto her arms, but the pain in her back flared up furiously and forced her back down onto her stomach. She spit out a mouthful of blood and drool and tried to move, her body somehow still having the strength to turn herself around and crawl towards the blurred black thing. Nobori…  

It hurt to move, and yet she continued to crawl over to the fallen Subway Master. It was a miracle she didn't either pass out from the pain or simply succumb to her injuries before she reached him, but she didn't.  With a gasp of effort, which came out as more blood than air, she managed to rest his head on his chest.
The last thing she saw before slipping into oblivion was the red that stained his shirt.

14. Cut

Nobori quite liked knives. There made nice, clean cuts, were easy to carry around, and the simplistic design all around intrigued him to some extent.  The color of the blade slow attracted him, a perfect reflective silver color which only looked prettier when it was soaked in human blood.  Knives were a work of art in their own right, at least that's what Nobori thought.  Of course knives held no candle to the masterpiece he had just created, the knife had simply been a tool to which to paint his masterpiece in this case.  The canvas? The warm, slightly tanned skin of a certain brown-haired Trainer.  She in herself was a work of art.  The shallow, perfect curves that accented her hips, her legs muscular and toned into a perfect shape from all the time she spent outside.  Even her breasts, small and round and perky, were absolutely perfect.  And of course there was her face- that rounded, perfectly proportioned face that was framed by gorgeous locks of wavy dark brown hair.  To Nobori, she was like an old oil painting that had come to life by some sort of enchantment. The best part was that she was his.

All his.

A part of him felt bad for marring such perfection, but it was a necessary evil.  It was something that simply had to be done- he was just adding his own personal touch to this beautiful creature.  Nobori looked down at his latest work, perfect Miss. White tied to his bed, bounds by her wrists and ankles, the only article left on her being those teasingly short shorts she loved so much.  He had cut his name into her chest and stomach, deep enough to leave a permanent scar, but not deep enough to cause any internal damage.  Nobori smiled, it was perfect. She was perfect.  Nobori placed the knife down and took White's cheek into her hand, brushing his thumb over her lips before bringing his head down and kissed her softly.

15. Play

He didn't know how he got roped into this. He didn't know how he got involved in a lot of Kudari's antics, yet he always did. Somehow, his twin always convinced Nobori to go along with whatever bone-headed plan he had cooked up, and when he got Elesa involved it was inevitable that the older twin would get involved.  That would probably explain how he found himself sitting around the dining room table, playing "Strip Black-Jack" of all things (it was only Black-Jack because neither Kudari nor White knew how to play Poker).  Elesa was playing dealer, if not simply to avoid the embarrassment that came with having to strip every time she lost a round, which really only left Nobori, Kudari and White playing.  Nobori was winning, if you chose to see it that way, since he was the only one of the three who still had most of his clothing. White however wasn't so lucky.  The brunette was sitting in nothing short of just her knee socks and shorts, having lost her vest and tank top a few rounds back, glaring at the cards Elesa dealt her, like if she stared at them with hard enough, the two cards would add up to a 21.
The cards were flipped over once all six had been dealt out,  Nobori had 17, Kudari, 20 and White  13.

"Sonova-!" White cursed when she saw the cards, Elesa only chuckling at the teenager's annoyance as she offhandedly played with the deck of cards.

"Hit or stay, White?" Elesa questioned a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

"Hit." Another card was thrown on top of White's cards, a ten of hearts.

"Over." Elesa said with barely concealed amusement. White groaned and let her head hit the table with a defining thump.  Kudari hardly did anything to hide how much he was enjoying this entire scenario, and reached over to pat White's shoulder comfortingly.

"There, there~ Not everyone can be as lucky as me." Kudari claimed with an award-winning grin before declaring that he would stay.  

White lost the round  (Nobori and Kudari had tied at 20), and grumbled as she got up and peeled off her knee socks, depositing them in Elesa's awaiting hand before practically falling back into her chair.  As fate would have it, she lost the next round and was forced to remove her only remaining article of clothing- her shorts.  She glared at Kudari and Elesa before flinging her shorts at Kudari's head and sitting back down and declaring that she was out of the game and Nobori, being the kind and loving boyfriend that he was, offered White his coat to cover herself.