Last Night on Earth ((Kylie and Larkie!))

Ritsuka lifted her head, eyes wide with panic. "K-Kisshu, no--! P-Please--!"

"What the fuck did you just say?!"

Ritsuka stood abruptly, locking the door. She looked to Kisshu, eyes in a sudden frenzy. "Get out," she said. "Please, get out. Y-You can teleport, right?"

There was a sudden bang on the hard, wood door. "Unlock this door RIGHT NOW! Your father will hear about this, Ritsuka!"

Suddenly Kisshu started to get it; it clicked. Ritsuka was so pathetic, so desperate to believe, because someone was already abusing her. "Ritsuka, I want you to stay calm. Hold onto me; my hand -anything you can get a good grip on."

Ritsuka pressed her back up against the door. She shook her head, scraping her nails against the door for security. "No," she said, knowing all too well what he was trying to do. "No, no, no, you just have to leave! Please!"

There was another hard bang. "You fucking bitch! Get your ass out here before I break the goddamn door down!"

It was time for him to pull the longest string he had on her. "I won't. That Heikichi kid loved you and I was a real ass to him yesterday; how fucked up would it be for me to just leave you here knowing that? And besides, you're my only friend Ritsuka. I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you. Please, just take my hand. For me. And for Heikichi."

Ritsuka's fingers twitched. She wanted to reach out for him, but she couldn't. She knew... "I can't," she hissed. "If not me, it's going to be Ryoko when he gets home." She finally looked back up to him, voice trembling. "Do you have any idea what the fuck they'll do to that damn kid if I'm not here...? I can't leave, Kisshu... Heikichi knew that, too. I-I'm sorry."

It was maddening. If he took her by force now, his precious game would be ruined. "There has to be something, Ritsuka. Something I can do. Anything." He pleaded, feigning desperation.

"Just go..."

There was one final bang on the door, and then a snap. Ritsuka exhaled sharply, moving off to the side and into the nearby corner. Keiko stood there, eyes furious, nostrils flaring. She stank with the smell of beer. "This the kind of trash you hang out with?! Fuck!" She took two quick strides and had Ritsuka pressed tightly against the wall, pulling on her thick, black hair. "Fucking bitch!" There was a single slap to her cheek, and Keiko turned her head to face Kisshu. "And you! Get your scrawny ass out of here before I call the cops! OUT!"

Ritsuka closed her eyes as the oncoming blows rocked her from side to side. She tried to protect her face with her hands, but they were only knocked aside. With every hit, she let out a pitiful grunt, but made no attempts to fight back or force her off. With one blow to her stomach, her chin fell to Keiko's shoulder, and she looked at Kisshu once with a single eye open. She mouthed the words, "Please go," before another hit knocked her back into the wall.

Kisshu sighed. He had been backed into a corner. All he could do was leave, or kill the bitch, and unfortunately at this point in the game the latter was unfortunately not an option. "I'm sorry Ritsuka." He muttered, leaving her for now, but telling himself that he would come back later.

When the beating finally subsided, Ritsuka was left to sit with her back against the wall, staring blindly at the ceiling. Keiko spat at her feet. "You keep makin' that face, it'll get stuck like that," she hissed. "Made me miss my fucking show." She stomped out into the living room and was on the phone with her father in a matter of seconds, it seemed. Ritsuka didn't care. She lifted a hand to her head and supported herself against the wall, trying to clear her head. She knew the worst was yet to come.

She stayed in that same spot, shivering, for about an hour. When her father's heavy footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway, she merely shut her eyes.

"Ritsuka," his hard voice said gently into her ear. "You know what I have to do, now, don't you?"

Ritsuka nodded and braced herself. The new punishment left her lying on the floor, vision blurred, body bruised. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep for many hours into the day.

"Ritsuka. Ritsuka? Can you hear me?" Kisshu whispered, nudging the girl softly from where she slept on the floor. "Come on, Ritsuka, answer me. Please." He had come back to find his little toy lying bruised on the floor.

Ritsuka emerged from her sleep slowly, but surely. She shook, knowing that Kisshu was there. How long had she been out? It didn't look like the sun was up any more...

One of her eyes had a faded, purple swell around it, and it was a little hard to see out of. That one must have come from Keiko, she couldn't recall her father hitting her above the torso. Her lips trembled as she spoke. "I'm awake, I'm awake, chill out..."

"I'm so sorry Ritsuka. I should've stayed. I should have stopped them." He whispered. He was impressed by just how weak and broken his voice sounded. His acting seemed to be becoming better and better.

Ritsuka forced herself up, clinging to his shirt with one hand for support. "You did the right thing, man," she said, trying to keep her tone reassuring to hide just how much it hurt to breathe. "By the sounds of things out there, Ryoko made it to bed alright, so..." She lifted her head and forced a smile; probably the only smile she'd given to Kisshu thus far. "I think it's safe to say they've gone to bed."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked quietly. "Anything? Ritsuka, isn't there anyway I can save you?" He touched her bruised eye gently with his fingertips. It wasn't fair, seeing her all beat up when he wasn't the one to have caused it.

Ritsuka just looked at him, letting her smile fade. She winced slightly at his touch, but the icey temperature of his skin felt nice against her burning flesh. "There's nothing you can do, and there's nothing I can do... Otherwise, I wouldn't be here right now."

He sighed. "There's gotta be something; some way I can get you and your brother out of here..." She had expressed such an explicit fear for her brother's safety, perhaps playing that angle would do him some good.

Ritsuka shrugged. "Kid's got nowhere to go. It's not like we have any relatives out here, they all live in Okinawa." She said, bringing a hand up to her swollen eye to feel for the damage. Just how monstrous did she look, she wondered. A soft sigh escaped her. "Why did you come back? You knew they were gonna be here... You could have waited until tomorrow, and I probably wouldn't look so bad." She forced a light, half-hearted laugh.

"I was worried about you. I felt like such a coward, leaving you here. But I didn't know what else to do." He sighed. "Ritsuka, I wish there was some sort of easy fix to all of this. You deserve so much better; your brother too."

Ritsuka furrowed an eyebrow. "Don't pity me." She said, darkly. "We just met not two days ago. You don't know anything about me. You don't know if I deserve better." She shifted her weight on to her knees and leaned forward, putting her hands on his shoulders and drawing close. "Maybe I'm just using you. Maybe I'm lying to you every step of the way. Maybe I'm a terrible person. You'd never know."

Oh, she was just making this to easy for him. He gave her a look, eyes like a puppy; trusting and vulnerable. "I have to believe that you're not. I need you, Ritsuka. You're the only friend I've got." He told her. "You can lie and use me all you want, and I promise, I'll pretend it's otherwise. I don't mind if you use me, just so long as you don't make me go away."

Ritsuka frowned. He didn't get it, did he? No, that wasn't true. He did get it. Ritsuka could hear the lie clear as day, but it was against her better judgment to make it known after she'd screamed at him a while ago. "Sigh... I need a cigarette."

"C'mon then." He offered her a hand up. "It'll be easier if I just teleport you outside, right? That way they don't hear anything, and I can have you back before they'd even know you were gone."

Ritsuka sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "No funny business." She said, accepting his hand and pulling herself to her feet.

"None, I promise." He grinned to her, bringing her with him as he teleported them outside her house. "Here you are, as I said."

Ritsuka took in a sharp breath as the air around her began to shift. She kept her eyes wide and fixated on Kisshu, watching the world change in ripples of mass from her peripherals. Again, she took in a deep breath, but this time the air was cold and bitter. They were outside. She let go of his hand and looked around. "That was freaking WEIRD."