The Ravine

[Deego Horutan]

Deego stood there, no emotion on his face. He was outside the hideout.... and right on the edge of the ravine. He was staring down the seemingly immeasurable distance to the bottom. So many things passed through his head. He was argueing with himself in his mind. He could feel those two proverbial people on his shoulders, telling him what to do.

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki stopped when she spotted Deego standing with his back turned toward her, she glared at him, wondering what was wrong and the fact that it troubled her even a little made her even more annoyed.

"I brought you something to eat," she said. She held out a small box of food for Deego to take, keeping her eyes focused on him.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego blinked when he heard her. He had been so close to stepping off that ledge just before she showed up. Deego turned and walked to her, still blank of expression. He took the food from her and put it down on a stump. "Tsuki..." Deego drew a deep breath. "Tsuki, listen. This needs to be said. Tsuki, I... I... I'm so confused right now." Deego grabbed her hand and held it. "Ever since I've known you, I've known that we wouldn't be simple friends. You're a partner for life, and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else, if I could. You are by far the best friend I've ever had, but... It's more than that, I... For the longest time, I... I don't even know how to say it. I've never felt this way before, and I never imagined I ever could, let alone would, and I..." Deego was beginning to choke up. "I... I love you." Deego was now shuddering from his intense emotion.

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki's eyes widened in surprise, this was not what she expected. She had done so much in order to make sure something like this never happened. To her, love was what a person used to gain control over you and she had had enough of that when she lived under her parents rules. Still, she knew that Deego wasn't the type to attempt to control her, she had always been the bossy one in the twosome.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. A thousand thoughts were running through her mind, but they were moving too fast for her to catch hold of. The usual witty or sarcastic remarks weren't coming at all.

Tsuki quickly averted her eyes away from Deego, unwilling to let her own emotions wash over her. They were confusing enough when she wasn't looking into his eyes.

"Well don't get all sappy on me," Tsuki said, though her words let on to how she was feeling. That she wasn't against the possiblities of seeing where this led.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego continued crying. "I.... I'm sorry... but this has to be done..." Deego pulled out a kunai from his sleeve and allowed Tsuki to jump back. "I..." Deego couldn't bare the thought of using his weapon against her. The kunai was... necessary. Deego pulled another out of his pouch and threw it at Tsuki's feet. "Fight me..."

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki's eyes snapped back to Deego. The change of pace was dramatic. She snarled a little, her instinct to fight kicking in. She kicked the kunai that Deego had tossed to her away, instead reaching for her own, one that was holding her hair into place.

"Figures you'd screw up a love confession." She said, fighting to keep her voice neutral. She held the kunai at the ready, waiting for him to make the first move.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego pulled a shuriken out of his jacket and threw it at Tsuki, but she deflected that, too. Deego tried getting in for a punch, but he kept his movements much slower than normal, hoping for retalliation. Tsuki merely dodged. Deego stood there, facing her direction, his hair covering his face. He bit down on his lip. It was so hard, that blood trickled down his chin. Deego continued to throw attacks left and right, hoping for Tsuki to strike, but she never did. Deego decided to try and end this now. He charged at her, kunai in position to stab her stomach, but just as he was within centimeters of her, he stopped cold, his face in hers. He whispered, "Why won't you fight back..." Deego sank to his knees, starting to cry again. "Dammit, kill me now." Deego dropped his kunai and grabbed his head. "Dammit, I need you to kill me! Don't you get it!? Don't you know why I'm doing this!? It was Ryo! He asked me to! He wants us dead!" Deego was screaming at Tsuki, but his face remained to the floor. "Dammit, kill me! He won't leave it be until at least one of us is dead! And... and if I die, at least he'll stop. I need you to kill me because... I... I just couldn't take it if anything ever happened to you..." Deego lowered his head. "Please... You're worth more than any price... Just do it quickly..."

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki mantained a bored expression as she dodged Deego's half hearted attacks, though on the inside she was at war with herself. On one hand here was her partner, someone who she had decided to trust.. trust which wasn't in itself easy to come by.. who had just confessed his love for her. Something that she'd have to process later. On the other hand, this same person was attacking her, Tsuki's first reaction would be to attack back and leave no room for losing. However, this reaction was what she was holding back, was it because Deego was hoping for her to overcome him? Or was it because she couldn't bare the thought of his life ending at her hands? Tsuki wasn't sure on this either.

At the mention of Ryo's name, Tsuki's eyes went cold and things started making sense. Tsuki quickly put her kunai back into her ponytail and stepped away from Deego.

"I'm not going to fight you, by doing so then I'd simply be playing into Ryo's hands and I won't give him the satisfaction of controling me and you shouldn't either. Get a hold of yourself." Tsuki said, her voice cool and somewhat distant.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego shrank his head into the collar of his jacket. Tsuki's cool-headedness made him look pathetic. He sat on his knees, too ashamed to say anything. He wanted so badly to apologize, but that would only make things worse, his actions being so drastic and inexcusable. He couldn't stand the thought of Tsuki ever being in danger, and so he decided to try and take her out of danger at his own life as price. He felt terrible once Tsuki made him look like a fool, but he was a fool, and he knew it.

[Akemi Yamagata]

"Uh, I hate to break into the middle of this major breakthrough, but I guess now is as good a time as any." Akemi said, coming around the corner. She held her arms up as if to show that she wasn't coming to fight.

"I see my brother strikes again." She said with a slight sigh.

[Tsuki Kyoushu]

Tsuki didn't say anything to Akemi, though she kept her eyes on the newcomer, she walked over to where Deego was still kneeling and put her arm through his and pulled him up. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze to show a small bit of affection, perhaps the most affection that she had shown toward anyone in quite some time.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego accepted Tsuki's affection, but still kept quiet. His heart ached and he still felt horrible, but Tsuki seemed fine. Deego would need some time, but he'd suck it up sooner or later. He was resilient that way. If Tsuki wouldn't say anything to her, he might as well. "What do you want?"

[Akemi Yamagata]

Akemi frowned slightly and nervously pulled on the necklace that she was wearing. She then shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

"I was wanting to warn you both that my brother was probably going to come and try something underhanded but... it looks like I'm a little too late for that." She started, then she stopped to focus on Tsuki, noticing that she was more quiet than usual.

"My father wants to speak with the both of you, because he wants to know whether Ryo was the one to hire the two of you for um, well.. my attempted assassination. Since the only way that it can be proved that Ryo was behind it is for Father to talk with you, he'd probably do anything to keep that from happening." she informed.

[Deego Horutan]

Deego sighed. Simply by instinct, he added in, "What's in it for us?" Deego wasn't sure he really knew himself much right now, but one thing was sure: In any other case than what had happened earlier, money came first.

[Akemi Yamagata]

Akemi moved her eyes away from Tsuki, pushing the desire to comfort her aside.. and looked to Deego. She had witnessed most of the scene that went on between Deego and Tsuki. Infact it had been his cries that had drawn her attention, but she had decided to wait until the right moment to come forward.

"Well, I can tell you what it will save you if you come with me to my Father now instead of listening to my brother. It'll save alot of heartache, trouble, and probably your lives. I think thats worth more than any amount of money. Of course, thats just my opinion.." Akemi said, saying the last bit as an afterthought and gave a shrug of her shoulder.