Rena Miyabi's Story

9am. Summer.
The morning was warm, and so it was clear that once it reached mid day the sun would be brutally beating down upon Ikebukro, scorching the many people that wandered the city daily. Not a breeze brushed the litter across the ground and the small areas of vegetation were looking a little yellow.



A pair of glowing scarlet eyes peered over the edge of a large skyscraper, shielded beneath a dark hood that hid a male face and his gruesome and blood stained identity. Jack had swung his legs over the ledge, allowing them to dangle dangerously but he sure looked pretty at ease despite his situation. Of course if he fell, his feet would support his weight and allow him to land crouched and cat like leaving him ever perfect and undamaged.

"It's funny..."

The being nimbly twirled his double sided blade in his finger tips by the handle; a devilish and Cheshire cat smile slowly growing across his lips under his hood. "It's funny how these humans have such a good easy life..." Ripper hissed in less than a whisper with a bubbling feeling rising in his veins, causing his palms which now tightly gripped his weapon to shake violently. "And yet they choose to be so stupid and disobedient, the fuckers ruin their own lives and they deserve to be punished for their wrong doings. I swear there's not a single one of them with out a filthy little secret behind their eyes!"

The blades went hurtling into the air and span quite a distance, a quiet whistling whir of movement trying to hush Jacks anger. As the weapon began to return to him boomerang style the raven haired youth let out a disheartened sigh before grabbing the blades and bringing it to a stop. "Fools. Every last one of them. Untamed." He sharply nodded his head backwards, wincing at the harsh sunlight that forced his pupils to dilate as his hood dropped and stopped shielding his face.



Rena was always at the flat in the morning, after all normally she stumbled upon some company there which was more than what could be said at home. Despite living most of her childhood alone, Renny had bloomed into a social butterfly and as time had passed she began to dislike solitude with a passion. Her gang had become her closest thing to family, and so the flat that was their so called "Base" was a place that she felt safest and most welcomed at.

The crimson haired woman lay belly down upon a sofa, a pair of denim shorts flattering her backside and a casual baggy red shirt made her appear a little younger than she in fact was. Her hawk claw necklace bit between her teeth and dangled from her lips. Rena had a habit on chewing on it though it was her most prized possession, due to the fact it symbolized everything she had ever been proud of. The quiet buzz of the radio had lulled her into a state of mind where she ignored everything and just drifted off to where ever she pleased. A pencil was held loosely in her hand and she was slowly sketching upon a small A5 drawing pad.


(Not my own drawing.)

Her drawing was of a hawk, surprise surprise! Though the image was clearly unfinished and messy what with her finger marks around the pages edge, it was never the less beautiful. It looked as though the bird was just about to scoop up some unsuspecting prey from out of the tall grass, its talons sharp and deadly. Its wings were spread displaying the elegance of its movements and the complexity of the way feathers lay in layers. Rena had captured the creature in all its glory.

Jeremiah stood in the alley, blades drawn in aggression as he faced the nervous looking young man. The young fellow spoke with a stutter. "Surely... surely this isn't necessary?!" The boy stuttered. "You asked for this, don't doubt yourself when you stand on the precipice of your advancement." Jeremiah answered before charging forward. "No opponent will wait for your uncertainty!" He swung down in a sweeping arc with his gunblade, onyx. The boy barely leaping out of the way before the strike cleaved him in two. "Y.. you're insane! You could have killed me!" The boy cried, drawing his own basic longsword in defense. Jeremiah smiled and clicked his left arm and allowing the dark blade Ebony to extend from his elbow. "I am not insane boy! I am acting as your enemy would you need to decide if you will stand up and fight back or if you are even strong enough to do so!" Jeremiah charged forward spinning in a vortex, slicing out with Ebony and Onyx in tandem, the boy forced further down the alley and tripping over a piece of scrap metal. With a slight sigh, Jeremiah sheathed his weapons. This initiate was doing a magnificent job of failing, he was attempting to train the boy, show him a true combat situation, but he was doing remarkably terrible. Jeremiah began to walk out of the alley and the boy shouted after him. "Hey wait, sir! What about my training!" Jeremiah turned his head back slightly and replied in a blunt voice. "Learn the basics of how to defend yourself, then I might consider helping you." Then, leaving the boy in utter shock, Jeremiah left the alleyway and the young initiate behind.

When he finally arrived at the flat, Jeremiah sighed and sheathed both of his blades, Onyx in its holster and Ebony retracting back into its dormant position, something to note about Ebony was that it was a mechanical elbowblade, meaning it could grow to full length aswell as sink into itself at the click of button. Jeremiah was wearing his usual outfit, white dress shirt coupled with a black tie and covered almost entirely by a contrasting blue hoodie and baggy navy jeans which appeared to be slightly ripped in multiple places. He swung the door opened and sighed, believing himself to be alone, he allowed himself a quick break in his usually calm and serious demeanor and sighed loudly, before speaking to himself. "The quality of initiates has really been dropping as of late... I mean that kid looked like he'd never seen combat in his life..." He frowned. "Then again I suppose he didn't have anywhere else to go, like me in a way. Though I had experience and potential whereas he did not... it is after all what earned me this lieutenant position." It was at this moment that Jeremiah noticed the radio playing. "Oh someone IS here..." He walked further inside to the room where the radio was playing.

There was his leader, lying belly down upon a sofa, radio providing a background hum to the whole situation. Rena seemed to be in a state where the only thing catching her attention was her drawing and slowly beating music of the radio, so he walked inside the room fairly unnoticed and silently knelt down to peek over her shoulder and see what she was drawing. A hawk. Unsurprising really, she had started the shards and with there symbol being what it was there was no surprise that Rena had a liking for the animals. The drawing was actually very good, for a rough sketch that is, it was very well presented and drawn, maybe a little bit messy around the edges but impressive nonetheless.

Jeremiah spoke, loud enough to be heard over the radio, addressing the Shards leader in the over polite tones he would often vocalize. "An impressive drawing you have there Miss Miyabi..." Jeremiah paused to stand up from his kneeling position. "It is honestly quite appealing to the eye..." He finished his compliment, compliments weren't something he often gave out so when you did receive one from him you knew it was in earnest.

"The quality of initiates has really been dropping as of late... I mean that kid looked like he'd never seen combat in his life..."
"Then again I suppose he didn't have anywhere else to go, like me in a way. Though I had experience and potential whereas he did not... it is after all what earned me this lieutenant position."

The words that slid past Jeremiahs lips mingled with the lyrics of a song on the radio, and blended into nothing causing Rena to completely ignore anything he had said. The red haired woman twirled the talon charm on her necklace with her tongue, absently flipping and flicking it in a childlike manner. Her hand still lightly grasped the pencil and pulled it back and forth lazily, gently shading in the underbelly of the hawk drawing. The creaking of footsteps upon floorboards still did not awake her from the trance. Even though she was supposed to be constantly on her toes (What being a gang leader and all) Renny just simply was far too lazy and focused to notice the approaching of what could be a potential attacker.

The blonde haired male crouched behind her and yet Rena still noticed not a thing out of place, she did not even so much as twitch to his movements. She just continued to shade the lower part of her sketch pad until...

"An impressive drawing you have there Miss Miyabi..."

A voice like silk. The sentence rolled from his tongue with much ease as raindrops would run along a leaf. Despite that fact, the scarlet haired woman leaped half a mile, her body violently in spasm sending the pencil flying to the other side of the sofa. She then curled onto her back, looking up at Jeremiah with big bewildered light auburn eyes. "You startled me!" Rena cried, before slowly falling into a light round of sweet laughter that could have caused angels to fall. "When did you get here? Oh...um...and thank you. It's nothing really, I was just a little bored." She sure did appreciate his comments on her drawing, for she knew that if he was to compliment her, it would be the most utter white truth and she would have earned his fondness.

Now Renny had been ripped from her trance, which she quite honestly did not mind as she enjoyed Jeremiahs company greatly which could be more the what some of the other Shards could say, she tugged herself off the sofa and stretched letting out a groan as she did so. "What a completely wonderful morning, don't you agree Sir? I think it is the finest we have had all year." The red head forced her voice into a melodramatic formal tone as a way of mimicking her lieutenants usual speech. It was her own decorated way of saying "Loosen up" or just of simply being a bittersweet tease. Of course she was sure it would take more than a few comments from herself to change him, not that she wanted that at all. Rena then gave a swift wink at the blonde before turning down the radio with a flick of her fingers which allowed their conversation to be more audible.

"Anything new? Or is everything just as dull as usual..."

~Jeremiah David Malatone~

Jeremiah just stared on plainly at Rena as she jumped, clearly startled by his voice even though he had made the physical effort to talk in an unassuming manner. While most would have found this amusing enough to at least smirk, Jeremiahs face remained one of a calm and unassuming lack of emotion, however it was not the circumstance that Jeremiah was not the kind of person to smile full stop. To stand as proof for this a polite smile appeared on his face as a reaction to Renas laugh. "I startled you?" He replied. "Well Miss Miyabi as esteemed leader of the shards and a high priority target do you not think to keep your guard up when it is needed? I say this remember, not out of disrespect, but out of discretionary worry for your safety." Jeremiah explained. "Say now, in a purely hypothetical scenario, that I had been your enemy. A swift draw of my blade and slice of your neck and suddenly the Shards come home to find a dead leader and some stains upon their couch that just won't come off without the appropriate washing detergent." If it were anybody else that last part would have seemed like a joke, but Jeremiah wasn't exactly the type to be joking. Not to mention his smooth tones bore not the slightest piece of sarcasm as he spoke.

"When did you get here? Oh...um...and thank you. It's nothing really, I was just a little bored." Rena asked, seemingly awkward about his compliment he noticed... or perhaps embarrassed. An unnecessary reaction but he supposed an understandable one. He didn't give out compliments unless he actually believed them to be true, after all. "When I got here? A mere few moments ago, I had been speaking to myself actually, yet with that admittedly dreadful music and your vulnerable trance like state you seemed to be ignorant to my arrival." He was really laying into the fact that she had been leaving herself open to attack. It was true that Jeremiah had great respect for Rena, after all considering the fact she ran the organisation that acted as one of the three most influential gangs in the city aswell as the closest thing Jeremiah had ever felt to a home and large family, all he might add, at the age of twenty... It was hard for Jeremiah not to respect her. He didn't look up to her mind you, as he felt that she made stupid mistakes from time to time. But he did respect her. However despite this respect and the fact that she held a higher position than he did, he was in no way afraid to scold her. After all if he didn't remind her of the silly and potentially dangerous mistakes she may have made then nobody would. In a way it was Jeremiahs method of showing he was actually bothered about Renas safety and if anyone were to question him for being disrespectful he would simply respond, "If I didn't give a care in the World about Miss Miyabi then I would simply allow her to continue any foolish antics without a single word in edge ways. In a method of speaking I probably hold more respect for her than most others do."

"What a completely wonderful morning, don't you agree Sir? I think it is the finest we have had all year." Rena said after standing from the sofa and stretching with a groan. She was mocking Jeremiahs polite means of speaking in jest. The words leaving her mouth with a melodramatic overly formal tone. "Tch, cute, but it doesn't really suit you... Rena..." He spoke the name awkwardly as if respecting her wishes to "loosen up" but at the same time taking a large step outside of his comfort zone. Rena gave a wink in Jeremiahs general direction to which he responded with a subtle raise of his eyebrow, as if the gesture confused him ever so slightly. To Jeremiahs great pleasure Rena then proceeded to turn the volume of the radio down, lowering the annoying music to a decent level which they could talk over without much difficulty.

"Anything new? Or is everything just as dull as usual..." Rena asked. Jeremiah, deciding it best not to bring up the terrible failing of the initiate from earlier so as not to ruin the content atmosphere of the conversation with a serious topic, sat down on the sofa and sighed silently, even his exhale coming out in a calm and collected demeanor. "Nothing worth pleasant discussion..." He murmured. "To be quite honest the morning has been all around uninteresting..." He looked up at her. "And what of you, Miss Miya... Rena... has the young and free-spirited leader of the shards been up to anything interesting this morning? Apart, of course, from waiting to be killed." He may have been pushing it slightly at that point but it was just who he was, he had a feeling Rena wouldn't mind too much anyway.

"Well Miss Miyabi as esteemed leader of the shards and a high priority target do you not think to keep your guard up when it is needed? I say this remember, not out of disrespect, but out of discretionary worry for your safety."
"Say now, in a purely hypothetical scenario, that I had been your enemy. A swift draw of my blade and slice of your neck and suddenly the Shards come home to find a dead leader and some stains upon their couch that just won't come off without the appropriate washing detergent."

Of course Jeremiah could not have responded with something that even resembled amusement. He gave a very logical and formal answer that Rena could not help but smirk at. She listened with bright eyes and a risen crimson eyebrow, hands on her hips and her body bent to one side in a somewhat cocky lean. The words only drifted over the top of her mind, but she did understand what he was saying, a warrior with no armor was sure to end up dead. Rena had dropped her guard and had not even heard of a being entering the flat with out any plans of assassinating her; if someone had tried to sneak in quietly and unnoticed, it would not be very difficult at all. The woman let out a splutter of a laugh at his last comment though his expression remained as empty as the cloudless sky outside. "You never disappoint me, always giving a intellect and detailed answer no matter what. I do understand and I apologize, I just got lost elsewhere that's all. You know what I am like..."

"When I got here? A mere few moments ago, I had been speaking to myself actually, yet with that admittedly dreadful music and your vulnerable trance like state you seemed to be ignorant to my arrival."

At this point Renny rolled her pupils at the blonde male before her. He was like a tiny jack rustle biting at her ankles before latching on and clinging there. She could have described him as annoying, but still she knew that without him by her side she would most likely be spending her life in a coffin by now. So she allowed him to, but still shot him a sharp glance that sparked a sense of her ordering to back down, if he obeyed or not was up to himself.

"Tch, cute, but it doesn't really suit you... Rena..."

The sentence sounded awfully foreign leaving his lips, but still she smiled lightly at his attempt of a casual, maybe even smug conversation. It kind of reminded her of Jeremiah's casual blue hoodie that lay against a inner shell of formal clothing such as his white shirt and tie, sure it looked rather odd but for some reason or another it worked. Of course she would never be able to rid him of his usual calculating self because with out that he would be stripped bare of personality and soul.

"Nothing worth pleasant discussion..."
"To be quite honest the morning has been all around uninteresting..."
"And what of you, Miss Miya... Rena... has the young and free-spirited leader of the shards been up to anything interesting this morning? Apart, of course, from waiting to be killed."



Renny laughed upon his stumble of words when meeting her name, he truly was trying his best. "Nothing, but then again that is not exactly a bad thing. It just feels a little too quiet though, as though they are laying low for a reason or another. The air just feels heavy too...like...I don't know..." She muttered quietly, half of the sentence more spoken to herself than her companion. "They" of course were the Bullets and the Mayhem, they were a noisy bunch of toerags unlike the Shards who often just kept to themselves. Still it had been a few weeks since the last tiff or two, which was very unusual indeed. Almost as unusual as the ending to Rena's reply. She had been known to subtly sense when something deadly was ahead, though of course it was more than likely just coincidence, that feeling still swarmed her body and it made her jutter with nerves.

"What do you mean by "Nothing worth pleasant discussion..." Are you alright? How about we grab some brunch in a little while? My belly's growling like a dragon!"