The Runaway (Open)

[Aimi Oda]

Panting, excess amounts of it poured out of the mouth of the child having had just halted for a rather lengthened sprint. It probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas that the child had ever had but perhaps this would end up being one of the solutions to fixing up a mess that she had made. Lonely? Perhaps, but she was getting used to the solitude the moment that she distanced herself from people. Scared? Of course she was, it wasn’t every day that a child would attempt to run away from home the moment school had ended and although some may think that they’ll end up finding happiness the usual result would be fear. Masses of people roaming around her, the sights looking fairly familiar to her yet still she hadn’t the slightest of clues to where she was. All she knew that she was on the main street in some place within Totsuka.

The main problem with her plan to run away was that she didn’t had a planned destination, all she was thinking about was everyone’s results of her actions other than her own forgetting the simplest things like bringing money, food and even plotting a map to a certain place given that there definitely wasn’t any places that would shelter a child that had ran away from home. A look, deprived of most emotions other than slight fear would gaze around the masses, looking at the buildings and vehicles that would had passed by whilst possessing a distinct frown on her face. 'I’ll wonder where I’ll end up.' She thought to herself, taking a numerous of steps in a unknown direction as she did though fortunately following the pavement. 'I wonder if mommy and daddy will really get back together if I leave them.' She questioned, picturing a scene of their joyful faces. Such a thing caused her to smile for a moment, however soon giving a downcast gaze to the floor on the realization that she wouldn’t be in that picture.

Her subconscious would end up leading her to walk down an alleyway, certainly one that rather looked ominous but lacking any kind of good judgement due to the fact that her mind wasn’t quite focused given that she was still thinking about her parents. But that would soon be snapped into place with a rustle coming from a bin, starling the poor girl as she made a little shriek. "Aaah!" In an attempt to move back, but only to trip on the ground she’d glance towards the bin to see that the culprit was a tabby cat running amok with a piece of old meat in it's mouth. "O-oh, just a kitty." Giving a sigh of relief, the girl would stumble a bit in an attempt to pick herself out. Things were looking bleak for her now but who knew what the future held.

[Lt. Col. Takada]

Today was shaping up to be a real winner. Takada let out a soft grunt as he dug the carton of cigarettes out of his breast pocket, using his free hand to slap against the bottom of the container to knock up one of the sticks so that he could catch it between his teeth and pull it free before returning the carton to his pocket. "I should really stop smoking these things. They're going to kill me one day." He chuckled to himself at his grim joke. As if. There was only one way that he was going to die, and it wouldn't involve a hospital bed.

He cupped his hand around the end of the cigarette while using the other to operate the lighter. Once it was lit, he put the lighter away and took a deep drag, pulling it away from his mouth only long enough to blow out a thick cloud of smoke. The cheap brand tasted awful but at least it filled his chest with that familiar warmth. He let out a long sigh as he glanced around to take note of the people walking along the sidewalk. The steady ringing in his ears sometimes made it difficult to tell just how many people were around him from sound alone, necessitating the occasional swivel. But just as he started to turn his attention forward again he heard a scream from off to the side.

The man cursed as his hand quickly thrust itself underneath his trenchcoat, grasping at the handle of the knife holstered over his left breast and lowered his chest as he darted forward, shoving past a bystander with his shoulder to get to the entrance of the nearby alleyway as quickly as possible. He expected to see a mugging or something similar, but... it was just a young girl sitting on the ground and staring at a cat. He let out the breath that he'd been holding, causing another cloud of smoke to billow over his chin as he let go of the knife, taking a few steps towards the girl while folding his arms over his chest, shifting the cigarette to the other side of his mouth with his tongue while slightly tilting his head back in an attempt to give off an air of authority if nothing else. "Hey, kid. Shouldn't you be in school right about now?"

[Aimi Oda]

Intimidating, being faced with a opposition that was twice the height that she was along with the fact that he was rather husky built and smoking a cigarette it wouldn’t be a leap to think that the child may think of the man that approached her as a villain or perhaps a thug of some kind. Upon a twist of her toes on the balls of her feet upon hearing the foreign voice that like sounded of a male's, her expression would turn to one akin to a cornered animal bearing slight signs of fear as though the girl wasn’t quite shaken up by the fact that she was fleeing away from where she happened to live. What was the appropriate response for the matter, should she attempt to run away? His words didn’t seem aggressive but with his whole appearance along with the fact that she thought she saw a sight of a knife who knew. A cough came from her before she could at however, the smoke felt intoxicating, not only from him but the air around the alleyway with the mass of trash that had been placed around here, not to mention things certainly smelled foul.

"U-Uh-uhm." Confusion, she hadn’t the slightest idea of what to say not if she should say something. Her azure gaze often shifting to the right frequently either showing hesitation or constant fast thought that had been occurring in her mind, as she shakily took a few steps back but at an extremely slow pace. Her fingers were fumbling as arms were shaking ever so constantly. She wanted to run, no she felt as if her instincts were telling her to run, there was hardly anyway that she could face someone of his calibre considering that she was a kid. "D-Don’t hurt me." She stuttered out in a voice squeaky as a mouse, her frightened gaze quite apparent as if given a chance the girl would likely dash of into the depths of the alleyway which may have been a bad idea as she was unknowing of the good intentions of the man nor of the fact that there could be worse than just a simple cat if she carried on with her reckless act.

[Lt. Col. Takada]

Fear wasn't an uncommon emotion inspired by Takada's presence. Although often for a very different reason. He wasn't holding a gun to the girl's head for one thing. Another sigh issued forth as he raised an eyebrow and let his head list to the side slightly. "'m not gonna hurt you. My job is to protect people like you. I actually came over because it sounded like someone was being attacked." His hand slipped into his coat to grab his wallet, which he pulled out and presented to the girl. It might be a little hard to make out from the distance between them but next to the picture on his identification card was the insignia of the JSDF. After a little while he'd close the wallet and put it back into the inside pocket of the coat, giving it a light pat on the outside as if to make sure it hadn't fallen through. "I'm not a truancy officer either, so whether you're skipping school or not really isn't any of my concern." 

It should seem like if he didn't care one way or another then he should have just turned around and left as soon as he saw that the girl wasn't in trouble. Still, he would be amiss if he just let her wander around around like lest she become yet another face on the back of a milk carton. "Do you really want to let your parents worry though? If you run off too many times I might end up being the one they call to bring you back." He was talking about her skipping school again, not knowing that his comment was closer to the truth than he suspected. It wasn't true regardless, missing persons and truant children were the jurisdiction of the police. His hand came up to pluck the cigarette from his mouth to hold it his side. One of the many complaints his superiors had about him was that he wasn't any good with children. He promised he'd work on basic interactions and letting a child watch him smoke probably wasn't the best thing he could be doing.