『 ₴ηαкё εƴℯᔕ : ✖ / ✖ 』
"Ryuko…"
He exhaled softly, a thousand different emotions racing in his heart. This is why he preferred a violent death over this torture. He expected a bad end for himself from the moment he found out about the Life Fibers, but the knowledge that this was Ryuko doing this to him was the worst to accept.
She was just child and the hard decisions should be made by the adults. He had the painful image of her breaking from regret of what she had done, because he knew (believed) she was stronger than her mother, than junketsu, and when it was finally over he didn’t want her to be destroyed by survivor’s guilt. She wasn’t a soldier and she was most definitely not a weapon. He hated his friend for making her into a soldier, and he hated Ragyo even more for making it worse. Ryuko’s father wasn’t off the hook either, sure he gave the older man points for saving her life as an infant, but he was a poor excuse for a father.
Tsumugu had strong feelings about family even though he’s only ever had sister.
"…Ryuko."
He called out to her again; silently urging her to fight against the influence, while the tone of his voice suggested otherwise. Stimulation always caused a physical response regardless of what the mind wanted.
"It’s… okay.
No matter what happens, it’s okay.”
He said that for her benefit; for the benefit of the child that would feel horrified of what she did do, what she could do, what she ended up doing. The words he had trouble saying, it’s not your fault Ryuko, it’s mine.
"—But, don’t think I’ll roll over for you.”
Even if she has the enhanced strength to cleave an entire building in half, Tsumugu was used to fighting at the disadvantage. Even with her fangs at his throat now, which were close enough to tear it open, he still struggled.
Reluctantly letting go of one of her thighs, Tsumugu reached up and grasped her by the base of her neck. His fingers twitching at the feeling of Junketsu as he pried her away from him. Sorry, he’s not going along with it that easily.
Ryuko cared little for Tsumugu's wants and needs; she hadn't cared during her life before Junketsu, and she sure as hell didn't care now. She cared even less for his concern for her well-being, and had she known what he was thinking, she'd have been mildly insulted that he was coddling her like a child in his mind. "Kinagase," she drawled, her tone so much like Ragyo's in its sultry laziness. Her mouth moved against the flesh of his neck, her tongue laving against the shallow wound that her blade had caused. Hearing her name on his lips, foreign even before she'd defected to the winning side, did very little for her. There was no earth-shattering revelation to be had in the three syllables of her name when they came from him. She never saw him as a mentor, and he barely registered as a comrade to her. Their relationship had been strictly professional once she got past his initial attempts to murder her. "What--" she began, the words catching in her throat as his fingers curled around her neck. Surprise flashed across her features, though the expression quickly melted into one of dark amusement, a low chuckle rumbling from the back of her throat.
"-- I'll have you rollin' over for me like the dog you are," she hissed, though she made no movements to remove his hand from her throat. "You'll sit an' stay an' beg for me when I'm through with ya. Promise."
