The Shallow Heart of a Corrupted Man (Closed)

The scene has set on a brisk monday morning, high up in the Suo Mountains, at the elevation where snow blanketed the landscape as far as the eye could see. Upon a barren white cliff stood a colorless yet relatively large house. The architecture of the building was so complex in design, it was as though the architect responsible for it's creation must have been trying to develop an optical illusion. The creamy white marble stone blended in almost completely with the pure white terrain that surrounded the structure. The roof on the front side of the house curved down. Just under it was sloped black granite that stood out magnificently against the pure white surroundings. The slants and curves were a strong defense against minor avalanches. Many large and wide windows dotted the sides of the house, but the largest of windows, which lined the edge of a second floor exterior, was closed off from the world by dark velvet curtains. Through the curtains was probably the darkest room of the entire house; Taka Miyazaki's bedroom.

Then entered Taka's mother. The woman hardly knocked before opening the bedroom door and stepping into the pitch black environment, "Taka, its time to wake up." but the big lump in bed did not stir. With a loud clap, the curtains slid away, and the sunlight poured into the room like an intense blinding ray. There was a groan from underneath the fuzzy wool blanket on the bed, and there Taka appeared, barely conscious with her raven black hair all askew and dark rings under her eyes. Her dull gaze drifted up so she could see her mother, but she did not look the woman in the eye.

"What is it, Mother?" Taka mumbled as she rubbed her eyes sloppily as she tried to adjust to the sudden brightness that had ruined her sanctuary of darkness. Her drowsy yet respectful tone could not mask the grumpy expression on Taka's face.

Fortunately, her mother was too occupied to care at the moment, "Get ready. You're father has invited some guests and they will arrive within the hour." Without another glance, her mother swept up and out of the room, and closed the door quietly behind her.

Taka sighed and with another clap, closed the curtains back up, relieving herself from the horrid brightness of the outside world.

With an irritated groan, Miss Miyazaki slipped out of bed and onto her feet. Her first point of interest was the music on her dresser. She slouched over the dresser as she fiddled with the stereo, an old model, yet still her preferable choice as opposed to a small mp3 player. Once some orchestral music called 'Rising Mercury' began to play, she took in a deep breath and started the usual routine. As she started to get dressed, the string instruments of the music began pouring life into her. Her shoulders straightened up almost automatically, and she kept a rhythmic breathing pattern that remained in sinc with the beat as she slipped on her clothes. She then sat down in front of her mirror and started with her makeup. She didn't use anything too extravagant, but she touched up a little under her eyes so she didn't look so horridly pale. Her makeup wasn't at all to boost her appearance and make her stunning or anything, but instead, her makeup was her armor, it was what hid the weak exhausted state she was in. She brushed through her hair as the music grew more and more intense as it played along. It aroused her in more ways than one, but as she tied her hair back, the melody came to a close, and silence cascaded onto the room. For a long while, Taka simply stared at the wall as she took a deep breath, reaching a calm, stable mindset before finally standing up and leaving her bedroom.

On her way down the stairs, Taka heard her father and her brother talking amongst themselves in the kitchen. She paused for a moment, her hand gripping the stair railing as she listened. Her expression was dropped of any emotion at all as she concentrated on what they were saying.

"I'm going to need to speak with Dr. Inoguchi after lunch. I want you to entertain my guests while I'm gone, do you understand?"

"Yes father. May I ask what you are going to discuss with him?" It was far too easy to catch the innocent curiosity in her brother, Haruko's, tone.

"It is nothing of your concern, and don't ask me again." Her father said harshly.

Realizing the conversation had ended, Taka quickly headed up the stairs and out of sight. Not a moment later, her father walked out of the kitchen, past the stairway, and into the living room. Taka waited a few seconds before descending the stairs once more, lacking any sign of awareness, so as not to let her father catch on. This wasn't the first time she had spied on him, and she certainly wouldn't let it be the last.

Her brother sauntered out of the kitchen with disappointment practically written all over his pathetic puppy dog face. Taka watched as Haruko passed by without even a second's glance before following their father into the living room. "Such a pest." Taka murmured quietly while making her way into the kitchen where her mother stood, much like a puppet, preparing a meal for the guests that would be arriving soon. When Taka's hand hovered dangerously over one of the fancier dishes, her mother simply smacked her hand away while giving her a short tempered glance.

"I'm hungry." Taka said simply.

"Well you can wait until the guests arrive, young lady. Go help your father." She ordered strictly.

Taka's eyes narrowed as she looked away. After taking a deep breath, she left the kitchen and peered into the living room. Her father was already ordering Haruko around and Taka felt that her clumsy older brother would be plenty of help for her father. Before they had a chance to notice her, she walked down the hall, grabbed her coat, and exited the house.

Outside was as intensely bright as earlier, and the vast amount of snow only helped reflect the sunlight even more. The brisk cold of the outside world was something Taka had grown acustom to, but the bright sunlight was certainly to her displeasure. So, after slipping on some boots, she stepped onto the cold, snow covered ground, and walked around to the shadowed side of the house, where the infuriating sunlight had not yet invaded. Now that she was alone, she could not stifle a yawn, and she rubbed her eyes in an exhausted fashion. When had she finally gone to bed last night? 12...? 2...? Or was it 5? With a sigh, Taka sat down, leaning against the stone marble of the house. She looked out to the mountains across the landscape, tracing their edges with her dreary gaze.

"Already...?" She muttered breathlessly as she watched a helicopter rise up over a mountain in the distance; Father's guests were here. With a sigh, Taka rose to her feet and held back another yawn. The good thing about living in the cold snowy mountains: It was too difficult to fall asleep outside, but more importantly, too difficult to let your guard down, even for a moment.

"Ah, they've arrived!" Taka heard her father's voice as he stepped outside into the frosty air, and shortly after, her mother and brother followed him.

Any signs of Taka's exhausted state instantly faded away as her father locked his gaze onto her. She held her ground, staring him right in the eye with not an ounce of hesitation or weakness. He narrowed his eyes and looked away from the rotten child, "Go prepare the dinner table with your mother."

And with that, he and Haruko approached the helicopter as it drew in for a landing, kicking up a strong current of wind. Taka didn't even budge until she saw the helicopter land on a massive pad about a yard from the house, and only until her mother nudged her did she finally head inside.

Not a single word was exchanged as she and her mother set up the table. Taka listened as her father entered the house along with his guests and Haruko, speaking conversationally about the 'good' old days, back when the young generation all worked hard to strive for their goals.

"It's so disappointing to see that things have changed since then." She heard her father chuckle from the living room, sparking a good round of laughter amongst his colleages.

Taka caught her mother's sharp gaze and with a short huff, she let it go, just like she let so many other infuriating things go.

During lunch, everyone sat at the long table in the dining room, mainly carrying on their own conversations and enjoying themselves. Taka and her mother were the quietest of them all, but Taka hardly even said a word. If anything she had become entirely unresponsive, and would only observe as the wine bottle at the center of the table grew lighter and lighter; she was the only one who hadn't a glass. Even her brother was enjoying himself a little too much. Taka thought these men to be fools, indulging themselves like a bunch of barnyard pigs. She felt sick to her stomach, and it was only the armor that was her makeup that kept her mother from noticing the paleness of her face.

Though Taka was oblivious to this, her mother saw how niether Taka or her father even dared look in each other's direction. It was as though they refused to acknowledge each other. They may as well have been from two different planets. But Mrs. Miyazaki's opinions on such things were forever out of reach. These people may have lived together, but they were in no way close. Excluding Haruko, it was more like each member of the family isolated themselves one way or another.

It was at that point in time when Taka's father rose from his chair, and all fell silent immediately. He spoke in a well-mannered, purposeful tone as he said, "Please accept my apologies, but I must step out for a moment. Do enjoy yourselves while I am gone. Dr. Inoguchi, will you join me?"

"Yes, of course." The man who was addressed stood up and followed Mr. Miyazaki out of the room, all of which took place under Taka's watch.

Taka could only endure a few more moments of the intoxicated conversations around her. These men had already lost her respect, chugging down such a vile substance, turning even the most professional of these men into worthless scum. She quickly mumbled, "I'm going to be sick," before quickly excusing herself from the table.

Taka carefully peered outside the front door before actually stepping foot out of the house. At first she couldn't see the two anywhere, but then she spotted them talking privately near the cliff's edge. She quickly ducked behind the granite slope in front of the house before taking another peek. It was impossible to hear them at this distance, but she'd recognize that greedy expression on her father's face from even a mile away. Whatever they were discussing, it was really important to him. She cursed under her breath as she strained to hear what they were saying, but sadly she couldn't understand. With a sigh, she fumbled with something in her left coat pocket, and pulled out a device that looked much like a centipede. After fiddling with it for a moment, it made an odd high pitched, yet very quiet beep before the 'centipede' came to life. She released it and watched it begin crawling towards the Dr. and her father while she placed an ear bud carefully into her ear.

"...-We can't just test it now! We wouldn't want the others to catch onto what we're doing!"

"The others are too drunk and content to even notice it." She heard her smug father through the bud in her ear, though the quality of the mic on her centipede was a little lower than she would have liked. She could only just barely understand what they were saying.

"Are you sure?"

"Hand me the remote."

There was a moment of silence, and Taka risked peering out from behind the granite again to see the Doctor's hesitant expression before finally drawing something up from his pocket and handing it to Taka's father. The look on her father's face made it seem like he was being handed the world on a silver platter, and it made Taka's stomach churn.

"Our future, my old friend!"

Taka watched as her father pressed a button on the small device in his hands. At first, she wasn't sure what was suppposed to happen, but then, she spotted a missile launch from the mountain peak above the house's location. Stunned, Taka could only watch as it rose up into the air like the divine creature it was intended to be, until finally, gravity claimed it and the missile came plummeting down to earth. She watched it vanish as it dropped down below the cliff.

"One..."

Taka's heart started to race as she realized the location the explosion would hit.

"Two..."

Several emotions passed through her eyes within a heartbeat; panic, anguish, rage, a fluttering need to run out of hiding even.

"Three."

The explosion shook the whole mountain, and the smoke rose up like a net, catching every bit of clean oxygen and setting the land far below the cliff ablaze. She couldn't see the flames herself, but she could feel the heat all the way from her hiding spot, and she could see the chaos reflected in the doctor's glasses.

"No..." Taka breathed hoarsely.

Her father grinned in a pleasured ease, "Beautiful. Such remarkable fieriocity. You are quite the genius Doctor!"

But the doctor didn't seem to agree. He wouldn't dare voice his opinion though.

"Come! Let us rejoice with more wine my friend!"

Taka froze in complete horror as the men turned and started walking back towards the house; towards her. She didn't have time to move, she was helpless as they started up the steps to the front door, Taka could hardly hear a thing over her rapdily quickening heartbeat. She felt like the thing would burst inside her. All they had to do was turn their heads a quarter of an inch. She watched as though the world would end any moment, with every step they took, she felt she was a step closer to the end. Once they reached the door, her father held the door open for the doctor, who entered the house quickly, not wanting to have anything to do with the destruction that had taken place. No one could stand their ground under her father's malicious gaze, Taka had narrowed that down to a fact. But before her father stepped inside, a wicked smirk crossed his face as he dropped his horrid gaze upon her. There was a single moment, where Taka truly experienced fear first hand, and it only pleased him further.

"Don't stay out long, dear." He said cooly, striking her in the worst way possible; no words needed to express what had just happened.

Taka had, for one instance, yielded to her father. He tasted his victory, and it was enough to satisfy his devilish cravings. Without another word, he stepped inside and shut the door.

For just one instance, Taka had shown weakness, and in front of her father no less. Rage burned inside her, but she didn't have time to contemplate. She practically jumped to her foot and immediately headed down the cliff side, down a narrow rock ledge that she seemed to know well. Good thing too, considering all the blinding smoke that was blowing in her face as she descended from the side of the cliff.

"He couldn't have known! There's no way!" She cried frantically to know one but herself.

She suddenly yelped as some of the rocks gave way and down she went, sliding down the rock face. She landed face first in the snow and but she didn't stop to recover. She scrambled to her feet and headed down the slopes, coughing violently into her sleeve as she headed further from safety and towards the smokes and flames.

She reached what used to be a narrow chasm, but was now a wide canyon created by the violent explosion. There were small remains of a ladder, but it was no longer strong enough to hold her. The ladder would crumble away by even the slightest touch. Coughing even more, she forced herself to start climbing down the edge. Her glorious lab was burning to ashes right before her eyes, and it was all thanks to her loving father. It was suicide heading into the fray like she was, but she couldn't think clearly when everything she had worked so hard for was crumbling away from her. This was the wrath of the Miyazaki weapons company. Leaving destruction wherever it went, even without knowledge of what sin it had comitted.