Broken Bonds

Lights lined every inch of the village except the Zerin compound. The only light in that one corner of the village was from the moon's full face. Ada had avoided going to his actual house after leaving the hospital, instead choosing to stay at mothers. His guard patrol that he grew up around had retaken their posts as he announced that his team was dissolving. Anger still bubbled inside of him but he was trying his best to not let it show. The smile that had only just recently found a home on his face was gone completely how. Instead the souless hollow straight face found its way back in like before he had finally found himself a team. Only this time it was worse, he'd snapped at half the maid staff, including his two new teachers. The only person he spoke up to about anything more than an order was mother at this point. Though that was mostly him talking to her as she couldn't speak back in any form.

Ada was sitting on the back porch to the main building, alone in silence. A latin chess board sat in front of him, the pieces skewed about the board with a game in play. His was putting all his thought into the game, at least all the thought he could. His mind was still on his old teammates, wondering what could be changed to help things, but honestly his anger was blocking any constructive thoughts. Quickly he lifed his queen and shifted it four spaces forward taking a pawn. He tossed the pawn to the side not caring where the piece landed on the wood floor. He sighed shutting his eyes in anger. It wasn't until he heard the tapping sound of the wooden piece on the board did he snap his eyes open. Mother had moved a second pawn taking Ada's queen. The queen piece glided through the air in silence before gently being sat down on the floor next to the board. The pawn that Ada had tossed away quickly found itself being picked up and placed next to the queen gently.

"I know I'm angry." Ada said out loud shaking his head. He moved another piece without thinking. "But there isn't anything I can do about it now." Ada continued as he watched in silence for mother's move.

NOTES:

Jazz had taken off using Castilion to ride the air currents as she made her way to the Zerin compound, her mind filled with thoughts on how to fix it. She wasn't mad no she was...tired really, tired of constantly having to prove herself, tired of fighting, tired of being too afraid of Lynx-sama that she couldn't express herself. She hadn't really taken Roxas's words to heart no, she wasn't going to Ada to just apologize but honestly for the first time she just wanted to talk, talk and say how she really felt because at this point she had nothing to lose. She would land at the gate, looking upward and would inform one of the gaurds that she wished to see Ada and that she had been sent by Roxas Kukinorite on official buisness. A lie, but not in the conventional way, yes she had been informed to travel to Paradox, but at the same time that wasn't why she was here. They would let her in directing her to where Ada had been reported to be seen, causing her to nod and skate close to the ground following the directions and not taking time to admire the clan grounds after all now wasn't the time for that.

She would arrive seeing Ada in the distance and skating until she was about 10 feet away from him, before Castilion would be sealed back into storage causing her to land on the ground barefoot as she would lift her head to look at Ada. I know your probably furious with me, but can we talk? Jazz said, her usual stoicism absent making her sound like the child she was while her usual mask was cracked the disinterested gaze being replaced with one which was actually expressive of her feelings. Alone. Just me and you. If you want to vent out your frustrations before we do then go for it but after can we talk. Please? she would say doing something that she had honestly hadn't done in a while, she didn't plead nor beg anymore not since Lynx-sama conditioned her to not show weakness. But at this point she realized with startling clarity that her life was honestly at the whim of another, and all of her spouting and emulating was just her being childishly in denial. As a result she did wish to talk, if just to talk to someone and do something which wasn't planned out for her or influenced by the whims of another. No she didn't have to come to Ada to apologize, she could of just resigned herself to it not being fixed and waited for her termination but no...she wanted to fix this.

Mother's vectors would greet Jazz with their silent chill as she reached the compound. The guard was the second soul to greet Jazz as she arrived. He remained silent as she explained why she was there. If her reason for being there was a lie he didn't care, it wasn't of concern, and for some reason Ada hadn't informed them if he was taking visitors or not. Then again he couldn't care if the prince was in a foul mood or not. Regardless He led the way for Jazz to find Ada, still attempting to play his game. Mother's chill swiped through Ada's body pointing in the direction Jazz was coming from. "Yea. Send her away why don't you." Ada said as more of an order to Mother than asking her which was the wrong thing to do.

Ada's king slammed to the side on the board in Mother's slight frustration with Ada. He quickly corrected himself saying apologies to Mother under his breath as Jazz arrived. Ada's eyes never looked her way as she landed. He completely ignored her and reset the board slowly. Finishing up as Jazz finished up her words. He waited a moment before moving the first piece, a pawn, two places out.

"No." Ada said plainly. "The Zerins have nothing to say to the Kukinorite and have no business with them at this time. We are not seeking to start any either." Ada said plainly with zero emotion as he watched Mother's first move. He was doing well to keep his emotions invisible in every way. He observed the board as best as he could but the situation at hand was making his bad play even worse as he moved his knight out.

Jazz would blink before sitting down crossing her legs and placing both of her hands on her knees as she caught Ada's first comment she wouldn't say anything when the chess piece was slammed instead she would continue to look at Ada. His comment would of usually triggered some form of comment but, truthfully she wasn't angry it was only to be expected and so instead of waiting she would answer him before deciding to speak anyways. Then it's good I'm not speaking on behalf of the Kukinorite but rather a genin speaking to another genin who happens to be a part of her dysfunctional team. Jazz said her mouth tightening before deciding what the hell she didn't see anyone in sight, and really if she were to get on a good start with Ada she might as well speak regardless. Her jaw would clench before she would let her mask fall away as she decided to speak honestly for the first time since she encountered the squad figuring if she wasn't successful at the very least before her termination she could say she gave it her all.

Introductions, I'm Jazz D. Kukinorite, Age 6 months will be going on 7 in a couple of days. I'm the result of an experiment or rather I'm a clone of an existing individual, Jasmine Kukinorite, as a result I will probably die in less than 25 years if I'm not killed on the field due to my clone physiology I age at a much quicker rate than normal. An intense bloodlust known as the Sadist gene runs in my family which causes us to become cruel and savage with the sight of spilt blood boosting our physical strength. I have Rikigaku ancestry, and as an infant was fed multiple steroids to fruther advance my development and make me more viable as a weapon for my clan. My purpose or rather why I was created was to become the Clan heir in place of the person I was cloned from, eventually becoming the clan head in place of Roxas Kukinorite our jonin sensei. I've been in conditioning since I was 3 months old, as a result I am completely inept at social encounters, and have difficulty making friends this is only made worse due to my intellect as despite being much higher than the average individual I come across as cold or apathetic because I don't really know how to relate with others. As a result Lynx-sama the one who conditioned me tasked me with joining a squad, unfortunately I failed to integrate due in part to my need to be superior to my peers as I was trained to never show weakness. Granted, I failed at that. she said still looking at Ada as she spoke pausing simply to gauge his reaction before she would continue speaking.

If I had a choice, in what I wanted to be I think I would make puppets, they bring me comfort as they like myself are simply controlled by others whether by visible or invisible strings. They might resemble people but they are artifical and can be broken and replaced, but if I were to be truthful it's because they remind me of my life before my conditioning when I used to live with the woman I was cloned from since she makes puppets for a living. I know that, I whatever I say doesn't change what happened and that I let my jealousy of Ka's freedom ruin our chances of being a team. But I'd like it if..we could start over as I've realized that my attempts at being friendly were taken the wrong way probably due to the fact that Lynx-sama taught me to settle my problems via combat. Still it is not an excuse, and I'm sorry for whatever pain or anger I have caused you by being a failure of a teammate.

The eighth move went on as Jazz spoke up again. It was Ada's move but he was slowly losing all train of thought in the game with jazz starting to speak up. Still he played like nothing could touch him at this very minute. Bishop to E5, takes rook was the only move Ada could see in his mind. The aggressive take when the moment presented its self. Mother on the other hand was more interested in seeing Ada respond to Jazz than the game. She took her time with her move, to which Ada already know why. He crossed his arms in impatience with mother but it didn't make her rush her move any faster. Her vector slightly touching each piece as if counting to herself, but really just stalling time. Jazz mean while continued on. Excuses and past events filled the air of the night but Ada wasn't interested in them at the least. What had happened was done and over. He didn't want to hear about them again.

As Jazz neared the mid of her long winded speech and gave the pause, a break in sound in the area Ada spoke up. "Take it already. Stalling does no one any good." He said plainly, directed at mother. Reluctantly she went a head with her move, shifting her other rook in place to take Ada's bishop. He'd walked into it again when he shift a pawn up to block the rook's move only to have his own rook follow his bishop's fate. A flourish of frustration crossed his face. He hated this damn game but it seemed like the only one Mother was willing to play, and Ada wasn't ready to take a tongue lashing from anyone else just play a game. Through all this though, Jazz's speech continued as though she was speaking to nothing more than a brick wall.

Then finally something caught Ada's ear but he just barely showed interest as the frustration left his face. Hiss eyes remained locked on the game, trying his best to plot a recovery move, but he'd finally found something interesting with Jazz's long squall. Her future, or at least a tiny fragment of said future. Minutes passed by with no move from Ada as Jazz finished her speech. Then finally he shifted forward, picking up his king and castling it away. He leaned back and clicked his teeth a few times thinking to himself.

"Saying sorry doesn't mean anything." He said finally, giving a small smile. More about his confidence in his next few moves than his statement. "Whats in the past is the past and holds little importance to me." Ada said as Mother picked up her piece. The queen moved for the kill as Ada soon found his King being laid down again. The frustration was back.

Jazz would nod moving her hand as she took out Social skills for dummies not seeing the point of hiding it any as well as an ink brush and would cross out a portion of it before flicking through the pages and writing down notes. Ada doesn't seem like the type to accept apologies nor did he wish to learn about my life. Instead he wishes to move forward because the past is already done. she thought to herself finishing her notes and putting the ink brush back into storage, she would flip through more pages speed reading as usual before closing it and putting it back in storage. Okay no more saying sorry then and I won't elaborate on my past ever again. So, what now. Jazz said tilting her head to the side slightly as she was unsure how to proceed. He didn't seem to either accept nor lash out at her and the book didn't mention this reaction so she was ultimately clueless. Obviously showing her emotions as miniscle as they were weren't going to fix the problem and as a result she would simply go back to her usual facial expression the stoicism appearing once more.

She would wait once more to see if he was going to say anything, not that she minded she would wait not like she had anything else to do. She could simply proceed as if everythign was well or she could cause him to take out his frustration by agitating him further but what was the point. So she would content herself with simply staring at him unflinchingly and not blinking, she found early on in her life that she could stare at people for very long time periods. Her current record was 20 minutes, and thus she would proceed to do so as she was used to waiting for long periods of time without doing anything after all she was a puppeteer their was nothing more mind numbing than waiting for the ink comprising on your puppets sealing matrix to dry so you can work on attaching the inner shell.

Silence filled the air as Ada reset the board. He always chose to act first in every match, and normally made the first move immediately after resetting the board. This time however, He didn't make a move. "Is that the same book you are always reading?" Ada said finally breaking the silence. At the same moment he moved the first piece, a pawn one space out. His eyes turned to the side only a second to glance over at jazz sitting there. She was a wild one for sure, but her monologue about being a clone was nothing but talk. "Doesn't matter really." Ada said answering mother's newest move on the board. "Books tend not to have any answers when I confide in them." He continued mainly to buy time for him to find the words he wanted in the situation. "So is this your attempt to put the pieces of our team back together? Cause its pretty pitiful." Ada said with a laugh watching the chess piece fly silently thought the air, showing Mother's battle plan this time around.

Ada made his move, finally a right one, taking the first blood of this engagement. A smile crossed his face as he turned back towards Jazz. "I mean really, if I were to approach you at your home in the middle of the night with stories of where I come from and who I am, people may talk you know." Ada's smile grew as he spoke. "The last thing I need is rumors of a child, or worse an actual child." Ada said not really thinking of his words the way he should, or his move on the board. Something he would only catch moments before Mother flicked her trophy of a pawn at Ada, catching him in the forehead. "I I I I mean rumors of us spending a night together. Like I've ever even thought about that. Ccccause I haven't. Screw you." Ada babbled on a moment only snapping at the end, facing the opposite side of the board. Aiming the final words at Mother, knowing full well, even without words she was laughing at him.

Yep, but i don't think it's helping. Jazz said as she listened to what Ada had to say causing her to shrug. Her facial expression wouldn't change until he made the quip about rumors of a child causing her to recall one of her clan members saying a joke of some sort, she didn't find it funny but figured why not. So you mean what we did in the hospital meant nothing? Ada how could you. she said in complete deadpan and would stare for a couple of seconds before scrunching up her face. I should of reacted more hurt it probably would of pulled it off better. she thought to herself a small smile appearing on her face when she realized that her joke would probably be missed by Ada considering he had backed himself into a corner. Though she wondered why he would think so, it wasn't as if she was able to bear children, not even due to her age but likewise because of her sterility which was inherited from her "mother". But he couldn't know that so he probably didn't realize what he was saying, which would cause her to remove her ink brush from storage flip to a page and make a note.

Ada thinks about spending the night with me but denies it. Oh...I was thinking out loud.. Jazz said as she honestly hadn't realized that she spoke what she was writing down either way it happened she wondered what his reaction would be. This time when she closed her book she wouldn't put her ink brush back in storage, she was learning from the encounter as it seemed like his hostility wasn't present anymore so that was a plus. Somehow whatever had happened had worked for some reason...though she had absolutely no idea what changed.

I need to burn that book. Ada thought to himself as he rubbed his neck slightly trying to find the right words, or really any words to salvage this encounter. "So..." Ada said stalling a few more seconds. "Honestly. Why'd you come here and spout that long winded speech off." Ada asked as he turned back to the board game in front of him. He moved slowly taking his time trying to salvage that game as well. Finally he moved a piece to an open place on the board. "I mean really. You can't be here to say sorry since you've did nothing wrong. So it wouldn't take a genious level intelect to guess you are either here under orders or to salvage that 'team'." Ada said actually using air quotes around the word team. He moved another piece after Mother's move before looking back at Jazz. "You know I've never actually been on a team, but like you I supposed I read quite a bit up on them and that....that was not a team." Ada said turning back to the board to see Mother's move. "Bull..." Ada said seeing his piece being moved off the board.

The book said a good way to foster friendship is to share information about yourself, friendship is crucial for team building thus I decided to tell you about myself in hopes it would prompt you to share as well. Jazz said as she had no reason to not be honest about her reasons, sure she herself didn't get why it was necessary to share info about herself. Sure it wasn't anything super secret, sure people didn't know that she was a clone and about her being augmented as a child. But it wasn't as she told him that she wasn't completely sentient and that she had some form of non human or nova dna mixed in that allowed her to produce bio-electricity via her muscle movement. She would consider telling him that she was in fact order to do so but she decided since her being honest seemed to work she would continue to do so. Team 7 was, is my first attempt at being in a team as well. It failed obviously but it can still be salvaged or at least that is Roxas' opinion, we also head to paradox in two days so I figured I should let you know that as well. So, I'm here to attempt to reapproach my methods of being a teammate, is it working? she said her blinking yet again her attention still fixed on Ada's form, sure she could of paid attention to both the chessboard and Ada but apparently maintaining eye contact while talking to someone was ideal in this situation.

"Salvaged?" Ada said out loud as he tried to do just that on the board. He grunted slightly, not fully satisfied with his move before speaking back at Jazz. "Can you really salvage something that was never there?" He said with a little laugh. Still he truly did want this to work. "As long as there is change I can't say that I would be opposed to still being part of this team, but I sure as hell aren't going to be the one looking over my shoulder to see if you two are still breathing anymore. Not after all that. The past may be worthless information but I don't want to repeat it for sure." Ada said turning back to the game as Mother made her move. He took a moment before finding the right attack, shifting his knight out of place. He leaned back trying to get a better view of the battle field before him. "And yea I all ready received word to report as a member of that 'team', but I wouldn't worry to much. War is something that is predictable and expected in our world." Ada said watching as his knight was lifted from the board. "But apparently not as easily predicted as this damn game." He said nearly wanting to flip the board in frustration.

True, in that case create or rather foster the bonds of teamwork. I have re-evaluated my course of action and I can guarantee my co-operation in making this squad work, I can not however accertain whether or not Ka will be as willing to as well. However I will seek him out as soon as possible to make amends. Jazz said moving her legs so that she could curl into a ball something that she had unknowingly inherited from her great grandmother it was something she typically did while relaxed as..odd as it was. Analyzing the number of logical moves can allow for a victory, however when someone does something illogical the projections become more...muddled. I am talking about chess of course, war is...more complex because the set variables are far more numerous..regardless it will be...fun? she said her stoic facial expression being replaced with a small grin, as she did find the idea of combat fun perhaps it was the innate bloodlust that came with being a member of her family. Though at the same time her love for combat was tempered by her desire to acquire more bodies for her puppet collection...speaking of that she really needed to do something with that Denkou corpse she had stumbled upon.

"I wouldn't." Ada said finally giving up on his chance of winning against mother. He was of course referring to Jazz seeking out Ka to make amends. He shifted around to actually turn to face jazz and continue their conversation fully involved. "Ka's made his choices the same as you and the same as me. Seeing at least you show some change has got me back on board to try this again. If he can't find a way to work out his problems screw him." Ada said, being overly harsh and he knew it but it was the truth of the world. Adapt or survive. Change was needed. "As for the war....I'm not much of a stratigist." Ada said with a laugh picking up a lost pawn that had fallen on the battle field. "And I don't think people should be or even can be predicted, but..." He paused a moment to make sure the pawn gently found its way back at the starting position. "A battle is no more than another day. Either you push through to see the next, or you don't" Ada said gently laying the pawn down on the board.

Jazz would notice how Ada was now paying full attention to her inwardly thankful that her words had gotten through to him, she did however agree with his words her relationship with Ka after all was already strained and chances were they'd never be friends. Still she would no longer antagonise him needlessly and strive to maintain a proper professional demeanor and possibly their relationship could improve to likewise better the squad as a whole. Understood. Jazz said looking down to break eye contact and rolling her head to crack her neck as she would think about his words before replying. True..I'm afraid that my combat ability is limited until I am able to procure my puppets, the blue prints are already complete I simply need to acquire the funds necessary to facilitate their creation...which is a process already going underway. Most likely I will have them by the time we go on the field..what of you? Your preparations, I realize that we've never truly discussed our potential abilities due to never quite working as a team. I believe that an approximation of said skills would be our best bet to survive the upcoming conflict or would you prefer to discuss this in a more..secure location? she said looking around and gesturing to the fact that they were in a somewhat open if empty area besides the two of them and whomever he was playing chess with. After all that was the only resonable explaination to whom he was talking to and who was moving the chess pieces, despite Jazz not seeing exactly what was making them move.