WD Spy rule two hundred seventy two is entitled 'Parental tough love means being able to tell your kids 'One day I'll need you to not need me'.

Previous rule two seventy one: Paradoxically, to truly be loved one must first be hated.

Next rule two seventy three: 'Girl power' should be taken as a promise, threat, and ultimatum.

Summary page

-Short summary-

Ruka's past has had it's share of heartbreak, but will a secret regarding her mother be the one to tip her over the edge?

-Long summary-

At six years old, Ruka Deguchi has an unusual home life. She has both a older half brother and younger half sister, and lives in what most would call the lap of luxury. Her father Chizuo Asahara has business all over the world, and does well for himself or so it seems. The truth that Ruka would find out much later is that her father is a bloodthirsty monster in league with the mob, and her two half siblings were trained to be ruthless assassins. In truth Asahara is the leader of a cult that reveres blood, and therefore would stop at nothing to continue to have it spilled in volumes, whether it be in combat or cold blooded murder. At six however, Ruka wasn't privy to such knowledge, and even if she were she had a much more pressing problem.

Her mother doesn't seem to love her.

There didn't seem to be any type of reason for this revulsion of normal parental love, as Ruka very dearly cares for her mother. Though on the subject of comprehension, she was also unable to understand why her mother had to be locked up and caged in a location far from the rest of the family. Mizuki and Daiki's mother didn't have to go through such a thing, so why does her mother have to be treated this way? Ruka had asked her brother on occasion, and for the most part he could only promise to ask their dad since he has no idea either. Mizuki who is a year younger than her at this point is aggressive and doesn't seem to like Ruka much, once again for reasons she doesn't quite understand.

Despite this, Ruka's headstrongness would never fade even as she becomes a teenager. Her mother would rebuke her, and she would keep right on trying to be by her side. This exchange had become so commonplace that the young lady had begun to accept it as a sort of 'normalcy' between the two. She doesn't envy other kids as much as she doesn't understand them. This is normal...right?

It had taken several years, but Daiki had come through on his promise to ask their father about Ruka's mom. One night when the elder Asahara had decided to take his eldest son out on business excursion, (which probably more or less meant someone else's end) Daiki had decided to slip the question into unrelated conversation. Daiki had always disliked his father, even if he did have to admit the thrill of the kill is alluring. Though Daiki did harbor feelings of rebellion his father's strength was more than enough to keep him at bay. Truly he does love both of his little sisters more than he would ever admit, and found the treatment of Ruka's mother to be extreme for a woman who had apparently done nothing to deserve it. He finally asks about the treatment of Ruka's mother, and the elder Asahara who must have been in a particularly good mood that night decides to tell him. What Daiki hears however, edges his dislike of his father into a full on hatred.

Ruka now 13, had finally worn her mother down to a point that she would at least talk to her whenever she approached her entrapment. She didn't ask her mom to love her any more since her decision on that seems to be iron clad, and settles for a unrequited love instead. Asahara doesn't allow his children to attend school, so her mother's stories about her youth in Japan are the closest things to school life Ruka can get. These daily life fairy tales sooth the girl who between her younger sister's distance and her father's sudden interest in her life had found herself out of sorts. Her mother seems particularly interested in her father's conduct around her, which the perceptive teenager picks up on and asks about. Daiki had essentially raised her since their father couldn't be bothered, but since her 13th birthday he had suddenly become more interested in his daughter; taking her out to eat, and explaining the 'facts of life' to her. Ruka thinks it's weird, but nothing she can't handle.

Oddly her mother seems upset at this, and pleads with her daughter to get away while she can. Ruka refuses and slips up in her self ban of saying that she loves her mother. The woman once again rebukes her for saying this, and repeats that she can't love her. The teenage girl finally snaps and asks why she can't be loved by her mother?! Maybe as a little kid she bought into the whole 'Because I said so' mentality, but now she won't buy it. Why can't her mother love her? She had tried to shape a sense of normalcy from the tattered tragedy that was their interaction, but she won't do it any more.

Her mother can only cast her eyes downward and shake her head sadly. She replies that it is just easier for them to stay apart like this. It's easier for them not to build a bond with each other, as those words are easy to say but hard to actually attach meaning to. She is not a woman who can lie, even if it's to make her own daughter feel better.

Ruka snaps and finally says that she hates her mother. Easier? Really? Really?! It would have also been easier to not have her in the first place. Maybe it would have been easier to stay in Japan. Maybe that's why she's locked up like this? Because she feels life should be one grand stroll down easy street?

Her mother can only reply 'perhaps' which angers Ruka so much that she slams on the cage's bars until her hands are bloody. She asks her mother if it would kill her once to say 'I love you'? Just once? Just one time and her heart could find solace in knowing she has one decent parent. When her mother doesn't say anything, Ruka turns and runs out of the room for the last time.

Daiki had been saying for a while that Ruka should get out of the house, see the world for herself. Unlike he and Mizuki, their father had been ignoring her. It would be easy for her to escape, become strong and perhaps even strike him down. Ruka had never given this much thought mainly because she felt that she could mend the broken relationship with her mother. Now however, was a completely different story; she would have no more with this household. She packs her essential items, and in a fit of rage trashes her room until she comes upon a sword that is apparently a heirloom from her mother's side of the family. Daiki had given it to her on one occasion, claiming that her mom had asked him to. She had been overjoyed, but now wondered if he had lied to spare her feelings. She prepares to toss it from a window, but is unable to, instead breaking down and sinking to her knees in a fit of tears.

Meanwhile Daiki walks down the hallway leading to Ruka's mom's entrapment. He had heard the story from his father, and could scarcely believe it. He walks into the clearing and stops upon seeing his father standing before her cage. He quickly hides around the corner and strains to hear what they're saying.

Asahara asks if she remembers his promise to her. She narrows her eyes, but says nothing in response which seems to please the cult leader. He then says her daughter is coming along nicely and she's been a great help in her development. He did say he'd raise her to worship his image and eventually be the same kind of assassin as his kids. As him. She can go on riding her high horse, but he would take what is most precious to her and turn it into his asset. Ruka's mother laughs quietly until Asahara grabs her throat and asks what's so funny. She replies that he doesn't understand anything. Without her, Ruka has no attachments to this house, to his way of life to him. Sooner or later she will decide to leave and never look back at this place. In essence, she had done what most parents hope to do, to raise a child that won't need them. Asahara spits on her and in kind replies 'if she should leave, your life will end.' He turns and leaves, not noticing Daiki who overheard everything.

Daiki waits a few moments and then approaches Ruka's mother. Before he can ask, she reveals it was an arranged marriage between their families. She could tell what kind of man he is immediately, but her family would not permit escape. Undaunted she had tried, and both the Asahara clan and Deguchi clan had caught her and kept her from fleeing. The very act had tainted Asahara's image, and he swore revenge by taking her child and turning her into his loyal follower. Daiki grimaces at the confirmation of what his father had told him, growing even more angry with the man. To his surprise Ruka's mother suddenly slumps forward, her forehead hitting the bars of the cage. Daiki quickly digs the keys out of his pocket and rushes in and holds her up. Her breathing has become labored, and her eyes have begun to dilate. Daiki begs her to hold on, that he will go for help. She murmurs that each time she had said 'I can't love you' to her daughter it had been a burden on her heart. Seven years. Seven years she had said that to her beloved child, just so she could leave this place without any regrets. She needed Ruka to not need her, so she could leave and live. Although she wouldn't understand now, it was all for her own good....however...however, to hear that to have her daughter angry and finally say those words; the truth had finally broken her iron spirit. The seven years all collapsed on her at once, and her tomorrow had already fled somewhere out of sight, out of grasp.

Daiki continues to beg her to stay, promising that he'll take care of Ruka too. He had figured some of her plot, but was to cowardly to help her. He had talked to her, and she had even picked up his habit of smoking, but he hadn't done anything remotely helpful to his sister. Ruka's mother softly thanks him for his concern, but says without her tomorrow there is nothing more for her to do but to stand aside and let those behind her walk out front. With that she remains still, and Daiki can do nothing but shake in pure frustration, not even noticing that his father stands a distance away, his intent to kill unhidden in the crevaces of his eyes.

Meanwhile Mizuki opens Ruka's door in the hopes of bullying her docile sister some more just to be greeted with a ransacked room, the window curtains billowing in the breeze as if they're waving goodbye. She walks in to look for Ruka, and instead finds in the center of the room her mother's heirloom.

In the present, Lukas's eye injury causes his head to throb uncontrollably, a wave of nausea washing over him and threatening to release itself should he stand. He stares over at Ruka who has turned to her father, murder in her eyes. She hisses in Japanese that he's a liar, and then in a sudden movement tears his hand off her shoulder and swipes with the sword. She screams a battle cry at the top of her lungs and tries to stab Asahara in the chest, but he grabs the sword and then kicks her hard in the side. Lukas flinches as he can audibly hear a rib crack, and watches helplessly as Ruka crumples into a heap in front of him. She's in pain, but she still tries to reach for the sword to try for another attack, all the while cursing her father in Japanese. Asahara steps on her hand, not hard enough to break it but enough to cause her to scream again. He then asks her calmly in English to think. While it might comfort her to believe that he had killed her mother, does he seem like the kind of man who would keep that to himself? He would have proclaimed it as soon as they met again if he had been the one to take that bitch's life. It may have been indirectly, but the one who killed that woman was her daughter. Her last words to her mother had been the final nail in her coffin.

Ruka ceases her struggling as Asahara lifts his foot. Realization is more than enough to keep her from moving. Lukas can see Ruka has physically and mentally given up; and he yells at her not to. Despite what happened in the past she is here now and has people who care about her. When that doesn't succeed, Lukas decides to take a gamble that he's sure to regret later. He takes a deep breath and asks Ruka about her feelings....does she really think he'd love a woman who doesn't trust her friends and most of all value her own life?

Asahara turns to glare at Lukas, but before he can act the ceiling begins to quake and finally breaks in the shape of a circular hole. In what seems to be slow motion, debris falls towards the group. Asahara leaps back and avoids most of it while Ruka and Lukas are out of range. Lukas can swear though that he sees people fall through the debris as well, but with his eye throbbing so much, he can't tell if he's just hallucinating...

...until after the smoke clears and the situation becomes clear. Arthur Penbur lies on his side in a nearby corner of the hallway, apparently just barely avoiding being crushed. Mugen lies on his back, a grim expression on his face, and the imprint of a shoe squarely on his chest. In front of Lukas stands Meifa still in battle stance, and not even giving Asahara who regards her quietly a second thought. Her full attention is on Mugen, and she makes gestures with her middle finger daring Satan's child to stand up again. Even Ruka manages to glance over at Meifa in pure surprise, unable to form words to call out to her.

Lukas asks in a hushed tone what Meifa is doing here, and she turns around and looks at him for a moment, only just now realizing he's been lying behind her. After the awkward silence hangs in the air for a moment, Meifa makes a face akin to someone who had just stepped in dog feces and asks 'dipshit' why the fuck he's lying down on the job.