Raiya's eyelids progressively narrowed as Nemo explained himself. It was becoming increasingly clear that Nemo's response was not the response that Raiya wanted to hear. Raiya wasn't sure if Nemo was finished after he explained the bit about forcing some guy to eat his legs, so Raiya let the air grow extremely silent for about a full minute before she spoke. "Are you done then?" Raiya asked callously, "Let me explain something to you, Nemo. I don't give a SHIT about your past. I don't give a shit about anything you have done before this moment. You are not a moral authority in my life, or any kind of authority for that matter. On a good day, you're an acquaintance, on a bad day you're an enemy and a stumbling block for me." Raiya explained walking back to where she dropped her sashimi knife on the ground, "I will tell you this Nemo. You do not want me as an enemy. I have built myself up specifically to kill people like you," she continued walking towards the knife, stopping just before it, "So let me explain to you an easy step by step guide on how not to make me your enemy." Raiya crouched down placing her hand on the blade and angling it so she could see her eyes in the reflection of the blade's metal.
"Step 1: Don ever get in between me and my kills ever again. Step 2: Do not lecture me on your moral advice." Raiya picked up the blade with her right hand and began to caress it while still crouched. She ran her finger across its keen edge, rubbed the back of her palm across the side of the blade feeling the cold steel on her supple skin. She continued to do this as she spoke. You said you do not consider yourself a knight or a king or a god. However you have asserted your moral authority over me like a father would to his child, so perhaps you think of me as your child? My point in this is very simple. You have no say in what I choose to do with my life, and your advice falls on my ears like the ravings of a madman. You see, that's what I think you are most of the time, a madman. Not my father, not my brother or my friend. A stark raving mad lunatic. And I will not, under any circumstances, entertain your advice over my personal honor code." Raiya continued to caress her blade smirking fondly at its honed professional quality, "Have I ever told you have my personal honor code? It's a very simple pyramid of importance. At the bottom is to never make any enemy needlessly suffer. Above that is to honor any commitment I have made. Above that is to never kill children. And at the very top, the pinnacle, the specific paradigm that trumps them all, is to find my parents murderers at any cost and to kill them."
Raiya's finger ran a little to fast along the edge and blood began to well forth from a small incision at the top of her right index finger. She held it up right in front of her eyes and watched as the drop of blood accumulated and then inevitably spilled over running down her finger, then her hand, then her arm, pooling into a droplet at her elbow before falling off and speckling the ground. "You see, my honor code is as refined as this knife. I've spent years cultivating and nurturing it. It was going great, until you came along and tricked me in my drunken state into joining this stupid ragtag team of wannabe treasure hunters. Which leads me to my third and final step to not making me your enemy. This step is one that you had already broken the moment I met you. Step 3: Do not ever, under any circumstances get in the way of me finding my parents killers and bringing them a swift end. You see, when you approached me that night in my bar, I was on the brink of finding a very special lead on those who killed my parents. But I thought, hey, it might be a good time to celebrate and take a break from my investigation. You caught me indisposed. You fooled me into joining this little rebellion of yours, and ultimately have gotten in the way of my investigation." Raiya stood up, streaks of blood vibrantly contrasted the fair skin of her right arm up to the elbow. Her red snake tattoo was the only reprieve from the contrast, the blood blending well with the flame colored snake on the top of her right arm. Raiya's face looked calm and collected, completely different from her livid features that she displayed just a few minutes earlier. Effortlessly, without any muscle twitch indication, Raiya flung her knife, in an instant it impaled into the ground right at Nemo's right foot. The back of the blade was only a hair away from Nemo's right boot. "I had decided from that moment you were my enemy. Slowly, though, as I realized that this organization could help me with my own goals, you began to grow on me, like a cancerous tumor. For a while there, I was feeling like I could begin to trust you. But you screwed up again, Nemo. That's strike two. So hear me." Raiya had been walking towards Nemo as she spoke and was now right before him. She bent down and retrieved her knife once more, before straightening her posture. Then, standing on her tiptoes she placed her left hand on Nemo's right shoulder, and brought her head up to his left ear. "There will be no strike four." Raiya whispered. Her warning was clear, if he crossed her a third time, she would be out for blood.
