Description: When Bears Are Attacked! Saishu Kusanagi brings an eminently valid complaint to Raizo Imawano's desk, and only battle will satisfy him... but what is his true purpose, beyond the nonsense?
Raizo Imawano is a busy, busy man, and spends vast amounts of time locked away in his (big, well-appointed) office, working on paperwork, making calls, and otherwise being in charge of the singular most prestigious educational institution in an entire nation of prestigious educational institutions.
Which is why he's there again today, setting his specially-oversized phone handset back in its slot, and emitting a low sound of relief, crossing something out on a paper on his desk by means of simply slicing a line through it with his razor-edged fingernail. "That's the fundraising for the upcoming repair work taken care of..." the giant mumbles.
Despite how busy he is, the door to his office is in fact open - Raizo enjoys speaking with students, when they get over his startling resemblence to a Northern Kodiak long enough to talk to him.
The open door to principal's office allows sound from the outside hallway to permeate its stillness. Occasionally, this brings the sound of the footsteps of those students who are lacking in any particular bear phobias. One in a while there comes a loud clamor of some kids laughing or arguing or otherwise being noisy youngsters-- but not too loud and not for too long, because, after all, Raizo might come out at any moment and devour them all. In general, nothing too disturbing for such a busy, busy man.
'Sir, you can't--'
"Ha ha! Not so!"
'Wh-- my plant!!'
In general.
'You-- my-- my plant is on fire!'
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
The sound of crashing chairs; the frantic voice of one of Raizo's personal assistants; a faint, suspicious crackling noise.
'No! Stop! I saw you! You lit it on fire!'
"Ha ha! Nonsense!!"
'Wh-- LOOK AT IT! The smoke! Oh, god! My desk!'
"Just relax! I'll be out in a minute!"
The strange voice gets closer with every word, and by the time the sentence is finished a hugely grinning man in a green kimono has swept through the open door. The voices behind him begin to rise to a fever pitch, but the bearded fellow shuts the door quickly, cutting off most of the tumult. Still grinning, by all appearances eminently amused, the man takes a step forward and slips his hands into his kimono sleeves, abruptly turning his gaze toward the seated principal. That grin fades rather suddenly; his eyes, otherwise perpetually twinkling, sharpen visibly for a moment before a faint smile arises again. Reaching up to stroke his pointed beard, the kimono-clad intruder's smile begins to grow into a grin all over again, as though he simply cannot resist.
"Principal Imawano!" he bellows. "I have a complaint!"
He pauses to vigorously scratch one armpit before continuing.
"Young people! There are too many! I've had enough!"
Briskly stepping forward, Saishu Kusanagi, patriarch of the Kusanagi style, slams his palms down on the opposite side of Raizo's desk.
"What are you going to do about this blight upon our city!?"
The clatter is what catches his attention first. Raizo received a visit from Rugal Bernstein not too long ago, making a showy entrance only uncharacteristic for the "R" Tyrant due to its overall lack of people getting steamrolled before Raizo showed up. The news must be circulating that he is in fact back in town, he thinks, and straightens some papers. He wonders who this one will be from. Mad Gear? Southtown Syndicate? Shadaloo? So many choices...
Saishu Kusanagi was not exactly anywhere near the top of his list, and the old mountain of a man is indeed caught just slightly aback. "You seem to have set my assistant's desk on fire," Raizo notes. His voice is loud and rumbling, but amused just the same. He's not sure what to make of this, quite - Saishu appears eminently amused, and yet, there was that flicker, that...
He folds his hands patiently at Saishu's declaration, and pointedly removes his monocle, which is compared to his hands positively microscopic, wiping it with a delicate hand and a cloth he keeps on his desk. "Well, Mr. Kusanagi," he says, "I had personally planned on teaching the lot of them to be incorruptible champions of justice and virtue!"
He fits his monocle back in, grinning. "Did you have any issue with that? It's right there in the brochure."
Saishu removes his palms from the desk -- to his credit, there are no charred marks -- and slips his hands back into his sleeves, crossing his arms thoughtfully.
"Interesting. However..."
He is, of course, still grinning.
"You have failed to notice the fatal flaw in this plan."
Saishu seems to grow in stature as his chest swells up and his eyes flare with the inner light of his indomitable fighting spirit. Against a young punk, the suddenness of this could be highly intimidating. Against Raizo, it's really somewhat comical, given that no matter how much Saishu swells he's not going to be anywhere near as huge as the Bearja.
"Champions of justice and virtue though they might be..."
And again he slams his hands down on Raizo's desk!
"/They will still be young/!"
Saishu's eyes gleam now with steely purpose.
"And /that/, sir, is the problem! They'll be necking in the parlors! They'll be wading in the creeks! They'll be dancing and singing and going to the cinema and listening to the hip and the hop and I don't even /know/ what and they'll be mocking us all the while! No respect! No respect, Imawano, and I see no other option but to hold you entirely accountable!"
Saishu might be saying these things, but really he could be saying anything right now. He could be speaking of his recent My Little Pony purchase. The specifics of his statements are indeed entirely irrelevant, because A) Saishu is not making any sense in any case and B) his words are more of a hypnotic device used to draw his victims into his burning gaze. Burning and-- well, a lesser man would not notice. But surely Raizo, able to view this situation with more than usual objectivity, will note that there remains a hint of that earlier shrewdness in Saishu's eyes, and wonder at the ever so slight upturn at the corner of Saishu's lips...
"I, Saishu Kusanagi, demand restitution in the form of a duel! Immediately!"
The door to Raizo's office opens suddenly, letting in a little plume of smoke as the assistant attempts to stagger into the room, and Saishu, without looking behind him or batting an eyelid, quietly back kicks the door closed again, hurling the assistant away.
"As a man of justice, you must accept!"
Raizo Imawano is an old man, but there is a reason he is not dead yet despite the fact that he has pissed off MULTIPLE clans of murderous Raizo-assassinating ninjas. That reason is this:
Raizo Imawano is a crafty old bastard. He is also slightly crazy. And maybe, just maybe, a lot more perceptive than he lets on.
And as Saishu continues his monologue, perhaps he senses the ture purpose of this visit, or at least of Saishu's half-mad monologue, and his grin broadens just a little. "You impugn the honor of my students? Not only my own, but those of my fellows at other fine academies! Saishu Kusanagi..."
He boots Raizo's assistant back out the door, and Raizo's smirk grows a little. She'll be OK. Probably. This is what he has Kyoko on staff for, anyway.
"As a man of JUSTICE, you are right! I have no choice but to accept! EN GARDE!"
And then he leaps over the desk claws-first like a bear jumping a wayward hiker.
COMBATSYS: Raizo has started a fight here.
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Raizo 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Saishu has joined the fight here.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Raizo
COMBATSYS: Raizo successfully hits Saishu with Claw Stab.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Saishu 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Raizo
"Ha ha!!"
Saishu's grin only widened at Raizo's expression of mock outrage. Crafty old bastard? Slightly crazy? More perceptive than he lets on? This sounds familiar. Sounds like just what Saishu anticipated.
Sounds like just what Saishu was looking for.
Admittedly, however, Saishu was not looking for claws in his torso, ouch! This of course does not prevent him from attempting to hurl himself right at his much larger opponent in a fierce lunge -- "Doooryaaahhh!" -- and failing utterly to do much more than get himself thrown back by Raizo's bulk and sharp pointed objects, but with surprising spryness the Kusanagi elder twists away and manages a bit of a cartwheel back onto his feet, settling into a low stance near the door. Twin points of blood begin to seep through his green kimono, but the patriarch's grin has not even slightly diminished.
"Excellent! However--!"
The burst of flame is all at once, blinding in the immediacy of its ignition, and this too is part of Saishu's attempt to get the jump on his larger opponent as he lunges in, springing out of his half-crouch with right hand ablaze with the fearsome fire of the Kusanagi lineage, decades ago fully resurrected by dint of Saishu's own efforts.
"FURTHERMORE--!"
But even this fierce blast is just the beginning, for as soon as he touches ground, with a twist of his heels Saishu has spun around and triggered a second and equal explosion with his left hand, aiming to plow Raizo back into his own desk with the force of the additional blow.
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Raizo with Homura Gasane.
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Saishu 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Raizo
Once he's done and skewered Saishu good, Raizo stays there, ready to tear Saishu a few matching holes, intending to sit right through any coutner he might make. This works rather remarkably poorly, and Raizo is summarily punted into the air, and then sent crashing into his desk, which shatters into three ugly pieces from the force of the impact. Raizo takes a moment, but only a moment, to watch Saishu...and then rolls to his feet, taking two long strides, his suit slightly on fire, but more importantly, if he pulls this off right, Saishu's face will be slightly on fist. Certainly not shy about getting close to the man who sets himself on fire, is he?
COMBATSYS: Raizo successfully hits Saishu with Quick Punch.
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Saishu 0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0 Raizo
What with all the fire and shattering furniture, it's difficult for even Saishu to adequately judge the amount of force needed to properly defend himself. Grinning as his smouldering opponent recovers he attempts to deflect the huge fist as it comes, but though he does manage to avoid taking the strike directly on his face he doesn't defend nearly sturdily enough to overcome the raw impact of Raizo's jab. Always preferring to make a scene rather than not, Saishu tumbles rather dramatically away with a little squawk of surprise, seeming to trip over himself--
"Hiyaah!"
--at least until he pivots on a single palm, twisting his aging body haphazardly again, and unleashes a low burst of flame with his other hand, travelling quickly across the ground in an attempt to cut his larger opponent's legs out from under him while Saishu recovers.
The bigger they are, am I right?
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Raizo with Yami Barai.
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Saishu 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Raizo
Right you are indeed, and that low blast of flame smashes into Raizo's legs in the middle of one long stride. It first of all sets his pants on fire, and second of all causes him to go "WHAAAGH!" and trip and fall flat on his face or wait no NOT on his face, on his PALMS, and he pushes off the ground much like Saishu just did, except instead of throwing fire or spewing acid or killing Saishu with the laser beam in his monocle, Raizo simply spins around in midair and DRIVES HIS HUGE FEET AT SAISHU LIKE A METEOR COMPOSED OF KICKS.
COMBATSYS: Saishu interrupts Heavy Kick from Raizo with Oniyaki.
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Saishu 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Raizo
A meteor composed of kicks you say!??
There is only one defense against a meteor.
"Ha ha!!"
And that...
"URRRYYAAAAHHH!"
Is to blast it back into outer space!
With a mighty and triumphant roar, Saishu Kusanagi leaps up from the crouching position he has gathered himself into after recovering from his sprawl and heroically hurls himself directly into the path of Raizo's fearsome assault. Undaunted by those massive legs, the Kusanagi-ryu master ignites his outstretched right hand with the fulsome flames of his fighting fury and plows into the flying bear-man with a hellacious flaming uppercut, blazing a trail up his opponents body and through the air until he manages to clock the man right under the chin.
It's all rather amazing looking, so it's too bad the effect is somewhat spoiled when Saishu hits his head on the ceiling and falls back to the ground to land in a dazed heap.
Back to space indeed!!
Raizo finds himself completely overwhelmed by Saishu's assault, and the entire front of his suit is now on fire, as are parts of his beard, and also he is hammered right on his massive chin in addition to being on fire.
All in all, it's not really that surprising when the Imawano master finds himself smashed back into the ceiling, and then fallen back to earth, landing with a THUMP that actually fractures the floorboards beneath his desk chair. Miraculously, the chair does not explode, probably because it is in fact designed for use by Raizo Imawano, who for a time ended up in a fight like this fairly regularly. Saishu has apparently knocked himself silly momentarily, so Raizu takes advantage of the reprieve...standing, rolling a shoulder, patting out a few embers and muttering, "I really need to find a cheaper tailor, if this is going to become a habit again," and then turning that old, mad eye on Saishu - paying attention, careful attention, to every twitch of every muscle. "Oh come on," he rumbles. "You are not nearly old enough to be defeated by the ceiling, Kusanagi."
COMBATSYS: Raizo focuses on his next action.
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Saishu 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Raizo
"I was just waiting for you!" Saishu retorts immediately, managing to get to his feet with a little stagger just as Raizo finishes patting out the resident flames on his garb. "You shouldn't bore your opponents like that!"
But despite the trickle of blood running down from his scalp and the fatigue that he is as always making an admirable effort not to show, Saishu Kusanagi is still grinning quietly to himself, and by all accounts is loving every minute of this.
Straightening his back, the Kusanagi elder sinks back into his low, somewhat squat stances, gloveless hands relaxing, fingers loose but arms posed in ready positions. Breathing evenly, kimono now somewhat ragged around him, the sharp-eyed fighter gazes up at his larger opponent.
Dust from the damaged ceiling falls faintly around them like fairie dust; the rising embers form a halo of faint heat that ripples the surrounding air.
Poised, the honorable duellists await one another.
COMBATSYS: Saishu focuses on his next action.
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Saishu 1/---====/=======|=======\=====--\1 Raizo
Raizo watches, already in his own somewhat unremarkable combat pose - he lacks the grace of the elder Kusanagi's dancing flames, the sheer display of chi that is occasionally thrown around by his own students or others he's seen fighting. He can't generate a persistant aura to save his life, but he can do ONE thing, something that he pulls out now, as he trundles toward Saishu. "You're right!" he laughs. "How rude of me! Allow me to make this a little more interesting for our honored guest!"
He plants one foot, outside of striking range.
He plants the other, facing his body toward Saishu, still outside of striking range.
"IMAWANO ROPPU ZUKI!!" the old man roars, and then his massive right hand is sheathed in chi, and the air is alive with energy, and Raizo is MOVING despite the fact that he hasn't even shifted his feet, he shifts the entire mass of his tremendous body forward, chi and inertia pushing the old man toward Saishu, with enough force to punch a hole in...well, Saishu, for starters.
COMBATSYS: Raizo successfully hits Saishu with Imawano Roppu Zuki.
[ \\\ < > /////////// ]
Saishu 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=------\-------\0 Raizo
Saishu is a man.
As this fact will soon be demonstrated, perhaps it is not necessarily to simply state it outright. Yet there is something to be said for being straightforward, for just coming out and saying it. Saishu is a man, a real man. And he's going to act like one.
When the super inertia strike comes, he doesn't even think twice.
He knows what he must do.
"HA--"
The palm slams into him, and the world explodes.
The floor erupts around them, sending tiles down from the ceiling in the classrooms below. The ceiling implodes above them, sending a huge cascade of dust and mortar down from above. The remaining furniture is blown away from them and toward the wall from the sheer intensity of the force waves emanating from the impact. And the door behind Saishu-- is unscathed.
Because Saishu hasn't moved.
Somehow, even as the universe dissolves into chaos around them, Saishu is the solid and unmovable rock at the center of it all. The ground may splinter, but Saishu does not. And as the dust begins to settle the glint in the Kusanagi elder's eye becomes visible again, and with painstaking slowness he lifts his right hand up to eye level to reveal how now, even though Raizo's hand remains lodged in Saishu's gut, it glows white hot...
"--HA!"
Quick as a striking serpent, Saishu's hand lashes out at Raizo's face to unleash, at ludicrously point-blank range, an enormous raging dragon of raw Kusanagi flame. Even if Raizo somehow manages to escape this terrifying assault, Saishu himself will certainly be blown back by the raw force of his strike, hitting the ground with a thump and rolling away several yards.
And whatever happens to Imawano, by the time Saishu comes to a stop, he--
COMBATSYS: Saishu can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ <
Raizo 0/-------/------=|
--will be quite finished.
"...Heh heh!"
Grinning weakly, Saishu shifts his arms to cross them behind his head, reclining on the ruined ground.
"Not half bad."
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Raizo with Orochinagi'.
[ \\ <
Raizo 0/-------/=======|
Raizo Imawano is, perhaps, not as manly a man as Saishu Kusanagi...
...but by God he is a ninja bear house, and even as Saishu grips his hand, the half-mad look on Raizo's face gets a little more interested. "Interesting--" he manages, and then his everything is ON FIRE, the blast of that incredible flaring assault washing across Raizo, across the room, setting the ruins of Raizo's desk ablaze, shattering the pane of windows behind it, scorching that big safe Raizo keeps in the corner, the forces involved collosal, titanic, and Raizo, Raizo is--
--standing upon the ruins of his desk, as the light fades, brushing charcoal off of his formerly white dress shirt, and loosening the tattered strip of burned silk that used to be his tie. "I liked that suit," Raizo mutters, glancing up at Saishu with a twinkle in his eye and a smirk on his face. "My treasurer might just kill me for this," the living mountain declares, "but no, that wasn't half bad at all, I'd say."
COMBATSYS: Raizo takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Raizo can no longer fight.
"Ha ha...!"
Saishu Kusanagi's trademark laugh is actually a little more subdued than normal as he slowly gets to his feet, taking his time now, grinning to himself as he does. Although his rib cage might not have in fact exploded inside of his torso from Raizo's overwhelming final assault as any other man's would, he doesn't seem ashamed to show, now that the fight is over, that he is quite finished. His good humor is less that of one laughing at an joke the rest of the world is doomed never to get and more that of one relaxing on a pleasant day.
"Your argument is compelling, Principal Imawano," the Kusanagi elder declares stoutly once he has gotten to his feet. "I will have to rethink my position on today's youth-- if only to recall the full list of my myriad complaints." He reaches up to stroke his little beard, which has somehow avoided being singed during the fight, as he speaks.
~ As I expected... well, now it's /his/ turn. ~
He inclines his head politely in a little bow, grinning slightly again. "Thank you for accepting my challenge, sir. I take my leave for now!" Abruptly he turns on his heel and marches toward the door. "I am sure we will meet again soon-- under different circumstances, I hope!"
He leaves without looking back.
"Farewell! Ha ha!!"
The laughter rings throughout the room, reverberating until it finally fades, leaving nothing in his wake... as though he were never there.
Except for, you know, all the ruination.
Raizo chortles. Saishu does not fight with impacts so much as with SETTING YOU ON FIRE, and so he is, in fact, largely unbruised - just...scorched. He reaches back to smack the back of his head, patting down flames on the long mane of hair that comes out of the back of his head. "I should hope you will, Mr. Kusanagi," Raizo says, smiling. "The youth is our future. Even if they are, occasionally...disruptive." HYO IMAWANO I AM LOOKING AT YOU
And then Saishu is turning to leave, and Raizo says only "Farewell, Mr. Kusanagi. I look forward to that meeting!" and waves laconically, removing his doomed tie, and looking over his body for unforgiveable levels of scorching. He steps over to the door, opens it, and glances over at his poor assistant, wide-eyed and terrorized.
"Miss Segawa, I'll be occupying Office B for a while. Please redirect any traffic for me that way. ...also, please tell our contractor that Mr. Saishu Kusanagi has set my office on fire, and we need it refurbished."
He allows her about thirty seconds to stare before chiding, "Quickly, Miss Segawa. Must not waste any time!"
Log created on 02:14:22 08/11/2007 by Saishu, and last modified on 05:11:41 08/11/2007.