Description: For Kentou, what starts out as an innocent call to Hotaru's cellphone soon turns into very bad news... from a very unexpected source. Not only does the young man discover that his master has been attacked, he and his ironclad morals are forced to deal with K''s claim of having killed the perpetrator.
Kentou does not waste a single lovely morning this time of year. With the onset of Autumn, the days of a decent, clear sky morning are numbered. The fog lingers over the harbor a little longer and the air is a fraction more crisp than the morning before it. The boy stands out on the pier, his expensive school uniform neatly pressed with his book bag slung over his shoulder. Chocolate-colored eyes survey the horizon of the Pacific, watching the growing reflection of the sun upon the endless waves. The light pouring down from the mountains to the east behind Southtown at the very crack of dawn.
The youth has hours to go before class starts. He doesn't need to get up this early any more, but old habits are hard to break. A month ago he'd be making deliveries out to restaurants and sushi bars by now. As he did for the years prior. A schedule that regular does not turn on a dime. Besides, he finds it useful. He can do all his homework early before classes and it tends to help him.. Some. At least it frees up time afterwards for the more important thing in his life.
Training with Hotaru.
The boy takes another deep breath of crisp, ocean air. Listening to the cries of seagulls flocking over the barnacle-coated rocks beyond the wooden piers. He hasn't seen his mentor for a little while now, but such absences are not unexpected. Hotaru is a world-famous fighter now, beloved by tens of thousands around the globe. Between the interviews, talk-shows, commercials, training at the YFCC AND going to school full-time.. Kentou is endlessly thankful she manages to spend as much time with him as she does. That said, he knows an important match is coming up for her. He was hoping he could wish her luck in person, but sometimes a phonecall has to suffice.
Carefully wrangling his book-bag, the boy fishes about its contents until he withdraws a tiny little phone. Brow furrowed, the boy works the thing slowly. Flipping the top upwards and negotiating the obtuse operating system as he searches for his Master's saved phone number.
Its the only way he can remember the darn thing.
"Lessie.. Now.. If I was Hotaru's phone number where would I.. No.. No I don't want an Usher ring tone I.. Ack! No! Don't download Bejeweled! Nooooo!" Thumbs working feverishly as his book bag clunks to the plank beside him. Tongue poking from the corner of his lips in deep concentration before..
*BRRRRRIIIIINNNGGG*
"Ah! Here we go, Here we go!" Pressing the plastic device to his ear, cupping the receiver with his other hand. Luminous eyes rolling skyward back and forth as he waits. Polished shoe tapping.
Meanwhile, across the city, in a posh apartment belonging to a certain world-famous fighter... K' has had a very bad night, and is about to have an equally bad morning.
The somewhat self-conscious young man had been up until 2 AM in Chun-Li's bathroom, properly dressing his wounds to ensure the fastest and cleanest healing and showering away the blood and grime of his fight with Yamazaki. There was no way he was going anywhere near the woman's pristine sheets in the state he'd been in when he first stumbled in the door; he was pretty certain that if he did, she'd have to simply throw them out after.
But eventually, he'd stitched himself up and cleaned up sufficiently that he was pretty sure he wouldn't bleed on her mattress... and so, he'd settled in to sleep hard, trusting his engineered body to heal him up fast enough he could go after Whip as soon as possible. He'd been informed by Seishirou that it was likely she was still alive... and for proof, Seishirou claimed to have an agent in the employ of the Syndicate who would know such things. Nonetheless, he did not want to leave things too long.
The plan had been to sleep until he naturally awoke. But the ringing of Hotaru's cell phone, which still lay in the pocket of his leather jacket-- and which he intended to return at the end of all this-- kind of ruined that plan.
The phone rings once. It rings again. On the third ring, the facedown young man turns his head slightly on the pillow. One yellow eye slowly cracks open. The expression revealed therein can only be described as 'extremely upset.'
Twisting in bed, K' rolls himself to the edge and flops his upper body off it looking for his jacket. Pawing through it until he finds the cell, he flips it open, looks at the time-- it's fucking 6 AM, he ascertains with a disgusted, pained grunt-- and puzzles over it for a few more moments before he simply flips it open. He doesn't seem to realize that, in so doing, he effectively 'picked up,' but he's sure to find that out whenever whoever's on the other end starts talking.
Still hanging off the edge of the bed, K' slumps slightly as he tries to focus on the little display enough to even see who's calling. Exhausted as he is, it's a miracle he's even coherent enough to open the damn phone at all; and to make matters worse, he was nnnnnnever a morning person to begin with.
Slowly the steady green LCD screen glares a single name, unblurring a little at a time as K' struggles to come to terms with consciousness.
The voice on the other end does not wait.
"Morning Sensei!" A chipper voice chimes through. Perky, bright and shiny. "I hope everything is going well! I wanted to call real quick and wish you good luck on your match today! I think I finally figured out that DVR thing I picked up last week so I'll definitely be able to watch your match when I get home from school! How are you feeling?"
Rambling ooooon and ooooooon. Only pausing, perhaps, to take a breath and even then it doesn't sound like the respite will last long.
Finally the haze of morning clears enough to reveal the name 'KENTOU', blazing in mercilessly bright green letters.
Oh yeah.. Hotaru's apprentice. That kid in the yellow jacket. The one who needed to screw in a light bulb that one time and fought off Cherise months ago for him at the YFCC.
No human being should be allowed to be this hyper at 6 AM.
Oh Jesus it's this kid. Oh Christ. Oh fucking Lord why is this happening.
K' literally slumps facefirst back into his pillow as the first strains of Kentou's irritatingly happy chattering wash over him. Holding the phone at arm's-length, the young man sighs a long, long breath out as the tinny voice continues on and on. He's trying to get his temper under control. He's -really- trying. But it's 6 AM, he's exhausted, he has a fucking Yamazaki hole in his side, and he just had to hear Kentou's voice as a wake-up call.
K''s long sigh, inevitably, ends in a growl.
How are you feeling? Kentou asks, very innocently. The voice that replies is: 1) not Hotaru in the least 2) not even female 3) very, very angry. "BAD." The voice takes a moment to compose itself after that instinctive furious outburst. Then it continues, in a deep, warning, and obviously just-woken-up growl, "you're hotaru's fucking... fucking brat aren't you..."
The voice quiets for a few moments, musing to itself over this revelation. But the quiet is not really peaceful so much as it is the sort of quiet you get before a wave comes crashing onto the sand. Or before a crack of thunder splits the air. Or before a very angry, tired, and irritable young man virtually /snarls,/ "WHAT THE FUCK do you want... calling at fucking 6 am... fucking insane..."
K', mercifully, trails off at this juncture. He is probably too tired and too indignant over his interrupted sleep to register that -he's- the one who should really be explaining himself: given that this -is- Hotaru's phone.
Kentou jerks the reciever away from his ear as that foreign, masculine voice blasts that single word. Teeth gritting with his lips pulled back in panic. The phone bobbles about in his hands as he juggles the thing, trying to get a grip as his heart skips a beat.
"Eeek! S..Sorry! Wrong number!" The boy half-squeaks into the device as he finally manages to return it to his ear. His braids would be sticking straight up like a surprised cat tail if they could. However, before he can finish apologizing and hang up the boy regains his wits.
Wait a sec.. He didn't hand dial it. He KNOWS this number works, it's programmed in!
Listing to the rambling vitrol for just a moment, the youth can't quite place the voice. Surprise evolving into suspicion as he hunches forward and cups the reciever once more. Straining to hear the voice as clearly as he can over the rolling waves and the static of the service.
"....Who is this?" The boy ventures in a slow, puzzled tone. His mind beginning to run through the possibilities.
Did she lose her cellphone somewhere? Was there some kind of mixup at a hotel or something? .... A thief?
The boy can't think of who else would logically have access to her cellphone. Jiro maaaybe.. But this guy sure doesn't sound like him. Narrowed eyes shifting back and forth as he pays special attention to the reply.
It then dawns on him. His eyes widen a fraction as Kentou's brain fully processes the barely understood comment he thought he heard while he was juggling the phone. 'Hotaru's brat'? This guy knows him somehow? .... The fact that Kentou is Hotaru's apprentice is not a big secret. Its a fairly well publicized fact and he's had more than a few mails and messages from fans... Asking if Hotaru is as awesome in person as she is on TV. Which he happily replies, 'Yes, she is!'.
This doesn't sound like an adoring fan.
Something half a disgusted grunt and half a pained groan comes over the line as K' heaves himself upright. A long exhale follows as he rubs at the bridge of his nose, his eyes shutting as he tries to rouse his mind out of its haze. He rubs at his eyes in silence as Kentou babbles a panicked stream of apologies, paying little to no attention to the boy as he tries to excuse himself.
He doesn't usually wake up this slow. But injury and exhaustion have overriden the hard training that has made him so quick to waken to wary readiness. The way he is now, he might almost not have minded if Kentou panicked enough to simply hang up and never call back.
But wakefulness soon claims him again, his eyes sharpening slowly in cognizance as the cold metal and wheels of his mind begin turning again. Kentou warily asks who on earth this is, and K' starts to do some thinking of his own. Hotaru's kid obviously doesn't know she's been hurt. Who would? It only just happened the night before last, and there's probably been no publicity surrounding Hotaru's admittance to the hospital quite yet.
There is a long silence, wherein Kentou might wonder if his surly conversation partner has simply hung up. And then, the voice replies... some-- but hardly all-- of its ire gone, the gruff reply a mere irritable growl rather than a vicious snarl. "K'. It's a long fucking story. The short version is that your precious master's in a hospital by now..."
This is potentially a bad way to start off the explanation, as it is very easily misconstrued.
"..Kay.... Kadish?" Kentou slowly ventures as the voice reveals itself once more. The boy's eyebrows lift as he registers this revelation.
Aaaaaaah. Right! Hotaru must have left the phone at the YFCC and K' is helpfully hanging onto it for her until he can give it back. Right? Right! Of course.
An exhale of relief audibly blows on the phone and just starts to smile into the receiver..
"SHE WHAT?!"
The cellphone rattles from K's hands as the phone speaker blasts in volume at the boy's outcry.
The youth straightens, a jolt of adrenaline races down his spine while eyes widen. Instantly spinning on his heel as he glares down the dockside, mentally considering just where the nearest Hospital is and how long it would take for him to run there on foot. Classes be darned.
"WHERE IS SHE!?" Kentou demands, timidness completely gone. A fraction of a second after the vaguely accusatory-sounding words depart his lips, he realizes he may be throwing stones at the wrong guy.
No.. K' probably helped her to the Hospital.. Probably. Kentou audibly exhales against the speaker, conjuring what patience he can muster, "..Please?" Hastily apologetic.
He should have expected this reaction. But tired as he is, K' still forgets to brace for it. The phone jitters in his loose grasp as Kentou SHOUTS over it, the wounded young man hissing a breath of pain as the volume of the yell pierces a spear -straight- through his head. Along the way, that shout touches off the beginnings of a marvelous headache; dropping his face into one hand, K' massages at a temple as he reestablishes a grip on the phone and tries... TRIES... to have some patience.
"You're already lucky enough I'm even talking to you at all," K' replies in typically-endearing fashion, his dark voice crawling over the line, "so shut up, listen, and don't interrupt me again." Drawing a long breath, he attempts to understand and relate to Kentou's position; it's likely very similar to his own, after all. Both boys find themselves worried sick to death over the plight of a loved one. He tries to identify, and thereby to find some pity and patience.
For the most part, he fails. When it comes to the emotionally-complicated affair that is understanding other people's feelings, K' doesn't even make it out the door of 'basic cognizance that other people even exist.' K' was not built for empathy. He is basically selfish, and it is only the faintest workings of the influence Whip has had on him-- and the regard he has for Hotaru-- that even soften him enough to stay on the line now.
That, and maybe the fact that Kentou finally said 'please.'
"She's at whatever hospital's closest to her house," K' eventually continues, once he's sure his sharp reply's gotten Kentou to shut up and listen up. "You ever heard of Yamazaki? Ryuji Yamazaki? Fucking nutcase? I don't know or care why," that latter part might be a slight lie, "but he decided he didn't like your master and broke in the night before last. Fucked her up pretty good, was probably gonna have a little fun with her... I got there right before he got started on that."
There's a moment of silence while K' catches his breath. When he talks again, a stern, austere note has entered his cold voice. He isn't absolutely sure about Yamazaki's death. Something about it just bothers him-- some sixth sense that tells him Yamazaki shouldn't just go down like that-- but he says this next part anyway, if only to keep the boy from doing anything stupid. "Don't bother trying to go after him. I killed him." K' communicates this without emotion, glossing past it as if murder were something everyday: merely a chore.
Normally Kentou would try to afford K' some leniency for his naturally harsh demeanor, but the rebel directly hit the one topic that Kentou brooks no compromise with. Hotaru's well-being.
A sharp retort just about escapes Kentou's lips before an audible click of his teeth is heard over the line. Biting and swallowing back the words as he obey's K's terms. Fingers gripping the plastic frame of the device tight enough to creak the low-bidder material as he makes himself listen. This guy is the only source of information he has on this emergent disaster and he doubts the guy will pick up the phone again if he hangs up. He's holding the cards, he's calling the shots.
"R..Right.." He manages out as the boy paces back and forth briskly. Well-kept shoes threatening to wear into the ancient sea-polished wooden plank.
As K' divulges the information, Kentou halts. Eyes shifting back and forth in fast calculation. Hospitals.. He's very familiar with. Anyone in his lifestyle is on a first-name basis with just about every Doctor in town. Immediately, the boy sweeps a foot forth, kicking his bag high into the air and racing down the pier. His puffing voice dispels any doubt as to what he's doing as he replies unthinkingly, "No. Never."
Ryuji Yamazaki? That's the name of a man whom is going to get his ass kicked back and forth across Southtown.
As more details are revealed, Kentou's run begins to slow. His eyes widen just as he reaches out with his free hand to catch his previously-kicked bag. The puzzle coming into clearer focus. "..T... Thank you.. I.." He mumbles breathlessly.
Then the breathing stops.
"..You k.."
*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*
Kentou flicks the phone closed with his thumb. Terminating the call the moment understanding reaches his thoughts. The abused book-case slumps to the ground as he folds the phone to his chest. His luminous eyes staring out to the street beyond dully, unseeing of the morning bustle beyond. His mind nearly shuts itself down, incapable of processing this information.
He was lying? Maybe he meant 'killed' as in 'really beat up'. All the kids at school use the word that way. Maybe he didn't mean what he said? Maybe he better call him right back and apologize to heck and back for misunderstanding him. K' must not have meant that. He must not have..
Kentou presses his knuckles to his lower lip, his grip on the phone tightening.
Memories of that conversation with Jiro. 'There's always another way.' Murder is a line that shouldn't be crossed, no matter the reason. It makes us.. Simply.. Just as bad as the people who would do us harm.
But if this Ryuji was as bad as K' threatened. If he really was going to... Didn't he deserve to die?
The youth slowly sinks into a sitting crouch. Rocking in place as he presses the plastic of the phone to his forehead, eyes squeezing tightly shut.
Does he call the cops on K' now? Knowing what he knows? Put K' in prison for the rest of his life for saving Hotaru from Ryuji? Is that justice? Is that right? It's so easy for Kentou to claim 'he would never do that!' when he wasn't there. When he wasn't..
Hotaru..
An agonized breath and Kentou snatches up his bag. Vaulting to his feet and launching into a dead run. The hospital.. He needs to get to the Hospital and see Hotaru. He can't.. He can't think about anything else right now. He needs to make sure Hotaru is okay and then talk to her.. She'll know.. She'll know..
Can't think..
K' pulls the phone away and squints at it as the line suddenly goes dead. He isn't sure what it was he said that made the kid freak out so much he'd just hang up like that. He assumes that the boy's simply so overwrought with worry that he isn't thinking straight. Not like K' particularly minds Kentou hanging up like that; Hotaru can explain the rest to Kentou when he arrives. K' has his own problems left to deal with... and some fucking sleep to catch up on.
The thought that Kentou might have an issue with K''s cold-blooded ease in taking life doesn't even occur to the ex-assassin. K' was programmed and built to kill, and he's still coming to terms with the fact that most people in the world do not share his cold mindset. Hotaru seemed to understand. K' doesn't think, for an instant, that Kentou might not as well.
In fact, if K' even once thought that Kentou might be shocked over this one murder-- even considering putting K' in jail for it-- the young man would just laugh. It's not the first time he's killed, it won't be the last, and if a prison sentence were to be worked up to fit the crimes he's committed, K' would be serving more consecutive life sentences than he could count.
Shrugging lightly, oblivious of how much conflict he's put Kentou in with a simple declaration he himself thinks virtually nothing of, K' tosses the phone back onto the nightstand and slumps down amongst the sheets. He thinks about it, very briefly, before he decides that Hotaru is better suited to dealing with this entire mess than he is. It's none of his concern what Kentou does... and really, if it's anyone's responsibility to rein in that foolish boy, it's Hotaru.
He has his own sister to worry about. He doesn't think about this particular problem any further. It doesn't take long for him to pass out again, his wounded body intent on its accelerated healing.
Log created on 00:35:10 10/07/2008 by K', and last modified on 13:56:45 10/08/2008.