Description: Why do you build me up / (build me up!) / Buttercup baby just to let me down / (let me down) / And mess me around and then worst of all / (worst of all) / You never call baby when you say you will / (say you will) / But I love you still! THIS HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SCENE, I'LL ADMIT IT; READ ANYWAY.
Away from the hustle and bustle of Southtown, you can find all sorts of strange things. The more suburban outskirts of the city play host to the larger properties owned by the city's wealthier residents, and while many of these homes are in more modern, western styles, at least one is a traditional Japanese home, carrying the weight of history behind it. This is sort of inevitable when it's owned by a family with a thousand-year history that begins with 'they beat up some kind of eight headed snake deity thing'.
The Kusanagi residence is fairly sprawling considering only three people live there, but in times past the clan was larger, its membership less spread out. Sure, they have other people over sometimes, usually fighting associates of the family (there's probably a couch with Daimon's big ol' butt groove worn into it somewhere) and a historically a certain poor father figure has spent most of his time out travelling rather than staying at home, but there you go.
Today is a lazy, wintry Sunday, though the sky is clear, and Kyo is in the family dojo, in a t-shirt and jeans, his feet besocked. And, in true lazy Sunday fashion, the Kusanagi heir is napping, having found himself a sunbeam to lie in, slanting through the windows of the ancient dojo. Ahh, relaxing. What could possibly go wrong?
A lazy Sunday. They're known well in the Kusanagi mansion. In fact, the Kusanagi have a long and proud history of lounging around being lazy and unproductive on Sunday afternoons. A long and proud history started some twenty years ago when one Kyo Kusanagi was born.
A long and proud history, indeed.
The air is cool and crisp today as the warmth of the sun's light infects the sprawling dojo of the ancient Kusanagi. The structure here is beautiful, elegant and ancient; this dojo was made thousands of years ago by the Kusanagi's ancestors, and it persists to this day (albeit with some renovations over the centuries). It is living history. It is priceless. It is--
KA-BOOM.
--It is being blown apart by one crazy, old man.
The sound of wood exploding almost deafens the crazed shout of that distinctive voice as delicately -- and expensively -- crafted wood across the ceiling is blown apart, raining down on Kyo Kusanagi. He'll have roughly one second to look up before a green gi-clad form rockets down from the hole made in the roof like a hellish man-missile, one bare foot jutting downwards as the Saishu Kusanagi descends like a bat out of hell -- straight towards his son.
"IRRESPONSIBLE SON SLAYER TECHNIQUE 502: DYNAMIC SURPRISE KICK! HA HAH!"
COMBATSYS: Saishu has started a fight here.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kyo has joined the fight here.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kyo
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Kyo with Medium Kick.
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Saishu 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Kyo
Well, there's nothing quite like an exploding roof and a shower of wood chips to wake you up. Kyo's eyes snap open, though he's still a bit groggy, and thusly his initial reaction to seeing someone falling towards him - roll out of the way - comes a second too late. Instead, he's very nearly crushed utterly by his father, letting out a very undignified: "Geh!!" before completing his roll, getting to his feet a short distance away across the floor.
"You crazy old jackass!! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Kyo demands, though for all his shouting, the fact remains that this isn't as unusual an occurrance as he'd probably prefer. No, on those rare times Saishu Kusanagi has actually been around in Kyo's life, this sort of behaviour has been pretty much the expected standard.
There's only one way to deal with it, of course.
Stepping in, Kyo twists and brings his foot up towards his father's face, for a good old-fashioned boot to the head. "AND STOP MAKING UP STUPID MOVE NAMES!!"
COMBATSYS: Saishu Toughs Out Kyo's Heavy Kick!
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Saishu 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Kyo
"How can you be lazing about on a Sunday?! Don't you know that Sunday is the day the Kusanagi Clan defeated the Orochi through all the EXTENSIVE TRAINING they did, exclusively on other Sundays?!" Saishu shouts out potentially fabricated history at Kyo even as he hammers the sole of his foot into his poor son's torso, springboarding with unusual deftness and grace off the younger Kusanagi to land some several feet away.
"To be procrastinating on this day is like spitting in the face of your great great great great great great great great--"
Saishu is cut off at roughly the ninth 'great' as Kyo suddenly pistons his foot forward. Eyes flashing with life, Saishu seems to have been hit rather solidly by the swift movements of his son... if not for the fact that he is literally /headbutting/ his way into that foot.
"DON'T INTERRUPT ME WHILE I'M IMPARTING VALUABLE HISTORICAL LESSONS!"
Suddenly /barreling/ through Kyo's technique, Saishu intends to pit Kyo off balance, just long enough for him to sweep his hand through the air, setting off a spark that blossoms into a full gout of the Kusanagi's crimson flames, exploding against the ground at point-blank range.
"Made up?! That technique is part of a long, proud heritage of the Kusanagi clan! If you don't know that, then it is clear to me that you're still not ready to inherit our great ten-headed-serpent-slaying legacy!!" Because killing ten-headed serpents is /clearly/ a better achievement than eight-headed serpents.
COMBATSYS: Kyo fails to slow Yami Barai from Saishu with Yami Barai.
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Saishu 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Kyo
A more impressionable soul than Kyo Kusanagi's might be concvinced by Saishu's psychotic ramblings, maybe even Kyo himslf when he was younger. After all, what boy doesn't believe whatever his father tells him? Let's peek back through the curtain of the ages...
*FLASHBACK*
Kyo Kusanagi, age six, sits in this very dojo or another like it, before his father, still young and full of vigor and dignity. "And so," says Saishu of the past, "That's how our heroic ancestor, Saishu Kusanagi the 1st, singlehandedly defeated the ten-headed serpent and rescued a bus full of supermodels, all on a Sunday."
Kyo, age six, replies, "You're so full of shit, dad."
*END FLASHBACK*
So that'd be a no.
Still, in the present, Kyo has other things to worry about than his father's being a pathological liar. Fiery things. Kyo's hand, after he pulled on his gloves in the gap of time between kicking his father in the head and being charged at, sweeps forward, and he starts to unleash his own burst of Kusanagi flames, but he can't get it out in time; instead, Saishu's power blasts into him, driving him backwards, staggering him. "I think you better stop going to bingo night, you're starting to hit like a little old lady."
Saishu always thought Kyo adored those inspirational stories. But then, Saishu also thought Kyo was a productive member of scholastic society.
Time makes fools of us all, it seems.
Mystic fire whips around Saishu's forearm with deft control that few in possess over their own chi, let alone /raging magic fire./ The embers are snuffed out as his son is staggered back by the explosive blow, exhaling a deep sigh as his arm sweeps back to his side.
"Huh? Bingo night?! I haven't gone to bingo night in at /least/ a week, don't-- ooh, I see what you're doing there. Making such harsh comments to your own father, you need to show more respect for elders who can take you to school, boy!" A grin blossoms across Saishu's lips as he speaks these words; he stands his ground, fire pulsing briefly around him -- an ominous fact that is somewhat obscured by the fact that the old man is now scratching the inside of his ear and belching.
They can't all be winners.
But then, something dawns on him. "School... school --" Realization comes to him with widened eyes as Saishu suddenly points an accusing finger at Kyo, gaze fierce. "Ah /HAH/! I ran into an old friend the other day, and you know what they told me?? You're STILL IN SCHOOL." Nevermind the fact that Saishu should know that, he still wags that finger in a reprimanding way, as if this was all some terrible secret.
"This is sort of procrastination is unacceptable for a boy at the tender age of 26!" A pause. "... hrm... or were you 28..."
COMBATSYS: Saishu gathers his will.
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Saishu 1/------=/=======|===----\-------\0 Kyo
For anyone who wonders just how it is that Kyo turned into the loveable arrogant asshole that he is today, well, really they should just talk to Saishu a few times to see exactly the cause. Since his father chooses not to press the attack - not yet, at least - Kyo has the time to regain his balance, settling himself in something approaching a regular stance.
"I can't believe you have any friends," Kyo says, rather hurtfully, to his dear old man. Yes, the reprimand seems to roll right off of Kyo's back, the younger fighter quite unconcerned. Right up until Saishu, of course, gets his age wrong. "I'm only twenty," the junior Kusanagi grits out, lifting his right hand and setting it aflame.
Kyo's own gathering of the ancestral power of the Kusanagi clan is much less, you know, filled with belching and general unhygenic behaviour, but let's face it: Saishu's been married a while, he can afford to let himself go.
COMBATSYS: Kyo gathers his will.
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Saishu 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\0 Kyo
Saishu squints. He squints long and hard, with a frown. Stroking his beard, he leans forward to peer at Kyo carefully.
"Hrm..." he muses thoughtfully, "... are you /sure/?"
Shrugging his shoulders affably, the old man seems unperturbed by Kyo's venomous barbs; he wouldn't be the boy's father if he wasn't. Ripples of heat emanate from Saishu subtly, barely even noticeable as that mystic fforce is gathered inward, internalized into something substantial. He waits, yet Kyo holds his ground. The elder Kusanagi frowns.
"How could you forget this already, boy?! Lesson #4928 of Kusanagi-ryuu Kobojutsu: never let up your offensive, or else you--"
And suddenly, Saishu cuts himself off and lunges at Kyo, apparently trying to take the boy by surprise in a rather blatantly telegraphed punch aimed for Kyo's sternum, following up with a rising kick to the his chin, all delivered in two swift motions.
"HaHA! Surprise attack!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo effortlessly blocks Saishu's Nata Guruma.
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Saishu 1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0 Kyo
"Hmph," Kyo sighs, batting aside the obvious punch and folowing it up by catching the rising kick one-handed, ducking back a little bit as he does so; of course, he makes it all look easy. "Well, hey, if I was deaf, blind, dumb and maybe a corpse, you might've surprised me, there." Of course, Saishu does have a point; sometimes you just need to beat the other person down with as much force as you can muster, don't you? Kusanagi-ryuu, especially as practiced by this particular pair of chuckleheads, isn't exactly a slow-paced wait and see style.
So Kyo immediately lunges forward in turn, trying to drive his elbow into Saishu's sternum, a vicious strike aimed to keep the older Kusanagi off balance long enough for Kyo's /other/ hand to lance out, catching him by the throat and lifting him off the floor. "Here's a surprise for you! /BURN/!!" Nevermind that the violent explosion of sacred Kusanagi fire that follows this pronouncement is anything but a surprise.
He's Saishu's son after all, sometimes nonsense just slips out.
COMBATSYS: Saishu interrupts Koto Moon Positive from Kyo with Oniyaki EX.
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Saishu 1/=======/=======|=======\===----\1 Kyo
Shocked. Indignant. That's how Saishu looks as his obvious 'surprise' attack is batted away so easily. His eyes go wide, mouth agape. "How could he--?!" he begins, aghast. Perhaps, just perhaps... /too/ aghast. "There's no way you could have so easily overcome my feint! How could it be, unless--"
The flash of grin should let Kyo know something is amiss before everything becomes a haze of crimson fire.
"HAH!"
Mystical flames roar forth the very moment Kyo's punishing blow strikes Saishu's sternum. He moves /into/ the strike, however, rather than staggering under it. Bone CRACKS under the immense power of that single punch, but really, Saishu is too busy laughing to notice the pain. Fire pours outward from his hands as he /surges/ upwards in a blur of green, brown and red, /smashing/ into Kyo in that spinning, signature uppercut as those flames trail around him in a distinctive double-helix pattern.
"HUAGH! You... haahh... fell for the old 'feinting a feint for another feint' trick! You still still have much to learn -- you know, I hear school is good for learning! Hah hah!"
Yes, even before Saishu lands his hit, there's a distinct sense on Kyo's part that something is horribly, terribly wrong. About as wrong as wrong can get. So he's really not that shocked when things turn around and he ends up the one being set aflame, as he's battered into the air and flung away by one of the few techniques he and his father both share. Finally crashing to the ground, Kyo flops backwards for a second, groaning as he rolls onto his front, and then pushes himself up to a seated position, looking rather unimpressed over at his father.
"Man, if you're just going to sit there spouting nonsense, I'm gonna go back to sleep." And, saying that, Kyo rolls over onto his side, right on the floor, putting his back to Saishu.
He might be trying to use the old man's own ridiculous medicine on him.
COMBATSYS: Kyo gains composure.
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Saishu 1/-======/=======|=======\==-----\1 Kyo
Landing with a light and steadying hop, Saishu Kusanagi is all grins and amusement as he turns to stare at his son -- who is now rolling over onto his side, apparently to nap. Joy and entertainment quickly bleed from Saishu's face for an almost comical look of confusion as the elder Kusanagi opens his mouth -- closes it -- and then opens it again, all before furrowing his brows and frowning most unpleasantly.
"Youngsters these days don't have any respect for the advice of their elders!!" Saishu laments. "I remember back in my day when an older person spoke, we listened, or we were beaten within /inches of our lives./ --Actually."
Saishu snaps his fingers, as if a sudden realization dawns on him. He casually waltzes over to wear Kyo lays down, to crouch beside him. Tilting his head to the side, Saishu proceeds to shake the young man's shoulder, to get his attention. Whether he does or not, though, what follows after is fairly simple. Saishu lifts his right hand, and then moves it forward, to hover directly in front of Kyo's face.
"Poke!"
A single index finger jabs forward then; before it can hit, though, from it sprouts something massive. Something distinct. One of the /other/ few moves Kyo and Saishu share.
Saishu Kusanagi crouches rather calmly as a massive gout of highly controlled flames /springs/ from his fingertip like a serpent, a tidal wave of broiling flames rushing forward to knock Kyo straight off his ass and flamebroil him in a most unpleasant way.
COMBATSYS: Kyo blocks Saishu's Orochinagi+.
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Saishu 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Kyo
"Yeah, yeah, I'll pass," Kyo says on the subject of beatings for not listening to one's elders, his tone drowsy and his hand giving a dismissive wave. Then, of course, he goes back to pretending to nap, not reacting to the shake of his shoulder. Of course, when flames come his way from a pointing finger, that there necessitates a little more. Somehow, Kyo manages to get his arms in the way, tucking in and letting his forearms, with their special Kusanagi gloves, absorb the worst of the fiery assault. It does, at least, get Kyo off of his ass, the force of the eruption enough to send him sprawling, but this time it's more controlled.
Kyo is quickly on his feet, afterwards. "C'mon, that wasn't even within a mile of my life. Why don't you just give it up, we'll get you your favourite chair and some jello, and put on some nice non-threatening gameshows for you to watch." Speaking of watching, though, that's what Kyo's doing. Looking for a weak spot so he can really ruin dear old dad's day.
COMBATSYS: Kyo focuses on his next action.
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Saishu 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Kyo
Saishu continues to squint and stare, and stare and squint, and do all manners of this in various combinations, because three's not much else for him to do. While in the middle of stuinting, which is a combination of squinting and staring in one package, Saishu finally sighs, rolls up both his sleeves (which immediately fall down because, come on, they're way too billowy to roll up). He rolls his neck, and then rolls his shoulders, accumulating to a lot of rolling. And then--
"It's a wonder you're not fat yet!"
Saishu just lunges forward towards Kyo, vaguely irregardless of the young man's plans, to whip his right hand outward with a snap of his fingers, effortlessly crafting a second gout of flames -- smaller this time -- to wreak hell Kyo with one, whip-like motion of roaring flames. "Though I think I see some pudge! Ha HA!"
COMBATSYS: Saishu successfully hits Kyo with Homura Gasane EX.
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Saishu 0/-------/--=====|=======\=====--\1 Kyo
What.
What...?
WHAT?!
"Pudge?! You senile old--" Well, whatever Saishu is a senile old, the world may never know, as Kyo's attempt to deflect his father's summoned flames is generally unsuccessful. Fire rages, doing a number on Kyo's t-shirt - and he's definitely not pudgy, just because he isn't made out of skeletons and beef jerky like certain old men - and sending him sprawling, though Kyo doesn't stay down long. Instead, he pops right back up, though he looks rather the worse for wear.
That part becomes harder to notice when Kyo sets himself on fire.
Flame limns his body, tendrils of Kusanagi power rising off of his shoulder in waves of heat and fire, and Kyo raises his right hand, the flames focused brightest there. He lets his general anger and frustration at his possibly insane father feed those raging flames, before finally sweeping his arm back and then across in a wide arc, unleashing all of that orange-crimson fire, peeling off of his body to reinforce the swath of Kusanagi fire that tears through the air before him, seeking Saishu.
"YOU SAGGY-ASSED OLD COOT!!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo successfully hits Saishu with Orochinagi+.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
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Saishu 1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0 Kyo
There it is.
Saishu Kusanagi stares at the swath of fire as it blooms forth from all Kyo's pent up frustration. He frowns.
"Took you long enough," he notes dismally, and then just spreads his arms wide.
WHOOOOSH go the flames as they wash over the unmoving head of the Kusanagi household. There's no effort made to deflect it, or try to get out of the way; no, instead, Saishu tries to just /weather/ it all. It halfway works. He manages to withstand the horrible brunt of the flames for roughly two seconds before trying to press inward... only to be swept away by that veritable force of nature.
The crimson fires set off in the deafening /boom/ of an explosion as wood is scorched, several ancient and vestigial columns incinerated from the intensity of the heat. And as all that fire washes away, blowing outwards, Saishu is there; skin burnt, gi ruined, hair fizzled.
But still standing.
"They also... teach anger management... at schools... I think."
And, breathing out with the heave of his smoking chest, Saishu suddenly /lunges/ forward, leading off in one single, flaming punch aimed for Kyo's forehead, still grinning in that infuriatingly mischevious way.
"HAH!"
COMBATSYS: Kyo fails to counter Kamu Kakari EX from Saishu with Nue Tsumi.
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Saishu 0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0 Kyo
COMBATSYS: Kyo can no longer fight.
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Saishu 0/-------/---====|
Of course, Kyo's trash-talking nature immediately comes up with a dozen responses to his 'taking long enough', but given that he's fighting his /father/, he decides for once against the ol' sassmouth. Besides, isn't setting your dad on fire all the response you need in most situations?
Seeing Saishu still standing afterwards just makes Kyo shrug helplessly, shaking his head. He should've known better than to think that was enough to deal with the crazy old bastard. Don't worry, though, because Kyo isn't quite finished yet... As Saishu comes at him again, Kyo reaches to catch that incoming fist, his fingers grasping at the older man's body wrist and...
...Getting no grip and...
...Kyo gets punched right in the head, fist and flame doing quite enough that he stumbles backwards, ending up flat on his ass, before he just lays back. "Too bad they don't teach senility management anywhere," Kyo mutters. And now he /is/ quite finished yet.
"HOOAGH!" exclaims Saishu victoriously as his blow connects. Kyo is launched towards the ground, and ultimately... does not get back up. Saishu holds the 'I just punched someone in the face' pose, fist still aflame, for several seconds as his eyes slowly rotate down to peer at Kyo. When there is no counter-offensive, those flames snuff out, and Saishu frowns most disapprovingly.
"Youngsters have no stamina! This is why I chose never to be young! They're all soft and weak at the knees! Guffaw, I say!"
Shaking his head in disappointment at Kyo, Saishu's own knees start to wobble a bit the longer he stands, the various burns on his body finally starting to register in his debatably senile brain. "L-like I was saying," he stammers back, proudly (and perhaps with deliberate drama) biting back the pain (which probably isn't as great as he's pretending to pretend it's not, if you can follow that), "there are many good things you can learn at school! Like how not to be young, or how to respect your father, or how to pick up a girl who doesn't look like a boy! And that is why..."
Saishu turns proudly, the burnt Kusanagi symbol on the back of his gi displayed in all its grandiosity as he begins to stride off. "... you're finishing school, or I'm cutting off your money! Ha! Ha! Ha!" And with that, Saishu bounds off, with no explanation as to whether he is being serious or just being Saishu.
"Ha!"
COMBATSYS: Saishu takes no action.
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Saishu 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Saishu has ended the fight here.
It's difficult to tell if Kyo is impressed or not by what Saishu has to say; though, based on previous events, 'not so much' seems like a probable response. "Keh," mutters the younger Kusanagi in annoyance, looking mournfully over at his nice spot in the sunbeam, which is now rather damaged from all the fighting. "Like I care."
Or does he?!
DUN DUN DUUUN...
DUUUUUUUUUN.
Log created on 16:21:32 01/04/2009 by Saishu, and last modified on 02:14:43 01/05/2009.