Description: Not long after his encounter with the Devil of Koga, Tenma finally manages to meet back up with one of his friends - Kenji 'Missile Fist' Ashima. Taking refuge at the Ashima residence, the two Guardian Kings catch up on what they've been doing since getting separated during the fall of Gedo High, and look towards the future with new resolve: To find the rest of their friends, and to recapture their school from the grip of Shadaloo and NESTS.
They usually say that it's the springtime of one's life, when they're in their teenage years. Budding love, the prospect for the future, and all of that-- and then you have what has been, so far, one of the worst months of Kenji Ashima's lifetime.
His school overrun, his friends throwing themselves into the front lines repeatedly, and suffering from his own injuries during the outset of the invasion, injuries that landed him well enough in the hospital. Despite not knowing how he got there, both of his parents were there right fast, especially with his mother working there. Eventually, he was released, and the Gedo student was hauled off home by his parents, where they then locked the doors, deadbolted the doors, and kept the speed dial for all the phones set to emergency services ... as if they would be able to help. The television in the living room is perpetually set to the local news, tracking the damage and making notes of how far north or south the damage has shifted. The Ashima household is currently out of danger's reach, but how long would it last?
Kenji himself is seated in his room, clad in a loose t-shirt and wearing a pair of jeans. His hair isn't styled up, and his arms are wrapped nearly to the wrists with stretches of bandage. With his closet, the self-proclaimed 'gate of heaven' holding the entirety of his manga collection opened, a few of the books are scattered at the foot of his bed, half-reading another book.
Right now, it's his only comfort.
How long, indeed? The search for his teammates, from whom he's been separated since the fighting started, has brought Tenma Kiryuu to the logical next step: Just go to their houses and find out, gosh. Of course, things being what they are, Tenma was somewhat waylaid by the appearance of an old enemy, forced to fight not just to proceed, but for his life - for his very soul.
Seriously, there's no way Tenma could ever get as into those manga series that Kenji loves so much... It's hard to escape entertainment when it's /so much like your real life/.
So, into this little island of normalcy in the depths of the war ravaging Southtown comes... A little bit of the real world. Of course, most of the time the real world would probably intrude by the front door, knocking like a reasonable human being, but nobody's ever been foolish enough to mistake the leader of the Guardian Kings for a reasonable human being; if he /was/, then he probably wouldn't be able to do all the things he does every day. So, as a rule, Tenma elects to do things in an unusual way, to approach problems from a different direction than most others. Sometimes, that direction works well, sometimes it's catastrophic.
Sometimes it means someone is knocking at Kenji's window, and staring in with an almost comically flat expression, as though this were the most normal thing in the world and he ought to be let in immediately.
From Tenma's angle, he can see virtually everything that the Missile Fist's room has to offer: For one, it really is amazingly well-kept. Kenji's window faces the doorway to his room. Closed, with the closet on the left wall, his bed wedged into the corner on the right wall, and his study desk just below the window. The dresser is wedged into the left corner closer to the window, and there are a scant few posters for some obscure manga series and clippings from newspapers.
Kenji's legs stick right out into view through that window-- thankfully he didn't mess up and end up at his sister's window-- and the rapping on the glass is what jolts him with a slight grunt, his body a bit stiff and sore yet still. His legs swing around and to the floor, and with a wince, the Guardian King is staring out of his window at Tenma, perched at the sill like a cat. Briefly, Kenji blinks his eyes a few times, but the haggard teenager finally realizes that he isn't, in fact, hallucinating, and moves to the window.
Pushing notebooks, textbooks, and papers to the side, he pops the locks on the windows and slides it up with another low grunt before stepping back. "You could've just used the front d--"
"What the heck happened to you?"
Yes, that would be terrible; of course, knowing Kenji's sister, she might not have minded too much if Tenma /did/ end up peeking in through her window first... Though everybody else in her family would probably take it amiss.
Not to mention, Tenma would probably just flee in terror, first.
"It's not nice to leave people waitin' outside," the Kiryuu heir says when the window is opened; he drops his bokken inside with a clatter, before clambering in after it, sitting himself down on the floor with an exhaled sigh. Tenma... Definitely looks worse for wear, his shirt in tatters and visible bruising around his throat. Also, weirdly, there's something purple smeared on his lips. But the physical injuries aren't what's getting to him, not really. What's troubling the Gedo swordsman is the spiritual harm he sustained at the hands of... That /thing/. "The Grudge happened," Tenma replies to Kenji's question, shrugging uncomforably and leaning his head back against the windowsill. He has more pressing issues to consider, though.
"You got anything to eat?"
Standing there awkwardly for a moment, a hand reaches up to scratch at the back of his head. "I wasn't expectin' to have company suddenly come flyin' through the window, either..." he replies, attempting to lighten the mood of the moment with a single, pathetic, half-hearted laugh. Still, he hurries over toward his bed, picking up the books into a small stack and setting it on the desk.
When he gets a better look at Tenma, that's when he notes the minute details, like the marks on his neck and ... is that lipstick?
Pushing it all aside, the question brings Kenji back to Earth, and he quickly opens the left-side drawer of his desk. "I don't have a lot on me right now, haven't gone to the shop yet." Setting down small bags and tins of sunflower seeds, peanuts, and otherwise healthy snackfood, Kenji listens to Tenma's very simple explanation with a darkening expression.
Of course, when he faces Tenma again, he asks the obvious question: "Are you all right?"
Healthy... Snackfood. Tenma gives the snacks a dubious look, and then gives Kenji an even /more/ dubious look, before scooping something up. Food's food, one supposes, even if it is granola or birdseed or whatever.
"Thanks," the Guardian King leader offer in a mutter, but at least he said it out loud instead of just thinking it to himself. Maybe he's making progress on developing actual social skills and behaving like a real human being. A little headway, at least. It's funny what a near death experience or two (hundred) can do to a guy. Munching on healthy snacks instead of the quick-energy junk food he'd probably prefer, the demon hunter is silent for a few minutes, before he actually replies to Kenji's obvious question.
"I'll be fine," Tenma says, which doesn't actually answer the question at all. "That freaky vampire bitch is a lot worse off than me, anyway." Looking up, Tenma turns a canny blue eye on Kenji and his awkward movement. Hmm. "What 'bout you? Still in fightin' trim? 'cause I dunno about you, but I'm not sittin' around doing nothing while those assholes do whatever they want to our school."
When given 'that look,' Kenji can only blink in what seems to be sheer, utter confusion. Was there something wrong with the food? Or was he more expecting the desk to be rife with bags of candy? In either event, he lifts the lid on a can of peanuts and scoops a few out before putting the lid back on.
Tossing the snack into his mouth, crunching it down, and seating himself on the end of his bed, Kenji can only offer Tenma a slight shrug in reply-- at least, while his mouth is full. After a good swallow, he gingerly pats his side a little bit. "The guy with the claw messed me up pretty good, I can't lie about it. Mom said I made out pretty lucky, too, considerin' that I got stabbed and hacked up like that." He glances towards the door, letting out a half-snort. "She was so pissed off I ended up like that, but... Hakuya and I probably helped a lot more of the others get out of there, so..."
He shrugs, again, shaking his head. "I'll be fine. I can't lie an' say that I'm up to a hundred percent again, but I took a lot worse that one time on the boat." Jinchuu-- the Blacknoah, the night that Kenji had been utterly ruined by attacks from all sides, and of all varieties-- and he still came out of it in one relative piece. "I haven't heard from Hakuya in a little bit. Shurui, either-- I still have to call Futaba's and see if she's all right. I haven't heard from Ren or Sada. Phone lines've also been jammed up bad since all of this started, so it's not like I can ring anyone up any easier."
Guy with a claw, that's just perfect. Of course, there would be all sorts of freaks involved during the attack on the school, right? Maybe Tenma was lucky he just had to fight the insanely powerful guy with the god complex, and the cute girl who tried to murder him with ice. As Kenji relates what actually happened to him during the attack, the Gedo swordsman frowns a little bit, though it's hard to tell whether it's because he's actually bothered by the description, or whether he's merely lost in thought. It might, of course, even be both.
Tenma shakes his head, though, after a moment. "Been lookin' for the others, haven't been able to find them, except for Pás, anyway, but she turned up in my bedroom. Not Hakuya, not Voronkova. Or Chiang, either," he adds, almost as an afterthought; she IS 'his people' in that she's a Gedo student, but she's not a member of the Guardian Kings. She's not one of the people Tenma Kiryuu absolutely wants backing him up when they head in there to take back their school. "Mind you I've been a bit busy trying to keep those Shada-whatever freaks from wrecking the food supply at Taiyo. Not that /that/ worked," he grouses. He messed up there, and he knows it. He doesn't even have it in him to blame Flora for that one. "So, we just have to find 'em another way."
He hasn't been able to get in touch with anyone, then. That leaves Kenji looking even more troubled than before, eyes intently staring at the carpeted floor. No contact with Shurui, Stasya, Hakuya, or any of their other friends, allies, compatriots, and the long, long list of people that hate Tenma for any reason. No word from their rivals from Pacific High, either, but he does reaffirm to himself that they can take care of themselves fairly well.
Kenji nods, his expression flattening out. "The old bag," he says, making a reference to Marise, "She showed up with the claw guy at Gedo when they came rollin' in. I haven't heard anything that hasn't been on the news since then. I mean-- I know Gedo was taken." His hand waves a bit, as if he's trying to find his own point. "I'm not sure where Hakuya stays. Never been to Stasya's place before, either. If it comes down to it, we can get everyone to meet up here. We're far enough away from downtown we won't get caught up in any problems... at least, for now, I think. My parents shouldn't have a problem letting you guys stay, if it comes down to it."
Drawing up a leg, Kenji lets his elbow settle on his knee, propping up his head with the heel of his hand. "I just wish I was a little more useful in the school. Dude wrecked me pretty fast. You won't be able to miss him, he puts on this weird steel mask and talks about how beautiful he is."
Kenji looks up at Tenma, next. "So what's the plan, boss?"
There's no reason to hate Tenma Kiryuu at all, all those people who do are simply delusional and wrongheaded. They just can't see how awesome and loveable he truly is, which betrays deep character flaws on their part.
A faint snort escapes Tenma as Kenji elaborates on the presence of Marise and Balrog; he's already proven he can handle the Devil of Koga if he has to, and if he has his friends with him it'll be even easier. But if the Spaniard is that much of a badass... Well. Being outmatched has certainly never been enough to deter the King of Blood before. And he doubts that, when the chips are down, it'd really cause Missile Fist to second-guess himself, either.
"People got out because of you, and you didn't die. That's all that matters," Tenma says, firmly. Conviction is the primary emotion in his tone. "The others didn't die, either." Marise said she'd killed people, his friends... But lies are all she really is. He can't let himself get caught up in worrying; he has to just trust them, especially Hakuya and Stasya.
But what /is/ the plan? As Kenji looks to Tenma for guidance...
"We need to find out what the Boss is doin'," Tenma says. They need to coordinate with Daigo, that much is certain. If they don't work together, there's no way they're going to be able to retake the school. "An' then we beat the shit out of anybody dumb enough to get in our way," Tenma adds. As he says this, his mouth pulls into a broad smirk, and his tone changes; it's more the Old Tenma, before things got so serious. And he holds out his fist towards Kenji. "Ain't that right, Mister Secretary?"
Now, their roles are reversed. Tenma gives his own form of a pep talk, as much as the Guardian King would likely deny it to be so, and Kenji is the one being reassured. The situations are quite different, but the moment is just so similar that it starts to draw a bit of amusement out of the dark, angry parts of him that've resurfaced of late.
Fortunately enough, the Kiryuu swordsman gives out his plan, and it's just what he expected it to be. Sure, they wouldn't have an armored fighting vehicle to burst through walls this time, but the Guardian Kings are all about doing what they can with what's on hand-- and it usually results in a lot of people getting punched in the face. Straightening up, standing up to face Tenma, Kenji's bruised and bandaged right hand fans out with a distinct crack of virtually every knuckle and joint possible before it pulls into a fist, sent up ahead to rap against the fist of the Guardian Kings' leader. "No words could be more true, bossman."
They've all been through a lot, ever since they set foot on the Suiryuu; the chaos of the Jinchuu tournament, the battle underneath Capital 7, and now this war... It's a wonder any of the Guardian Kings can find it in themselves to be cheerful. ...Except maybe Hakuya. Not a lot manages to get under /that/ guy's skin, except of course the likes of Marise. But yeah, Tenma has something that remotely approaches seeming sort of like a plan. And it is, indeed, exactly what anyone who knows him would expect.
But hey, at least he's consistent.
"Heh, I knew you wouldn't let me down, Ashima," Tenma says, shaking his head a little bit. He might not place Missile Fist on the same level as he does Hakuya, but Kenji is still one of his closest friends, most trusted allies and favourite minions. He knows he can depend on all of them. Now, all they need is an opportunity.
That settled, Tenma glances at the healthy snacks, then looks back at Kenji. "Hey... Any chance your mom might cook something?" Tenma wonders, hopefully. Apparently having part of your soul sucked out makes you hungry!
Kenji's arms fall back to his sides, his thumbs hooking into the pockets of his jeans. Best friends and allies indeed, though he would probably have words in regards to being called a minion. Still, for as tired and wounded as he is, the Missile Fist will be there on the front lines of battle. First, they'll have to hunt down their friends across the sprawling size of Southtown. Then, once they've gathered together, they can go try to find Daigo, and ...
He laughs to himself. God, it really is like a manga.
Following Tenma's gaze to the snack food, then back to the eyes of the swordsman, Kenji scratches at the back of his head and nods. "I don't see why she wouldn't. Though..." he says, walking over to his dresser. Pulling out a loose red t-shirt, he throws it over to Tenma. "I'd put that on. Try to at least pass off lookin' halfway decent through all of this, so she doesn't freak out." He walks to the door, giving the knob a twist and stepping out into the hall. "C'mon down, we'll figure somethin' out while we eat-- I'm hungry, too."
About five seconds after stepping out into the hall, the curious face of Sakuya Ashima thrusts into the open doorway, noting the guest and apparently having heard the last few moments of the conversation, interested in who her brother could possibly be talking to. Her eyes go wide, she tucks her hair back over an ear, and then scuttles after Kenji as quickly as possible.
Okay, perhaps three for dinner.
Well, Tenma has some funny ideas about how the world works.
Catching the red t-shirt, he looks at it dubiously, then down at himself... Aha. Well, yeah, he guesses it might be a good idea. So actually what happens by the time Sakuya goes and peers into the room is that Tenma /has no shirt on/ because he's pulling the borrowed one over his head, and - because this is how these sorts of things work - he has no idea that his friend's younger sister just got quite the eyeful before she scurries downstairs.
Instead, once he's got the clean shirt on, he picks up his bokken and follows after the Ashima siblings. "Tch, weird family," Tenma mutters under his breath, at least hearing Kenji's sister hurrying after her brother. Only Tenma Kiryuu, with his rather unusual upbringing, would consider such a normal family 'weird'.
But, again, he has some funny ideas about how the world works.
Log created on 19:30:53 04/06/2009 by Tenma, and last modified on 12:47:03 04/07/2009.