Description: Kazuki Kirigana heads to the Kyokugen Dojo to humbly request a match with a man he has met before. The two engage in a simple match, and get a measure of one another.
The Kyokugen Dojo. Right smack dab on the northern borders of Southtown, home of one of the harshest schools - if not the harshest - in the city. This is not a feel-good hangout place like the YFCC is. Here, everyone throws real punches. Bones get broken, people bleed. All in the name of growing tougher, growing stronger, to live up to the very name of the style itself.
Howard Rust has had to cut back big time on his visits following his boss telling him up front he needs to stop taking days off, period. He can't risk missing another day - so he has to go when it's safe to rest the next day or so. (Not that he doesn't usually just go to work tired and sometimes injured, but, the threat of being fired really makes you a touch more conservative.)
Ryo has said plainly that at his current level of study, just a once-a-week visit is not going to help him improve. It's true. It's absolutely true, but a part of the man doesn't want to give up. Even after losing King of Fighters and, very likely, his chance at fighting stardom for good. He's a grown man now, he has a job that he needs to be paying more heed to.
It doesn't reflect in his strikes as he's borrowed Marco's wrecking ball as repayment for some unspecified favor in the past. At some points it seems less about training and more about outright /frustration/ as he passes the weekend afternoon with so many things hanging over his head, mighty kicks to the scratched and dented wrecking ball in measured steps.
The yellow belt, far older than virtually all the other students around, more or less works what he's able to.
The clanging and banging can be heard around the area. However, that is not what draws the two people who are coming to visit. The first is a young Japanese man of average height and build, wearing a typical gi and hakama combination. The unusual things about him, however, are that the fighting togs are in Gedo High colors. And the headphones are a strange touch. Other than those two things, there is not anything really notable about the young man.
The young lady with him is of a similar vein, except that she is not wearing headphones, and her fighting uniform has the colors of Seijyun. She respectfully walks slightly behind and to the left of the young man, looking a bit nervous as they approach the massive gates of the dojo. "Kazuki-kun, are you certain he is even here?" the young lady asks.
"He's here," Kazuki Kirigana says with certainty. "I can hear his march from here, surprisingly."
Whether or not they are stopped by the Kyokugen students might be in question.
Most of the students are busy enough with their own drills. Many of them are working in repairing the latest dojo damages - if nothing else, a good Kyokugen student is a rather competent carpenter. The Sakazaki family in charge is probably in the middle of whining with Robert about getting more money or something, who knows. (Maybe Takuma went to Cosco again?)
Mr. Rust is not that deep in, his calloused bare feet striking against the ball again and again, occasionally causing it to sway a bit too strongly back in his direction. Frustration mounting at getting bumped by it for the umpteenth time, he growls and headbutts it.
(PSA: Don't ever headbutt a wrecking ball. Rust is a professional cartoon character on a closed course.)
"Gah!" He winces as he rubs his forehead. Let's face it, he's still got a while to go yet if he's going to match the fervor that Marco has when it comes to hammering the crap out of that thing.
He catches some people in fighting uniforms not of this school from the corner of his eye as he rubs his forehead. "Uh, hey, j-just a sec, I'll, I'll call for the master if, if, uh, you need him or... somethin'."
"It's no bother," Kazuki says easily. "As it is, I am here to see you." Something resolves in Kazuki. "I am Kazuki Kirigana, of the Kirigana Aikido Center," he says as he bows at the waist. "I am here to deliver Howard Rust-san of the Kyokugen Dojo to humbly request a match." Without straightening up he continues. "With me is Assistant Instructor Yuki Kagami, also of the Kirigana Aikido Center." The young lady bows with her hands in front of her. "A pleasure to meet you," she says with quiet formality. Kazuki continues, "She would act as my second during the match."
Mr. Rust's vision is a bit hazy for a short while, a reminder that maybe he should not have headbutted the wrecking ball, shaking his head out to try and clear up his senses Kazuki tells him it's no bother - and just in time for him to say he's here to see him.
"Oh, so, ah, that's me," he clears his throat. It's a humble request for a match, alongside his assistant instructor.
"Ah, 'scuse me, I, uh, I forgot my manners," he says as he bows to them as well. "I am, I am indeed him, and," he thinks about this as he looks to his toolbelt with Ol' Rusty lying there on the concrete. This is a formal match request in representing Kyokugen. Ol' Rusty's a part of him, he's incorporated both what he's learned in Kyokugen and his old ways together... but he figures Takuma would rather he represent a somewhat purer take on Kyokugen to this other school.
Never mind what would be implied as a vast difference in skill between himself, a mere yellow belt, to someone who is an assistant instructor along with whatever level of proficiency Kazuki himself has attained.
"And, and I humbly accept." It's kind of straightforward, without the heavy tones of hesitation that characterizes him... probably no better way to wrap up a day here at the dojo, for what good it could be worth now.
Kazuki pulls the headphones free and hands them to Yuki, who quietly slides off to one side. She no doubt provides a distraction to some of the younger, or less dedicated Kyokugen students. She is really there to make sure that nothing untoward happens, and really it's more for the form of it than anything. Kyokugen, while a bit rowdy, tends to be good about observing proper forms.
"Thank you," Kazuki says politely as he slides his feet apart. His whole posture seems relaxed and alert. However, he keeps his arms by his sides while he eyes Rust calmly. "Now then," he says with that same polite tone of voice. "I'd like to hear your song a bit better."
Kyokugen is fierce, powerful. Its most famous users are relentless, able to combine swift strikes with singly powerful blows. In terms of brute force, it has very few overall equals in the fighting world... and even fewer who can surpass it. It is one of the toughest schools around, and that this man has a yellow belt suggests at the core that he has passed the initial tests where many drop out of the school.
"Wait, you were that guy from, uh... few days back," Howard realizes, but nonetheless figures it's largely irrelevant to dwell on that now. "I, I dunno what you mean by song, I mean, I don't sing, but," he clears his throat. This bit of conversation he has robs him of a couple seconds in which to get properly psyched, in which to gather his mind and focus into the battle at hand.
In this, Kazuki has scored an early advantage.
Falling into his own stance, feet spread a bit apart (his stance is still much too rigid for what particular things he's been learning), hands in front. Kazuki may be able to clearly see the burn scar in his right palm - it's nasty business. Not quite as nasty as the combover, but still rather nasty.
Putting to work the lesson Takuma taught him when he was in his yellow belt test, he strains to get his leg up higher than he usually can from the get-go, another pop in his knee as he tries to send one of his feet up to around chin level of the Aikido-trained youth.
"Hwah!"
The impact of Rust's kick echoes across the courtyard as it collides firmly with Kazuki's jaw. Even as the younger man is being kicked, he turns with the blow which allows him to at least keep his feet. "It is like a march," Kazuki explains. "Firm, implacable."
The Aikidoka reaches for Rust's kicking leg, throwing a punch at the back of the older man's knee to get it to flex even as Kirigana plants his feet. The punch is followed by a torsion of the prodigy's hips and a sliding of the foot to trap Rust's planted leg. The throw is finished by a firm hand in the middle of the Kyokugen fighter's back to launch Rust across the makeshift arena. "Even if it /is/ a little quiet," he says finally.
Howard knows to retract his leg the very moment he feels his foot make contact, although Kazuki's fist brushes the cloth of his gi pants in retraction. A moment faster, and Kazuki would have caught him clean - for what power Rust may have, he is not particularly swift in most situations. One of his thigh muscles is already complaining about not stretching properly at all before pulling that off.
"Uh, what's like a march?" The older man seems confused, "and, uh... quiet?" It seems kinda loud with the shouts of other Kyokugen fighters out and about around the concrete training ground, a pause in further attack as he stretches out one of his legs a little before settling back into his stance.
Yuki giggles a bit as Kazuki circles Rust carefully. She understands, a bit, of what Kazuki is talking about. "It's... difficult to explain," Kazuki says. "My apologies. I should not be distracting you like this during a match." Even if he /is/ on the losing end of this.
Kazuki frowns a bit as he considers. Before him stands one of the more immovable fighters around, even if Rust was not ready to admit to such a thing. It will be hard for the young man to throw Rust if the instructor does not make a move. Then he grins, recalling a story Tohei-sensei told him about the professional wrestler. Definitely a violation of one of Aikido's main precepts, but sometimes you need to force a reaction.
Kirigana slides forward, seeking to grab not Rust but Old Rusty in order to yank the older man off balance before tripping Howard up to send him to the turf. If he manages that, he will keep his grip on Rust's weapon. It could stand in for a sword, and a lot of Aikido revolves around aggressive disarming.
Maybe English is just a second language for Kazuki, Rust wonders? Though he's never heard of native Japanese trying to quantify things by... sound when speaking in English. Ol' Rusty is not being drawn, no, it just happily sits there in the toolbelt. Howard is refraining from its use since if they're asking for a match from someone representing /Kyokugen/, well, he sure as hell ought to be representing its more purer form.
"Yeah, tell me 'bout it later," Rust decides to say as he considers his next action - and there's Kazuki's smile. This should be a tell. With Kazuki's forward slide, the shop teacher slash Kyokugen karate student sways a bit to the side, thinking it's a clean miss.
But no, Kazuki has his hold of Ol' Rusty!
It's surprising enough that it in fact works to toss him plenty off balance, perfect for a trip that sends him to the turf as Ol' Rusty falls into the grasp of the wily Kazuki as it is picked clean from the toolbelt!
The man moves with the throw, however, showing that despite his stiffness and his weight, he at least knows how to take a throw. At minimum, at least how to redirect the force a bit - it's a worthy skill, although now he appears at the disadvantage.
"H-Hey," the older man says as he realizes what's going on here. This may, in fact, be the very thing Kazuki is waiting for as he lays his left hand upon the pipe and looks to sharply tug it out of his hand in a lapse of prudent combat technique as opposed to simply taking back what's /his/.
Kazuki's plan was, in fact, that simple. He had intended to step in with Rust's pull, before planting a foot behind the older man's heel to send him to the floor. Old Rusty, however, seems to know its master. The sheer power at Rust's command, also, is a bit greater than Kazuki had initially planned on.
Perhaps this is why Tohei-sensei would not teach him any more. That there were things Kazuki had to learn on his own. Gaging one's opponent properly, for instance. The youth goes in too quickly, allowing Rust to complete the impromptu throwing of the prodigy. Kirigana lays there for a moment as Yuki scolds him. "Get up, Kazuki-kun," she says. "I know you are not done yet."
Kirigana grins quietly, if a bit lopsidedly as he regains his feet. "Yes," is all he says.
With that, the older man takes the time to set Ol' Rusty onto the concrete floor where it can be a spectator and cheer from the sides, except that it is a completely inanimate object and thus has no concept or grasp of morale. Or any such capacity of 'concept' or 'grasp' to begin with, while we're at it.
"I'll, I'll concede, that was... that was kinda smart," he says as he lightly pats Ol' Rusty while knelt over, as if to say to it 'shh, shh, it's okay, I'm not going to let him take you.' Someone should probably get him into some therapy about that.
Standing straight back up, his knees crackle as he stretches out his shoulders, rolling out a bit of tension as he properly zones his frame of mind back into the oncoming fight, free of distractions. His eyes narrow, his fingers wiggle every so often, and his legs go apart.
"Now... so, ah, what else ya got?"
Kazuki slides his left foot forward, trying to read Rust's stance and body language carefully before committing to his next move. He frowns. He doesn't see any openings, any signs of weakness aside from the creaking joints. He casts a glance at Yuki, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Something is communicated there. Yuki raises an eyebrow back at Kazuki before sighing and giving him a short nod.
Kirigana completely relaxes his stance before formally bowing to Rust. "It would seem," Kazuki says as he brings himself upright, "That continuing this match would only lead to my defeat. I cannot find or force any good openings to use." Strangely enough, Kazuki does not seem frustrated. In fact, one might come to the conclusion that Kazuki had sort of suspected that this would be the case. He certainly does not seem upset. "Truly implaccable," he says.
Mr. Rust tries to stand ready best he can. Kazuki has proven himself very intelligent and capable of taking advantage of interesting angles of attack - but yet, there's that silence of reluctance, as though both of them are waiting for the other to make a move. The way Kazuki's focus seems to wander - what's he thinking? What's he seeing?
When the young Aikido student bows, that's the sign it's over. In what Kazuki says there is something interesting - the admission that there is a significant gap in ability and skill, perhaps too great, for Kazuki to overcome.
This would be one of the very few times this man has ever been addressed in this manner as a clear superior in fighting skill, after a long string of disappointments and feelings of near powerlessness despite steadily climbing the Kyokugen ranks where few ever expected him to make it even out of white belt status.
The older man simply bows in turn, though not in perfect synch with Kazuki's own. Howard has yet to master at least some of the proper dojo decor, which should rightfully get him slapped by Marco or some such down the line.
"Ah, I, I accept that notion," the older man says as he rises up out of his bow, "I mean, I don't... I don't mean to devalue what you did, but, but are you just starting, or?"
Yuki is the one to answer Rust's question. "He doesn't work hard enough at it," she says in a matter of fact tone. "I'm still not sure why he asked me to come with him for this," she says with a slight blush, maybe giving the impression that she is here because Kazuki asked it of her.
"Yuki," Kazuki says, sounding a bit embarrassed. "Enjoying the moment is all I've ever wanted to do," he says. "You, though," he says. "It has to take a great deal of courage to do what you are trying to do, Rust-san." Kazuki nods his head. "I..." Kazuki, for all of his relaxed demeanor, looks a bit nervous. What he is about to talk about has always been hard to explain. "Do you know anything of chi, sir?"
He doesn't? Mr. Rust isn't what one would call an expert on the ins and outs of Aikido, but most of the motions Kazuki showed seemed competent enough. Not as aggressive, sure, but, "huh," he ends up commenting to Yuki's declaration as he brings his left hand to his chin.
"I, I don't know about... about it taking a, a great deal of courage," he humbly pushes it off - what does courage really have to do with it? (Ignoring the fact you are almost never more than two hundred feet away from one of the most powerful men alive who will likely kick your teeth in at the slightest or sometimes complete lack of prior provocation.)
"Chi?" He looks up as he picks up Ol' Rusty and fits it back into the toolbelt, one of his elbows popping loudly. "I mean, I, I know what it is," most fighters do, as he shakes his head, "'m no good at, at... projecting it like, y'know, those Ko'ou Kens you see 'round here."
Just a ways behind Rust, some yellow belts are in fact practicing performing them.
Kazuki turns an ear towards the students. Yeah... those sound about right. "Well, that sounds about right," he murmurs. "I... /hear/ chi," he finally says. "The way it flows, the way it collects. The way that people use it in a fight. From a lot of people, it sounds like music to my ears." He glances aside before looking back to Rust. "Have you considered, sir," Kazuki finally says. "That there are more ways to use it than just projection?"
"...Hear it?" Mr. Rust wonders. Is it the same as the ringing he gets in his ears sometimes after handling some particularly loud equipment? He rubs the side of his face, as if turning his ear back over to the display where... he doesn't really follow beyond the typical shouts and noises of students shouting.
When Kazuki looks back, he does too, their eyes meeting although his face is still colored in a crayon named confusion.
"Uh... not... really," he slumps a little, completely lost mentally.
Kazuki chuckles a bit nervously when Rust tries to listen. "I've... been told it is something of a unique talent," he says. He looks to Rust, considering for a moment. "Well, you can use your chi to accomplish great feats of strength and endurance. Some use it to punch things that would shatter bones without taking any injury. Some use chi to enhance their speed. Others send it out into the world," he explains as he gestures back to the students throwing fireballs.
He tilts his head to one side, regarding Rust curiously. "Perhaps you may consider asking your instructors here about it. I am certain that the Sakazaki family would know something on the subject."
It is a fact in what Kazuki says - although he may not acknowledge it as such, he is definitely using chi to perform one of his trademark feats of endurance - one of the key things that makes him particularly hard to take down by sheer physical force alone. Given the stress some of the junior instructors had given in trying to /get/ him to throw fireballs, though, sometimes he wonders - an unwarranted thought - if he's never going to even be able to do what those behind him are doing right now.
"Yeah, y'know, m-maybe I should," he says, knowing full well he needs to catch them at /some/ point to ask about what Antoine said about chi being corrupted, or what have you. It's just a matter of /catching/ them, at this point, given his scarcer visits to these training grounds.
Kazuki seems to see right through Rust for a moment. "Even if you never do that," he says as he waves to the other students, "You should not let that stop you from doing what you /can/ do. There is much to be said for going to your strengths, Rust-san, and yours are not inconsiderable."
Kazuki smiles as Yuki hands him his headphones. "And who is to say," he says before slipping them back around his neck, "Perhaps by learning better internal use, you will learn how to do the things you seem to want to do. Or perhaps you will grow beyond the desire for such things."
It is interesting, to see a guy who has quickly admitted defeat suddenly give significant insight that would strongly suggest the opposite of what had just happened between the two of them - where Rust seemed to have been a step ahead of Kazuki within their brief exchanges of blows.
"Ehh... maybe," he seems to shrug at this well-intentioned, well-reasoned advice from a young man who has the talent for that sort of thing, as he rolls out a kink in his shoulder. There's almost always a kink in his shoulder, but after how he hit the concrete that one time it's an especially nasty little kink.
Kinky shoulder.
"Were, were any of you, uh, lookin' for anything else here? I mean, I don't mean to interrupt the, the thing you're talkin' 'bout, I'm just sayin'... while we're here."
"Not really," Kazuki says as he slides the headphones up over his ears. "It is not often that I hear a march like yours." He grins a bit, bowing again before he turns to leave. "I simply wanted to come pay my respects, and perhaps try myself against such a song." He nods to Yuki, who regards the young man oddly. She wasn't expecting /any/ of this, it seems.
A march like his... well, he's not sure if he'd call it a march. True enough, Rust's body is, in chi terms, fairly rigid. It doesn't move much, very solid. Also it crackles a fair bi-- wait, no, that last one's just his shoulder again. How many pops can a shoulder make within the span of a minute, anyway?
"Well, uh... all right," the older man says. "Just, ah, come back any time, if... if you want another go." The Kyokugen Dojo does deal with its fair share of dojo crashers. There is /protocol/ to be followed in accepting challenges from rival schools!
With that, he turns back to the iron ball. Hmm, using chi to accomplish great feats unrelated to mere energy projection. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back, and thinks about whacking the ball again with his forehead.
Let's just cut it short here and say it doesn't end well.
Log created on 16:00:55 03/13/2011 by Kazuki, and last modified on 22:30:31 03/13/2011.