The best hand is a losing one....
Slowly, as if drawn to the scene like flies to a carcass, the would-be gangsters surrounded the young man, his sword tilted down just so. That way they couldn’t deny the trail of blood running down its length in the moonlight.
“You bastard! You killed him didn’t you!?” The leader screamed, pointing a gun towards him.
“If you’ll excuse me. I have to be going to Tokyo. I’m already late enough….” he muttered softly, idly tilting his head back; wind torn hair did little to hide the feral look in his pale eyes.
“Y-you….the only place you’re going is Hell!” he shouted, firing a shot towards the boy. It missed, and yet he did not flinch from where he stood. The other men rushed him, letting loose a battle cry that made the trees shudder. The young man simply sighed and shifted his weight, easily lifting the heavy katana to eye level. With one simple movement he had skipped past three of the attackers, slicing the heads of each. The remaining three stood frozen in terror as the boy calmly shook the blade clean and righted himself, staring at them defiantly.
His voice stuttered once he finally found it, “How the hell….you’re just a fucking-”
“Kid?” He smiled and tilted his head to the side, suddenly looking like the ten year old he was. The man could only stare at him in stunned silence. Without thinking his comrades raised their arms and began firing wildly at the boy.
“N-no stop! Wait!” He cried after them, but by the time the words slipped past his lips the child stood before him, a shower of blood raining down over them as his two men fell to the ground, a half at a time. His mouth fell open as he stared into the eyes of what surely must have been the devil. The moon suddenly seemed to fall before him and touch his lip lightly. It took him a moment to realize the moon‘s edge was sharp, and was in fact the tip of a sword.
“W-w…who are you…?” He was visibly shaking. No ounce of honor was left in the way he was to leave this world. The boy chuckled softly, lips the color of soot pulled back to reveal gleaming white teeth. Slowly they formed the shapes of words, “Hachi-kyu-san.”
The man’s eyes grew twice their size before they glossed over, looking towards the heavens in death as the child pulled the sword from his head.
“Ne…ever play Oichu-kabu?” He grinned and turned, looking over his shoulder to the woman standing behind him back in the doorway. She kept her eyes pinned to the ground as she nodded slowly. “What’cha get?” He wiped the sword on his pant leg before sheathing it. The silent woman simply raised three cards. “Ya…Ku….Sa…..I lost…and got you..” She said slowly as the boy turned and stared at her.
“No….you….it can’t be…” He shook his head, suddenly running towards her.
“Goodbye….my son….” She smiled warmly before taking a short blade and sheathing it within her own gut. The boy screamed, catching her as she fell to her end. All at once the beast was quiet, the fight drained from his body as the blood of his mother pooled around him. There really was nothing left for him here now. Tokyo would be his last stop. He would fight his way there if he had to.
He owed someone.
Blood.
8, 9, 3 = 0
Good for nothing. Boy.