[Series] Thin Line; 01 Hate
Title: Thin Line
Author: b_sim
Characters/Pairings: GACKT/Hyde (Hideto)
Rating: R
Genre: AU, general, gore
Summary: When the two ninja, Gackt from Koga and Hideto from Takeda, fought over who would kill the target, neither of them knew what they were getting themselves into.
Notes: Please note that gore has been added as one of the genres. Nothing too graphic like in the movies but it might make you a little squirmish. Anyway, really had fun with this chapter. It's long, though. :B
Disclaimer: Do not own anyone.
Gackt tried to block out the sounds of his comrades talking amongst themselves. He usually didn’t mind as it’d gain him intel as to what was going on - the death of a lord or a person, perhaps - without him actually having to converse with others. It wasn’t that he hated them or that he was anti-social, but he just didn’t like talking and preferred to keep to himself. So he kept his ears open for big news like this. But the news he was currently hearing? He didn’t want to know. Not at all.
It wasn’t a death of a lord or anyone noble. It was a death of someone important, especially in their line of business. It was the death of an underworld boss. A yakuza boss, particularly the one in charge of tekiya, the street peddlers, in their town. The tekiya were the ones whom the ninja usually got their information and drugs from. The reason why the tekiya’s boss, Onishi, had been killed was unclear and unknown but how he had gotten killed was blatantly, cruelly and disgustingly obvious; the man’s face had been torn open from the left side of the mouth, revealing a bit of the skull. The top of his head had been bashed open by what people believed was a rock, as there had been a huge, blood-stained one laying next to the corpse when it had been found. The man’s brains had been scattered all around and the killer hadn’t stopped there either, having proceeded to cut open his stomach and then stab the liver. The kunai was still in Onishi’s liver when he was found.
Not only that, but the stomach, spleen, the kidney and one lung had been removed from the body and had been squashed into the ground.
But the talk of town wasn’t about the cruelty of the death itself but, instead, how the killer that had done it had managed to get past all the other yakuza in the first place. Travelling with Onishi had been more than ten yakuza and all ended up dead. Even for a ninja to take out that many people on his own was surprising. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone - the townspeople, even people from other villages, the yakuza and even royalty. The police were at a loss as well - Onishi was someone they had been trying to track down for months but because of Onishi’s usage of different names, wide range of contacts and friendships with powerful people, they hadn’t been able to. How the killer had managed to find Onishi was beyond them.
People were also beginning to wonder if there had been more than one culprit, but after investigating the crime scene, they realised that, while it was possible, it wasn’t likely. A team needed to take out Onishi and his men had to consist of at least another ten people and a group that large would have had trouble finding Onishi. There had been several tracks of foot prints but everyone figured those belonged to Onishi and his group. They had found several broken twigs and fallen leaves in the woods lining the road Onishi had been on, making a trail, and the police figured that that was where the killer had come from. If there had been more than one, they would have been able to find more trails with said broken twigs and fallen off leaves.
Unable to fathom how a single man could manage this, they all chalked it up to ‘Hyde’.
Some of the most gruesome, terrifying murders of their time were all done by a person that the public had dubbed as ‘Hyde’, a name they had derived from ‘Haido’, the Demon everyone had heard of that was from Izu[1]. It first started when they found a huge bear, dead, in the woods. The bear had been terrorizing their hunters, even ending up killing four or five of them. The bear had been found with its body in half, several teeth extracted and disemboweled. The next had been a child-rapist that had been found hung from a tree. That alone wouldn’t have been so bad but what made it so horrifying was that the man had been hung with his small intestine. Then, there had been a family of thieves that had become Hyde’s next target.
The said family of thieves had lived in a small cottage away from the village and in the forest. The police had been notified of a fire coming from there and had went to investigate, finding the small cottage in flame and the people that owned it covered in blood and laying on the steps that led to the porch. The two female teenagers each had a senbon in their throat with their thighs cut open. An older man had two senbon in his eyes and his lips had been cut off. A young boy no older than twelve had a huge gash in his head but he was alive.
For some reason, Hyde had decided to spare his life.
It was later made known to the public that the young boy had had no intention of ever becoming a criminal but, instead, had been forced into the life of one under the threat of death.
There had been several more murders, all so alike to the work of the Demon of Izu that they had started to call the killer Hyde.
Despite the many killings Hyde had made, it was that one incident with the family of thieves that made the name ‘Hideto from Takeda’ so familiar to Gackt. Hideto from Takeda was Hyde.
Among the many ninja clans, Hyde had been revealed to them all as Hideto from Takeda. The head of the Takeda clan had had no choice but to reveal Hideto. It was the only way to assure them that Hyde was an ally and not an enemy. It was the only way to keep Hideto safe. He was a good ninja, but if he faced off with the other clans, there was no way he’d survive. And as for the meaningless gore, Hideto had just said that he was an artist and that organs and blood happened to be his materials. No one had a real problem with it so it was left at that.
“So Hyde strikes again,” one of Gackt’s comrades, Nakamura, commented with a wry grin and laugh. “He’s good…”
“He is. I tried tracking Onishi down once. I spent a month looking for him but the guy was like a shadow - he exists, he’s there, but you can never grab him.”
Gackt closed his eyes and tried to focus on his book. But he couldn’t, not when Nakamura and Minami were talking so loudly about Hyde and how great he was. He could hear the slightest bit of envy in their tones and he hated it. He hated how Hyde, or rather Hideto, was viewed as so magnificent, revered by the younger ninja and by some of the villagers who thought he was a hero. He hated that Hideto was so famous (or infamous, really) and that he wasn’t. It made his blood boil.
“Why’d he do it, though? Now one of our biggest sources for information is dead,” Minami pointed out.
“We’ll find out soon, enough. The clan heads are having another meeting soon. Most of ‘em aren’t pleased with Onishi’s death.”
Gackt sighed and got up from where he sat on the platform in their training grounds, leaving their clan quarters. Dressed as a civilian, he didn’t get weird stares or frightened looks as he entered the town of Koga. Gackt had thought he might be able to escape Nakamura and Minami, and he had, but only to step into a whole town talking about it instead. Crossing a newspaper stand, he found a small article of Hyde on the front page - no picture, of course. He passed by several young girls all gushing over Hyde and wondering what he looked like. He heard harsh, frightened whispers from old ladies about how Hyde might come after the villagers. He overheard some policemen talking about how Hyde was making their force look incompetent and that they had to work harder. Gackt almost snorted when he heard that one - policemen aspiring to be as good as Hideto?
No. Just, no.
To Gackt, neither Hyde nor Hideto was a person that young girls should be gushing over. He wasn’t someone that the police should secretly look up to and want to be. He wasn’t a hero and he wasn’t, as Nakamura had put it, ‘good’.
To put it simply, Gackt didn’t like Hideto.
Hideto was unprofessional. No ninja went about making such a big mess out of their targets unless it was in their job specifications and it was known to everyone that Hideto merely did it for fun. Gackt could almost picture that silly grin and crazed look in his eyes as he had killed Onishi. Gackt could almost picture the whole scene in his head and he hated that someone like that was famed and looked up to. He wasn’t a ninja. He was just some idiot who enjoyed killing. He was nothing but a murderer.
And, Hideto was playful. Gackt thought it was fine to let loose once in a while but Hideto’s ‘once-in-a-while’ was ‘always’. He made a joke out of his missions, out of his comrades and out of people in general. He was disrespectful, even to his elders in the clan. He had heard how Hideto had once been left in a empty food pantry, the ones made from concrete, for three days without food or water because he had dissed one of the higher-ups. He heard that when he was released, the first thing he had done was give the insulted man the finger, exhaustion and all. What kind of ninja acted like that?
Furthermore, Hideto was proud. He was like a peacock, demanding attention and always showing off. His work showed those aspects of him clearly. Ninja were supposed to be humble people who kept in the dark and remained silent - it was no wonder that Hideto sucked at infiltration.
But the one thing that made Gackt hate Hideto the most was that he was everything that he claimed to be.
Hideto was strong. Hideto was quick, fast, powerful and he had an attitude that made no one want to mess with him. He was unprofessional, but that made him one-of-a-kind. He was playful and disrespectful, but Gackt supposed that was what made people respect him. He wasn’t afraid of punishment. He wasn’t afraid of the consequences. He simply wasn’t afraid.
Hideto was a good ninja. Perhaps he was, Gackt mused.
But I’m better.
*****
A soft chuckle rumbled deep in his throat. Dark eyes sped up and down the newspaper article.
Then Hideto laughed and placed the newspaper down on the floor. Reading the article had brought back certain memories from the day he had killed Onishi and his men. He had been thrown back into the very moment when he carved Glasgow smiles on all of those kids’ faces. He could feel blood spurting out from their bodies and onto what bits of his face that wasn’t covered by the zukin he had worn. He remembered the feel of Onishi’s blood running over his hands and Onishi’s choked gasps and cries rang in his ears.
Did you know, Gackt? That a human can survive even without a stomach, spleen, kidney and lung? Hideto thought, grinning and cackling softly to himself. He knew Gackt hated the way he killed his targets. Which was why he tried to make each one, each one after he had met Gackt anyway, more gory than the last. To Hideto, though, it wasn’t really gory but rather avant-garde. That’s right, Gackt, he was still alive after I removed all that… Still conscious. Still able to feel pain. Can you even imagine what that must be like?
Hideto just knew there was a look of pure disdain on Gackt’s face. The disgust, the hate… Hideto got pleasure out of knowing that.
Just like how Gackt didn’t like him, he didn’t like Gackt either. It was a mutual dislike. Maybe even a mutual hate.
Gackt was too serious. Most ninja were serious but Gackt took it to a whole new level. No, it wasn’t because he was a loner. Hideto was one too(mostly because people didn’t want to hang out with him anyway. They all thought he was insane.). It was mainly because Gackt never smiled. He smirked and he grinned when things went his way, but he never smiled just because he felt happy. He never laughed at any jokes made and he didn’t find humour in anything. Even the way he spoke was so serious.
Hideto swore Gackt had a stick (maybe a sword…) stuck up his ass. He was a fucking lap dog, too. No matter what his elders said, he obeyed. No matter how stupid an order was, he carried it out. He treated them with the utmost respect and, Hideto didn’t know if they deserved it or not, but he knew Gackt was going to give it to them regardless of that. He was like a puppet that belonged to the clan. He was an ass-kisser that lived his life solely for them. Hell, he didn’t know how to live life at all. Life was wasted on him, Hideto believed. Gackt simply wasn’t human. He never complained about anything, didn’t seem to be capable of feeling or showing happiness and he was just too perfect. He was the perfect ninja. One that didn’t talk back, one that couldn’t think about betrayal, one that didn’t allow emotions to control him.
Hideto hated it.
Hideto hated that Gackt was a better ninja than him, but only when it came to deception and infiltration. Gackt’s disregard for his emotions allowed him to deceive people too easily. And no matter how well-guarded a castle was, he would always manage to infiltrate it without a problem. Become the surroundings? Hideto didn’t want to believe it but he did and he hated that he did.
So Hideto tormented him. Knowing that Gackt hated his fame as much as Hideto hated him, Hideto made his kills bloodier and more disgusting. He made sure that his kills were something that people just had to talk about for days to come. It would drive Gackt bonkers.
Hideto grinned at that thought. He wondered if he’d be able to see that irritated look on Gackt’s face for himself.
*****
It had been nine months since they had first met at Lord Itao’s castle. Nine months since they had first fought against one another. It had been an unfinished fight. Both of them couldn’t stand not finishing their fight, couldn’t stand not knowing who was stronger. But, because he hadn’t been given any orders, Gackt had restrained the urge to kill Hideto and had carried on with his life. He couldn’t be bothered by such childish things.
But, he had thought to himself when he felt someone watching him a week after Lord Itao’s killing, if Hideto started the fight, he could always end it and say he had fought to defend himself.
Unlike Gackt, Hideto followed his feelings and if he wanted something done, he’d do it, even if it pissed off his elders. They didn’t know where he had snuck off to, anyway. He could always say he had just gone to town. He just had to finish this quickly, he thought as he followed Gackt wherever he went. He hadn’t known what Gackt had looked like but with a little help from one of his only friends from the Koga clan, Shichigama, he had been able to find Gackt almost immediately - Gackt was the only man with a buzz cut in this town, it seemed.
He had blended into the town, following Gackt closely but not too closely either. If he could, he hid in the trees, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. That opportunity came when Gackt had went into the woods. It was already getting dark then.
Hideto remained in the trees, eyes stuck on Gackt the entire time. Gackt was walking farther and farther away from the village. Where was he going, Hideto wondered. He crept along the branches as silently as he could. He had never been good at the stalking thing but he was trying his best right now. Then, a huge bunch of leaves in the tree he was in blocked his view. Cursing softly, he quickly tried to shift to get a better view but the only way he could do that was to climb onto the leaves itself. Sighing in exasperation, he tried to do as quietly as possible, trying not to rustle the leaves. When he finally settled down, he looked to where Gackt had been only to be met with an empty clearing.
Then there was a cool kunai placed at his neck from behind and he knew where Gackt had disappeared to.
“Hideto,” Gackt acknowledged.
Hideto was frozen for two seconds but then he laughed and slowly turned to look back at his companion. “Gackt.”
“You’re too noisy,” Gackt commented, eyes narrowed down into a slight glare, but deep inside, he felt glee. Maybe they could finish their fight here. “I know you’ve been following me.”
Having laid on his front when he had been following Gackt, Hideto now slowly tried to turn to lay on his back to face Gackt who knelt over him, dressed only in a yukata whereas Hideto was clad in full ninja gear, except for the zukin. He smiled at the taller man. Gackt’s eye twitched and he inched the kunai even closer to Hideto’s neck.
“Why have you been following me?”
“You know why,” Hideto said confidently. He had seen how Gackt wanted to win that night a week ago. “We both want to finish it.”
They continued staring at each other for a moment, eyes locked together. A mutual understanding passed between them both.
Gackt soon found himself on the ground again in a crouching position which he had gotten himself into quickly when Hideto had kicked him off.
Hideto had. Kicked him off. The fucking tree.
Off the fucking tree, Hideto had kicked him.
Oh, it was on, now.
Hideto soon landed right in front of him, the leaves rustling from where he had landed, a kunai in his own hand. He had brought more weapons along with him but, despite his disrespectful and playful manner, he wanted this to be a fair fight. It seemed that all Gackt had was that sole kunai and so, Hideto was only going to use a kunai as well. It was the only way to properly measure each other’s strength. Maybe after tonight, they would both be able to sleep peacefully again.
They both circled each other. But then, just like a week ago, something passed through them both at the same moment and they both lunged at each other.
It was like poetry in motion.
Hideto swung, Gackt ducked. Gackt elbowed back, Hideto dodged. It was as if they knew where each other was going to be. It was as if they could already see the next move in their minds. They moved fluidly, even Gackt who Hideto thought was a puppet. It looked almost as if they had no bones at all, moving gracefully and elegantly in a deadly dance. Only they could hear the music they were both dancing to.
Their kunai clashed, the beautiful sound echoing in their heads. They grinned at each other pass their kunai.
As much as they seemed to already dislike each other, despite this being only their second meeting, they couldn’t deny the fact that they enjoyed this.
Hideto took pleasure in the ache his muscles brought him as he used his strength to fight against Gackt. Gackt loved the feel of the sweat running down his face as he continued to move to defend and to attack. They both loved how neither of them could land a single blow. They both loved how this fight felt so effortless, even though they were pouring all their energy into it. It was if they weren’t in control of their own bodies, as if they were controlling each other instead. They both knew that they wouldn’t be able to experience something like this with anyone else.
They continued to fight. Neither of them knew how long it had been. But neither of them felt tired either, despite their pants lacing the air.
They only stopped when they finally caught each other in stalemate again - Gackt against a tree, holding a kunai to Hideto’s neck while the other hand gripped Hideto’s uwagi tightly. Hideto was pressing Gackt against the tree, the tip of his own kunai at Gackt’s pulse point on his neck as well while the other hand was pushing and keeping Gackt back.
They both finally stopped to catch their breathe, their pants kissing each others’ lips. The ache they felt in their bodies suddenly seemed to increase ten fold as well as the heat surrounding them. It enveloped them tightly, seeping through their clothes and into their skin. It was scorching hot, even for Gackt who was dressed in a light yukata. Their heated stares at each other wasn’t helping.
Hideto was the first one to let his kunai drop from Gackt’s neck. Not because he had given up but simply because he had finally accepted the fact that they couldn’t finish this fight.
Gackt let his own hand drop back to his side as well, allowing Hideto to step back, understanding that this wasn’t a fight that could end decisively.
As much as they hated to admit it, they were equals. As much as they hated to sink to each others’ levels, they knew it was a fact that they were equally strong.
“You fight good,” Hideto said through his pants, keeping his kunai.
Gackt kept his own as well, eyes still locked with Hideto’s. “You too, Hideto.”
They both continued to stare at each other. There was that burning desire in both of them to finish off one another. But they both knew they couldn’t even if they tried. They both knew that it was impossible. They both understood how each other felt and that understanding bound them together. And if they couldn’t beat each other, the least they could do was to try, and torment one another along the way.
They were both bound into this little game now. Not one of them was going to give up. They were both too stubborn and proud to.
They were both rivals now.
That same thought passed through both their heads and then Hideto was gone. Gackt just smirked, knowing they would meet again.
Notes: Real proud of myself for finishing this in a little under two hours and in the morning!
[1] I took this from my other fic, Scattered Petals where, basically, the lord of Izu (also Hideto in the fic, lol) has a demonic side to him that gains control over his body when in danger. That demon is named Haido and is known as the Demon of Izu. ♥
Previous chapter.
Author: b_sim
Characters/Pairings: GACKT/Hyde (Hideto)
Rating: R
Genre: AU, general, gore
Summary: When the two ninja, Gackt from Koga and Hideto from Takeda, fought over who would kill the target, neither of them knew what they were getting themselves into.
Notes: Please note that gore has been added as one of the genres. Nothing too graphic like in the movies but it might make you a little squirmish. Anyway, really had fun with this chapter. It's long, though. :B
Disclaimer: Do not own anyone.
Gackt tried to block out the sounds of his comrades talking amongst themselves. He usually didn’t mind as it’d gain him intel as to what was going on - the death of a lord or a person, perhaps - without him actually having to converse with others. It wasn’t that he hated them or that he was anti-social, but he just didn’t like talking and preferred to keep to himself. So he kept his ears open for big news like this. But the news he was currently hearing? He didn’t want to know. Not at all.
It wasn’t a death of a lord or anyone noble. It was a death of someone important, especially in their line of business. It was the death of an underworld boss. A yakuza boss, particularly the one in charge of tekiya, the street peddlers, in their town. The tekiya were the ones whom the ninja usually got their information and drugs from. The reason why the tekiya’s boss, Onishi, had been killed was unclear and unknown but how he had gotten killed was blatantly, cruelly and disgustingly obvious; the man’s face had been torn open from the left side of the mouth, revealing a bit of the skull. The top of his head had been bashed open by what people believed was a rock, as there had been a huge, blood-stained one laying next to the corpse when it had been found. The man’s brains had been scattered all around and the killer hadn’t stopped there either, having proceeded to cut open his stomach and then stab the liver. The kunai was still in Onishi’s liver when he was found.
Not only that, but the stomach, spleen, the kidney and one lung had been removed from the body and had been squashed into the ground.
But the talk of town wasn’t about the cruelty of the death itself but, instead, how the killer that had done it had managed to get past all the other yakuza in the first place. Travelling with Onishi had been more than ten yakuza and all ended up dead. Even for a ninja to take out that many people on his own was surprising. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone - the townspeople, even people from other villages, the yakuza and even royalty. The police were at a loss as well - Onishi was someone they had been trying to track down for months but because of Onishi’s usage of different names, wide range of contacts and friendships with powerful people, they hadn’t been able to. How the killer had managed to find Onishi was beyond them.
People were also beginning to wonder if there had been more than one culprit, but after investigating the crime scene, they realised that, while it was possible, it wasn’t likely. A team needed to take out Onishi and his men had to consist of at least another ten people and a group that large would have had trouble finding Onishi. There had been several tracks of foot prints but everyone figured those belonged to Onishi and his group. They had found several broken twigs and fallen leaves in the woods lining the road Onishi had been on, making a trail, and the police figured that that was where the killer had come from. If there had been more than one, they would have been able to find more trails with said broken twigs and fallen off leaves.
Unable to fathom how a single man could manage this, they all chalked it up to ‘Hyde’.
Some of the most gruesome, terrifying murders of their time were all done by a person that the public had dubbed as ‘Hyde’, a name they had derived from ‘Haido’, the Demon everyone had heard of that was from Izu[1]. It first started when they found a huge bear, dead, in the woods. The bear had been terrorizing their hunters, even ending up killing four or five of them. The bear had been found with its body in half, several teeth extracted and disemboweled. The next had been a child-rapist that had been found hung from a tree. That alone wouldn’t have been so bad but what made it so horrifying was that the man had been hung with his small intestine. Then, there had been a family of thieves that had become Hyde’s next target.
The said family of thieves had lived in a small cottage away from the village and in the forest. The police had been notified of a fire coming from there and had went to investigate, finding the small cottage in flame and the people that owned it covered in blood and laying on the steps that led to the porch. The two female teenagers each had a senbon in their throat with their thighs cut open. An older man had two senbon in his eyes and his lips had been cut off. A young boy no older than twelve had a huge gash in his head but he was alive.
For some reason, Hyde had decided to spare his life.
It was later made known to the public that the young boy had had no intention of ever becoming a criminal but, instead, had been forced into the life of one under the threat of death.
There had been several more murders, all so alike to the work of the Demon of Izu that they had started to call the killer Hyde.
Despite the many killings Hyde had made, it was that one incident with the family of thieves that made the name ‘Hideto from Takeda’ so familiar to Gackt. Hideto from Takeda was Hyde.
Among the many ninja clans, Hyde had been revealed to them all as Hideto from Takeda. The head of the Takeda clan had had no choice but to reveal Hideto. It was the only way to assure them that Hyde was an ally and not an enemy. It was the only way to keep Hideto safe. He was a good ninja, but if he faced off with the other clans, there was no way he’d survive. And as for the meaningless gore, Hideto had just said that he was an artist and that organs and blood happened to be his materials. No one had a real problem with it so it was left at that.
“So Hyde strikes again,” one of Gackt’s comrades, Nakamura, commented with a wry grin and laugh. “He’s good…”
“He is. I tried tracking Onishi down once. I spent a month looking for him but the guy was like a shadow - he exists, he’s there, but you can never grab him.”
Gackt closed his eyes and tried to focus on his book. But he couldn’t, not when Nakamura and Minami were talking so loudly about Hyde and how great he was. He could hear the slightest bit of envy in their tones and he hated it. He hated how Hyde, or rather Hideto, was viewed as so magnificent, revered by the younger ninja and by some of the villagers who thought he was a hero. He hated that Hideto was so famous (or infamous, really) and that he wasn’t. It made his blood boil.
“Why’d he do it, though? Now one of our biggest sources for information is dead,” Minami pointed out.
“We’ll find out soon, enough. The clan heads are having another meeting soon. Most of ‘em aren’t pleased with Onishi’s death.”
Gackt sighed and got up from where he sat on the platform in their training grounds, leaving their clan quarters. Dressed as a civilian, he didn’t get weird stares or frightened looks as he entered the town of Koga. Gackt had thought he might be able to escape Nakamura and Minami, and he had, but only to step into a whole town talking about it instead. Crossing a newspaper stand, he found a small article of Hyde on the front page - no picture, of course. He passed by several young girls all gushing over Hyde and wondering what he looked like. He heard harsh, frightened whispers from old ladies about how Hyde might come after the villagers. He overheard some policemen talking about how Hyde was making their force look incompetent and that they had to work harder. Gackt almost snorted when he heard that one - policemen aspiring to be as good as Hideto?
No. Just, no.
To Gackt, neither Hyde nor Hideto was a person that young girls should be gushing over. He wasn’t someone that the police should secretly look up to and want to be. He wasn’t a hero and he wasn’t, as Nakamura had put it, ‘good’.
To put it simply, Gackt didn’t like Hideto.
Hideto was unprofessional. No ninja went about making such a big mess out of their targets unless it was in their job specifications and it was known to everyone that Hideto merely did it for fun. Gackt could almost picture that silly grin and crazed look in his eyes as he had killed Onishi. Gackt could almost picture the whole scene in his head and he hated that someone like that was famed and looked up to. He wasn’t a ninja. He was just some idiot who enjoyed killing. He was nothing but a murderer.
And, Hideto was playful. Gackt thought it was fine to let loose once in a while but Hideto’s ‘once-in-a-while’ was ‘always’. He made a joke out of his missions, out of his comrades and out of people in general. He was disrespectful, even to his elders in the clan. He had heard how Hideto had once been left in a empty food pantry, the ones made from concrete, for three days without food or water because he had dissed one of the higher-ups. He heard that when he was released, the first thing he had done was give the insulted man the finger, exhaustion and all. What kind of ninja acted like that?
Furthermore, Hideto was proud. He was like a peacock, demanding attention and always showing off. His work showed those aspects of him clearly. Ninja were supposed to be humble people who kept in the dark and remained silent - it was no wonder that Hideto sucked at infiltration.
But the one thing that made Gackt hate Hideto the most was that he was everything that he claimed to be.
Hideto was strong. Hideto was quick, fast, powerful and he had an attitude that made no one want to mess with him. He was unprofessional, but that made him one-of-a-kind. He was playful and disrespectful, but Gackt supposed that was what made people respect him. He wasn’t afraid of punishment. He wasn’t afraid of the consequences. He simply wasn’t afraid.
Hideto was a good ninja. Perhaps he was, Gackt mused.
But I’m better.
*****
A soft chuckle rumbled deep in his throat. Dark eyes sped up and down the newspaper article.
Then Hideto laughed and placed the newspaper down on the floor. Reading the article had brought back certain memories from the day he had killed Onishi and his men. He had been thrown back into the very moment when he carved Glasgow smiles on all of those kids’ faces. He could feel blood spurting out from their bodies and onto what bits of his face that wasn’t covered by the zukin he had worn. He remembered the feel of Onishi’s blood running over his hands and Onishi’s choked gasps and cries rang in his ears.
Did you know, Gackt? That a human can survive even without a stomach, spleen, kidney and lung? Hideto thought, grinning and cackling softly to himself. He knew Gackt hated the way he killed his targets. Which was why he tried to make each one, each one after he had met Gackt anyway, more gory than the last. To Hideto, though, it wasn’t really gory but rather avant-garde. That’s right, Gackt, he was still alive after I removed all that… Still conscious. Still able to feel pain. Can you even imagine what that must be like?
Hideto just knew there was a look of pure disdain on Gackt’s face. The disgust, the hate… Hideto got pleasure out of knowing that.
Just like how Gackt didn’t like him, he didn’t like Gackt either. It was a mutual dislike. Maybe even a mutual hate.
Gackt was too serious. Most ninja were serious but Gackt took it to a whole new level. No, it wasn’t because he was a loner. Hideto was one too(mostly because people didn’t want to hang out with him anyway. They all thought he was insane.). It was mainly because Gackt never smiled. He smirked and he grinned when things went his way, but he never smiled just because he felt happy. He never laughed at any jokes made and he didn’t find humour in anything. Even the way he spoke was so serious.
Hideto swore Gackt had a stick (maybe a sword…) stuck up his ass. He was a fucking lap dog, too. No matter what his elders said, he obeyed. No matter how stupid an order was, he carried it out. He treated them with the utmost respect and, Hideto didn’t know if they deserved it or not, but he knew Gackt was going to give it to them regardless of that. He was like a puppet that belonged to the clan. He was an ass-kisser that lived his life solely for them. Hell, he didn’t know how to live life at all. Life was wasted on him, Hideto believed. Gackt simply wasn’t human. He never complained about anything, didn’t seem to be capable of feeling or showing happiness and he was just too perfect. He was the perfect ninja. One that didn’t talk back, one that couldn’t think about betrayal, one that didn’t allow emotions to control him.
Hideto hated it.
Hideto hated that Gackt was a better ninja than him, but only when it came to deception and infiltration. Gackt’s disregard for his emotions allowed him to deceive people too easily. And no matter how well-guarded a castle was, he would always manage to infiltrate it without a problem. Become the surroundings? Hideto didn’t want to believe it but he did and he hated that he did.
So Hideto tormented him. Knowing that Gackt hated his fame as much as Hideto hated him, Hideto made his kills bloodier and more disgusting. He made sure that his kills were something that people just had to talk about for days to come. It would drive Gackt bonkers.
Hideto grinned at that thought. He wondered if he’d be able to see that irritated look on Gackt’s face for himself.
*****
It had been nine months since they had first met at Lord Itao’s castle. Nine months since they had first fought against one another. It had been an unfinished fight. Both of them couldn’t stand not finishing their fight, couldn’t stand not knowing who was stronger. But, because he hadn’t been given any orders, Gackt had restrained the urge to kill Hideto and had carried on with his life. He couldn’t be bothered by such childish things.
But, he had thought to himself when he felt someone watching him a week after Lord Itao’s killing, if Hideto started the fight, he could always end it and say he had fought to defend himself.
Unlike Gackt, Hideto followed his feelings and if he wanted something done, he’d do it, even if it pissed off his elders. They didn’t know where he had snuck off to, anyway. He could always say he had just gone to town. He just had to finish this quickly, he thought as he followed Gackt wherever he went. He hadn’t known what Gackt had looked like but with a little help from one of his only friends from the Koga clan, Shichigama, he had been able to find Gackt almost immediately - Gackt was the only man with a buzz cut in this town, it seemed.
He had blended into the town, following Gackt closely but not too closely either. If he could, he hid in the trees, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. That opportunity came when Gackt had went into the woods. It was already getting dark then.
Hideto remained in the trees, eyes stuck on Gackt the entire time. Gackt was walking farther and farther away from the village. Where was he going, Hideto wondered. He crept along the branches as silently as he could. He had never been good at the stalking thing but he was trying his best right now. Then, a huge bunch of leaves in the tree he was in blocked his view. Cursing softly, he quickly tried to shift to get a better view but the only way he could do that was to climb onto the leaves itself. Sighing in exasperation, he tried to do as quietly as possible, trying not to rustle the leaves. When he finally settled down, he looked to where Gackt had been only to be met with an empty clearing.
Then there was a cool kunai placed at his neck from behind and he knew where Gackt had disappeared to.
“Hideto,” Gackt acknowledged.
Hideto was frozen for two seconds but then he laughed and slowly turned to look back at his companion. “Gackt.”
“You’re too noisy,” Gackt commented, eyes narrowed down into a slight glare, but deep inside, he felt glee. Maybe they could finish their fight here. “I know you’ve been following me.”
Having laid on his front when he had been following Gackt, Hideto now slowly tried to turn to lay on his back to face Gackt who knelt over him, dressed only in a yukata whereas Hideto was clad in full ninja gear, except for the zukin. He smiled at the taller man. Gackt’s eye twitched and he inched the kunai even closer to Hideto’s neck.
“Why have you been following me?”
“You know why,” Hideto said confidently. He had seen how Gackt wanted to win that night a week ago. “We both want to finish it.”
They continued staring at each other for a moment, eyes locked together. A mutual understanding passed between them both.
Gackt soon found himself on the ground again in a crouching position which he had gotten himself into quickly when Hideto had kicked him off.
Hideto had. Kicked him off. The fucking tree.
Off the fucking tree, Hideto had kicked him.
Oh, it was on, now.
Hideto soon landed right in front of him, the leaves rustling from where he had landed, a kunai in his own hand. He had brought more weapons along with him but, despite his disrespectful and playful manner, he wanted this to be a fair fight. It seemed that all Gackt had was that sole kunai and so, Hideto was only going to use a kunai as well. It was the only way to properly measure each other’s strength. Maybe after tonight, they would both be able to sleep peacefully again.
They both circled each other. But then, just like a week ago, something passed through them both at the same moment and they both lunged at each other.
It was like poetry in motion.
Hideto swung, Gackt ducked. Gackt elbowed back, Hideto dodged. It was as if they knew where each other was going to be. It was as if they could already see the next move in their minds. They moved fluidly, even Gackt who Hideto thought was a puppet. It looked almost as if they had no bones at all, moving gracefully and elegantly in a deadly dance. Only they could hear the music they were both dancing to.
Their kunai clashed, the beautiful sound echoing in their heads. They grinned at each other pass their kunai.
As much as they seemed to already dislike each other, despite this being only their second meeting, they couldn’t deny the fact that they enjoyed this.
Hideto took pleasure in the ache his muscles brought him as he used his strength to fight against Gackt. Gackt loved the feel of the sweat running down his face as he continued to move to defend and to attack. They both loved how neither of them could land a single blow. They both loved how this fight felt so effortless, even though they were pouring all their energy into it. It was if they weren’t in control of their own bodies, as if they were controlling each other instead. They both knew that they wouldn’t be able to experience something like this with anyone else.
They continued to fight. Neither of them knew how long it had been. But neither of them felt tired either, despite their pants lacing the air.
They only stopped when they finally caught each other in stalemate again - Gackt against a tree, holding a kunai to Hideto’s neck while the other hand gripped Hideto’s uwagi tightly. Hideto was pressing Gackt against the tree, the tip of his own kunai at Gackt’s pulse point on his neck as well while the other hand was pushing and keeping Gackt back.
They both finally stopped to catch their breathe, their pants kissing each others’ lips. The ache they felt in their bodies suddenly seemed to increase ten fold as well as the heat surrounding them. It enveloped them tightly, seeping through their clothes and into their skin. It was scorching hot, even for Gackt who was dressed in a light yukata. Their heated stares at each other wasn’t helping.
Hideto was the first one to let his kunai drop from Gackt’s neck. Not because he had given up but simply because he had finally accepted the fact that they couldn’t finish this fight.
Gackt let his own hand drop back to his side as well, allowing Hideto to step back, understanding that this wasn’t a fight that could end decisively.
As much as they hated to admit it, they were equals. As much as they hated to sink to each others’ levels, they knew it was a fact that they were equally strong.
“You fight good,” Hideto said through his pants, keeping his kunai.
Gackt kept his own as well, eyes still locked with Hideto’s. “You too, Hideto.”
They both continued to stare at each other. There was that burning desire in both of them to finish off one another. But they both knew they couldn’t even if they tried. They both knew that it was impossible. They both understood how each other felt and that understanding bound them together. And if they couldn’t beat each other, the least they could do was to try, and torment one another along the way.
They were both bound into this little game now. Not one of them was going to give up. They were both too stubborn and proud to.
They were both rivals now.
That same thought passed through both their heads and then Hideto was gone. Gackt just smirked, knowing they would meet again.
Notes: Real proud of myself for finishing this in a little under two hours and in the morning!
[1] I took this from my other fic, Scattered Petals where, basically, the lord of Izu (also Hideto in the fic, lol) has a demonic side to him that gains control over his body when in danger. That demon is named Haido and is known as the Demon of Izu. ♥
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