[ohkura/ryo] a modern myth (9/??)
A MODERN MYTH
by: lina (osakaromanesque)
genre: AU. futuristic-ish. mythical/mystical.
summary: Two men hold the power to save the world from an unknown evil, only if they joined their powers. But what happens when both men are sworn enemies? Two fates, two destinies intertwine. They will soon find out what it’s like when worlds collide.
a/n: BACK FROM THE LAND OF THE DEAD. Or Uni. but w/e. DOUBLE CHAPTER FUN TONIGHT :D ENJOY.
Subaru walked through the hallway at the arena that night for the big fight. The arena sounded more packed than usual. Maybe it was because of the newcomer, Ohkura Tadayoshi, who claimed to be a first-timer at fighting. Subaru found it rather hard to believe. But then again, things like that come naturally to certain people.
As the owner of the arena - and a lot of other things - Subaru had his own grand stand: an air-conditioned room with his own control panel. It meant he could set the conditions of the ring from where he sat. The window served as a large screen for him to zoom in on the fights at any time or any angle he wanted.
The moment he sat down he was served with sake - an alcoholic drink made out of fermented rice their ancestors used to drink. Sake might have been easily available to anyone back in the days before the explosion, but it came to be one of the most expensive drinks in Toxic City, formerly known as Japan.
Subaru took a sip and smiled. He always enjoyed a good drink.
He had a feeling it was going to be a good fight.
He pressed a button on his control panel and the black screen in front of him was switched on. The square ring was visible. Both fighters were already in the ring. Subaru zoomed in at Ryo. Ryo was not holding the wooden six-foot staff like he normally did, but instead had a something like a small metal baton.
Even Ohkura’s weapons were different. They were still Tonfas, only made out of metal. Subaru smiled, amused at this turn of event. Both fighters were using metal weapons as oppose to their previous wooden ones. It was going to be one very, very painful fight.
With a flick of a wrist, Ryo’s baton turned into a six-foot metal staff.
“A retractable staff… not bad,” Subaru muttered.
Subaru zoomed into Ohkura and noticed that his Tonfas were a hybrid of Tonfas and brass knuckles.
“Creative. As expected from a weapons blacksmith,” Subaru laughed, amused and positively shaking with joy.
Another button was pressed and the speech that went on between the two men was audible.
“This is it,” said Tadayoshi. “No hard feelings?”
“And I thought you didn’t like fighting. You seem to be enjoying this.”
“I just have more things to risk than you, rich boy.”
Without warning, Ryo charged at Tadayoshi, holding his staff high above his head. He swung the metal staff downwards and Tadayoshi dodged. The staff made a large hole on the floor. Subaru leaned closer to the screen. Tadayoshi ran towards Ryo and kicked his legs, causing Ryo to fall to the ground. Tadayoshi jumped up and his fist was pulled back, ready to strike Ryo. Ryo rolled away and swung his staff down onto Tadayoshi’s back.
Tadayoshi screamed in pain. With a flick of the wrists, two small blades slid out of the top of the Tonfas. Tadayoshi got up and charged at Ryo. He tried striking Ryo but his strikes were dodged by Ryo’s staff.
Blink, blink, blink and Tadayoshi’s eyes turned red.
Ryo smirked and blinked. His eyes turned blue.
Both let out loud battle cries. Tadayoshi’s arms were on fire and Ryo’s legs were turning into liquid. Subaru’s guards had already stopped the two men who stopped their fight last time.
Subaru smiled in pure satisfaction.
It was like watching two people dancing. Two separate elements dancing together to create a perfect balance. If one disappeared, the balance would be lost.
That was exactly what Subaru had in mind. There should not be balance.
Not under his ruling. He had his own plans for the country.
Using his thumbs, Tadayoshi flicked open two latches on the handles of his Tonfas, dropping the brass knuckles. Another flick of the wrists, two blades similar to the ones on the top of the Tonfas popped out at the end of the weapon. He flipped the weapon, the back of the Tonfas facing forward and charged at Ryo with both blades steadily aimed at him.
It was as if time stopped. Tadayoshi’s blades drove deep into Ryo’s chest. Ryo’s eyes turned to normal and slowly, they closed as Tadayoshi pulled his blades out. Ryo dropped to the floor. Tadayoshi closed his eyes and looked up, as if looking straight at Subaru.
His eyes were still red.
“Happy now?” Tadayoshi asked Subaru.
Subaru held up his right hand. The henchman who stood by the door left the room.
Shota decided to not go for the night’s match. Something told him to stay in town and not go down to the arena at the border. He made dinner for his family and kept some aside for the Ohkura family like he always did. Tadayoshi’s mother was a very good cook but Shota understood that she might be too exhausted after a hard day’s work to cook for her family.
He packed the food into little lunch boxes and packed them in a large bag. He made his way to the workshop.
He passed by the marketplace. In the day, the marketplace sold fruits and meat and vegetables. At night, however, was a totally different case. Men and women sold themselves at the side of the street. There were also those who sold drugs and they usually looked very scary.
Shota clutched his bag close. The Market at night has never ceased to frighten him.
The door of the workshop was opened slightly. Shota figured there might be a late-night customer. He pulled the door open.
“Manatsu-baachan! Junji! Naoki!” Shota called the names of Ohkura’s mother and brothers as he stepped into the workshop, making his way to the back where their home was. “I brought foo-“
He stopped right in front of the sliding door leading towards their home. The door was opened slightly and there was a small path of light.
An arm was visible.
There was blood.
Shota pushed the door open. Tadayoshi’s family laid unconscious in the living room, horribly slaughtered and murdered.
Shota dropped his bag and dropped to his knees. He trembled, sobbed and cried. He crawled over to Tadayoshi’s younger brothers and shook them. Wake up, wake up, he kept on muttering as his tears fell onto their cold cheeks. Shota crawled over to Tadayoshi’s mother and tried shaking her awake as well.
But she was gone.
Shota looked down on the floor.
The symbol was drawn blood. She must’ve written it before she completely shut off. Right below the symbol was a name - or Shota assumed it was a name - also written in blood. It read ‘Shi’ and it trailed off.
She didn’t manage to finish writing it.
Shota got up and left the living room. He closed the door. He dug into his small pouch, the sounds of little glass bottles clinking against each other was heard. He pulled out a bottle with powder made out of crushed flowers. It was hard for the South to get flowers to mourn for the dead. They were expensive. The gypsy network used a lot of them so he got his from Hiroki.
Even the powder was expensive.
He poured the content of the bottle in front of the door. He put his hands together and closed his eyes, silently praying for the deceased.
“Where’s Shingo?” Tadayoshi asked Hiroki. “And Ryo’s body.”
“Come with me.”
Hiroki led Tadayoshi to the back alleys. The Border was like a city of its own. There were tall futuristic buildings and back alleys. Hiroki pushed through doors and blinds and pulled open a manhole. Hiroki jumped in and Tadayoshi could hear the heels of his boots hitting the ground below. Tadayoshi jumped down and landed on his feet.
Tadayoshi made a face at the stench. Hiroki continued walking.
At the end of the sewer was a door. Hiroki pulled the door open.
The moment the door opened, Tadayoshi saw Ryo sitting upright on an operating table with Shingo stitching his wounds close. Ryo screamed, telling Shingo he was hurting him. Shingo hit him on the head and told him to suck it in. Ryo saw Tadayoshi and Hiroki and held up a hand.
“Yo,” Ryo greeted.
“Stop moving!” Shingo scolded him. “Geez…”
Hiroki closed the door. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto the couch at the corner of the room. “This is our little hideout. No one knows it’s here.”
“By ‘our’ you mean, you and him?” Tadayoshi asked, pointing at Shingo.
“You can call this our shared apartment,” said Shingo. “Our families made this. They figured it’s safer underground. Rumors say there are a few more underground hideouts like these. But no one knows for sure.” Shingo cut the last thread. “There. All stitched up.”
“You speak as if I’m a torn doll,” Ryo glared at Shingo.
“A very noisy one,” said Shingo.
“Oh. Yeah.” Tadayoshi scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about that.”
“That hurt you know,” said Ryo. “What was that you gave us before the fight anyway?”
“An old Uchi family recipe. Not many people from our family can make them. Consider it something like a battle potion. Drink it before a battle and you can be sure of making it out alive. You’ll be dead first of course. Depending on how long I set the potion to work.”
“Doesn’t work much on sparing us the pain.” Ryo rubbed his chest.
“Don’t touch it!” Shingo shouted as he put the surgical tools away. “You’ll ruin the stitches.” Shingo dropped down onto the couch next to Hiroki and stretched. His arm was around Hiroki’s shoulder.
“We can’t let you die yet,” said Hiroki. “You have a world to save.”
“Yeah, yeah, that…” Ryo muttered.
“I wonder what Subaru would do if he finds out that Ryo’s not dead…” Tadayoshi mused. “My family-“
“We’re going to move them here. We’ll tell the other gypsies to look after them,” said Hiroki. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Okay… If you say so.”
Tadayoshi had a bad feeling.
Ryo and Shingo were told to dress like people from the South. Their current plan was to evacuate the Ohkura family from their home to the underground hideout and they could start on the Kami ritual.
But when Tadayoshi, Hiroki, Ryo and Shingo arrived at the Ohkura workshop, they saw Shota standing outside the workshop.
Crying.
“Yasu?” Tadayoshi ran over to Shota. “What’s wrong? Why are you standing out here?”
“Tacchon…” Shota looked up at Tadayoshi with tear-filled eyes. “I-I don’t know what happ… They’re…”
“Where are my mother and brothers?”
Shota shook his head and cried more.
Tadayoshi ran into the workshop and went to the back of the building. Shota went to Hiroki and Hiroki held him. Shota cried and shook his head and kept on repeating ‘I don’t know’ over and over again.
From outside the apartment, the four men could hear Tadayoshi’s loud cry.
“His family was murdered…” Shota told them. “They’re all dead…”
Ryo, Shingo and Hiroki looked at each other.
Subaru found out.
by: lina (osakaromanesque)
genre: AU. futuristic-ish. mythical/mystical.
summary: Two men hold the power to save the world from an unknown evil, only if they joined their powers. But what happens when both men are sworn enemies? Two fates, two destinies intertwine. They will soon find out what it’s like when worlds collide.
a/n: BACK FROM THE LAND OF THE DEAD. Or Uni. but w/e. DOUBLE CHAPTER FUN TONIGHT :D ENJOY.
Subaru walked through the hallway at the arena that night for the big fight. The arena sounded more packed than usual. Maybe it was because of the newcomer, Ohkura Tadayoshi, who claimed to be a first-timer at fighting. Subaru found it rather hard to believe. But then again, things like that come naturally to certain people.
As the owner of the arena - and a lot of other things - Subaru had his own grand stand: an air-conditioned room with his own control panel. It meant he could set the conditions of the ring from where he sat. The window served as a large screen for him to zoom in on the fights at any time or any angle he wanted.
The moment he sat down he was served with sake - an alcoholic drink made out of fermented rice their ancestors used to drink. Sake might have been easily available to anyone back in the days before the explosion, but it came to be one of the most expensive drinks in Toxic City, formerly known as Japan.
Subaru took a sip and smiled. He always enjoyed a good drink.
He had a feeling it was going to be a good fight.
He pressed a button on his control panel and the black screen in front of him was switched on. The square ring was visible. Both fighters were already in the ring. Subaru zoomed in at Ryo. Ryo was not holding the wooden six-foot staff like he normally did, but instead had a something like a small metal baton.
Even Ohkura’s weapons were different. They were still Tonfas, only made out of metal. Subaru smiled, amused at this turn of event. Both fighters were using metal weapons as oppose to their previous wooden ones. It was going to be one very, very painful fight.
With a flick of a wrist, Ryo’s baton turned into a six-foot metal staff.
“A retractable staff… not bad,” Subaru muttered.
Subaru zoomed into Ohkura and noticed that his Tonfas were a hybrid of Tonfas and brass knuckles.
“Creative. As expected from a weapons blacksmith,” Subaru laughed, amused and positively shaking with joy.
Another button was pressed and the speech that went on between the two men was audible.
“This is it,” said Tadayoshi. “No hard feelings?”
“And I thought you didn’t like fighting. You seem to be enjoying this.”
“I just have more things to risk than you, rich boy.”
Without warning, Ryo charged at Tadayoshi, holding his staff high above his head. He swung the metal staff downwards and Tadayoshi dodged. The staff made a large hole on the floor. Subaru leaned closer to the screen. Tadayoshi ran towards Ryo and kicked his legs, causing Ryo to fall to the ground. Tadayoshi jumped up and his fist was pulled back, ready to strike Ryo. Ryo rolled away and swung his staff down onto Tadayoshi’s back.
Tadayoshi screamed in pain. With a flick of the wrists, two small blades slid out of the top of the Tonfas. Tadayoshi got up and charged at Ryo. He tried striking Ryo but his strikes were dodged by Ryo’s staff.
Blink, blink, blink and Tadayoshi’s eyes turned red.
Ryo smirked and blinked. His eyes turned blue.
Both let out loud battle cries. Tadayoshi’s arms were on fire and Ryo’s legs were turning into liquid. Subaru’s guards had already stopped the two men who stopped their fight last time.
Subaru smiled in pure satisfaction.
It was like watching two people dancing. Two separate elements dancing together to create a perfect balance. If one disappeared, the balance would be lost.
That was exactly what Subaru had in mind. There should not be balance.
Not under his ruling. He had his own plans for the country.
Using his thumbs, Tadayoshi flicked open two latches on the handles of his Tonfas, dropping the brass knuckles. Another flick of the wrists, two blades similar to the ones on the top of the Tonfas popped out at the end of the weapon. He flipped the weapon, the back of the Tonfas facing forward and charged at Ryo with both blades steadily aimed at him.
It was as if time stopped. Tadayoshi’s blades drove deep into Ryo’s chest. Ryo’s eyes turned to normal and slowly, they closed as Tadayoshi pulled his blades out. Ryo dropped to the floor. Tadayoshi closed his eyes and looked up, as if looking straight at Subaru.
His eyes were still red.
“Happy now?” Tadayoshi asked Subaru.
Subaru held up his right hand. The henchman who stood by the door left the room.
Shota decided to not go for the night’s match. Something told him to stay in town and not go down to the arena at the border. He made dinner for his family and kept some aside for the Ohkura family like he always did. Tadayoshi’s mother was a very good cook but Shota understood that she might be too exhausted after a hard day’s work to cook for her family.
He packed the food into little lunch boxes and packed them in a large bag. He made his way to the workshop.
He passed by the marketplace. In the day, the marketplace sold fruits and meat and vegetables. At night, however, was a totally different case. Men and women sold themselves at the side of the street. There were also those who sold drugs and they usually looked very scary.
Shota clutched his bag close. The Market at night has never ceased to frighten him.
The door of the workshop was opened slightly. Shota figured there might be a late-night customer. He pulled the door open.
“Manatsu-baachan! Junji! Naoki!” Shota called the names of Ohkura’s mother and brothers as he stepped into the workshop, making his way to the back where their home was. “I brought foo-“
He stopped right in front of the sliding door leading towards their home. The door was opened slightly and there was a small path of light.
An arm was visible.
There was blood.
Shota pushed the door open. Tadayoshi’s family laid unconscious in the living room, horribly slaughtered and murdered.
Shota dropped his bag and dropped to his knees. He trembled, sobbed and cried. He crawled over to Tadayoshi’s younger brothers and shook them. Wake up, wake up, he kept on muttering as his tears fell onto their cold cheeks. Shota crawled over to Tadayoshi’s mother and tried shaking her awake as well.
But she was gone.
Shota looked down on the floor.
The symbol was drawn blood. She must’ve written it before she completely shut off. Right below the symbol was a name - or Shota assumed it was a name - also written in blood. It read ‘Shi’ and it trailed off.
She didn’t manage to finish writing it.
Shota got up and left the living room. He closed the door. He dug into his small pouch, the sounds of little glass bottles clinking against each other was heard. He pulled out a bottle with powder made out of crushed flowers. It was hard for the South to get flowers to mourn for the dead. They were expensive. The gypsy network used a lot of them so he got his from Hiroki.
Even the powder was expensive.
He poured the content of the bottle in front of the door. He put his hands together and closed his eyes, silently praying for the deceased.
“Where’s Shingo?” Tadayoshi asked Hiroki. “And Ryo’s body.”
“Come with me.”
Hiroki led Tadayoshi to the back alleys. The Border was like a city of its own. There were tall futuristic buildings and back alleys. Hiroki pushed through doors and blinds and pulled open a manhole. Hiroki jumped in and Tadayoshi could hear the heels of his boots hitting the ground below. Tadayoshi jumped down and landed on his feet.
Tadayoshi made a face at the stench. Hiroki continued walking.
At the end of the sewer was a door. Hiroki pulled the door open.
The moment the door opened, Tadayoshi saw Ryo sitting upright on an operating table with Shingo stitching his wounds close. Ryo screamed, telling Shingo he was hurting him. Shingo hit him on the head and told him to suck it in. Ryo saw Tadayoshi and Hiroki and held up a hand.
“Yo,” Ryo greeted.
“Stop moving!” Shingo scolded him. “Geez…”
Hiroki closed the door. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto the couch at the corner of the room. “This is our little hideout. No one knows it’s here.”
“By ‘our’ you mean, you and him?” Tadayoshi asked, pointing at Shingo.
“You can call this our shared apartment,” said Shingo. “Our families made this. They figured it’s safer underground. Rumors say there are a few more underground hideouts like these. But no one knows for sure.” Shingo cut the last thread. “There. All stitched up.”
“You speak as if I’m a torn doll,” Ryo glared at Shingo.
“A very noisy one,” said Shingo.
“Oh. Yeah.” Tadayoshi scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about that.”
“That hurt you know,” said Ryo. “What was that you gave us before the fight anyway?”
“An old Uchi family recipe. Not many people from our family can make them. Consider it something like a battle potion. Drink it before a battle and you can be sure of making it out alive. You’ll be dead first of course. Depending on how long I set the potion to work.”
“Doesn’t work much on sparing us the pain.” Ryo rubbed his chest.
“Don’t touch it!” Shingo shouted as he put the surgical tools away. “You’ll ruin the stitches.” Shingo dropped down onto the couch next to Hiroki and stretched. His arm was around Hiroki’s shoulder.
“We can’t let you die yet,” said Hiroki. “You have a world to save.”
“Yeah, yeah, that…” Ryo muttered.
“I wonder what Subaru would do if he finds out that Ryo’s not dead…” Tadayoshi mused. “My family-“
“We’re going to move them here. We’ll tell the other gypsies to look after them,” said Hiroki. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Okay… If you say so.”
Tadayoshi had a bad feeling.
Ryo and Shingo were told to dress like people from the South. Their current plan was to evacuate the Ohkura family from their home to the underground hideout and they could start on the Kami ritual.
But when Tadayoshi, Hiroki, Ryo and Shingo arrived at the Ohkura workshop, they saw Shota standing outside the workshop.
Crying.
“Yasu?” Tadayoshi ran over to Shota. “What’s wrong? Why are you standing out here?”
“Tacchon…” Shota looked up at Tadayoshi with tear-filled eyes. “I-I don’t know what happ… They’re…”
“Where are my mother and brothers?”
Shota shook his head and cried more.
Tadayoshi ran into the workshop and went to the back of the building. Shota went to Hiroki and Hiroki held him. Shota cried and shook his head and kept on repeating ‘I don’t know’ over and over again.
From outside the apartment, the four men could hear Tadayoshi’s loud cry.
“His family was murdered…” Shota told them. “They’re all dead…”
Ryo, Shingo and Hiroki looked at each other.
Subaru found out.