“No words?” He laughed sarcastically. “And here I thought we were going to have a great rapport, you and I. Brothers of the blade and all that. I suppose you’re much too stubborn for the pleasantries, but I have a great deal of respect for your legend. I must say that I have dreamed of finding someone who may match me appropriately...but I have business to attend to first. You understand, right?”
I didn’t speak. I was simply keeping my eyes on him, waiting for any sudden movements on his part, all while meditating just enough to calm my breathing and heartbeat in preparation for a fight that was certain to be much more difficult than dealing with a couple of barely trained hooded ones in the dark.
“Your close friend, Takeshi? He was doing bad things. Very bad. Any time a rival gang finds the need to send me, of all people, out into the field...it’s usually because they’re expecting a difficult time. And from what I’ve seen so far, you didn’t disappoint. You are definitely an enemy worthy of mention...but an enemy, nonetheless.” He paused for a moment, looking at my hand as it gripped the handle of my sword. “You two were more than just friends at one point, weren’t you, Norio? Lovers perhaps?” I didn’t let him get in my head with that shit. I just remained still. “Oh yes, we all knew. Hooded ones always forget how much of an open book their minds and memories are to us once we get the urge to start rummaging around between the ears. Did you think it was love that you were feeling for him? Or better yet, what he was feeling for you? Did you lay awake at night, thinking that you would both be able to spend the rest of eternity together in darkness...never to leave each other’s side ever again?” He grinned wickedly. “I’m going to assume that didn’t work out too well for you two. Because when I walked into his office a little while ago, he was quite old. Withered. A decaying sack of flesh that was barely worth draining dry. But...I did it anyway. And I must admit, he was quite delicious. So much for old romances and lost promises, huh?”
The emotions that I was trying to suppress in order to concentrate began to tremble within me. My heart filling itself up with anger as I even entertained the idea that this son of a bitch might actually be telling the truth. Is Takeshi...dead?
Thinking back, I remembered laying by his side in the middle of the woods one night, both of us holding hands, and smiling up at the sky. I had never been in love before, so I had nothing to compare that wondrous feeling to at that moment...but I know that I haven’t felt anything close to being that alive since. And living in darkness is, deep down, what I truly felt that I deserved.
Focus, Norio. You’re letting him break you down and he hasn’t even taken a swipe at you yet.
“You talk too much.” I said, staying as calm as I could.
“Or perhaps too little.” He replied. “Sector V...did he tell you what it was? What it means?”
“He told me enough to get the gist of it.”
“The gist is not enough by a long shot.” He stepped closer, further out of the shadows, and his glowing red eyes felt as though they were piercing a hole right through me. “We are talking about the possibility of total exposure, here. Do you really think the humans in daylight will find it in their ‘oh so pure’ hearts to coexist with our kind once they discover what we are? You’re fooling yourself if you think that this balance will last. A new Vampire Dawn is coming. An awakening. And if you allow Sector V to get into the wrong hands, they’ll hunt us all down in our sleep like dogs. The hidden survivors will retaliate, and total destruction becomes imminent for those both in daylight and in darkness. When will people finally learn their lesson? This only leads to death and all out war.”
“Not my fight. Not my problem.” I told him.
“But this is? Protecting the orphaned children of a Tokyo gangster who’s looking to tear our whole system down?” I could sense the frustration building within him, the tension in his forearms increasing as he finally took a tighter grip on his sword. “Maybe I had you wrong. I thought you were going to be wise enough to choose a side. And I was almost certain that side...was going to be ours.” He unsheathed his entire blade and lowered the tip down to the ground as he looked over to the side where Takeshi’s three children were peeking over the trunk of one of the many cars in the parking lot. “Ahhh, there they are. Come to me, children. Let’s finish what your father started, and allow me yo put you to rest.”
“Not happening.” I told him, feeling my time running short while his men were, no doubt, doing their best to recover and come after us again once they discovered our location.
“Perhaps you’ve heard of me.” He said.
“Doubtful.”
“My name is Daiki, and I am also known as the sword that...”
“Didn’t ask. Don’t care.” I said. I’ll let his stupid narcissism be his problem be his problem. For right now, my only focus is getting this group of brats where I said I was going to get them.
I don’t think he liked the fact that I didn’t see him as an equal, or even a challenge in any possible way. And he didn’t hide it while, despite a feeble attempt to do so.
He snarled at me for a brief moment, but covered it up, looking at the kids and then back at me. Weakness detected. “So...what’s it going to be, little Myoki cub? Are you going to let me get about my business tonight? Slaughter the lambs, you give me the disks, and we both walk away from this as friendly competitors? Or do you want to do this the hard way...and we end up making a bigger mess than needed?”
“I’m going to assume that you think slicing you to shreds is supposed to be the hard way? Because it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be all that hard at all, fuck stick.” I said, getting a bitter look from him in response. “I owe Takeshi Ogata a life debt. I plan to make sure that it’s fulfilled without fail. And I plan to do it tonight. So if you’ll gladly go back to being an asshole with dreams of this turning out in your favor, we’ll be on our way now.”
“Takeshi Ogata is DEAD! So the only life you have left...BELONGS TO ME!!!” He shouted, and in an instant, he charged at me so quickly that it barely looked like his feet were touching the ground at all.
No more meditation. No more stillness. No more calm.
It’s time to go to work!
I pulled my sword up to quickly block his initial blow, with us staring into one another’s for a moment, now both sets glowing bright red as we transferred into full blown hunting mode, and we pushed each other backwards until we came sliding to a stop. Daiki was fast, I’ll give him that...but not an inch more.
We charged towards one another again, with Daiki striking high and me dropping to my knees to slide right under it. We both spun around, bringing our swords into a maddening clash of skills the even Takeshi’s children stood up to watch in awe with wide eyes. The sound of steel on steel echoed throughout the entire parking lot as we tried to make quick work of one another, but Daiki was weaker in his defense than he was in his offense. It didn’t take me very long to see that for myself. His ego was deadly when it came to teaching him to constantly lash out and attack...but he had no real morals or sense of self awareness to fall back on. So it caused him to fall short instead. If I could in close enough to pressure him and put him on defense, I was almost certain that he’d tire himself out in no time. And the loss of his grandiose flair would cause him to fall apart almost instantly. I had a game plan, but the question was...would I be able to wear him down enough in time to continue our hasty escape?
Swinging wildly, I saw Daiki doing everything that he could to physically wound me in a way that would win the fight right away. Sloppy. Not strategy, no technique. Just instinct and simmering rage. He’s still looking to prove something to himself and to others. I don’t.
I stopped blocking when I didn’t have to, switching over to simply dodging his attacks instead. It was almost like I was mocking him, stepping ever so slightly to the side, leaning backwards to keep his sword from connecting, spinning around to end up behind him and using the flat end of my sword to fiercely spank him on the bottom...only making him angrier with me with ever subtle gesture. And when he doubled his efforts, I began to dash forward in the opposite direction, forcing him to chase me.
“COWARD!!!” He shouted, and I just looked back over my shoulder at him with a snotty little grin.
“Leap, ‘Frogger’! Leap!” I teased.
“Arrrgghhhh!!!” He came for me, full force and I jumped up on the hood of one of the nearby cars to avoid him. Back and forth, he swung that sword with the best of his skill, and he still couldn’t touch me. But, desperate to match wits with a fellow colleague...or at least that’s how he saw it…Daiki jumped on the hood of the car with me where our sword battle continued. Takeshi’s kids kept watching, but I doubt that there was much going on there for them to see as we were moving so fast. They could only marvel at the symphony of clashing metal as we switched from stance to stance, from style to style, without either one of us being able to wounding blow in that would bring all of this madness to an end. It wasn’t until I really took a moment to look into Daiki’s eyes up close again that I thought about Takeshi...my beloved Takeshi...having to spend his last moments looking into those same vampire eyes without a defense. Without my help. Without my protection. Someone that I loved with my whole heart, even if it hadn’t been returned to me the way I wish it had been. Even though I had to have my once golden heart shattered to pieces before coming to the realization that my greatest fairy tale was never meant to come true. We may have parted ways...and he might have chosen to grow old and gray without me...and I may have held a deep grudge of anger and pain against him for that...but I regret not coming to see him more often when I had the chance. When I could still see his vibrant youth and courage again, even in they eyes of a much older man.
I look at Daiki...and I see his downfall at his hands, making me realize that one regret I don’t plan to entertain is allowing him to escape from this building tonight with his life in tact. Not for a fee….this is purely for me.
Speeding up my strikes, I really started pressing him to keep up with me, and I wasn’t even moving as quickly as I knew I could. I hope the kids would be safe for another few minutes, as I often liked to play with my food before chopping it up into bit sized morsels. I could hear Daiki grunting a little bit as he tried to dodge and navigate his way around me. I could see the sheen of sweat glistening on the surface of his skin as he fought as hard as he could. But I didn’t plan to play this game for much longer. Just long enough for him to truly feel what it’s like to have his ego sliced in half, his skill set disrespected, and his body torn asunder by someone who outmatches him on every level. He wanted this...let him come get it.
As we locked blades, I noticed one of his hands reach behind him to draw a dagger from his belt while attempting to distract me with a few spins of expert swordsmanship, but his slight of hand wasn’t lost on me. His eyes gave him away, and he looked over towards the children to swiftly whip out a dagger and send it spiraling in their direction. My reflexes were too quick for him, and I jumped over to the next car to swipe his attack down and send his dagger down to the parking lot cement. It was a cheap shot on his part, but that’s what desperation does to people sometimes.
Daiki rushed forward to leap to the rooftop of the car that I was on and continue fighting, but the second his feet touched down, I spun around to kick his legs from under him. He fell on his back so hard that the windows were shattered on all sides, blowing outward as I brought my next series of strikes down upon him and putting him right back on defense where he was at his weakest. He eventually brought his legs up and pushed himself to pop up to his feet from his shoulders, slashing at my throat and ribs with his sword as I danced around him almost effortlessly. This time, I was able to run up and slide between his legs to rapidly cut an ‘X’ into his back...from shoulder to shoulder, and kick him down on the hood face first.
Formidable? Maybe for someone who wasn’t me. Otherwise, he’s just another assassin in a long line of wannabe legends who thought the 80’s was going to be their decade for greatness. Too bad me a me a part of his ascension. He might have survived through to the end of the decade.
He kept focusing on Takeshi’s sons and daughter...only briefly, but I caught it every time...and every time he got a little bit of space between us, he tried his best to throw daggers in their direction. So I made sure to keep myself between him and the brats to complete my mission. I stood there and blocked and knocked away every single blade that he dared to launch in their direction...and this only angered him more.
“You’re wasting your time, Myoki!” He shouted.
“For once...I agree with you!” I answered back, and held my sword up once again to deliver that final blows of our pointless confrontation here.
“Give up the Sector V disks!!! It will be the end of us ALL if you don’t!”
That’s when I told him, “I didn’t have many plans to live forever anyway, ‘Daiki’! Did you?”
“Bastard!” He growled aggressively. “You’re destroying our future!”
“And yet, I’m not the one throwing daggers at children!” I shouted back. Daiki sprinted forward, and I had to flip to the side to avoid his attack, moving to the other side of the parking lot as he followed closely behind me. I had to roll over another car or two before he rushed forward to stop my forward motion, and I placed on of my feet up on the food to keep him from cutting me down at the ankles. And when he spun around on his knees to slash out at my other balancing leg, I hopped up to put it on the other car behind me, doing the splits between the two and using my sword to battle him beneath me as he attempted to amp things up in his favor!
Stabbing upwards, I rolled back on my split legs once, twice, three times...until I rolled down off of the hood of the car and spun up to my feet to viciously slice him across the cheek! I watch a steady flow of blood trickle down his face as he came after me again...all the way until I found a nearby wall and ran up the side a few steps to back flip over his attack and land behind him, this time cutting him on the back of both his arms in an attempt to disable him so that I’d be able to grab the kids and get them out of there in time. That was the plan, wasn’t it? Not to showoff my skills with a sword? Not to take revenge for Takeshi? Sometimes, the brain fogs up where emotions are involved. I’ve got a duty to fulfill here. And if Takeshi really is….’dead’….then I am not going to fail on the last promise that I made to him. He is a part of who I am after all.
Speeding up with my strikes, I found myself slightly amazed that Daiki was able to keep himself going for as long as he had. I’m guessing his ego gave him more fuel than I had bargained for. Go DOWN, damn you!!! This foolish game needs to come to an end!
As we clashed, I tried to spin my way into his private space to keep him from lashing out at me from a distance. This way, I could block and parry his sword work while being close enough to deliver harsh palm strikes to his chest and stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and painfully hitting the insides of his wrists until it was an agony to remain holding on to his sword at all. Then mixing that with some leg work to keep him stumbling over his own feet while using my shoulders to knock him backwards and tripping him up with every step. It almost felt as if I was getting the upper hand and might be able to find an opening to pierce my blade through his heart so that I could leave him to bleed out and die of starvation like he deserved. But something changed...
Daiki flipped away from me and then bent his knees to get low to the ground, his sword displayed in front of him at a horizontal angle as the crimson glow in his eyes intensified, and he took a deep breath as he activated his personal extra and prepared to use it against me.
I watched him strike the concrete beneath him at a speed that was nearly invisible even to vampire eyes...and a blinding display of sparks shot up in the air from the contact.
He slowly rose back up to his feet, more sparks stinging and popping and cascading down to the parking lot floor, as he prepared to truly take me on with all he had to give. “Alright...you want to play? Let’s play...” He said.
How cheesy. I swear, these assassins need to stop reading so many goddamn comic books.