Starring:
Date: March 28, 2013
Summary:
After travelling to the metropolitan city, Satomi and Ataru get their bearings, and prepare for the first day of fighting.
"A fighting chance Part 2"
Land of fire
The pair arrived in the big city. It's busy as expected. "Have a look around the city center, find us some dinner. I'm going to book us a room in a hotel near the fighting-den." She says, grabbing Ataru's arm. "Don't cause any trouble, we'll rendevouz here… Your first fight is tonight. So be ready." She then shoots out in between the crowd, looking for a hotel herself.
Call it bad luck, not for Ataru no… but for the kid who brushes past him, Ataru can clearly feel the hand of the twelve year old dip into his pocket, the kid making off with whatever he could raid while sprinting through the gaps in the crowd. Ataru can see him slide through in between people, trying to break line of sight. The kid turning into an alley under the cover of the crowd. Closer inspections shows a whole network of Urchins ready to pickpocket distracted tourists, merchants and visitors. All of them strategically divided over town in a construction not foreign to someone who has seen these circuits. No doubt that these kids are under employment of a local mafia. Who offers them food and shelter in return for these petty crimes.
Ataru caught on immediately as the kid tried it. Watching him dash off, Ataru was right after him. Heck, Ataru use to do what the kid was doing now.. only, he wouldn't have someone quite so nimble after him! Weaving cleanly, it was once they hit that alley that Ataru put on that speed, vanishing at the opening, to blur past the kid and appear in front of where he had been running towards. Ataru was calm, that brown coat flaring about him to settle with that hat low. "lookit.. I ain't lookin fer trouble.. and I dun wanna hurtcha.. or those in here that are set up ta back ya up.. I need the money fer food.. I'm gonna be in the fightnin tonight.. so.. how 'bout ya just gimme back whatcha took and we'll go our separate ways.. fair?"
The kid glances around in total panic noticing Ataru whisking off like that. In fact running into him while he appears right in front of the kid. The child shakes his head, trying to run the opposite way. "Help!" Yells the kid, running into another group of urchins, bunch of fifteen year olds who were playing craps in the alley. "Help!" Yells the kid again, those three fifteen year olds getting up. "Leave old man.." One of them says full of confidence, the other pulling out a dirty rusty kitchen knife. "Yea! Go away before you get hurt!"
"Was I that stubborn?" Ataru would sigh as the kid ran off. "Shut up Kyouki, I dun need ya agreein to that." At the mental chuckle from the oni, Ataru would head forward, going for that kid. As the 3 older kids stood up, Ataru would roll his eyes. A sudden flash of light and that spear was in Ataru's hand, smooth metal a long counter point to the short knifes the kids had. "lookit.. I just want my money back. I ain't even tryin ta turn ya'll in.. Ya gimme back my money, I dun gotta hurt none of ya'll. Simple deal, huh?" Ok, so Kyouki was a complete bluff, but the kids probably didn't know that. If they tried to scatter, Ataru would grab the pick pocket that stold from him and hold the kid up off the ground at arm's length, to wait until he gave back the money.
The kid holds out the cash, crying out loud, acting like a victim. "He-uh" He grunts, while his right leg lashes out, trying to kick Ataru in the nuts quite unexpectedly. Using the break should Ataru let go to dash off into the crowd. Satomi meanwhile has already found them two a cheap hotel room with the allowance they got from the village, headed for the town-square where she's supposed to meet Ataru. "A ten minute walk, not a bad hotel… Good job Satomi." She says, throwing one of the urchins looking at her a deadly glare. Which seems to have acted as a deterrent.
Ataru would take back the money with a nod, when the kid tried to kick at him, he'd flick his hand out, tossing the kid to go tumbling onto his feet. It wasn't enough to hurt the kid, but he wasn't getting that shot in either! Shaking his head, he'd sigh and head for where he was suppose to meet up with Satomi. Stopping along the way to get some food for them, he'd still be muttering to himself about kids and laughing oni when he showed up, offering her that simple dinner. "Just.. dun ask.. k? I dunno what's up with the place.. new mafia signs.. they ain't usin any of the main family signs 'round here.. so.. I should be ok."
She glances at him with a perked eyebrow. "You did behave right?" She asks him, pausing for a moment, before happily accepting the food, getting a move on. "Okay so we have about an hour for your next fight, lets walk there and case the place. We also need to figure out a strategy for winning your first few fights… without killing your opponents." She glances at him, chewing away at her food. "Also, no spears… it's all hand-to-hand…Sorry Kyo-thingy." She grins, slightly… pondering on how they're going to go about this. She has a couple of ideas, but is curious with what Ataru can come up with.
Ataru shrugs slightly. "I didn't hurt no one.. avoided a nut shot.. so.. yah.. I behaved." Ataru would start walking with her, musing. "Oh.. I figured I wouldn't be usin Kyouki.. I mean.. afterall.. not supposta be someone who uses such things, eh? Also the whole, avoid killin.. trust me.. ya dun gotta worry 'bout that.. I ain't gonna kill no one. I'll even make sure ta make me avoidin their swings not look too obvious too.. I ain't gonna be someone's punchin bag though.. just ain't happening.. but I know how ta pull my punches plenty, eh?"
"You're aware the fights are to the death…right?" She asks him, blinking repeatedly. She then sighs, looking around. "So we'll need to find a way to fool everyone that your opponent is dead. Or find some compromise. "Besides, keep your eyes open. These buggers will do anything to not die, so expect sabotage attempts, cheaters… poisons, who knows." She turns into a lesser wealthy part of down, walking down a shoddy street, before turning into another one, immidiatly walking down the stairs to a corner-store. "It's down here.."
She says, while nodding at the big bouncer at the door. "For the fights." She says, after which he nods, opening the door. The place looks like a typical underground fighting club, a circle of people surrounding two people fighting. Though the fighters are usually poor chumps too far in debt to pay it off. The mafia's now use their lives to collect bets, the only way to make it out of these fights alive is to keep winning until your debt is payed off.
Ataru would sigh. "Satomi? I toldja.. I've been here. I could probably teach em tricks." Shaking his head, he'd follow after her, tipping his hat down as they got to the guard who let them further into the place. Ataru would look around, his whole body tensing. Indeed, it was a surprisingly venomous urge that Ataru has to resist to rip the whole place apart, building, people, all of it. That tenseness would easily be seen in his jaw line as he'd watch the latest two people fighting. He didn't say anything, he couldn't without that rage he was fighting off being shown easily. Instead he simply waited for Satomi to set up what was going to happen. He had to keep control, this had to go down as per the plan. All a blow up here would do, is get a lot of people on him for trouble and he didn't want Satomi hurt in the cross-fire.
Satomi tenses with him, noticing the strain. Grabbing his shoulder and giving him a reassuring squeeze while one of the men gets knocked off his feet, some of his blood flying from his bloated face, the sound of his nose being broken only amplified by the loud cheering of the money waving crowds. "Please I yield, I have two children! Please don't do this! I'll never gamble again I!" The man on the ground gets muffled by a knee digging deeply into his ribs, only followed by a painfull huff. "Please.." He cries, while fist after fist comes down onto his face, untill his lifeless body merely twitches.
Half the crowd cheering while receiving their money, the other half disappointed at losing their bet. "Come on… Don't look." Satomi says at Ataru, who she pulls with her to the backrooms, where a sleazy mafia member is seated, counting money. "You the manager?" He asks Satomi while he looks up. Ataru would probably recognice the tatoo's on his arm. He's tied in with a larger family, that's for sure. But he doesn't look like he recogniced Ataru. "Poor sod, what's he in for?" He asks curiously, glancing at Satomi. "None of your crispy business." She says firmly… she's doing suprisingly well at her little ruse. He also notices that she took off her headband that morning. "I'll give him an easy one for starters, one to three odds." He says, while nodding at Ataru.
Satomi nods at the man, smacking Ataru on the back of his head before grabbing him by the chest, dragging him with her out of the office. "This way you piece of crackle" She says loud and firmly, dragging him back into the loud main room where the action happens Sighing in relieve once they're out of the office. "Sorry.." She just whispers, finding a dark corner to sit down.
Ataru just gritted his teeth, nothing said as the man got killed. Flashbacks to a past that had been all but buried. He'd take a slow breath and let it out, following her towards the back room with the mafia member. Behind that hat, eyes would narrow on the tat. That one he knew.. that made this all the more complicated. He didn't even seem to stumble when Satomi smacked him and he'd follow her out into that area. A final shake of his head was given as she'd find a corner. That voice of his deadpan, the rage all the more evident within it. "Satomi.. he's one of the main family. Soon as I lose my hat.. we're gonna get a whole lotta more trouble then anythin ya've probably ever dealt with.. there's plenty enforcers 'round here.. I'm gonna have to keep the hat on.. I can't let em see the coat.. or the scars.. so.." Ataru would shift, taking off the red coat under the brown, finally handing her the wrapped brown bundle. "We can do this.. That man though.. the one ya talked to? He's gonna die once we got the kid out. Just so ya know now.. he's dead man walkin.."
"You think he would recognize you just with that? Okay your new name is Ho got that?" She says firmly, glancing around. "We're going to need to be more careful then." She adds, glancing around to see all other Enforcers. None really seem to carry the tattoo's that the money-man had. She swallows… "We'll take him out silently tonight, after the fights." She says, hoping that's enough compromise for him. "Lets go… it's your turn. Have an idea on how to kill without killing?" She asks him, gazing into the ring where he's about to enter, facing a scrawny, scared looking family man. You could smell the alcohol from miles away. "Great, you're up against a drunk." She says, while walking him to the ring, sitting down on a low seat behind Ataru's corner.
"Submission." Ataru would nod slightly, rolling his head to the left and right, before stepping towards the ring with Satomi. Grimly, he'd eye the drunk guy in front of him. Few talk about a 'killing intent' that sense of someone moving and they knew they were going to die. Ataru, for all of his attempt to hold back the rage of having to replicate what he had managed to run away from so long ago, was slipping into that. The stare through the hat could almost burn a hole in the straw as he'd stare at the man for a long moment, Simply waiting for the 'go' to move. He had to slow it down, he had to not hurt this man too badly. This wasn't the target. This wasn't the reason they were here. The litany was going on and on in his head as that level intent to destroy everything in that place seemed to eminate from him in pulsating waves, each breath leading to another pulse.
The blur of the background sound get broken by Satomi her voice. "Ho, Ho, Ho!" She says, before tapping his shoulder, looking at him intently. "I don't think they accept submissions here." She just whispers, while the pit-master walks up into the middle of the pit, announcing the fight before giving them the signal. The drunkard immidiatly walking forward. Ataru his keen eyes would probably notice it immidiatly, but the drunkard isn't planning on playing fair, the glimmer of a piece of glass tucked in his hand visible in the canvas lightning the pit hosts. "Hey!" Satomi says while pointing at the man. "That's against the rules isn't it!" She says… nobody seems to give a crunch. The man lunges out at Ataru, trying to go for shallow, painful cuts at first.
Ataru's eyes narrowed. As the man came in with that glass to cut at him, Ataru's fist would blur out, a single strike, enough and aimed properly to dislocate the elbow, while it was mid swing. He'd lean away from the glass strike, stepping in to grab the now useless arm and pull it up towards the man's other shoulder. A harder tug would dislocate it from the shoulder socket, Ataru moving smoothly behind the man to in essance, choke him with his own arm. Ok.. so Ataru was playing a little mean. But he was sorting through a lot of emotions and this was more of a reactionary situation. He was indeed literally working off muscle memory from a time long past. You stay alive by not getting touched. Choking the man with his own arm, he'd whisper into the guy's ear, probably through the cries of pain. "Look. Act dead when I let go. Drop, you'll get out and survive. My manager will see to it." Rather the man would work with Ataru or not, was to be seen, but there would be a loud CRACK (Ataru popping his own elbow behind the man's back loudly) and Ataru would let the guy go to hopefully slump to the floor, 'dead'. At the very least, he'd most likely be passed out unconcious.
The crowd stares at Ataru in total silence. Including Satomi… who had to swallow momentarily before gazing at the referee who moves in to check the /dead man's/ pulse. She looks at Ataru, before making some quick seals, hitting the referee with a genjutsu she isn't too familiar with. She's still practicing, but hey it's better than nothing. He doesn't seem to notice, gazing down at the body and tapping it with his finger a couple of times, before checking his pulse, looking up. "Dead.." He says, while two big bouncers walk up, lifting the man up by arms and legs, beginning to walk him to the backdoor before throwing him out onto the pile of actually dead bodies. Satomi sighs while breaking the genjutsu… Okay, dodged a bullet there.
She then gazes down the crowd, a man in his mid-twenties is being held by a shady figure in a suit. There's a small scar under the man's eye. "That's him.." She whispers, while looking down the crowd. "And it looks like he's up next.." She whispers, while swallowing, getting up and grabbing Ataru by the jacket, receiving a considerable amount of money from one of the racketeers, pocketing it while walking him back to her dark corner. "We need to sabotage the next match, he can't die.." She whispers, while gazing down the crowd. "And I think I know a way to bring this thing to an end." She explains slowly. Gazing at Ataru, hoping he has his cool back, and also a solution. She's completely blank on how to sabotage the next fight, especially since she doesn't know who he's up against.
Ataru waits til it's finished, then heads over to Satomi. A small nod was given as he'd slowly take a breath and let it out. Calm? yeah, that left at about the moment Ataru had seen that tattoo on the guy. The rage he had was beyond a level of most understanding. Looking towards the one who was up next, he'd give a small nod. Searching for the opponent. Once found, Ataru would pull a fast one. Looking back to Satomi he'd nod his head slightly in that direction. "Push me that way and yell at me." He'd get ready for her interaction. Once done, he'd stumble that way, knocking people over, generally disrupting that side. As the issue grew, he'd manage to trip another guy who wasn't paying that much attention into one of the hot heads in the crowd. Leaving the guards to deal with that, he'd sneak under the roar towards the other fighter. It only took the right kick at the right point to shatter the knee cap in 15 spots. Leaving him to try and figure out what just happen, Ataru would make his way back to Satomi as the small fight was broken up finally.
Satomi gazes at Ataru when he speaks, nodding while noticing another opponent preparing for a fight. "Yea that's him." She says, while nodding at Ataru's instructions. "You piece of crinkle, I told you to drag it out!" She says, while giving Ataru a genuine push into the crowd, watching their little ruse ensure before he sits back down, smiling at the result. "Not a bad job.." She says.
The fight took ten minutes, even though his opponent's knee-cap was out… this man was clearly not built for fighting. It took him ten painstaking minutes to find the courage and power to kill his opponent. "End his suffering!" Says one of the crowd members, the other actually had to leave to puke. Seeing someone get killed is one thing. Seeing someone get - almost - killed ten times… now that's torture. Satomi herself was getting a bit nautious. "It's the last fight for tonight, lets follow him and snatch him on the way out, then I'll take him to the hotel while you figure out a way to kill that mobster. After that we'll rendevouz, and take this crimper down." She hisses, noticing the crowd slowly clear.
The 25 year old client is easy to spot. His hair is orange, posture scrawny and he's wearing a flower-pattern button up that's ripped and torn due to the fight. Oh and did I mention that he's screaming in pain? It's clear that he broke his right hand in the last fight. "Lets go.."
The man gets taken by his handler. A very large, fat, muscular bouncer type. Clearly a simple enforcer. They're walking over the empty shoddy streets. Towards a cheap motel around the corner. An opportunity presents itself and Satomi takes it. "Hey!" She says loudly, while knowing they're alone in an alley close to the motel. "You know what time it is?" She asks, before making a set of seals, her shadows shooting out to take control of both the big enforcer and the client. Would be a problem if he ran. Though it's clear she's in trouble, the man his sheer strength fighting her shadowy grip. "I can't hold him much longer." She hisses, glancing at Ataru.
Ataru would move as soon as Satomi had a hold of the man. "Time for you to pass out." Unlike in the ring, Ataru put all of his speed into it, a massive powered blow, all of his rage funneled into that final shot that would get launched right into the man's chest. He'd probably rip the man free of Satomi's shadow grip as he'd launch the guy down the alley, across the street to cave in a wall. Ataru would blink. "oops?" Ok, so he didn't really know exactly how pissed he was. Shaking his head, he'd eye the client. "lookit. Go with her, shut up and ya live. Got it?" He'd look over at Satomi with a nod and then he'd be gone. Time to go hunting..
"Make sure you kill him.." Satomi says firmly, while shadow imitating the client with her, towards herself like clockwork. "Don't want him telling anybody who did this." She says, cold and calculated, while grabbing the client by the neck. "You're safe… I just don't want you to run. We're Konoha shinobi and working for your dad." She explains, while dragging him with her out of the bad part of town and towards the hotel.
