6.5th FIGHT: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS (2)

-XOXOXOX-

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-XOXOXOX-

In the late afternoon within The Inside, a cruel harsh sun reigned over the rotten land. Shrouding the area in a violent reddish-orange hue, it had only worked to seemingly make the sin and vice-infested land seem even more unfriendly and eerie to the average resident that dwelled within its confines.

As per tradition within The Inside, its inhabitants had busied themselves with their own occupations, with many either trying to make a sustainable livelihood to survive or others just committing all sorts of crimes to either feed themselves or just for the sheer fun of it.

Trotting about, three children pass by several men and women plunging syringes into their arms, prostitutes beckoning their would-be customers, people gambling and drinking, and the commonly seen corpses lying next to the trash as they vigorously search for their next 'stakeout'.

"Any luck?" The little hooded child wrapped in cloth asked.

"Nah. Zero. Zilch." Kaito replied, shaking his head sideways.

Looking about the area and all its building several more times, Kouta whose hair nearly obscured his eyes lowered his head as he tiredly sighed. "No Sis, there's nothing at all around these parts..."

The three children had once again gone on their daily 'grind', looking for anything they could get their hands on at the moment.

They had been a part of a group of scavenging orphans that lurked The Inside for anything that could help them reach their daily goal of survival. And generally to the masses, they would be seen as inconsequential pests due to how many of them they were, but this was what most of them used to their advantage.

And these three were no exception. After all, with so many of the same children and orphans living in one space, how could one keep track of them all? And if one were to steal something, if you didn't stop them right away, then how were you going to get it back?

Trotting forward with one single goal in mind, the three children carried on with their task.

"Hmmn. On to the next one then." The little hooded child wrapped in the cloak said.

Spending the next few minutes walking up and down, their attention was suddenly caught by the distant yells and shouts of several men up north.

'Weird... Over in that direction, it seems like there's a lot of fighting going on... Best to ignore the north and focus here while we're able to...' The little hooded child mused, frowning slightly under the cloth hood.

'Who knows, maybe something might change in our lives...'

Going silent for a while, the little hooded child thought not only about all of the troubles and what they could gain from it up north but also about the potential near-death experiences if things hypothetically 'went south' for them and decided that it was best if they steered clear of the area altogether for now.

Also, with the way things were sounding up at north, which to the children's trained ears was clearly fighting, and tons of it too, going up there might be a tall order with all of those gangsters and homeless people wandering about causing a ruckus.

"Hey, Sis?" Kaito suddenly spoke up. "Don't you think that something's been fishy today? It's almost like you could smell those adults being thirsty for blood up over there..."

Now, this was slightly surprising to the little hooded child. Kaito wasn't known to be the sharpest tool in the shed and was prone to bursts of recklessness and foolishness, but it seemed that he did had some level of 'street smarts' that shined in certain situations.

"You felt it too, didn't you?" The little hooded child replied.

"Mhmm! These senses of mine are pretty darn good y' know!" The scarred-cheek boy boasted, giving a thumbs up.

Chuckling softly the little hooded child agreed. "You said it... But yes, it seems that there's a lot of ruckus going on up north, so while people are going up there, we will be stocking up on our supplies, okay?

Naturally, in due time their stocks would deplete, so it would be a good idea for them to restock.

"This one."

"?"

Suddenly halting the little hooded child had pointed to an average-looking old decrepit tall building. "This building here, it's the last one that we'll check before turning in before the night. If it has what we want, we'll loot it clean."

"Y-yes!/ Gotcha!" The two boys replied.

Fidgeting slightly, Kouta found it a tad bit tough to speak up but asked nonetheless.

"Ummm... sis... Are you really sure that this is a good idea?" He asked.

Patting his back, Kaito replied. "Of course it is! Don't be such a baby, man! People's gotta eat y' know~"

"He's right. And yes, I'm sure. You're also hungry, aren't you? Or do you want to go to sleep starving again?" The little hooded child wrapped in a cloak asked, to which the shy-looking boy shook his head.

In this land, hunger was indeed the enemy here, as it was one of the few things that separated life and death and could also affect whether one would do risky things to survive.

'When we get out of here, maybe we could live a normal life?' 

'If it's possible in the first place, of course.'

-But what even is a normal life?

A safe place to eat and sleep, and a guaranteed future? They didn't know, but they wanted it.

After reaching the building, the three had performed an extensive search on almost everything the building had to offer, to out-of-service lights and machinery, the surprisingly running water, and finally…

-A room filled with quite 'interesting' items, to them at least.

"Here it is! We actually found something!" Kaito exclaimed.

The trio was pleasantly surprised that they had found something, especially inside a place as run down such as this.

It was a room with bags filled with rocks and sand, a log of wood slightly dented in the front with bloodstains on it that was somehow lodged into the ground, sharp glass protrusions lying about, and books, many, many books within different plastic bags next to what seemed to be a makeshift futon.

Whoever the person was, they sure were resourceful.

But most importantly, was the bag of canned goods and water that was hidden away in the corner of the room behind several planks of wood.

"Holy crap there's a lot of stuff here!" Kaito yelled, followed by a faint murmur from his brother. "Y-yea, a-and lots of books too…"

Walking around to inspect everything, they had only gotten even more confused. Who would live in such a place, and why were there so many bloodstains on the bags and logs?

Some bloodstains seemed to be old, and then some bloodstains seemed to be quite fresh as the log still looked like it was damp, with slight indentations on them.

"The guy that lives here wouldn't happen to be some kind o' pyscho, now would he…?" Kaito muttered, slightly taken aback.

Moving on, Kouta stepped forwards as he rummaged through the plastic bags, his expression lightening up as he finally took notice of something he would like from this place.

"Umm… Can we take these too?" He said, pointing at the books that were in the plastic bags.

Raising her eyebrows, the little hooded child began to inspect the books. "Hmmn, let's see…"

'Boxing 101'

'Yoga For Beginners'

'Business Management For Idiots'

'Learn Capoeira in 15 Minutes'

'What Is The Meaning Of Life'

'My Imouto Can't Be This Cute!'

'Super-Duper Hentai Warrior: The Rising Of The Sword Hero'

'An Edu-tainment Book For Men Of Culture Vol: 2: Launchcodes Galore'

'A Comprehensive Guide To Karmasutra Vol: 5, The Orgasmic Dongaloo'

"..."

"…"

"…"

"No." The tone was forceful and resolute, leaving no room for argument.

"Awww…" 

The book collection boasted a variety of different genres all with interesting covers to attract readers; especially with the last three whose book covers featured women in rather… intimate positions. The trio was shocked as they wondered even more about the owner of these items.

Just happy to see something else that wasn't a weapon, Kouta exclaimed. "Whoa... There's a lot of books... And they're all different too..."

"Wow! The guy who owns all of these books must be a real smart person!" Kaito said, to which the little hooded child wrapped in a cloak snorted.

"Or a complete pervert..."

Not wanting to stay in this room any longer than they needed to, the little hooded child began to wonder just what kind of person would own such books, and what their appearance would most likely be like.

-Maybe a perverted thug with a bad face. Or a fat smelly ugly bastard.

"Tch."

"Yeah?" Kaito asked.

Waving him off, they continued their search. "Nothing, keep searching..."

'The atmosphere feels quite weird... I feel like something bad is about to happen...' 

As the sinking feeling grew stronger and stronger, they decided to speed up their pace, and only take what they need.

"Just take the food so we can hurry up and leave, things might end up worse the longer we stay…"

"Alright, I got it! And there's a lot too! Could hold us down for a couple of nights at least!"

Turning towards the exit the little hooded child said. "Good job, now leave the rest so we can go..."

However, as soon as they get ready to move, a slight creak of the door is heard as a cloaked figure of a boy entered the room.

"Put it down." A cold voice spoke.

"!"

"Crap! Someone's here!?" Kaito jumped at the sound, becoming vigilant as he eyed the 'intruder' entering the room.

It was a brown-eyed boy covered in rags that left his head exposed that looked to be around the same age as the three, if not a bit younger. With wavy jet-black hair, alongside bright hazel-brown eyes, one could tell with a single look at his immature face that he didn't look a day over ten or twelve, maybe even younger than they thought.

Seeing that it was only a bunch of little kids within the room, both sides gave a relieved sigh, though on the brown-eyed boy's side, it was a much more hidden one, as he didn't just let up his guard yet.

"Why are you guys here?" The brown-eyed boy asked.

Looking at three children, he had somewhat recognized two of them; catching a single glance at the scarred-cheek boy and the one with the bangs in front of his face around the streets of Rohza, the district north of the Tokita Ward and one of the ten wards within The Inside.

'These two, they look alike. Are they twins?' Was what he thought at the time.

One or two years ago, which was considered to be a long time ago to the brown-eyed boy, he alongside many other children would routinely go on 'scavenger hunts' where they would either find items that were worth some kind of money or just resort to plain old thievery.

The kid covered head to toe in rags? No clue who they were But what he did know was the scarred-cheek boy and the hair-bangs boy.

Not personally, of course. This right here was the first time he'd share words with them. But from crossing paths before.

"To take these things?" Kaito dumbly said.

-THWACK!-

A sharp sound resounded as the little hooded child smacked Kaito's head. "Ow!"

Looking toward the brown-eyed boy, the little hooded child pointed towards the bags filled with goods they were standing nearby while asking. "These are yours?"

The boy nodded, his hands slowly reaching towards his back, as he went for his knife holsters under his cloak, and while the other two boys couldn't notice it, the little hooded child did.

The scenery before him wasn't anything new to the brown-eyed boy. After all, most of the time the children that lived in this place wouldn't immediately show hostility to each other right away. It would usually be more natural for them to get along and work together on several instances, which was quite ironic for a land that was proven to be a lawless one.

-Not in total harmony of course, but a fashion of coexistence.

In fact, even the boy himself had some experience with running along with these orphan groups, whether it was for stealing and the likes to make a living.

And though the brown-eyed boy wasn't too surprised that his place would've been found so easily, as he made sure to never have too much faith in anything that isn't himself, he did wonder just how were they able to find 'his' place out of all others. This wasn't the first time that it happened, but still…

'?'

'And their knives… They look good… 'Real' good…' The boy thought, his gaze lingering onto what was strapped to the sides of the two boys in front of him.

"Well brats, this is the end of the road, you can get lost or wish you did." Feeling slightly under the weather because he realized his strength due to events that had occurred with the 'Old Man Shintarou' earlier, he had wanted to get a good night's sleep or whatever he could afford before updating his entire training regimen.

"Hey! Who are you to call us brats when you look even younger than us?!" Kaito's lips twitched as he complained.

-WHACK!-

The little hooded child had whacked his head in an attempt to get him to behave himself to avoid escalating the situation at hand. "Ow…"

-sneer-

It was almost imperceptible, but the boy could've sworn that had seen the corners of the brown-eyed boy's lips tug upwards a little bit in a derisive sneer, but before he could register it in his eyes, the boy's facial expression had returned to its natural cold, stoic look.

'What?' The boy's expression seemed to be saying.

Feeling a slight sense of indignation, Kaito narrowed his eyes as he sighed. 'Tch! He's even more antisocial than the seaweed hair kid!'

He didn't actually know what the word 'anti-social' really meant, but he heard an adult call another adult that in an argument, and the adult in question was acting moody and broody, so he decided to use it as well.

"B-but we're not brats..." The Kouta muttered.

Without even looking at the mumbling child, the brown-eyed boy moved to pack up and collect his things as he spoke. "Whatever. And you, you're a man, right? Don't pout at me, it's disgusting. But never mind that, move aside."

Moving aside the three children watched the boy begin to clean up his surroundings before sitting down and looking at the three as he narrowed his eyes.

After what had seemed to be a long time had passed, the boy had just sighed loudly before directly looking the three in their eyes…

'Well, what do we have here...' The brown-eyed boy thought. 'We have Scarface, Mumble Mania, and somebody covered in rags... What a trio.'

"?"

"No, nothing, forget it…" The brown-eyed boy said. "So, let me guess. You want my stuff and that's why you're here huh?"

"!"

"How… How'd you know?" Kaito was shocked.

Was the brown-eyed boy in front of him a psychic?

"Because… You tried to steal my things…" He blandly looked at them.

"Oh." Kaito said.

'Heh. Dumbass.' The brown-eyed boy thought.

Narrowing his eyes, Kaito said to the brown-eyed boy as the small figure shook her head. "Hey! You're thinking of something rude, ain'tcha?…"

"Well? Do you have something you want to exchange for? I'm not gonna just give it up y'know..." The brown-eyed boy said.

And immediately, Kouta made his answer. "W-well, can I have one of those bo-"

"" Nope."" The little hooded child and the brown-eyed boy both answered for different reasons.

"Aww…" Kouta sighed.

A short while had passed as the four had discussed what they were going to trade. The little hooded child always spoke with a stoic, firm voice, unlike the really shy and stuttering lad with hair covering his eyes, and the energetic rowdy boy with the scarred cheek.

Though, the discussion had reached its climax as the little hooded child suggested. "How about these blades right here then?"

'Jackpot.' The boy internally smirked, looking at the trio of kids before him.

"It seems that you also use knives too…" The little hooded child said whilst looking about. "The ones you have might be good but these may be even better for you… Why don't you think about it?"

"Sounds good, but I could just kill you and take them free of charge…" The brown-eyed boy said, staring right ahead at them. "I mean… You 'are' sort of trespassing y'know..."

"!"

"Hey! That's not cool man!" Kaito protested as Kouta flinched in trepidation.

"Well, if you could beat the three of us, then it would be true, but who's to say that you won't be injured? It would be a lot more work than it's worth to do all of that."

"Yeah, that's true." Staring at the three for a while a tense atmosphere descended into the room before being dispelled as the brown-eyed boy finally spoke. "Besides I'm even in the mood for that... Wouldn't be getting much by doing that anyway."

It seemed like a trade was the most sensible thing to do since they wanted what the other possessed, so fighting a fight that no one wanted in the first place would not only be a waste of time, but even if he had fought and won, he might not be able to use the weapons as well as he liked if he got injured anyway.

Besides, while he 'really' wanted the knives they had, he just didn't want to make it look like he wanted it 'too' badly.

'Something I read in one of those books, I guess.' The brown-eyed boy thought.

Shaking his head, the brown-eyed boy fiddled with some of the bags before tossing one in the three children's direction. "Anyways, here."

"Why don't you leave the pairs of those knives?" The boy said, marveling at how different to composition was from the ones he had gotten from Old Man Shintarou. "The ones I have currently aren't that bad, if I'm honest they're a bit better than these right here, but they've kinda worn out though. All chipped up and shit."

"Besides, these look really nice. I bet they cut like a charm too."

Nodding, the trio of children gave their thanks. "Gotcha! Thanks a lot, man! I knew ya' weren't so bad after all!" Kaito exclaimed, smiling brightly "The name's Kaito! This right here is my lil' bro Kouta, and this one.... Well, I don't know her name."

'So it's a her? And you don't know her name? Well, it's none of my business.' The brown-eyed boy thought.

"So what's yours, huh?"

"Not telling." The brown-eyed boy said coldly.

"Eh? So you don't want to share your name? Alright then, just like sis over here, don't gotta if you don't wanna, it's your call." Kaito said, leaving it at that.

The brown-eyed boy was surprised. He was sure that the scarred-cheek boy would push for an answer, but then again the kid in a hood didn't give a name to these fellas either, so he think much about it.

And as for a name, more specifically, his name? It wasn't just that he didn't want to share it, it was the fact that he didn't even remember it himself. He had a name of course, but every time he tried remembering it, there seemed to be some kind of 'wall' blocking it off in his memory.

"Also, how do you even know that, huh? That I'm not so bad after all? I mean, as far as I know, this is the first time we've ever spoken to each other."

To which Kaito just replied "Small stuff, man. Don't worry about it."

Shaking his head at the trio, the brown-eyed boy thought in slight confusion as what would've been a violent situation had turned into a civil conversation and trading session between four children. 'The Inside sure works in its own funny ways…'

'Well, there's no danger in me doing this, especially since I won't be 'living' here from tomorrow on anyway, so if they tried to come back they'd be met with an empty room at best.' The brown-eyed boy mused as he collected the two pairs of knives.

They were at least twelve inches long, seven if you didn't count the handle with a silvery double, edged jagged blade. Fitting snugly in the palm of his hand, he eyed the craftsmanship of the blade right down to its other details such as the handle made from a rubbery substance that was unidentifiable to him, and the numbers and indents on the side of the blade.

"?"

Seeing that the little hooded child wrapped up in a cloak and the other two hadn't left yet, the brown-eyed boy perked his eyebrows a bit. "What now? I'm not giving you anything else..."

"No..." The little hooded child muttered. "How did you get all of this stuff?"

"'Cause I'm a little bit strong." The brown-eyed boy simply replied. 'Though I'd really like to be stronger...'

Finishing their little trade, the other three decided to leave now before it got too dark, while Kaito waved at the brown-eyed boy. "Aight'! Let's meet again pretty soon!"

"No thanks." The brown-eyed boy shook his head. "Why would I do that?"

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that!" The Kaito scratched his head whilst saying. "Just you wait, I'm sure we'll meet again!"

-And so after giving their thanks, the three children left, disappearing into the late afternoon.

'Weirdos.' The brown-eyed boy thought.

-XOXOXOX-

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-XOXOXOX-

After watching the three children leave, the brown-eyed boy stared in that direction for a few seconds before sighing tiredly; scratching his head as he looked around the room he considered his 'home'.

'Gee, what a bunch of weird kids... The old man said that there's a bunch of capable children all over this shitty place. That means that those three should be like that too then...' The brown-eyed boy mused. 'Man, it's been a long time since I had a chance to think things over in some good old-fashioned 'peace-and-quiet'...'

'And now that I think about it... Just how long has it been since I've been 'living' in this shithole?' It feels like forever… And why?' Pulling out a cloth sack from the corner of the room, he started to pack his valuables inside it. 'Lately, I've been feeling like my memories are beginning to get kinda clearer... Some things are still a bit hazy, since other than a few stupid dreams and her face I can't remember much at all...'

While the boy was lost in his thoughts, out of nowhere a shadowy silhouette appears behind him, which greatly surprised him.

"!"

Quickly acting, the boy unsheathed a pair of the new knives he received and aimed several precise strikes at what he perceived to be the man's throat.

It was the same giant of a middle-aged man with shaggy black hair and stubble that the brown-eyed kid had gotten used to seeing around; Shintarou.

"Hahaha! Easy there kiddo! But it's good that your reflexes aren't complete trash though..." A deep and rough, brash voice lazily drawled.

Catching the blade between his fingers with an almost iron-like vice grip, the trajectory and momentum of the two blades were completely halted as Shintarou easily continued to hold on to them without any problems, despite the brown-eyed boy's insistent pulling on them.

Letting the two knives go the brown-eyed boy spat out an expletive as he sarcastically chided Shintarou. "Damn it, old man. Can't you be a bit more quieter?"

Laughing at the brown-eyed boy, Shintarou said. "Now, now. It's not my fault you got so lost in your thoughts that you didn't notice me~"

"Bullshit. My senses aren't that dull to not notice someone sneaking up on me, old man. "The brown-eyed boy spat.

His senses were good, and he knew it. Being lost in thought wasn't enough to make him miss important details and drop his guard.

But somehow they didn't help him this time.

It was as if the old man had just materialized out of thin air.

'It's just like one of my 'mangoes' this old man brought for me… What was its name again? 'Narudo Shipp'- Something?' The brown-eyed boy thought, not noticing his obvious naming errors in the comparison of his internal musings.

Twirling the two knives between his hands, Shintarou gazed at the craftsmanship of the blades, his eyebrows slightly rising upwards. "Hmmn? This knife is pretty decent, boyo, where'd 'ya get it from?"

"Oh, this?" The brown-eyed boy looked at the knives. "Some scavenger brats found my place, and we ended up doing a little trade."

Humming in acknowledgment, Shintarou continued to play with the blades before looking towards the brown-eyed boy that was lost in thought. "Alright, alright kiddo, what's up? Why the long face?"

Shaking his head, the brown-eyed boy replied. "Nothing, You said you came for something right? Why don't you help me with moving these things while you're at it so I can settle down somewhere since you don't seem that busy." Mentally exhausted with the entirety of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the boy wanted to settle down quickly and start again fresh in the morning.

"Waah, what a lazy kid~" Shintarou teased which completely ticked the brown-eyed boy off.

After a while of pointless arguing, Shintarou laughed as agreed to help the lad, chuckling at how stoic the child was trying to be. "Sheeesh! Fine, be like that, kiddo! Well, why not. I can't exactly have you dying on me just yet 'cause you don't have a place to crash at." Shintarou said.

Packing up all of his belongings and tools, he readied himself to go to a different area to live in and was lucky Shintarou agreed so he didn't have to drag it all the way there by himself, but as he slung the cloth sack filled with various memorabilia over his shoulders his mind was stuck on one single thing, or rather a possibility.

'I wonder… What would my life be like if it wasn't for 'that' man… Would it be peaceful, or would it be just as chaotic as this one?' The brown-eyed boy mused.

'I can't remember what it was like back then clearly, but I can tell that it wasn't good for you either...'

'You know, back then, you would always smile like an idiot even though the hand you were dealt in life was rough- But from my earliest memories, it seemed as if life outside there was just as shitty as it was for you, like the Inside or whatever this old man right here calls it was for me…'

-XOXOXOX-

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-? COURTYARD-

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-XOXOXOX-

It was within a grand and pristine Japanese-styled manor, vibrantly colored as the flora and multitude of greenery and plant life only accentuated to picturesque-ness of the lovely scenery.

Looking upwards, a younger version of the brown-eyed boy was laying on the lap of a lady dressed in white as she stroked the boy's head.

-' Remember, █ █ █ █ █ █ █ , my son.'-

"…"

The woman's mouth began to move, but after the first sentence the brown-eyed boy could not hear anything, it was as if after that moment, the sound of the world had been cut off, leaving him forever in the dark about what the woman had said to him.

-XOXOXOX-

---

-XOXOXOX-

The boy thought back years ago about the situation of his former home, or should he say; 'His first and last true home'.

-Did she say anything? And if so, did he forget it?

The boy didn't know.

'It's like my memory's been fuzzy, and I can only remember the first parts of what you told me...' The boy thought.

But as they finished packing everything up and begin to leave the tall building, a faint and bright light shines in the boy's hazel brown eyes.

-GLEAM-

'They say that even though the outside has people just as shitty, it's leagues better than the shitty Inside... Then if that's the case...' The boy narrowed his eyes as he dragged his belongings alongside Shintarou to what would be his new 'home'. 'Then one day... One day I'll get out of this shitty place...'

'And once I do, then... I'll..."

-XOXOXOX-

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6th Fight: IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS (2) END

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-XOXOXOX-