15.5TH FIGHT: A DEAL IN THE WORKS (2)

-XOXOXOX-

---

-PRESENT TIME-

-RUINED KUREMISAGO MANOR-

---

-XOXOXOX-

Things always seemed to take a surprising turn when it came to Myoujou.

When he first started to go out on missions alongside Shintarou, things would never go according to standard protocol.

-Embark on a mission, help complete it before suddenly everything goes to hell, and chaos ensues.

And likewise with this mission, the same had also happened.

'The job this time was; 'Provide assistance to the Kuremisago Rebels for a short duration of time'. But who would've known that things would've also gotten like this?'

'What's next? Are there going to be any espionage-type fellas we have to fight? Is some snake-guy going to sneak by in a box? Or even pilot a giant mech? What, are we going to go to a new city while it gets overrun with zombies? Now that is something I'd like to see.' Myoujou wondered as he chuckled softly.

But as he left the ruined manor, his thoughts came to an abrupt change as he came across a somewhat familiar figure walking towards them.

'It's that man, Furinji Saiga.'

The name quietly tickled the lips of Myoujou, as he narrowed his eyes at the entrance of the tall blonde martial artist.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here…?" Shintarou hummed.

'This is the guy from back then… Isn't he?'

The guy that was talking to that one Mercenary guy whose name he'd already forgotten. That same mercenary that wanted to start problems with him.

But also…

Wasn't this the same guy that tried to kill him earlier?

And here he was just waltzing about like it's nobody's business.

'Do you think I'm some kind of clown, Old Mister?' Myoujou thought as his expression fell into a frown.

'But now that I think about it… Huh? He doesn't feel like that same guy… I mean, the aura's different and all.' Though he walked with a relaxed gait, Myoujou could tell that the man meant business and wouldn't fold easily, like an omelet.

"Hey, Shintarou."

"Hmmn…" As if he knew what was on his mind Shintarou took a brief glance at Myoujou as he shook his head, signaling; 'go-ahead'.

"Gotcha." Myoujou muttered before walking to meet Saiga.

The two started to walk towards each other, Myoujou and Saiga, and at any moment, they'd be less than a hand's breadth from each other.

Various thoughts ran through both of their heads as they neared each other, each thought wondering just what was the other truly up to.

"This Old Man…"

"This boy…"

A couple of steps later from the two brisk walkers they then found themselves standing less than six feet away from each other.

In a world ransacked by a spreadable virus, this would definitely be breaking some form of safety protocol.

Myoujou felt that something about this man was odd. This man in front of him felt different somehow.

They had the same posture, breathing, and look, but somehow the aura just felt different.

It was a form of Insight/ Common Sense that he fostered over his stay within The Inside that helped save his life on many occasions, and because of it, Myoujou felt that he had become a pretty decent judge of someone's character and capacity for danger.

And for Myoujou, who felt that he fought him before, there was only one way to figure out if his assumption was correct

-Was it by asking 'Excuse me, were you the one that tried to kill me?', and sorting out the would-be 'misunderstanding' like normal people by talking?

-No.

"!?"

-Swish!-

Myoujou's fist swiftly shot out from his side.

Its destination? Saiga's face.

Crossing his arms, a crisp sound rang within the mountains as Saiga blocked Myoujou's punch.

-'Sorting it out by talking'? That's too sensible. So sensible and filled with 'Common Sense' that it actually might not work.

In this case, the 'correct' way in this situation… was to just fight it out.

'I'm well aware that this man is a Master at Martial Arts... No, maybe even higher…' Myoujou thought as he swiftly attacked Saiga once more. 'And at my current strength, I might not even be able to accomplish much against him.'

'But even then..!'

"Wait, Are you-" Saiga tried to speak but was cut off by a kick aimed at his face again.

'Hmmn… How about this–!' Myoujou yelled internally, taking another step toward Saiga who took a step back.

And taking a giant breath, Myoujou leaned forward.

-Swiiiissshhhh!-

Myoujou moved at an impressive speed, zipping through the air as he closed in on Saiga.

-WATER MIRROR KATA: TRACKLESS STEPS-

-To move and attack quickly and with a hurry, as if you were not only carried by the wind, but one with the wind itself. Such is the basis of the Mizukagami/ Water Mirror formation.

It was mainly a movement technique that consisted of incredible control of the body whilst utilizing the toes and the ball of the feet to help gain speed while traversing great distances.

'This kid… He isn't listening is he…?' Saiga wondered if his luck could get any worse today. He really didn't have much intent on fighting anyone now, but here he was stuck in this situation at the moment.

Dodging Myoujou's attacks, Saiga peered over at Shintarou only to see the giant of a man watching with his trademark lazy smile on his face. "Hey, don't you have any intentions of stopping this? I really don't want to fight you guys."

"Kids these days, am I right?" Shintarou shrugged as if it wasn't his problem. "They're all special, y'know. Whether just plain special, or special in the head."

'And what does that mean—?' Saiga thought in confusion.

'Here it goes—! Whether or not you're the same guy, I'll find out here for sure—!' After closing in on Saiga, Myoujou suddenly stopped as he positioned himself for what he was about to do next.

'Haaaaah—!'

And then…

-[WATER MIRROR: RIPPLING SPEAR KICK]-

-WHAM!-

Myoujou stepped forward and his right leg kicked off the ground, partly shattering the area beneath him in web-like patterns as he released a swift yet brutal front kick shooting straight like a spear, and though Saiga dodged out of the way, Myoujou's feet punctured the bark of a nearby tree causing parts of its bark where it hit to splinter off into different directions as it split violently, causing the tree to snap into two as it fell.

"Phew~ You've pretty good for your age, but seriously, I don't want to fight you." Saiga said. "I just want to ask some questions."

"I'm aware." Myoujou said. "And as for questions… So do I— That's why I'm trying to fight you."

Saiga looked at Myoujou as he sighed. "You know that doesn't make sense, right?"

"Yes." Myoujou responded.

The more and more this went on, the more Myoujou's suspicions were being proven correct, or false… Whichever one has yet to be determined.

"If you don't, then I'll just keep on trying to fight you." Myoujou said to the silent Saiga. "Aren't you curious about who's behind this? Or maybe you don't care since you've already offed them all."

"I am curious, but that's becau-" Saiga was cut off by Myoujou shooting forth with his fingers aiming at Saiga's eyes.

Using the motion of his hand being deflected and his own flow of power, Myoujou spun using centrifugal force, and let out an elbow that once Saiga moved out of its trajectory dug through the tree barks upon impact.

It wasn't like Myoujou wanted to fight him either, honestly, he'd prefer not to make any enemies if there were no need to, but this was the only way for Myoujou to be one hundred percent sure.

Because as of now, he was only seventy percent sure.

Saiga sighed as he stayed still, he really didn't want to get caught up in this at the moment, but if it was the only way then...

'Sorry, but I'll have to…'

Saiga moved quickly towards Myoujou at a speed that he almost couldn't even react to and unleashed a barrage of strikes.

'Hoo— He's pretty fast, just like back then…' Myoujou thought. 'But none of these punches… Hold any intent to kill within them.'

-WHAM!-

-It was a clean, swift punch to the gut that Myoujou just took in.

'Wow. That hurt. Like really hurt.' Myoujou winced as he exhaled sharply.

'Though, not wanting to kill doesn't mean that they won't hurt if they connect.' Myoujou dodged a blow that connected to the gash he left on the second tree, punching right through it as the tree started to fall.

'Plus, he's got great strength as well.' Dodging a kick aimed at his head, Myoujou was nearly struck by a hook to his chin before…

-[WATER MIRROR: OVERFLOW]-

Altering the trajectory of Saiga's fist by a narrow margin, Myoujou ended up redirecting the flow of his power slightly as he grabbed onto Saiga's fist, making Saiga's attack that was a certain hit, a near miss.

'This move! I recognize it!' Saiga wondered before catching himself. Flipping over to catch his balance, this little game of cat and mouse continued before Saiga decided to wrap this up. 'This kid, he really is a disciple of that lazy titan over there...'

'I'll finish it with this, then I can at least be on my way if I can't get any answers from them.' Saiga thought.

Placing an unbelievable amount of strength within his legs, Saiga pushed off of the ground with such speed that it cracked the earth underneath him.

'A blur?' Myoujou braced himself for the inevitable impact. 'This guy is a bonafide 'Master' ain't he? I'm having trouble keeping up with both my eyes and my senses.'

-[FURINJI STYLE: INSOLATED STRONGHOLD STRIKE-]

Saiga launched a devastating vertical kick aimed at Myoujou's core that would surely crush the insides of whatever poor sap that was on the receiving end.

'F-Fast!' Barely managing to cross his arms in a guard, Myoujou was sent skidding back more than a few feet as he tried to keep afoot.

However, Myojou had a little something up his sleeve… Something that helped him avoid having his insides torn apart from Saiga's vicious kick.

-[CLEAR MIRROR: FORTIFICATION]-

It was a technique under the Masukagami/ Clear Mirror Formation, a defensive technique of sorts that by instantaneously tensing and tightening all of his muscles at the moment Saiga's foot made its impact would allow Myoujou to increase the solidity and density of his body, mitigating the damage done to his body by a doable degree.

But even with this, Myoujou had to take a few seconds to register the hit.

-Ssssssizle….-

'As expected of a Martial Artist of this caliber… If I didn't put up my guard at that very moment...'

Searing pain coursed through Myoujou's body momentarily as he took the attack that was definitely within the realm of a 'Master' Martial Artist, and at that moment, he definitely reached the conclusion that he was searching for.

And as for what would happen if he tried to tank the hit without this move?

"Euugh." Myoujou shuddered slightly thinking about the number of broken bones he might end up with.

'If I didn't block that... he probably would've torn right through me with that kick.'

'In the best-case scenario, ending up in dreamland might not be too bad...'

'Huh, he withstood that?' Saiga was surprised, with the amount of control Saiga had over his own strength, the move he used wouldn't be able to kill a person, but it still should be enough to send someone around Myoujou's level flying into unconsciousness…

'But in that case… Just how durable is his body then…?'

"Phew…" Myoujou broke out into a small sigh as soothed his arms from the heavy blow of a Saiga that still seemed to be holding back. "Alright, I've seen enough. I'm satisfied."

"What?" Saiga asked. Didn't he want to fight?

After that, Myoujou suddenly dropped his stance he was walked over to where Shintarou stood.

"Oi Shintarou. This guy here? Nah. This guy ain't the one." Myoujou shrugged as if he didn't just pick a fight with someone and was only minding his business. "It turns out my little worry was true after all..."

"Really? If so, then it looks like something annoying must be happening in the background, kid." Shintarou said. Seems like what his disciple said really was the case after all. "But whichever weirdo it is, they must be a strong one, huh?"

"Tell me about it…" Myoujou said. "There really are some weirdos in all corners of life."

"Huh?" Saiga couldn't help but be confused. First, some kid picks a fight with him for some reason, and now he's just talking nonchalantly with his teacher?

'Just what the hell is going on...?'

-XOXOXOX-

---

-SOMETIME LATER-

---

-XOXOXOX-

"You'll have to excuse the kid for that, he tends to get a little excited when I let him out sometimes" Shintarou chuckled seeing Saiga's reaction.

"Like hell I was excited, this is a serious situation here, geezer." Myoujou snapped back. "And besides, what was that about 'letting out'? am I some kind of dog, huh?

"Uh-huh.." Saiga murmured. He was wondering what was going on.

"Ahem-ahem. Sorry about that old man, but I had to make sure. There seems to be some weirdo that looks like you killing people around here, so I had to make sure." Myoujou apologized. It wasn't his style to mess with people he had no business with, but this was a life-or-death situation so he had to call all the stops.

"But seriously though, you wouldn't happen to have some kind of identical evil twin, right?"

"Haa… No problem. And no, I don't have a twin— or any siblings for that matter. I'm an only child, you see." Saiga really didn't take much offense to it in the end, after all, he was used to people trying to kill him without a reason, so the fact that Myoujou bothered explaining was a plus in his book.

Though, after hearing what the boy had to say, Saiga himself was now left with even more questions.

"Wait. you said that someone was dressed up like me." Saiga questioned.

"Well, 'looks' like you to be fair… But, you seem to already know about this, don't you? Well, it's to be expected after all." Myoujou nodded.

"Of course, he would! It's impossible to live long around these crazy fellas without picking a few things up!" Shintarou said.

"Wait, really? I see…" Myoujou murmured. "This guy is a Furinji, not a Kuremisago, so I guessed he might've moved here later on… Then again, I guess 'Nurture' can take over 'Nature' when you live among savages like those crazy mountain-forest people for that long…"

"Ahahaha… No, I just found out about this recently." Saiga sweatdropped. These two seemed to have quite a misunderstanding about the people that live within these mountains. "But do you two mind telling me what you guys know?"

"Well, it's not like I know much, but the kid over here had a personal run-in with this imposter fella, so you might as well ask him."

"Ah sure, why not." Myoujou said. Now that he realized that the man before him wasn't the one that killed off all of those people, his so-called 'hostility' had died down a bit.

His caution, though hidden, was still present as he greeted Saiga. "I've said this before, but I'll say it again; Myoujou Kurogami, that's my name." Myoujou said as he held a hand out. To Myoujou, Saiga felt quite laidback for someone embroiled in a life-or-death plot and had an imposter killing his folk with his own appearance. "Quite the firm hands you got there, mister."

"Ah yes, once again; I'm Saiga Furinji, nice to meet you." Saiga responded as he shook Myoujou's hand.

'This kid... His hands are filled with quite the amount of calluses, aren't they? Looks like he has his own stories and journeys of his own...'

"Anyways..." Retelling the events that took place prior to meeting Shintarou at this very manor, Saiga was finally filled in on what Myoujou had known concerning this 'imposter' that was prowling about.

"So that's why you tried to fight me the moment you saw me…" Saiga sighed as he rubbed his creased eyebrows. "Well, with that being said, I'm glad we could sort this out quickly..."

"Though unfortunately, I would say that it was nice to meet you, but I'd prefer if we'd met under much more peaceful conditions."

"Really? Same here old man, but then I wouldn't be able to eat, you see? Since we gotta work to eat and stuff." Myoujou replied blankly.

'This kid…Who are you calling an old man?' Saiga started to rub his head with even more vigor. "Saiga. You can call me Saiga, Kurogami."

"Ok."

"..."

"You do know that I'm still in my twenties, you know? I'm far from being an old man." Saiga smiled.

"Yeah, I guessed so. That's why I called you an old man…" Myoujou replied.

"..."

Saiga shot Shintarou a questioning look

"Well, he always does that." Seeing the look on Saiga's face, Shintarou simply chuckled.

It was one of the few 'truths' of the world that Myoujou wholly believed in.

-Any person whose age was above eighteen was a certified 'Old Person'.

Because of this line of logic, he countlessly found himself being a natural enemy to certain members of a certain gender that care about their age.

"Ahem. With all that being said." Saiga began. "I have a favor to ask of you two."

Shintarou raised an eyebrow in question as Myoujou looked on.

-'What could he possibly want?'' They wondered.

This wasn't something he wanted to do, bringing people into this situation, but he had no other people left to depend on at this time.

-And as they say, 'Desperate times, call for desperate measures'.

"This isn't what I should be asking of you, but here I am doing so regardless. I require your strength. In a way, I would like to hire you two, I guess."

" —Mr. Shintarou for his proven strength befitting of his name and moniker, and his disciple Kurogami. I would like your assistance in getting to the bottom of this… Predicament." Saiga sighed as he bowed.

"Hmmn…" Myoujou hummed as he folded his arms in thought. He looked over at Shintarou who was scratching his five-o-clock shadow beard lazily, but he knew deep down that the giant of an old man was also thinking about this deal as well.

'This may or may very well be a gold mine of opportunities we can get into… However, if it goes wrong, which it eventually will, is the money and payment that good that it would offset any possible risks taken?' Myoujou thought.

As the very one that briefly fought both said imposter and the real Saiga, he was aware of just what they might be going through.

'But then again, we already received half of their payment promised, so it would be A-OK if we just dipped and peace-d out like we planned when shit hits the fan… Which it did…'

Though, if they did stick around… Then, something bloody was about to transpire and they had front-row tickets to witness it.

"Well kid, whaddya think? It's not like we have to." Shintarou asked. He seemed to have already made up his mind but was wondering what his disciple thought of it anyways.

"Maybe this might end up a bust and we won't get any extra money out of this, having nothing but the hatred of an entire clan and a measly pay for all our troubles…" Myoujou furrowed his brows as he wracked his head. "The side Saiga belongs to are against the Traditionalists, which are also the main branch… A-K-A… The main ones running things here…"

"But for all the trouble that this could end up being…" Myoujou broke into a small grin. "There's no better place for me to test what I've learned and get stronger while I do it than 'A-balls-to-the-walls' place like this, don't you think Shintarou?"

"Hah! Ya really think so kid? But you're right, the best place to sharpen your fangs is where other beasts with sharpened fangs live!" Shintarou laughed. "But be careful, you might lose your fangs and yer life if you mess around got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it alright. It's one of the main things you tell me over and over again after all." Myoujou said. "Besides, I bet we can get some sweet compensation for this detour, huh, Old Man?"

"I'm not old, but yes, I can assure you that your efforts will be well paid for. I promise it on my name." Saiga said.

"Well, I don't really care for your name, just the payment." Shintarou yawned as Myoujou nodded. "But with that, I guess we're all set for a little detour of sorts, eh?"

"Then does that mean…?" Saiga asked, he didn't really understand the disciple and master duo speaking, but he sort of got the gist of what they were saying anyway.

"We're in Saiga-boyo, this little trip of yours is going to be a major shitstorm my disciple says, and when it comes to bad things happening, he's rarely ever been wrong, ya hear that?" Shintarou responded.

"Is that so?" Saiga smiled. It was nice to have some help that he could count on. Besides, even if he'd barely met these two for a long period of time, he felt that he could count on them since they didn't really have many motives other than money and looking for a fight. "I hear you clearly, and thank you."

"Where to then, Mr. Employer?" Shintarou asked.

"Kuremisago Clan Mountain Manor #1" Saiga spoke firmly. "It's where most of the elders stay, and if I'm correct, it must be where Senzui must be heading to."

'Senzui.' Myoujou muttered internally as he thought about that man he briefly met during his first day at the Kuremisago Mountains. There was something about that guy that gave him rather familiar feelings, and he didn't like it one bit. 'That's the princely-looking guy who's in line to take over the Kuremisago as its leader, wasn't he?'

In all, it was an indescribable feeling at the moment that made him feel suspicious to Myoujou.

Something along the lines of a 'Predator in plain sight' as one might say.

It was something of a sixth sense of sorts that Myoujou fostered during his lovely stay within the slums of The Inside, and it only flared up when he ran into some either strong fellas, or potentially dastardly ones.

And in the case of this Senzui person, it rang like an alarm bell that didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

"Alrighty then, lead the way." Shintarou said as Myoujou nodded.

Myoujou knew something was about to happen on this trip, but if he could get stronger, he could think of the consequences at a later date when he's still alive and well. 'Just like in those Chinese novels… Surviving tribulations will bear fruit and help you in the future.

'But for now, I'll just keep on marching on… Just as I've always been.'

-XOXOXOX-

---

15.5TH FIGHT: A DEAL IN THE WORKS (2) END

---

-XOXOXOX-