A Day With The Kids

The merchant district was booming with business as always. There were many stalls spread out down across the long street. The sun was out radiating it’s heat down on the many people below it. A lot of people unconsciously would sigh with relief once a cloud would pass underneath it from time to time. Hiroaki being at the beginning of the long stretch of street was able to see the piles upon piles of people there. Fang may not be a major village or anything of the like, but there sure were enough farmers, merchants, pirates, and the like. All of which sold, bought and just in general commerced with one another. Of course not everything was perfect here. There were fights, robberies, and even vandalism of competitor sellers. But that wasn’t anything a good hired mercenary couldn’t solve.


Hiroaki spent his time wandering down the street going from stall to stall to see the magnificent items and unique people that were there. He liked to see all of the shiny things that were on the stalls there, reflecting the sunlight that had beamed down on it. He wanted it all for himself, his materialistic ways kicking in. ‘Maybe I should help myself to some of the things here’, he thought to himself. He was sure the majority of the stuff being sold here were all stolen anyway. There weren't a lot of honest folks in this world. 


As Hiroaki ventured his way to a stall that had a couple of armguards that looked like they would fit him nicely, a kid bumped into him. “E-Excuse me, mister”, she said. Hiroaki pushed the kid off of him, not looking at her. “Yeah, yeah. Beat it, kid”, he said. The kid nodded to him and took off. Hiroaki resumed heading over to the stall that he was trying to get to, pushing past people. He noticed something wasn’t right. The hair on the back of his neck stood up in alert. His weight somehow seemed lighter. “Holy shit”, he said a little too loudly. He patted his sides looking for his pouch of cash he carried with him. ‘That little runt jacked my cash’, he thought. He turned to look for the girl through the crowd of people. There were so many children there that he started to think he would never see his money again. 


He pushed back to where he was, going towards the direction the girl’s steps had gone towards. He always picked up on small stuff like that whenever he was around people to make sure he had a general direction of where people were. He looked around some more and he couldn’t find a girl that would be carrying a pouch full of his cash. ‘What’s up with people robbing me’, he thought. This happened to Hiroaki more than he would like. I won’t let anyone take from me ever again. I-I think I said that in the past’, he thought.


He spotted the girl. She was the only one who ventured away from the huge street filled with all the business the folks here had to offer. That and she had a huge pouch of cash in here hands, walking down into the alleyway. “She can barely hold it all”, he muttered to himself. Anyone that stole from Hiroaki had their life forfeit. He charged towards the girl in clear anger, pushing people out of the way aggressively. When Hiroaki got out of the street of merchants, the girl spotted him. She yelped and ran as fast as she could down the alleyway. 


The girl could never match Hiroaki’s speed. She was no Shinobi, had no ounce of skill in her. Her robbery skills themselves were subpar, it was sad that Hiroaki fell for it. He caught up to the girl and grabbed her by both of her wrists with one hand. He didn’t say anything to the girl. He merely pulled out his blade and put it to the girl’s throat. She whimpered at him in fear unable to go anywhere. He let her have a chance to give him a reason not to cut her down. “P-Please”, she began.


Two shadows appeared out in Hiroaki’s view. His eyes looked behind him to see that there were two burly looking men cracking their knuckles there. “What’s going on here? You think you’re a tough guy, huh? You like messing with little girls?”, one of them said. Hiroaki sneered at the man daring him to try. The man took him up on that offer and charged at Hiroaki. He was forced to let go of the little runt of a kid. Flickering to the side of the burly man, he quickdrew his sword and sliced the man’s arm off. The man fell to the ground screaming. He held up the stub that once had a full limb attached.


That’s when the second man charged. People had two different routes when they were in fear, fight or flight. These people obviously did not want to run for it and would rather die going out in a struggle. Hiroaki had let the man charge at him with his full speed. He couldn’t put a break at himself for the speed he was going at. Hiroaki raised his blade pointed it right at the man’s heart, and let the katana sink right in. The man’s body hung there off Hiroaki’s katana. Hiroaki himself had his back against the alley wall. He let the body slide off the sharp blade and collapse to the ground.


The kid in fear started to run after watching the whole thing. She must have thought that the two men could have beaten him. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Come on, kid. You should know I’m not that weak’, he thought. He started to chase after the kid, but when he got close enough to the first man who had his arm chopped off he got tackled. The man had used his shoulder to knock Hiroaki this time to the ground. Hiroaki who had his katana still drawn pointed it and let it extend into the man’s throat. He gurgled and the blood from the new gaping wound spilled out of him.


Hiroaki scurried after the girl, taking his katana with him. He left the bodies behind as it didn’t matter if someone saw them. People around these parts were known to vanish. He chased the girl who was very audibly giving it her all to escape. The girl lead him to an area he had never seen around here. It was a hideout of sorts, with all kinds of things laid out there used in ways they weren’t made to. Flashbacks started to go through Hiroaki’s head of all the horrible experiences he had gone through.


He fell to one knee and put a hand to the right side of his head. He winced in pain, in remembrance. The girl noticed Hiroaki going through it, but was too in fear to approach him. She went inside the little hut with the wooden awning there and hid behind some caravan wheels that were inside. Hiroaki’s nights in the rain eating moldy bread flashed in his head. He was alone, but not alone. He had no one on his side and everyone against him. He had to fight for the shit places to stay in for the night. Many times he had gotten kicked out of them, beaten, and bruised.

Tears fell from Hiroaki’s cheeks like rain. He couldn’t stop them from falling. He had no control over his emotions as he usually did. The ground below him darkened with the tears that had fallen. The darkened spots on the ground got covered with his bag of money. The girl had tossed it back at him. She then retreated back into the makeshift hut she was peeking out at him. He grabbed his money and looked around. There were more of the kids there, hiding behind trees and random materials. Hiroaki wiped the tears from his eyes. He was a murderer and a thief. He knew though. He knew that it was because of this forced lifestyle of being on your own that he was made to do these things. These things of murder and thievary that stuck to him like bad habits. ‘Could I change?’, he asked himself. He shook his head, he knew he went too far to be anything other than what he was. 


He picked up his bag of money and pocketed it. He dug his hand in that pocket and into the bag to grab a handful of coins. He turned to head back to the market area and without looking back threw a couple thousand behind him. Passing the bodies he had killed, he would find that someone had already looted them. He continued on without ever bending over to check. Going into the market area he would spend his day robbing people and looting from the stands there discreetly. He had to make up for the money he had lost somehow. ‘Better if I do it. I got more skill and muscle to back it up’, he thought. 

At the end of the day, Hiroaki got his money back. He had also gotten himself those new armguards he fancied. He doubted he would ever wear them. ‘Maybe I’ll give it to someone back in the crew’, he thought. He headed back to the Chunin both mentally and physically exhausted from the long day. He would drink his exhaustion away until his head would hit the table in slumber.


(WC: 1601)


[exit]


Claiming:
1601/200= 8 stats
Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death (WC 1500 req)

Approved