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Who: Kazuto and you
When: Early morning, January 3
Where: One of the main streets
What: Kazuto was practising his sword skills in what he thought was a quiet little yard, out of sight. But he was spotted and dragged into a fight.
Warnings: PG for violence in general

The black swordsman usually took great care not to draw attention to himself. Using swords in an age where firearms were more common already drew plenty of attention from passers-by. But given his distinctly foreign appearance, and the recognisable curved hilts and sheaths, he supposed (and hoped) that they wrote him off as a samurai. That seemed to be the first impression that many people had of him, as much as he had initially tried to dispel it.

For discretion's sake, he always chose an out of the way location to train and hone his skills. The actual place changed daily and randomly so that he couldn't easily be targeted and picked off by a rival assassin. At least, that's what his trainers had told him.

He had drawn one of his blades and settled into a ready fighter's stance, about to launch into his first deadly sword form against an imaginary enemy when a group of perforare users slouched by. From their momentarily surprised looks, they hadn't expected to see anyone in this back street. Their surprise quickly turned into wolfish grins, and they surrounded him.

If Asuna were here, this would be over in seconds, he thought to himself as he wordlessly drew the second katana from the sheath on his back. Seemed like he'd get to practise on real opponents today.

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As Jr made his way along, he turned a rumpled-up print out of directions in his hands. He'd scribbled a few notes, attempts to correct what appeared to be outdated information, but if anything he was getting himself more lost for it.

There was supposed to be an antique store with one hell of a reputation somewhere in the narrow back streets of the city, but so far nothing looked promising. Dingy little windows and cloying smoke billowing from doorways didn't draw his interest in the slightest, and suggested a line of business he wanted no part of. Scuffing his shoe against the pavement, he huffed out a sigh and turned back toward a more populous avenue.

If anything, maybe one of the businesses there could point him in the right direction. He wanted to pick something up for Yeshua and he wasn't getting a damn thing done like this.

Turning a corner, he paused at the sight of several goons circling around one guy with a sword. Jr might've commented on the fact that they weren't in a Kurasawa flick, but he saved it, ducking back behind the corner. Shoving the useless directions in his pocket, he unholstered his pistols and took another look.

The guy was clearly outnumbered, and unless he was some kind of demon, bringing a knife however large to a gun-fight with no backup was a bad idea. Of course, he had a good idea of who was instigating this conflict.

Just another reason he hated these mafia types.

With that thought in mind, he strode out into plain view, pulling back hammers with one step and aiming with another. "You thugs really are shameless, ganging up on a guy. Or are you so pathetic it takes that many of you to take on a single person?"

Kazuto resisted the urge to look at the intruder, instead taking advantage of the thug in front of him being momentarily distracted to attack first. His two swords flashed, and for a second he became a whirlwind of sharp metal as one katana knocked the gun out of the man's hand, the other opened up his jugular. The soon-to-be-dead corpse toppled, blood spurting from the gaping wound. Kazuto flinched but didn't stop moving, quickly spinning around to put the wall and dead man at his back.

This way, he had a clear view of the stranger who'd spoken up and he wouldn't be suddenly jumped by one of his opponents. The sudden death of their friend seemed to shock the goons, so he could spare a few seconds looking at the newcomer.

"I can take care of them," he said to the stranger in awkward English, hoping they understood. At least, he hoped he could take them. The last time he'd tried to fight a group of users it hadn't ended well for him. And he still felt sickened by how easily he'd just killed the thug bleeding out at his feet.

Edited 2012-10-30 14:50 (UTC)

The voice sounded familiar, but Jr didn't give it too much thought, attention fixed more on the remaining men. Although one had died rather easily, that was a single opponent. Numbers still weren't on this guy's side, and from his experience numbers made a difference.

When one of the thugs advanced, Jr shot the ground in front of his foot, halting progress at least for the moment. Nobody wanted to lose a foot, or at least wind up limping around for a good long time. No surprises there.

"Do you have any idea what kinds of bullets they've got? They might be idiots, but they can hit you from a distance." If they were smart enough, anyhow. Jr figured at least one of them had some kind of ranged skills, whether they had any marksmanship to them or not.

He glanced at the guns the men held again. White meant they were perforare. He couldn't see any reason for guys like these to hide what they were, so he doubted that they'd take the trouble to spray their guns black as he had. Wearing one openly didn't exactly invite good impressions, as he had quickly learned. Even dyed black, he kept his gun hidden beneath his long coat.

Kazuto nodded and feinted at one who was leaning forward, probably hoping to catch him unawares. The thug flinched back and Kazuto smirked at him.

"I know what they are," he said, continuing in his Japanese-accented English, until one of them tired of this conversation they could only half understand and actually drew his gun, firing at himself. Though he expected it, Kazuto still jerked backwards, his defense lowered for a fraction of a second. That same man lunged at him with a disturbing leer, and the dual-swordsman had to throw himself to the side to avoid the now super-powered fist headed for his face. Brick dust and mortar showered him as he tucked himself into a roll.

That was like the signal for chaos to break out. Jr got two thugs of his own to deal with while the rest went after Kazuto, firing their own perforare at themselves.

Edited 2012-10-31 08:32 (UTC)

The only problem with those guns was the time it took to fire on themselves. Before the bullets could come into effect, they were briefly vulnerable. Jr proved as much as he shot one in the leg, causing one would-be attacker to drop to the pavement with a pained cry. The other looked at his companion in brief alarm, then back to Jr, light flickering to life around his hand.

"Those bullets-" he began, advancing, light taking on a neon hue.

Jr sidestepped a volley of lights as they shot his way, firing his pistols and nicking the man's shoulder. These guys weren't seasoned, that much was obvious. And two of them really was nothing, certainly not to someone who was raised as a weapon and naught else. "Best on the market, but completely normal."

His powers were too volatile, he wasn't about to use them if he didn't need to. So instead he strafed around his opponent, slipping just past the reach of attacks and firing shots to disrupt any patterns of attack. First chance he got, he'd disable this guy just like the other one.

It was hard to tell how that guy with the swords was doing, when he had to keep an eye on this thug. Jr fired again, unsurprised when it was deflected, and kept moving. He knew the voice now, he was pretty sure. The accent was distinctive by itself, in a place like this.

"Occurs to me these guys probably don't know Japanese," Jr suggested, ducking another attack as he spoke in that language, accent somewhat stiff. He'd never invested the kind of him he had in dead languages, not really. Ancient things just held more fascination to him, but Japanese was good for business, and Soze Kukai had insisted any sons of his learn it.

Edited 2012-11-03 06:25 (UTC)

Kazuto blocked a slew of ethereal knives aimed at his head by crossing his swords and knocking them aside. The two coming after him were harrying him, one drawing his attention while the other tried to sneak behind. Every time he turned to face one, he made himself vulnerable to an attack. What was more, the special abilities drawn out by the bullets of these two men were of a ranged type. As long as they danced out of reach, he'd get nowhere.

He ducked and twisted out of the way as a whip snapped into the ground where he'd just stood. He'd have brought one of his katana down on it if there wasn't hard stone waiting to dull the edge. The swordsman was only subconsciously aware of Jr's own fight, and hearing nothing to indicate that his partner might be in trouble, he concentrated on strafing the volley of knives sent by opponent no.1.

Some light footwork brought him up close to the thug, too near for him to dodge if one last flurry of knives came at him. Praying that didn't happen, he darted to the side and got behind the man, driving his katana through their heart from the back. Just in time for the whip to wrap around the dead man's neck (much to his other opponent's dismay) and yank the body off his sword.

"Obviously," Kazuto panted, taking advantage of a brief reprieve to catch his breath as the man with the whip suddenly looked very unsure about his chances of winning against him. He was glad to be able to slip into Japanese, his native language. He wouldn't have to think so hard about his words as he fought.

Edited 2012-11-06 10:47 (UTC)

"We've got a lurker," Jr commented, bullets of purple light whizzing past his ear. Aside from making his earring sway, it hadn't much effect. He was definitely dealing with a rookie, not much of a challenge and enough to almost be bored. Still, those attacks were swift, and the guy kept moving. While he knew the swordsman over there was inclined to kill these jokers, he knew he'd get an earful from Yeshua if he did the same and it wasn't completely called for.

Another volley shot his way and he ducked this time, firing again at the ground between the goon's feet. And then he was back to circling, waiting for an opportune moment. The way that guy was attacking, those spheres could hit someone mistakenly with a poorly timed shot from his pistols.

Jr grit his teeth, growing impatient with the fire-fight, slow as it was. One moment, he dodged. The next, he darted toward his opponent, weaving to avoid fire as he closed distance. Halting abruptly in front of his foe, he reeled back and delivered a kick that knocked the man off balance, staggering.

And in that instant he fired, bullet tearing through the guy's right hand. The gun dropped, and Jr ignored the indignant shouting that followed. Could've killed him, and here the goon was whining and cursing all the same. Just another reason to hate these types.

"Can't tell if it's a scout or someone's sizing you up. I'm sure they've got plenty of information on me by now," he added when it appeared his opponents were inclined to drag themselves away rather than continue their assault, exchanging an empty magazine in one pistol for a fresh one.

Kazuto stared hard at the man with the whip until the guy lost his nerve and backed away with his two remaining companions. They knew a lost cause when they saw it, so they had good self-preservation instincts if nothing else. But the katanas did not return to their sheaths until all three of them had staggered around the corner and out of sight, and the blades had been given a clean on the dead men's clothing.

Free to relax his guard a little (he still didn't know if the newcomer was an ally or not), he turned to Jr while trying not to look too ill about the corpses at their feet. He personally would have preferred to have left them alive if he could, but those overseeing his conditioning - they called it 'training' - encouraged him to hone his skill where he could and establish a reputation. For that reason he tried to think of the corpses as your typical monsters in a video game, but it still wasn't easy.

"They probably thought I looked weak," he commented. "Groups like that always seek out lone fighters." Kazuto's eyes quickly sized up Jr and he added reluctantly, "There's still time to catch up with them if you don't want them to leak any information..."

"Guess you really are new here, after all," Jr had already figured it was the guy he'd spoken to on the network before. There weren't many out there who were fluent in Japanese. Or, at least, he hadn't seen very many people use it for their writing. It was distinctive and interesting enough in its way.

He didn't spare the retreating figures a glance, sparing a moment to twirl his pistols before holstering them with practiced ease. Not like he couldn't whip them back out just as quickly if he really felt the need for it, but he didn't see this guy as an opponent at the moment.

After giving his shoulders a roll, relaxing muscles after that little skirmish, he gestured to a particularly tall building some distance away. "I'm a co-head at the Kukai Foundation. Those assholes all know who I am, and what I can do - or they're green as hell."

While the Foundation was known to the world for their technologies, particularly in the arms department, and their humanitarian efforts, it was different on a local level. Here, people knew at least one head of the Foundation was not a friend to any mafia organization. If anything, he was known for blowing their facilities to bits. The satellite ones, anyway.

He'd shoot for their main bases of operation eventually, but he knew that was going to take time. A frustrating amount of time.

And with that, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Sounds like you knew it wouldn't be safe going out alone though. Did you have something that important to see to?"

Kazuto glanced at the building pointed out by the other boy. He recognised it for the way it stood out, and the name, too, sounded familiar. He'd seen it written across the entrance to the place of course, but that wasn't where the recognition came from. Running his fingers through his hair, he shook his head and gave up trying to remember. There was no use forcing what wouldn't come to mind.

"No, not really. I only came here to practise with these." Kazuto gestured to the swords on his back. "They draw a lot of attention and I thought no-one would find me here."

In a violent society that used guns and other firearms, archaic weapons like swords drew derision and mockery from many people here. No-one could believe that something so unwieldy could beat, say, a Glock. So Kazuto tried to practise out of sight and used the skills honed continuously over the past four years to show them just how wrong they were.

Jr thought about that for a moment or two. This guy knew how to kill with those blades, which could say one of two things about him. Which was the truth of the matter, he couldn't tell just yet. It was something he'd look into later, surely enough. He had enough resources at his disposal...unless this guy was completely unheard of.

"There're training facilities on the Foundation grounds. Stop by sometime - I'm sure they'd love it compared to the usual gunfire," Jr offered casually, his statement more or less accurate. It was usually him there, and sometimes Yeshua. While his friend chiefly practiced martial arts, Jr was always about artillery. "Practice dummies too, rather than...well."

Jr spared a glance at the corpses on the ground. As much as he hated those scumbags, his friend had driven home the point that he wasn't any better than the lot of them if he just went around killing the thugs.

Not that he didn't from time to time, but Jr tried to keep it to a minimum.

Kirito wasn't unheard of, per se, but he wasn't on the level of instant recognition when his hitman pseudonym was used. The title Black Swordsman would probably come up in Jr's searches if he dug persistently enough, and it would surface more quickly if searched in relation to his name. Which he had not yet given to this stranger. The 'Black Swordsman' may not be well-known in Italy for the moment, but it would definitely come up in several Japanese news websites with regards to a game called 'SAO'.

If he could have a space to practise without needing to worry about gawkers... The offer to train on the Foundation grounds was tempting. Kirito wanted to say yes and thank him for the offer, but he hesitated.

"Are the training facilities neutral ground?" he asked cautiously. "I could be part of an enemy family for all you know. No offence, but I don't want to walk in there and be massacred."

Kirito knew that his trainer would be gleeful over any chance to spy on other organisations under a legitimate pretext. As much as it disgusted him to exploit Jr's kindness, he wasn't brave enough to defy them for the sake of his principles. They'd quite clearly stated he'd be killed if he tried to leave.

It didn't take Tsuna long to assess the situation and shoot himself with his bullet. He used to hesitate, but seeing someone struggle wasn't in his list of things to do on a daily basis. It took a moment, but the flames lit up on his hands and his eyes turned orange. That was the moment he took off towards the enemies, helping out the younger boy. It wasn't fair to leave him alone.

"I'm here to help." He stated in a calm, resolute voice.

Edited 2012-10-31 04:27 (UTC)

Being confronted by five users, plus a man whose hands were on fire, didn't exactly reassure Kazuto. He didn't understand any of the racist insults that the thugs had been hurling at him (though he knew enough to guess that they were insults). From the thugs' surprised faces though, he could tell that they were as surprised to see the man on fire as Kazuto was. Surprised and wary. That must mean that he wasn't their ally.

Gripping the hilt of his katanas firmly, he shook his head at the brunette. He could handle them on his own, he thought. This wasn't so different to his time in the game when he'd faced a whole crowd of monsters. "I'm fine," he said carefully.

Edited 2012-11-02 02:25 (UTC)

Tsuna smiled slightly and nodded. "Even so, I wish to help you." He stated in Japanese, finally getting a good look at the boy, "It's unfair to have a big fight with users and not have some assistance."

With that, Tsuna wasted no time. He immediately went after the first man, building up his punch as he hit him with a large fireball. It sent the man reeling as he slid back on the pavement, his collar on fire.

Startled though he was by that, he immediately thrust his katana through the heart of a second man as all hell broke loose. Kazuto didn't think about what he was doing - he simply went with the adrenaline pumping through his body and tried not to flinch from the loud gunshots. He was in a bit of trouble when it seemed his sword wouldn't pull free of the body it had been sheathed in, but he got it out just in time to dive out of the way of a blast of air that tore up the stones.

"Aren't you Italian?" he shouted above the ruckus. The stranger didn't have a Japanese look about him.

"Half!" Tsuna shouted back, kicking someone in the stomach as they ran up to him, "My mother was Japanese!" Moving to the next one, Tsuna quickly dodged all the punches, smiling only slightly as he used his ability again to knock the guy out. At least he could help someone, this place was becoming a mess.

Between the two of them, the gang was quickly dealt with. Kazuto and his helper were surrounded by a mix of unconscious and dead bodies, with the black swordsman bearing only scratches from flying chips of rubble. Though he hadn't asked for help, nor needed it, after carefully wiping his two katana off and sheathing them, he held out his hand to the other boy, only to hesitate when he remembered the flames which had surrounded them.

"Thank you for the help, um..." He paused expectantly for the other to introduce himself.

"Tsu..." Tsuna remembered he was talking in Japanese so he shook his head for a minute, "Sawada Tsunayoshi. Call me Tsuna, it's a lot easier to say." He gave the other a warm smile, holding out a hand. At the moment, the flames disappeared from his hands and forehead.

"It's not a problem, I couldn't stand to see someone fighting at an disadvantage."

"Well, it's not really unusual for me..."

He shrugged and smiled awkwardly. Still, help was always welcome if it was given willingly. This Tsuna's attitude might change though, if he knew to whom Kazuto owed allegiance to at the moment. "You can call me Kirito," he said as he shook the proffered hand. "I haven't seen you around here before, Tsuna. Did you just arrive?"

"Nah, I've lived here for a long time, but just in a different part of Sicily." Tsuna said with a smile, "I run a family here, but it's very small." There wasn't a point in hiding who he was from someone, given the fact that they would figure it out anyway.

"I just have very persistent bodyguards." Tsuna stated with a laugh, given that he never really listened to them anyway.

"You're a...a..." Kazuto struggled to find the correct word that described a leader of a family here. "A don?" he finally asked with some concern. Tsuna must either be stronger than he looks or naive. The other didn't even seem to have the foresight to ask which family he was in! Unless their family was an ally to the Mendolia, they were probably considered an enemy.

Which would be a pity, because Kazuto already liked Tsuna and didn't want to have to face him as an enemy someday.

"If you're a don then you shouldn't be without bodyguards," he continued worriedly.

Tsuna waved him off. In actuality, Tsuna stayed away from his bodyguards as a way of protecting them. More and more people were becoming users and he was noticing that his bodyguards were not. It wasn't good to have them always put into serious danger for people like him. But he smiled to reassure Kirito.

"I promise I'm alright." Tsuna stated, not wanting to go into too much detail, "And don't worry, I'm definitely not with any of these guys fighting. I run a separate family, the Vongola."

Kirito sensed that this wasn't something he was meant to pry into, so he contented himself with nodding. The Vongola Family, huh...? He couldn't say he'd heard of it, which wouldn't be surprising if they really were as small as Tsuna said they were. They musntn't be considered a threat by the Mendolia either or Kirito would have heard the name mentioned.

"Lucky you," he said with a good-natured smile. "When these guys start fighting, they don't back down unless you're bigger or stronger. It'll be easy for you and your family to wait it out." Or be wiped out, he added privately.

"Oh that's not my plan. I intend to attempt to gain peace between the families. We are here to protect, not place fear in the hearts of the people." Tsuna said, stubbornly. He knew it was more of a dream then an actual ideal; Mafia wasn't so kind. He knew, given how many people in his family he had lost over the years.

"It's what my grandfather wanted, and I want to make him proud."

"Huh, that's an interesting goal... I didn't think there was anyone here who wanted to protect someone other than themselves. Except the Palermi," he added as an afterthought. "But they don't really care for anyone either..."

Kirito had heard a lot about the Palermi, mostly scornful rumours which his trainer felt were appropriate to translate and pass on to him in the hope of motivating him to train better. Kirito knew better than to trust one person though. Better to trust only yourself.

"That would kind of make you more like a vigilante though, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose so." Tsuna said, then he laughed, "I've always seen it as a family, since it was so much bigger before all this happened, I guess I never thought I was a vigilante." Not only that, but Tsuna didn't think the title suited him very well either...

"You know, we could always use some help. I'm not saying you have to join, but you seem like a smart man."

Kirito looked surprised. As well he should be when a man he's never before today suddenly comes up and extends something of an invitation towards him.

"We've only just met," he objected. "I mean, not to be rude, but I don't know anything about you and you don't know anything about me. Don't you think it's dangerous?"

Tsuna did laugh at that, and looked a little sheepish. His father always told him he was too trusting, but it was a quality he felt that was important. It did cause him a bit of trouble thought. But he had a feeling Kirito wasn't that untrustworthy.

"I usually have a good intuition about people," Tsuna said with a small smile, "But it's a valid point. Things are dangerous no matter how you look at them though, so I think I'd be risking my life no matter what I did."

"Well... I can promise to think about it." He'd already decided that he wouldn't mention this meeting to anyone else. He felt no loyalty at all towards the Mendolia or the sickening experiments that he and many others had had to go through for their special abilities. This was a chance for him to leave that, though it would be dangerous. But so what if it was? It was no different to the death game he'd been trapped in for two years.

"Do you have a phone number I can use to contact you?"

"Of course." Tsuna said, smiling and reaching into his pocket and giving him a small card. "You can contact me anytime, I don't mind."

He took the card and quickly pocketed it, glancing around discreetly to see if there was anyone watching. He couldn't rule out the possibility of someone tailing him.

"Thanks. I'll contact you if I make a decision." If.

"Please stay safe." Tsuna said with a smile, nodding to the other. "I'm sure things will get worse before they get better, around here."

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sorry for the delay!

no worries! i'm a turtle anyhow

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