A Clan of Two

[Levy]

Hana was, well, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't the slightest bit intimidated. Her gaze fell to the blood that dripped from his fist. Oh, no. This was not good. This was very not good. Before her mind could even process what was happening, her feet had picked up the slacks and taken fast steps to block Nen's path. Nen, the man who looked like he was about to murder her herself, if she didn't know any better. Hana struggled a bit. She'd never felt her body under so much pressure, so much.. unease--she couldn't shake it off of her. But still, she looked up at him with hard eyes. "No. No, he doesn't. No one does. You don't, and I don't, and he certainly doesn't. He's being stupid. He doesn't know any better. He's a child. Let. It. Go." Hana reasoned with him. She was speaking softly, quietly, different from her usual tone, so the uneasy man behind her couldn't hear. She knew that if she let him have a go at the blue, there wouldn't be any blue left. Not in the state he's in, at least. "Slow down, friend. It's okay." She searched his eyes for anything that remotely resembled composure.

It was a risky decision, but Hana was a risky girl. She wrapped her hands around his torso, squeezing as tightly as a pair of shaking arms could. "Leave! Get out! Scatter! Now!" The young girl yelled. "Please." The blue assumed it was meant for him. He'd already been scared shitless, just by the gaze that Nenshou was dropping his way. Now, this girl was giving him orders? She.. she did have a point. Stepping back, he yelled at the pair. "Daikarai! If you think this is how it ends, you're sorely mistaken! You'll see enough of me that you'll question if you're back in high school or not! You and your little girlfriend!" The blue ran. Hana almost couldn't believe it. He ran away with his tail between his legs, and yet he was still spitting derogatories like Gestapo in a camp.

 

[AManOnly]

Nenshou looked down at the girl in front of him as she went on about how nobody had to die. His eyes lifted back up to his enemy and Nenshou shook his head. "You don't know anything. But he remembers, just like I do." He said as he took another step towards the man. Nenshou remembered every twisted insult, every attack and he remember ever broken bone. The pain and the misery would be inflicted back on this monster tenfold. When she told him to slow down he looked down at her with anger. "It is not okay! It has never been okay for me! All I have known is struggle and torment!" Nenshou said pointing at the man again. "And he is one of my oppressors, my enemy…" Nenshou said before he felt her suddenly latch onto him and start to yell about to the man. That bastard even had the nerve to gloat at Nenshou before he ran away with his tail tucked between his legs.

Watching the man run off Nenshou tried to give chase but was hampered by the small girl attached to him. He reached down and pried her off of him before he looked back but didn't see the man anywhere. He ran forward a bit out of the alley and looked around but still he didn't see his enemy anywhere. His blood boiled realizing that the guy had gotten away and he quickly looked back down the alley towards the one that had caused all of this. Stomping back into the alley Nenshou felt his whole body shaking with anger, even more so then what he had been feeling before. The closer he got to the her the angrier he got, a rage filling him… though it wasn't just rage at her now. He knew he shouldn't have let himself get close to someone. He shouldn't have even put an inkling of trust in her. He was breathing raggedly but as he came upon her he stomped right past her, the concrete beneath his feet crunching from the pressure he caused with each angered step. "You have the choice to live happily." He said back to her as he was walking away. "I never had that choice. I struggle… I survive and that is all I can do. If you want to be happy make a choice and stay away from the clans; and stay away from me." He said walking away. It is how it always was and would always be, him against the world.

 

[Levy]

Hana stumbled back from the force he'd used to pry her off. Turning, she stole a glance in front of her at the frantic man, before training her eyes to the tips of her shoes. Nervous thumbs and nervous knees. It was strange. She'd been expecting him to be upset somewhere in the back of her mind, but the scale of his anger was nothing close to anticipated, and the only emotion she could comprehend was shock. Perhaps she'd been in the wrong. Perhaps that blue had done horrible things to him, things that she couldn't condone forgiving. Perhaps she was acting carelessly, looking through her tiny telescope view of the world. Hana's stomach twisted. What had this man been through? She felt as though a toddler was scribbling in her chest. Why did he feel that the only solution was to murder someone in cold blood? Something close to shame and embarrassment struck at her knees. Did he consider her an enemy as well, now?

The girl did not flinch as he brushed past her with thunderous steps; she refused to. She simply followed the cracks he set in the cement with keen eyes. But boy, did it sting. It stung like hell. "You-" Hana thought for a moment, the heaviness of the world returning to her shoulders. "You're right. I don't know anything. I've lived a sheltered life. I don't know the struggles you know. I haven't been through what you've been through." Hana took a deep breath. "But I will not stay away. From you or the clans, or anyone else, for that matter. Call me stupid. That's fine. I'm sorry for getting you mixed up with my recklessness. You have every right to be angry." Hana's voice was shaking a little. She genuinely was apologetic for having caused him so much trouble, both times she'd met with him. It had been a while since she had to spew so many tense sentences at once, she had to air off the nervousness coating her skin. Yeah, she was sheltered. Sheltered as shit. She had a giant sum of money sitting for her in the bank. Food on her table. A pretty home. A nice job. She had everything. So why did her chest swell with unease when she stepped into her home? Why did she feel so unbearably frustrated each time she called out to someone who wasn't there? Hana shook her head. "Well, I better get going. These groceries aren't going to carry themselves home." She joked to herself, walking over to the entrance of the alleyway and away from the man behind her. It was late. Wouldn't want a second catastrophe happening before she got home.

"Bye. See you soon, Nen. Try not to kill anyone else, okay?" She wasn't sure if he was listening, or that if he was, he'd heed her advice. But that was fine.

 

[AManOnly]

As Nenshou walked away he heard Hana speaking out to him, her voice echoing through the dark alley as he slipped into its darkened shadows. He didn't know why but the tone of her voice irked him a lot though he wasn't sure why. He just shook his head try to get what she said out of his mind. "If she wants to get herself killed it's her own choice." He said as he looked up into the night sky. "Baka." He muttered to himself. He spent the next week or two as far away from other people as he could, staying in abandoned buildings and dark places. Eventually he found himself in what appeared to be an abandoned park. The place was hidden behind large apartment complexes on all sides with only two alleyways coming into it. The place was dilapidated and ruined; definitely not a place that people went to so they could relax anymore. He started to walk around the place when he noticed what looked like a person slumped next to what used to be some kind of giant octopus slide. "Hmmm?" He said to himself as he went walking on over, hands in his pockets. They were wearing a hooded jacket of some kind and as he got closer something grabbed his attention. He saw a long lock of golden white hair cascading down a face that he immediately recognized. "Mom?"

He didn't remember screaming or yelling though he heard others say they heard it. He didn't remember running through the streets carrying a body like a mad man. He didn't remember threatening the lives of the entire hospital staff if they didn't do everything they could right then and there. He didn't remember waiting all those hours just to hear the words that he knew he would eventually hear. He didn't remember storming out of place spouting expletives like each one added another year to his life. But what he hated most was he didn't know why he cared so much. He remembered everything she had done and everything she hadn't done for him. He remembered every horrible thing she had said and he remembered every time she ignored him. Why, why was this ripping him apart? Why did he feel more alone then he had ever felt before? He didn't know what to do so he ended up doing the only thing that he knew he was capable of doing. He started fighting; he started hunting down Homura and Scepter everywhere they were. He started a reckoning that made everywhere he went look like it was a warzone.

His path of destruction ended him up in Shizume Town in the Eastern part of Tokyo Metropolis and he was very quickly gaining the attention of not only Homura and Scepter but of the other clans and their kings. For up in the sky a Sword of Damocles never really seen by many before hovered ever constantly as Nenshou destroyed another group of Homura soldiers. His jacket was torn and ripped as his body looked bloodied and beaten. Yet his dark gray aura seeped off of him with each ground shaking step he took, taking blow after blow from all those that attacked him. He had been fighting off reds and blues, even when they worked together to try and take him down. Rumors were going about that the kings of the two clans would soon come to put the upstart one in his place. But there were whispers, that they were afraid. That they didn't want to face the Metal King. Nobody knew for sure and the only thing that Nenshou knew was that as long as he kept fighting he didn't have to think. And thinking was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

 

[Levy]

It had been a month. Or maybe well over, Hana wasn't keeping count. She wasn't keeping count of much, really. Life as usual, drawing, sleeping, eating, going through the motions, she supposed. Of course, she had a few acquaintances here and there. Art pals at work, people she'd struck up a conversation with randomly at the store, though, they weren't too keen on exchanging contacts so, she guessed she would never see them again. She wondered how many people she'd passed twice on the street. How many birds she'd fed more than once. If she would ever see the man in the red coat again. It was strange. Her mind would return to him every now and then, when no one else was around her and her thoughts began to consume her. The slight smile she swore she saw on his face. The thunderous steps as he stomped past her, enraged by her careless actions. The 'baka' she swore she heard under his breath as she left. She'd seen the news. The whispers on the street. It had taken her a bit, but she'd eventually connected the dots and figured out who he was. Nenshou Daikarai, the upstart King of a One Man Clan. There was a large bounty on his head, the sum of money was incredulous and Hana almost burst out laughing when she saw it. And he called her stupid. Gosh, at least she didn't have wanted posters. Or, well, not anymore, at least.

Still, as the days wore on, Hana maintained her dubiously crackpot optimism with a firm grip. She wouldn't let the grievings of a man she'd met only twice get her down, she was Hana! Cheerful Hana. Bubbly Hana. Blithe Hana. She did, of course, have to wonder, with that intrusive curiosity of hers. What had gotten him so upset in the first place? What had riled him up to the point of practically starting a war between himself and two entire clans? She knew he was a fighter, but one can only fight so much. He would break sooner or later. But, it wasn't her place to dwell upon such things. She was just a wobbly artist. Apparently a stupid one.

Hana sighed. The particular client she was working with had been difficult from the get go. She'd, first, refused to sign the contract, tried to lecture her on painting, forced her to resize the entire thing, and then refused to make the payment unless she brought the painting to her doorstep herself. Thus, there she was, on a train headed for Shizume Town, East of Tokyo, if she remembered correctly, with a giant canvas in tow. The train itself was absolutely bustling left and right, so Hana had to be careful to avoid any sketchy people with sneaky hands, and thus used the canvas as a barrier between her and the rest of the train, squished to one side. Her eyes were glued to the window, admiring the scenery, when her eyes suddenly caught a foot. It was aimed in her general direction. She was stiff for a moment, confused, until her wits caught up to her, and she bent down to shield herself. Her eyes were shut, so she wasn't able to catch all that happened, but she could certainly feel the glass shattering and her body slamming into the crowd behind her, the wall of the train busting upon impact, rolling onto the ground below them with an intensity that she wasn't familiar with. There were various cuts on her body, most likely from the glass, and her back was throbbing enough to make her pass out. All the while, Hana held tightly onto the canvas, attempting to shield it the best a girl of her size could. Around her, there was panic. A good amount of civilians were fleeing, calling the police, loved ones, yelling and or screaming in hysteria. Hana was just tired.

"Ah, dammit. We weren't supposed to have casualties. Hey! Anyone dead?" The perpetrator shouted. Hana opened her eyes. She spotted a familiar shade of red looking over the calamity he had caused. More of his kind flooded the scene, though, she couldn't really hear much. Her vision was beginning to dance and there was an irksome ringing in her ears. Well, this was certainly not what she had planned for the day. "Hey... ain't that the girl we saw with him last month? Downtown?" One of them noted. Their attention was drawn to the girl sprawled across the grass, holding, now weakly, onto a, now broken canvas. "Should we..." Should you what? "Yeah." Goddamnit. Hana was in no condition to run, let alone fight, and she knew this. She didn't bring along any sort of weaponry, just the can of mace that hung from her neck. She couldn't use that, mainly because there were too many civilians in the vicinity and she didn't want to risk temporarily blinding any of them, and also because she would have to wait for them to get close enough to her, which didn't sound very safe, if she was being honest.