[FAN FIC] Remnant - Prologue
Apr. 7th, 2006 04:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tired_n_deadinsideSeries: Samurai 7,
Title: Remnant,
Genre: Yaoi/Slash, Fantasy/science fiction, mythology/fairy tales, drama, action/adventure, romance,
Rating: 17+ for language, lemon, gore/violence, angst, BDSM, unresolved sexual tension, extreme disregard for human life and severe property damage,
Summary: All attempts at healing the broken central government have ended in failure. The latest one being even more spectacular than any of its predecessors. Fighting is breaking out everywhere as every petty little lordling tries to grab control of well...anything they could get their hands on. This aggravates the already uneasy relationships between the new, grotesquely rich merchants and the top-heavy, warrior-class hierarchy still mired in their centuries old ways. A hierarchy in which Okamoto Katsushiro was born into.
Katsushiro has gone home after the Capital was destroyed in Kanna. He is no longer interested in war or fighting. Four years later he's now living a normal quiet life but there is something in his DNA that will soon change this. Unfortunately, two people from his past, who are supposedly dead, won't leave him alone either. They are now in his life nursing him back to health.
Before Katsushiro has a chance to get satisfyingly spooked at their re-appearance the world slides further into chaos and drags them all down with it. Only then does he finds out first-hand why the samurai have always been regarded with fear-tinged awe.
-----------------------------------------------
Warnings: Spoiler-ific! This fic deals graphically with issues of war and death, and its continuing ramifications on a group of people who are basically licensed killers.
Notes: Point of view will be 1st person from Katsushiro. Alternate ending to the anime. Kyuuzo, Heihachi, Kanbei, Shichiroji, Yukino, Okara and a few original characters will be appearing later on...
This was written (as most of my fics are now) in a language other than English and is being translated from that language.
-----------------------------------------------
Prologue:
-----------------------
Rain. It's raining again. The constant thrum was like an itch that wouldn't go away. He hated it. It reminded him of tears. Tears no one had for him only for those people he'd killed. He could still see their faces. Who they were, if they meant anything to him; Did they even matter to him at one time? He didn't know. The tangled mess of his memories was permanently fragmented and any emotions that once identified them was long gone.
Waiting amongst the jagged, rusted remains of the cybernetic soldiers he felt just as dead as they are. Like them he'd been forgotten where the last war had settled him. He stared down at a slightly damaged piece while others were so badly chopped up most of the pieces could be held by small children. He liked it here. There was no one expecting him to do anything, to be someone they knew and he wasn't.
Behind him the Nobuseri he'd sliced to pieces was still ablaze in the hazy, amber light of dusk. Thick, oily, black smoke spewed from it, boiling and expanding upwards as if trying to obliterate all memory of the once heavenly blue of the sky.
Clouds of a civilization gone mad.
The slight drizzle was becoming a downpour of such violence there were now sizable rivers crossing the old battlefield. It didn't seem to affect the smoke and fire. Everything smelled of scorched metal, of copper, like blood. He could taste it on his tongue. So sharp and hot.
If only he could stop seeing the faces of the men and women he'd killed in it he wouldn't mind the rain so much. It was rather refreshing. All that grime and engine grease on him washed away. Turning, he waited for the Shikimoribito long before the man came into his line of sight.
Sometimes, like now, his body can still surprise him. It knew what to do to keep him safe even if he no longer did. Then again he'd read that ingrained habits had nothing to do with the brain. It was mostly muscle reflexes. His body seemed to know his brain was injured and was moving to protect itself.
The sun was low in the sky when the storm clouds had appeared and was now nothing but a hazy orb hovering over the horizen. Though his vision was excellent despite the impairment from the roaring fire it was the weather he wasn't prepared for. Afer two years spent recovering in the Shikimoribito limestone caves where everything was carefully regulated the sheer randomness of the outside was startling
Though the man appeared as if out of the darkening air Kyuuzo's blade tip was there to meet him and the other smartly stopped short of it. He approved of self-preserving traits in someone who'd essentially raised him from the dead. There was a human beneath that oddly shaped, anonymous metal mask with its bits of green glass where the eyes looked out. He knew this from a shard of a memory connected to a name; Shimada Kanbei. Some how the Shikimoribito is connected to that man and his own memories.
"Kyuuzo."
The deep voice reminded him of the samurai Kanbei whose had long, wavy hair was graying, dulling the natural brown. It was very thick and billowed behind the man like a cape. Kyuuzo wasn't sure what a cape was but it felt right so he used it. Although knowing what Kanbei's face looks like would've been much more usefull.
"I am ready."
"I doubt it but we don't have much of a choice now. It looks like Hajimoto went behind my back. The bidders are here."
Kyuuzo didn't answer. What was there to say? He couldn't remember who he was half the time. If someone wanted to buy him, let them. It didn't mean he'd go along like a domesticated animal. The Doctor Shikimoribito was using him as well only he was honest about it.
As he walked past the Doctor the man turned and smoothly fell in step with him. Again, with that careful distance. He'd worked hard to regain his strength though he was no where near his former skill level or even agility so he recognised the difference between fear and respect.
The Doctor was wary of Kyuuzo and respected his space but not out of fear. This man, who calls himself a licensed medical doctor, had no need to feel such a thing. Kyuuzo had watched him easily dispatch four of the mechanized Nobuseri in under several heartbeats. He, with his twin swords, might be a challenge to the Doctor but not for very long. Not that he was going to thank the man who'd given him another chance at life by challenging him to a duel.
"It was a favorite hobby of yours," the Doctor had said, disapproval coloring every word, "well, before death put a decisive end to that nonsense, anyway."
He was the only one who knew exactly how Kyuuzo was put back together. If something went wrong, Kyuuzo would rather the man be alive to deal with it than dead.
Walking together like this, the Doctor was about his height and had an easy stride. He said, "Hei-"
Kyuzo snapped himself sideways, away from the Doctor as something whistled like psychotic insects past him. Stick missiles! He ran for cover when they exploded, some hitting the burning Nobuseri he'd killed earlier, sending shrapnel in every direction. Several ripped into him despite the stone outcropping he'd sheltered behind. He hissed in annoyance. He couldn't even have one day without pain finding him and ruining it.
There! Contrary to popular belief solid black was just as easy to see at night in a populated area as lighter shades were. Knowing this, though where the knowledge came from he no longer had the memories to clue him in, he'd asked for clothing in patchwork dark blues, forest browns and greys making it harder to locate him in the dark. He used the camouflage and the madly flickering light of the fire as he slipped behind another rock formation, getting closer to the snipers.
Stupid of them not to wear their Shikimoribito gear, he thought dispassionately as he slid one sword into the gun and the other into its wielder. The outfit hid amazingly thorough spyware in them. Sneaking up on them would've been impossible. But the outfits would tell the other Shikimoribito where they were as well.
Before the sniper's partner could react the man received one of Kyuuzo's boot in the chest and another in his face. He wouldn't get up ever again though he might thrash around for a second or two. Bone fragments from the nose into the brain was a painful way to go. Before their heads struck the sand Kyuzo used the force of the kick to flip himself in a different direction and was running for cover again.
The entire thing took barely three minutes. He made no noise and the men hadn't had the time to even think about it. Only the steady rustling, trickling of the rain was his companion in the deepening twilight. The crackling, smoking fire would've gone out already but the missiles added fuel to the flames.
Was there more out there? The Doctor Shikimoribito would have gotten to them if there were.
"Heihachi is coming with our ride," the Doctor said, nearly startling a curse out of Kyuuzo. Had he been waiting behind the rock waiting for him?
When thinking about himself and his half-remembered life became too confusing he often wondered about the Doctor instead. Wondered if he was a shinobi, a ninja, instead of a samurai. But only samurai can become Shikimoribito or so the Doctor claimed.
"Kenji and Hirijo," the Doctor was saying. The names grabbed his attention.
They were Shikimoribito after all. He remembered the pair. Kenji's aloof kindness and Hirijo's feline gracefulness despite the Shikimoribito uniform. He was surprised to feel hurt and confusion.
"They were after me, not you," the Doctor said almost gently. Maybe he can read minds. "The two I'd killed are Tetsuo and Masa. The four work together well and are always sent out to deal with...problems."
Kyuuzo looked at the Doctor then took a closer look. The mask was gone. It could be the rain causing the lines in a face with chips of jagged ice for eyes but more than likely the Doctor was older than him by at least a decade. He looked away. None of his business.
"The boy has a good head for numbers and puzzles but even he can't find all the tracking devices hidden on that hovercraft." The Doctor was speaking of Heihachi. He was almost affectionate in his pride for the former samurai-turned-woodcutter. "Once we're in Kanna Village we'll have to leave it behind."
"The swords on the graves."
"Yes. Then we'll go find your Kanbei."
"I don't own him."
The Doctor chuckled. It was a low, nasty sound and Kyuuzo shivered, wondering about the pleasure he felt, why he found comfort in it. "He paid, in full, for your resurrection by teaching the younger Shikimobirito how to use the sword. That's why I cannot allow Hajimoto to sell you. You already have an owner."
"You're coming to keep an eye on Heihachi."
The Doctor gave him an approving look but didn't reply. Kyuuzo heard something mechanical coming from the Doctor. It was a familiar sound. Shikimoribito were very cautious and suspicious. The Doctor was probably scanning their surroundings. They heard it at the same time and hunched as missiles rained down on them.
Kyuzo thought the Doctor said a mild, "Ah, damn it." before he ran out and ten heartbeats later something very big exploded in the night. Kyuuzo made himself as small as he could to avoid being hit with melted, flying metal.
He risked a glance then quickly ducked again when another series of explosions rocked the very air and blew the rain nearly parallel to the ground. He didn't know where to strike the ships to do maximum damage. He'd become target practice for the gunners if he tried to leave the rock's shelter. The logic of his thoughts didn't make him feel any less useless.
Well, not precisely useless. This wasn't his battle-conditioned body trying to warn him. It was common sense. Something he'd heard most samurai didn't have or if they did they were very good at ignoring it. His memories seemed to support this observation. In a battle where the other side had long range weapons spreading indiscriminate fire to stay in one place is to to die. Wasn't that what happened the first time he'd died?
With that thought he bolted, and not a moment too soon. The rock formation seemed to implode then shock waves rippling through the rain picked him up and slammed him into another rock outcropping. He forced himself to lie still once his body rolled to a stop, waiting for his brain to stop knocking around and his vision to clear for the perfect moment to strike back.
One of the ships floated closer to him, still facing the carnage the Doctor was creating and therefore blind to his movements. Careless. Using the rock to launch himself closer he slit it from anal to throat.
He was running even as he hit the loose sand. The ship's explosion still caught him and crushed him through several dunes. He coughed, sneezing up sand and blood, and from his blurry vision knew he had a slight concussion. It didn't matter. The Doctor knew what he was doing when he'd put him back together. At moments like this, when his body was able to take severe beatings and still perform well Kyuuzo said an old Buddhist prayer of thanks, personal happiness and prosperity for the Doctor.
So, Kyuuzo of the red jacket is no more. But he, Kyuuzo of the twin blades, is still alive. He chuckled to himself and rolled on to his back to stare up at the rainclouds still leaking water steadily. The last of the ships was destroyed. The Doctor was probably going around and making sure all of its occupants were dead too. He didn't mind lying there letting the rain wash his soul clean.
-----------------------------------------------
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
-----------------------------------------------
Ex. Notes:
---- Everyone's ages are my own invention. It was never mentioned how old anyone was in the anime.
---- Kyuuzo's name is pronounced with the "Kyuu" stressed whereas in "Kyuzo" it would sound like "Kyoto" would. Short and sharp, and in Kyuuzo's case, incorrect.
References:
http://www.samurai-archives.com/sts.html,
http://www.jref.com/language/japanese_suffixes.shtml,
http://www.jref.com/language/politeness_japanese.shtml,
Disclaimers: Samurai 7 © Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Mico, GDH, Gonzo Studios, FUNimation and anyone else who is not me. However, this story plot, the samurai being "upgraded" and "enhanced" for generations is a creation of mine.
Title: Remnant,
Genre: Yaoi/Slash, Fantasy/science fiction, mythology/fairy tales, drama, action/adventure, romance,
Rating: 17+ for language, lemon, gore/violence, angst, BDSM, unresolved sexual tension, extreme disregard for human life and severe property damage,
Summary: All attempts at healing the broken central government have ended in failure. The latest one being even more spectacular than any of its predecessors. Fighting is breaking out everywhere as every petty little lordling tries to grab control of well...anything they could get their hands on. This aggravates the already uneasy relationships between the new, grotesquely rich merchants and the top-heavy, warrior-class hierarchy still mired in their centuries old ways. A hierarchy in which Okamoto Katsushiro was born into.
Katsushiro has gone home after the Capital was destroyed in Kanna. He is no longer interested in war or fighting. Four years later he's now living a normal quiet life but there is something in his DNA that will soon change this. Unfortunately, two people from his past, who are supposedly dead, won't leave him alone either. They are now in his life nursing him back to health.
Before Katsushiro has a chance to get satisfyingly spooked at their re-appearance the world slides further into chaos and drags them all down with it. Only then does he finds out first-hand why the samurai have always been regarded with fear-tinged awe.
-----------------------------------------------
Warnings: Spoiler-ific! This fic deals graphically with issues of war and death, and its continuing ramifications on a group of people who are basically licensed killers.
Notes: Point of view will be 1st person from Katsushiro. Alternate ending to the anime. Kyuuzo, Heihachi, Kanbei, Shichiroji, Yukino, Okara and a few original characters will be appearing later on...
This was written (as most of my fics are now) in a language other than English and is being translated from that language.
-----------------------------------------------
Prologue:
-----------------------
Rain. It's raining again. The constant thrum was like an itch that wouldn't go away. He hated it. It reminded him of tears. Tears no one had for him only for those people he'd killed. He could still see their faces. Who they were, if they meant anything to him; Did they even matter to him at one time? He didn't know. The tangled mess of his memories was permanently fragmented and any emotions that once identified them was long gone.
Waiting amongst the jagged, rusted remains of the cybernetic soldiers he felt just as dead as they are. Like them he'd been forgotten where the last war had settled him. He stared down at a slightly damaged piece while others were so badly chopped up most of the pieces could be held by small children. He liked it here. There was no one expecting him to do anything, to be someone they knew and he wasn't.
Behind him the Nobuseri he'd sliced to pieces was still ablaze in the hazy, amber light of dusk. Thick, oily, black smoke spewed from it, boiling and expanding upwards as if trying to obliterate all memory of the once heavenly blue of the sky.
Clouds of a civilization gone mad.
The slight drizzle was becoming a downpour of such violence there were now sizable rivers crossing the old battlefield. It didn't seem to affect the smoke and fire. Everything smelled of scorched metal, of copper, like blood. He could taste it on his tongue. So sharp and hot.
If only he could stop seeing the faces of the men and women he'd killed in it he wouldn't mind the rain so much. It was rather refreshing. All that grime and engine grease on him washed away. Turning, he waited for the Shikimoribito long before the man came into his line of sight.
Sometimes, like now, his body can still surprise him. It knew what to do to keep him safe even if he no longer did. Then again he'd read that ingrained habits had nothing to do with the brain. It was mostly muscle reflexes. His body seemed to know his brain was injured and was moving to protect itself.
The sun was low in the sky when the storm clouds had appeared and was now nothing but a hazy orb hovering over the horizen. Though his vision was excellent despite the impairment from the roaring fire it was the weather he wasn't prepared for. Afer two years spent recovering in the Shikimoribito limestone caves where everything was carefully regulated the sheer randomness of the outside was startling
Though the man appeared as if out of the darkening air Kyuuzo's blade tip was there to meet him and the other smartly stopped short of it. He approved of self-preserving traits in someone who'd essentially raised him from the dead. There was a human beneath that oddly shaped, anonymous metal mask with its bits of green glass where the eyes looked out. He knew this from a shard of a memory connected to a name; Shimada Kanbei. Some how the Shikimoribito is connected to that man and his own memories.
"Kyuuzo."
The deep voice reminded him of the samurai Kanbei whose had long, wavy hair was graying, dulling the natural brown. It was very thick and billowed behind the man like a cape. Kyuuzo wasn't sure what a cape was but it felt right so he used it. Although knowing what Kanbei's face looks like would've been much more usefull.
"I am ready."
"I doubt it but we don't have much of a choice now. It looks like Hajimoto went behind my back. The bidders are here."
Kyuuzo didn't answer. What was there to say? He couldn't remember who he was half the time. If someone wanted to buy him, let them. It didn't mean he'd go along like a domesticated animal. The Doctor Shikimoribito was using him as well only he was honest about it.
As he walked past the Doctor the man turned and smoothly fell in step with him. Again, with that careful distance. He'd worked hard to regain his strength though he was no where near his former skill level or even agility so he recognised the difference between fear and respect.
The Doctor was wary of Kyuuzo and respected his space but not out of fear. This man, who calls himself a licensed medical doctor, had no need to feel such a thing. Kyuuzo had watched him easily dispatch four of the mechanized Nobuseri in under several heartbeats. He, with his twin swords, might be a challenge to the Doctor but not for very long. Not that he was going to thank the man who'd given him another chance at life by challenging him to a duel.
"It was a favorite hobby of yours," the Doctor had said, disapproval coloring every word, "well, before death put a decisive end to that nonsense, anyway."
He was the only one who knew exactly how Kyuuzo was put back together. If something went wrong, Kyuuzo would rather the man be alive to deal with it than dead.
Walking together like this, the Doctor was about his height and had an easy stride. He said, "Hei-"
Kyuzo snapped himself sideways, away from the Doctor as something whistled like psychotic insects past him. Stick missiles! He ran for cover when they exploded, some hitting the burning Nobuseri he'd killed earlier, sending shrapnel in every direction. Several ripped into him despite the stone outcropping he'd sheltered behind. He hissed in annoyance. He couldn't even have one day without pain finding him and ruining it.
There! Contrary to popular belief solid black was just as easy to see at night in a populated area as lighter shades were. Knowing this, though where the knowledge came from he no longer had the memories to clue him in, he'd asked for clothing in patchwork dark blues, forest browns and greys making it harder to locate him in the dark. He used the camouflage and the madly flickering light of the fire as he slipped behind another rock formation, getting closer to the snipers.
Stupid of them not to wear their Shikimoribito gear, he thought dispassionately as he slid one sword into the gun and the other into its wielder. The outfit hid amazingly thorough spyware in them. Sneaking up on them would've been impossible. But the outfits would tell the other Shikimoribito where they were as well.
Before the sniper's partner could react the man received one of Kyuuzo's boot in the chest and another in his face. He wouldn't get up ever again though he might thrash around for a second or two. Bone fragments from the nose into the brain was a painful way to go. Before their heads struck the sand Kyuzo used the force of the kick to flip himself in a different direction and was running for cover again.
The entire thing took barely three minutes. He made no noise and the men hadn't had the time to even think about it. Only the steady rustling, trickling of the rain was his companion in the deepening twilight. The crackling, smoking fire would've gone out already but the missiles added fuel to the flames.
Was there more out there? The Doctor Shikimoribito would have gotten to them if there were.
"Heihachi is coming with our ride," the Doctor said, nearly startling a curse out of Kyuuzo. Had he been waiting behind the rock waiting for him?
When thinking about himself and his half-remembered life became too confusing he often wondered about the Doctor instead. Wondered if he was a shinobi, a ninja, instead of a samurai. But only samurai can become Shikimoribito or so the Doctor claimed.
"Kenji and Hirijo," the Doctor was saying. The names grabbed his attention.
They were Shikimoribito after all. He remembered the pair. Kenji's aloof kindness and Hirijo's feline gracefulness despite the Shikimoribito uniform. He was surprised to feel hurt and confusion.
"They were after me, not you," the Doctor said almost gently. Maybe he can read minds. "The two I'd killed are Tetsuo and Masa. The four work together well and are always sent out to deal with...problems."
Kyuuzo looked at the Doctor then took a closer look. The mask was gone. It could be the rain causing the lines in a face with chips of jagged ice for eyes but more than likely the Doctor was older than him by at least a decade. He looked away. None of his business.
"The boy has a good head for numbers and puzzles but even he can't find all the tracking devices hidden on that hovercraft." The Doctor was speaking of Heihachi. He was almost affectionate in his pride for the former samurai-turned-woodcutter. "Once we're in Kanna Village we'll have to leave it behind."
"The swords on the graves."
"Yes. Then we'll go find your Kanbei."
"I don't own him."
The Doctor chuckled. It was a low, nasty sound and Kyuuzo shivered, wondering about the pleasure he felt, why he found comfort in it. "He paid, in full, for your resurrection by teaching the younger Shikimobirito how to use the sword. That's why I cannot allow Hajimoto to sell you. You already have an owner."
"You're coming to keep an eye on Heihachi."
The Doctor gave him an approving look but didn't reply. Kyuuzo heard something mechanical coming from the Doctor. It was a familiar sound. Shikimoribito were very cautious and suspicious. The Doctor was probably scanning their surroundings. They heard it at the same time and hunched as missiles rained down on them.
Kyuzo thought the Doctor said a mild, "Ah, damn it." before he ran out and ten heartbeats later something very big exploded in the night. Kyuuzo made himself as small as he could to avoid being hit with melted, flying metal.
He risked a glance then quickly ducked again when another series of explosions rocked the very air and blew the rain nearly parallel to the ground. He didn't know where to strike the ships to do maximum damage. He'd become target practice for the gunners if he tried to leave the rock's shelter. The logic of his thoughts didn't make him feel any less useless.
Well, not precisely useless. This wasn't his battle-conditioned body trying to warn him. It was common sense. Something he'd heard most samurai didn't have or if they did they were very good at ignoring it. His memories seemed to support this observation. In a battle where the other side had long range weapons spreading indiscriminate fire to stay in one place is to to die. Wasn't that what happened the first time he'd died?
With that thought he bolted, and not a moment too soon. The rock formation seemed to implode then shock waves rippling through the rain picked him up and slammed him into another rock outcropping. He forced himself to lie still once his body rolled to a stop, waiting for his brain to stop knocking around and his vision to clear for the perfect moment to strike back.
One of the ships floated closer to him, still facing the carnage the Doctor was creating and therefore blind to his movements. Careless. Using the rock to launch himself closer he slit it from anal to throat.
He was running even as he hit the loose sand. The ship's explosion still caught him and crushed him through several dunes. He coughed, sneezing up sand and blood, and from his blurry vision knew he had a slight concussion. It didn't matter. The Doctor knew what he was doing when he'd put him back together. At moments like this, when his body was able to take severe beatings and still perform well Kyuuzo said an old Buddhist prayer of thanks, personal happiness and prosperity for the Doctor.
So, Kyuuzo of the red jacket is no more. But he, Kyuuzo of the twin blades, is still alive. He chuckled to himself and rolled on to his back to stare up at the rainclouds still leaking water steadily. The last of the ships was destroyed. The Doctor was probably going around and making sure all of its occupants were dead too. He didn't mind lying there letting the rain wash his soul clean.
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
-----------------------------------------------
Ex. Notes:
---- Everyone's ages are my own invention. It was never mentioned how old anyone was in the anime.
---- Kyuuzo's name is pronounced with the "Kyuu" stressed whereas in "Kyuzo" it would sound like "Kyoto" would. Short and sharp, and in Kyuuzo's case, incorrect.
References:
http://www.samurai-archives.com/sts.html,
http://www.jref.com/language/japanese_suffixes.shtml,
http://www.jref.com/language/politeness_japanese.shtml,
Disclaimers: Samurai 7 © Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Mico, GDH, Gonzo Studios, FUNimation and anyone else who is not me. However, this story plot, the samurai being "upgraded" and "enhanced" for generations is a creation of mine.
