Title: The Chinese Connection.
Author: Fox Trot 9.
Rated: M.
Adventure/Suspense/Humor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters or Street Fighter.
Story Arch 1: The Art of Courage.
Master: A trip of a thousand li starts with one step.
Student: But after that, how do you know where it leads?
Master: You don't. All you can do is keep on walking.
[Pilot: The Way of the Warrior.]
Prologue 1: Enter the Warrior's Square.
The beginning of this story happened over ten years ago, some time in the late ninteen-ninties. When and where this happened, everybody should know--at least, everybody old enough to know who the Three Immortals of the Warrior's Square were should know. But for those of you who don't, this began shortly after the Kumite awarded its winner, Huo Li, the greatest Drunken Fist boxer since Wong Fei Hung, at the legendary Warrior's Square where all other Kumites were held. Of course, not everyone knows where this Warrior's Square was; only those in the know knew where it was, which is a few. And the only way to get there was by an anonymous invitation from someone already in the know. But enough of that. Let's get back to what happened.
It began when Huo Li established the Chung Mun dojo in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, north of Hong Kong Island. Aided with the help of his long-time friend and rival, Wang Wei, the two attracted many followers. That changed when many of the students' families got warnings and threats in their mail boxes to leave Huo Li's dojo. So half the students left, about fifty of them, while the other half stayed. Those that stayed would regret their decision.
The first attack happened in the morning to a student named Temujin. Of all the students in Huo's dojo, he was known as "Tardy" Temujin because he rarely got to class on time, but he usually got a break. He lived farther away from the dojo than his peers, so his tardies would cost him littler more than thirty minutes of practice time, but this time it would cost him much more.
As usual, he was running and had good stamina because of it. But when he turned left and sprinted up the steps leading to the dojo, he saw a young man with black and blond hair, black shirt, black jacket, black pants and black shoes sitting on the steps.
Temujin didn't think much of him while running up until the man said, "You know it's dangerous running up and down the steps like that. You might trip and fall."
Temujin stopped and looked back at him. "Don't worry; I run up and down these steps every day."
"Eh, suit yourself then," the man said. "By the way, I'm kind of lost. You know where I could find a mom-and-pop store around here?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. It's two or three blocks down the street to your left."
"Can you show me? I'm new here, and I don't really know anybody."
"Uh..." said Temujin, "I'm kind of late right now."
"You can point the way, can you?"
"Okay, sure," and the boy went down the steps to point the way. Nothing against being considerate, right? "Follow me."
That's the moment when the man attacked him, the moment he had his back to him. Temujin felt the sole of the man's foot slam into his back, causing him to tumble to the bottom of the steps. He was winded and bleary-eyed, sustaining bruises and scrapes on his forearms, kees and shins. And when he tried to get up, he felt the same foot slam into his ribs, repeatedly.
"You should know enough to not turn your back on me," and he emphasized the point with one kick to the back of the kid's ribs. Then he walked off like nothing happened.
The kid was really battered up and barely able to move, sustaining bruised (if not broken) ribs. He was motionless for a hour, then two, and would have stayed that way had not Chiara and Daniel worry about him and come down the steps to look for him.
The two couldn't believe their eyes. "Oh my God! Temujin, are you all right?" said Chiara, turning him onto his back. Of course, Temujin barely responded.
Chiara didn't have to tell Daniel to get help, for he bolted up the steps and came back with Huo and the other students. Temujin went to the hospital, while his parents got furious. In fact, they sued Huo and his family for reparations, which he assented to despite his own family's objections. Huo blamed himself for the kid's injuries and took full responsibility for them. Cops were called, Temujin was interviewed, but the assailant got away with his crime. This stained Huo's reputation and his dojo with fear, the kind of fear that took away whatever security he had for his students and for himself.
When Wang Wei heard of this, he hired three bouncers, tough-looking dudes who knew how to intimidate. One of them was a former kick-boxer, a fifteen year veteran of Hong Kong's fighting scene; the two others were from two nightclub hotspots. It was good enough to deter most troublemakers without burdening the police force to "act as body guards" for a bunch of kids, as the police phrased it over the phone. Wang Wei also instructed the students to come to and from class in three groups no smaller than ten members, because "there is always strength in numbers," as he explained it. This also improved morale in Huo's students and prevented tardies. Also, Huo would see one group of kids on their way home while two of the bouncers would see the two other groups to their homes. Wang Wei and the third bouncer would see to securing the dojo to prevent any beak-ins or vandalism. These measures served their purposes well, and for three months after the first attack there were no incidents whatsoever.
That is, until the next attack happened one afternoon after practice session was over. The three groups of students went down the steps, two groups (accompanied by the two bouncers) turning right up the road toward their houses, while the other group (accompanied by Huo) went the opposite way down the road. As Huo's group of eleven kids kept walking and talking amongst themselves, they came across a man that did not match the black attired description of the first one. Huo looked at him as he passed. Work boots, dirty jeans, a tank top, a bandana wrapt around his head; this guy looked like some out-of-town construction worker, but there was no construction site anywhere near his dojo.
Then this man walked up to Huo saying, "Are you the owner of that dojo?"
"Who wants to know?"
"I heard about the kid who got beat up a few months ago." Now that was suspect.
All the kids got frightened, gathering behind Huo. "You-you son of a--"
"Whoa, whoa, you got the wrong guy. I'm not the one, okay?"
"Prove it."
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened to that kid, all right?" The man held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just here to give these kids some protection."
"We already have some security."
"Not from whoever attacked that first kid. Heard whoever attacked him was really dangerous, like he's some yakuza- or triad-dude. I'm not you're enemy, all right."
"You really wanna help?"
"I'll do whatever I can, trust me."
Huo thought about including him but not for long. A few students from the other two groups came running, huffing and puffing and scared. "What happened?"
"Someone's--" Breath. "attacked--" Breath. "everybody!" said one student.
Huo started up the road but looked back at the stranger he just met.
"Don't worry, I'll protect these kids, all right?" the man said.
Now reassured, Huo ran up the road and met the awful sight of several students sitting on the curb with bumps and bruises. Some of them were lying down and bleeding from their mouths. Wang Wei was there, too, tending to them with whatever he had. The two bouncers were also lying on the curb and bleeding, slowly turning black and blue. Huo walked up to his friend.
Wang Wei said, "I've already called the cops. They'll be here in a few minutes."
"Where's Xin?" Xin was the third bouncer.
"He went after the attacker. I told him not to, but he went anyway. Did you--" Just then, a police cruiser rode in, sirens flashing. "see the other kids home already?"
"Someone's already--" Then an ambulance came up, followed by another police cruiser. "seeing them home."
"You let someone else do it?"
Before Huo said anything, two cops came and talked to both of them. Huo was in disbelief; everything seemed to be stuck on overdrive--first, the stranger offering help; then the frantic kids; then these beaten up kids and bouncers; then the cops; then the medics; then these questions. It was pure chaos. He could barely hear what they were saying. Then he heard the worst sound any teacher could possibly dread to hear: the scream of a thousand screams ringing in his ears. Then he saw two more cops, their guns drawn, heading back down the road where he had left his group of kids unaccompanied with that stranger. Then he saw yet another police cruiser riding in, followed by another ambulance. Then he felt the sickening feeling of dread lurch in his stomach.
Huo thought, Good God, no!
Yes, you probably guessed what happened to Huo's group of kids. Whoever they were, they worked in teams. One scouted the area which they planned to harass, while the other set the chain of events in motion, and this attack, a double event, was no different. In fact, it's what you'd call divide and conquer. The construction worker, or so Huo thought, fooled him into trusting him; so when the other attacker, the one dressed in black, raised the sirens, Huo left the kids to a wolf in disguise. He was devastated by this, humiliated even. Huo Li, the winner of the legendary Kumite, the scion of the famous Li clan, could not protect those students whom he had promised to their parents to protect.
As for Xin, the bouncer who pursued the attacker in black, he was found hours later unconscious on the street corner of Xianpen and Avery, his ribs broken and his skull cracked. Though he was alive, he didn't come out of his coma for another four weeks afterward. By then, he had forgotten everything about the incident, even under hypnosis. The police followed other leads the students provided, like the descriptions of these two attackers, where they last saw them, and the like but this, too, lead the investigation nowhere. After six months of fruitless leads and further interviews, the police all but gave up on the search, placing the case on standby to be worked on every six months.
If that wasn't enough, Huo was under legal fire. Several of his students' parents sued and he and his family were pressured to pay for the reparations. Besides, the Li family was rich, so why not take out their frustrations on the family of that irresponsible teacher? Of course, Huo paid; it was the least he could do. But life was hell for his family at this point, for his wife, for his four daughters, for his niece, but most of all for his son. Even the Li clan elders frowned on his actions, because they "threatened the integrity of the Li family name," as they put it.
Then came the threatening phone calls and notes in Huo's mail, which would lead to his demise. Though Huo had friends who offered their support, most of all Wang Wei, he became paranoid, even vengeful. So by hell or high water, he vowed to kill those two God damn bastards, if not for his shattered pride than for his family's safety. He issued a challenge to his tormentors, written in his own hand, and stuck it to the door of his dojo, designating the place where the stakes should be settled. He wouldn't have to wait for long, because two weeks later he found the challenged accepted with the rules and the time of engagement pinned to it. Indeed, Huo wanted revenge.
And the cops were in on it, too. The sting operation was set.
No turning back now, Huo thought, the very night the sting will take place, the night of his death.
His children and wife were in bed, while he and Wang Wei were up and talking in the patio. Huo saw the sky full of stars on a cloudless night but no moon. No moon meant that no raise reflected on the ground, and thus everywhere outside the dojo would afford cover. That was a double-edged sword.
"Huo," said Wang Wei, "I've never known you to back down from any fight, but think about your future. Think about your wife and your children's future. What will they do if you die in this sting? What will I say to them?...What will I do?"
"Tell my family that I've done everything I could to protect them."
"But, what if there's another--?"
"There is no other way! This hatred, this...vengeance that courses through my veins must end with me, alive...or dead. You're the only one I can entrust my family to. Please."
"I-I can't bear such a burden on my own."
"Then have my wife bear it with you, but let none of this hatred reach my children's ears."
"But she will be crushed."
"Then become her strength."
"But I--"
"Wei, I've asked many things of you in the past, but now I'm not asking you, I'm pleading you to protect my family."
Wang Wei sighed and assented. "What about the dojo?"
"Close that God-forsaken dojo. It is a curse to me," and before Wang Wei could say anything, he got up and proceeded to the door.
But something stopped him. Huo knew in his heart that he may not see his family again while still alive, so he went into his family's sleeping quarters to see them. First he went into his daughters' bedroom, saw all four daughters sleeping so peacefully despite everything. He brooded over which of them will marry first, thinking of the weddings, the cakes, the whole shenanigans that come with such occasions. Then he went into his son's bedroomed who shared it with Huo's niece. They were both spirited beyond their five living years, and he hoped to high heaven that both will grow stronger than Huo himself ever was, especially Syaoran, who will some day be the head of the Li clan.
Last but not least, he went into his wife's bedroom and saw her sleeping, no nightmares, no fidgets, not talking in her sleep, and thus no premonitions. He thought about the first time he met her, the first time she blushed, the first time they made love; so he wanted to kiss her on the forehead, but he thought better not to wake and worry her. After that, he said a prayer for all of them and was about to leave, about to walk into what would be his undoing when he heard someone calling for him.
It was his son, Syaoran. "Where are you going?"
"I need to go somewhere," he said, "somewhere that I can't tell you, but I must go."
"Is it the Warrior's Square?"
Huo nodded.
Syaoran began crying. "I thought you won already? I don't want you to go."
"I must go." He sighed. "Syaoran, I promise I'll be back. Don't worry about me."
"Promise me?" Syaoran held out his hand.
He smiled at his son, like that was the funniest thing he's heard all day. "Since when has your old man ever broken a promise to you?"
"Never."
"And I won't start now, believe it," and he touched Syaoran's hand and kissed him on the forehead, kissed him so he could go to sleep, which he did. When he went out he saw Wang Wei, who watched the scene, and said, "Whatever happens tonight, do everything you can to protect my family."
Wang Wei nodded. And with that, Huo left the household and went to the unmarked police cruiser parked a block away from the Li mansion, waiting for him.
When he got in, the look out officer, dressed in plain clothes, said, "Are you ready to bag these bastards?"
"Hell yes. Let's do this."
So they went without horns or sirens, and when they got to the dojo, everything was set. A SWAT team was positioned a couple of feet from the dojo, hidden in the shrubbery that bordered both sides. Another SWAT team was in the unmarked van, parked near the perimeter of the steps leading to the dojo. The cop was in his car parked several yards away so he won't look suspicious to anyone. Now with Huo in the dojo, all they needed were the two bastards to show up at two-thirty a.m., the time these bastards specified. So they waited, and waited, and waited--now two, now five...now ten minutes behind schedule--, and they waited till it seemed these two were no-shows. Then one of them came, the one posing as a construction worker, carrying what looked like a heavy baton at his side.
That's one, so where's the other? the cop thought, looking around. Where the hell's the other guy--I thought he'd be with him?...Aw, shit!
That's when he knew it was a trap. He got out to warn the operations chief in the van but got scared and went back in, then flicked the switch to radio the others. But he never used it. The missing assailant stabbed him in the kidney area but not before he cupped the cop's mouth to prevent him from screaming. Then he wrapped his arm around the cop's neck and twisted. If there were any passersby, they would have taken the snapping of a human neck for a twig.
One down, more to go, thought the assailant. This will be fun.
The one carrying the baton ambled up the steps and into the dojo, where Huo was waiting. Both SWAT teams saw the man with the baton coming and waited for the other one to come, but he didn't come. Thus they had to wait--that is, wait until the other man came, or wait until the cop in the cruiser to give the order, which would never come.
The SWAT team in the van thought they heard something, and five of them got out discreetly to investigate. One of them was the operations chief, dressed in plain clothes like his colleague in the cruiser. He looked at the cruiser where his colleague was stationed as look out and thought he was sleeping, so he radioed him. No response. He radioed him again and got the same answer: nothing. The operations chief didn't know his colleague was already dead. He and his four guys walked toward the car, saw the man resting his head on the headrest of his seat and knocked on the window pane.
"Come on, Hiriyuki, wake up." No movement. "Damn it, man, get off your ass!" When he opened the door, he saw blood stains on the seat. He radioed, "Team Two, keeps your eyes peeled! The second man is armed and dangerous. Team Two, do you copy?" No response. "Do you copy?"
He didn't know Team Two was already dead. The operations chief and his boys got scared and ran up the steps leading to the dojo, where they got picked off, one by one, by a killer of silent, cold-blooded efficiency, who stabbed and slashed with his knife like an animal.
Now done with his gruesome task, the man in black stood over the operations chief whose face still showed the terror in his lifeless eyes. He got out a lighter and lit a cigarette, blowing smoke as he looked at the corpse below him on the steps.
He said, "Come on, man, why the surprise on your face? Here, have a cigarette," placing the cigarette in the operation chief's mouth, "and try relaxing for once."
Meanwhile, Huo saw the construction worker bastard with the baton enter his dojo, who slid the door closed behind him. Huo didn't bother to nod at him.
The man said, "I told you I'd protect them, but--"
"You're the one who attacked them, damn it!"
"And who's the one who failed to protect them?"
"Fuck you!" Even though Huo was pissed, he was also concentrating on the man's movement's--where he stepped, how he stepped, where and how he held his baton. Soon, he had a plan; all he need was to get a bit closer to his baton. "Who's your friend?"
"I'm not stupid, man."
"Then where's your friend?"
"Not falling for that one, either."
"Then what about this!" and Huo kicked the baton hard into the man's shins, toppling him over like a tree. Then he slammed his heaviest stomp onto the man's head, upending a few floor boards. Lucky for the man, Huo missed his head by mere inches as he got out of the way. The man was huffing by now. Then Huo assumed his drunken stance, eyes on his opponent like nobody's business. When it came to one-on-one fights, he was unstoppable; but this was different. He'd have to defeat this man quickly to get ready for the other one, the one in black that wielded the knife, or whoever he was. So he put his plan in motion.
When the man got up and rushed in, Huo faked and got hold of the baton, easily prying it away and swinging it round with all his strength back onto the guy's shin. Again, the guy fell, this time cursing "Fucking, God!" That was for Daniel's broken leg. Now he disgarded the baton, preferring to man-handle the bastard the way he deserved it: that is, in the worst way possible. When the man got up halfway, Huo threw him across the dojo, then ran toward him at full speed before baseball-sliding into the guy's ribs, the guy cursing again. That was for Temujin's broken ribs. And just for the hell of it, he even shinned the guy in the balls (not only for himself, but for the hell he put his own family through). Of course, the guy screamed--who wouldn't?
Now in pain from his shins to his balls, to his ribs, the man could barely move and was cursing like a bastard out of Viagra. "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING F--!"
But before the third f-bomb, Huo kicked him in the ribs, again, saying "Never underestimate your opponent, you son of a bitch!" After that, he yanked back the guy's head and wrapped his arm around it, ready to twist it off the socket, ready to end his tormentor's life the way he planned, to reap half of the revenge he would reap tonight, to right half the wrongs so wrongfully done to his students, until...Until something outside caught his attention.
That's when the door slid open to show none other than the second assailant in the operations chief's clothes. The man had his right hand in the pocket of the overcoat, but Huo didn't notice it. "Don't do it, man. We'll take it from here."
"What? Have you any idea what this man's done?"
"I know how you feel, trust me. Personally, I'd rather have him scoured alive on a stake; but the law's the law, and we all have to follow it."
Huo was reluctant, but he relented. "Fine, do what you will with him! Did you get the other one?" he said, not knowing he was looking at the guy in question.
"Nope. The bastard never came up. We'll have to bag what we can get."
"All right. That's fine with me."
"We'll talk about this later. You got cuffs?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I forgot the cuffs running up here to see if you haven't killed him yet," he said, pointing to the guy on the floor. "We need to question him to find out where the other one's gone to."
Huo looked at him. "Does it look like I have cuffs?"
"No, but you can ask the guys outside if they have cuffs on them. I'll keep you're guy company."
"Are you sure? This man's still dangerous."
"It looks like you roughed him up pretty good by the looks of it. Don't worry; if the guy does anything suspicious, I'll drop him with my forty-four," he said.
That was reassuring enough, so Huo walked past him, not knowing that the "forty-four" in his pocket was really a switch blade. He walked out the door expecting to see SWAT members packing and leaving, but not this: around the dojo were bodies of murdered men in uniform. That's when he finally got the picture, but it was too late. A split-second later, Huo got tagged in the back of the knee with a knife, felling him onto his knees. A artery was severed, and he bleeding profusely.
After pulling it out, he looked back, back at the knife-weilding bastard who dyed his hair black, who took a cop's clothes, who took people's lives. "You son-of-a-bitch!"
"My mother has nothing to do with this. It's just business." (The other guy managed to get up with the help of his baton, and limped painfully toward his partner in crime. Huo tried to get up, but his bad knee gave out under him; he tried getting up again, this time on his good leg, and assumed his drunken stance as best as he could.) "You're really tough, I'll give you that much. Not many people can get up from a knife wound to the knee."
For Huo, it was hell standing up. Putting any weight on that bad knee felt apocalyptic at best, but he still kept his eye on the two men.
"Hand me your cane, Bill, and I'll take him out." "Bill" looked at him, reluctant to give it to him. "Look, you're not in the condition to perform this hit."
"All right, here, knock yourself out," and then "Bill" whispered into his ear, "Get him in the knee; this fucker deserves it." Then he sat down on the ledge of the dojo.
"What are you planning?" said Huo.
The guy in black holding the baton in his left hand said, "Don't worry, man; you'll know soon enough;" and he stretched his arm like a snake so fast you wouldn't believe your eyes and swung the baton on his lower leg. "Bill" just had to wince at that.
His leg was almost completely taken off. To say Huo was in agony is an understatement; he was in the ninth level of Hell, and it only got deeper. He soon blocked out from the pain and the blood lose, but when he came to, he found himself with an arm around his neck, and his body pulled back into a painful kneeling position.
Then he heard a voice say, "Any last words?"
"F-fuck...you!"
"I'll let Geese know about it."
Huo felt his heart skip a beat. Was he behind all this, the same guy who took control of South Town, the same guy who defied the great Tung Fu Rue, the same guy who killed Jeff Bogard? Was Geese spreading his tentacles to Hong Kong?
Then the man snapped his neck and let the body fall.
"Bill" clapped his hands and said, "Bravo, man, just bravo. I'm surprised you haven't taken my job yet." Then he got up but not before cupping his balls.
"Maybe you should have worn a jockstrap."
"Fuck you!"
A/N: This is my first story, so please be nice. And remember, this is a prologue to a Naruto crossover with different characters from other anime and games. You'll see Naruto soon enough. And review please. Let me know what you think.