Greater Than Gravity
By Seabreeze
Chapter Two: The Crime
Author's Notes: Ummm… I'm not entirely sure where this story is going. I mean, I know where it's going… generally… in the end, but I have no idea how it's gonna get there. Starting, um… now. Heh. Enjoy? Wish me luck?
Disclaimer: see previous chapters
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"'The Biography of a Hero: Tokyo Celebrates the Wanderer!'" Misao shouted at the top of her lungs the next morning. I suppressed a moan – every few years, an article like this was published in the papers. It was one of the few parts of my job I disliked. I understand it is natural to be curious about a man so well-known to a city, but they must see that my privacy, my lack of identity, is something that must be maintained.
"Oooh, Himura, can I admire your 'strikingly large violet eyes'?" Misao continued, her own strikingly large blue eyes sparkling mischeviously up at me. "When do I get the honor of having you rescue me? Oh, Wanderer!" she fake swooned dramatically across the kitchen table so that Soujiro had to reach over her to hand me my morning tea.
"I'd leave you to the dogs," I grumbled under my breath as I took the teacup from Soujiro, nodding my thanks.
"Hmph! Well, if you wouldn't save me, I'm sure Sou here would, wouldn't ya?" she asked, popping up from the table and beaming at my manservant. I lifted the hot cup of tea serenely to my lips, controlling my features perfectly – not for the first time, she was flirting with him. I saw his eyes glance wildly at me for help, but I pretended not to notice.
"Ah, well, o-of course, Miss Misao!" Soujiro stuttered, grinning through the blush on his cheeks. She pinched them swiftly before bouncing from the room.
"My hero!" she sang as she went. I chuckled, and I could've sworn I saw Soujiro shoot me a glare.
"You could've given me a hand," he said, an irritated smile in his voice.
"She's a little rambunctious, Soujiro, but she's hardly any trouble – "
"You know what I'm talking about."
I wanted to grin. It was the closest he had ever come to snapping at me.
"Look, Soujiro, if she truly makes you uncomfortable, perhaps spending more time around her would… acclimate you to her." I heard silence as he froze in the middle of cooking my eggs, and then after a moment he began again.
"She does not make me 'uncomfortable'." Soujiro said, as if in retort.
"Then what's the problem?" I countered.
Another pause. This one lasted long enough that I thought maybe I had finally offended him, for the first time in almost nine years.
"Nothing. You're right, of course." Soujiro's tone had returned to his normal-cheerful. "I'm just being silly."
I chuckled – he had come close to admitting that Miss Misao got underneath his skin, which was as good as admitting he had a little crush on her. I resisted the temptation to turn his advice concerning me and women back on him – but Miss Misao had pushed him far enough out of his comfort zone for one day.
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It was an unusually quiet day. Typically, I spent anywhere from 10 to 32 hours out in Tokyo, 10 being a very light day, and obviously 32 being catastrophic. Today, I spent 5 hours outside of my home. Attempted rape, minor drug sales, and a bank robbery.
Master had classified for me the different types of emergencies: bank robberies were among the least extreme, more severe only than cats stuck in trees and children at the bottom of wells (did that even happen anymore?) Master would have scolded me for taking care of such a minute problem when a lesser hero could manage it, but the truth was that there were no lesser heroes in Tokyo. The last hero I had encountered, other than Master, who had retired years ago, had been the stoic Double Blade. Double Blade (I didn't know his true name, and he didn't know mine either) was a tall, silent menace of a hero. According to Master, the women went crazy for Double Blade's striking good looks, but I was preoccupied with his style of dealing with criminals. Double Blade was big on heroic punishment: killing murders, rapists, and bombers; roughing up kidnappers and thieves. He relished in doling out punishment, whereas I felt it better to leave punishment up to the government.
After all, my job is not to encroach on the duties of the government. It is to be there for people who have no way of crying out for the help of the government.
I talk of Double Blade as if he is an inferior hero, as if I don't approve of his methods. And I don't, honestly, but the truth is that not so long ago, I was just like him. Worse, even. I did not kill because I enjoyed it; I killed because I felt it was the only way to forever rid the world of criminals.
But things change. People change. I changed. I realized that if murderers have no right to take the lives of the innocent, then I have no right to take away the lives of the guilty. I am a hero, not a judge.
The bank robbery was handled quickly and easily. It seemed lately that the only ones attempting to commit crimes were those who knew little about doing so successfully. Amateurs, really. Not that I really minded – it meant an easier defeat for me. But I did hunger just a little for the thrill of fighting a villain who might just beat me. It is the nature of warriors to crave challenging battles.
That and I had to wonder where all the organized crime went all of the sudden: the local yakuza, the drug lords, etc. It was eerie and foreboding that they had all seemingly dropped off the face of the planet simultaneously.
Not to mention the "big time crime". The only crime, according to Master, that I should bother with at all. The kind of crime that involves people like me, who decide to cause harm instead of helping. The kind of crime that involves monsters and giants and men who can control minds and shoot fire from their fingers.
Supervillains.
I frowned as I ghosted over the skyline, reveling in the eerie solitude of the city below me.
It had been quite some time since my last "supernatural evil" encounter. Granted, they were rare enough – rare as superheroes, of course – but it had been a few years. Three? Four?
Tokyo was due.
I sighed as my house came into view. The location was perfect – on a large cliff overlooking the city. Not exactly discreet, but it was well known that Kenshin Himura was a billionaire; had inherited a large sum from a loving uncle, and quite enjoyed living in extreme wealth and solitude. My house – although the word hardly covers what my living space is – is a somber Gothic beast; all dark stone and cast iron. It is much larger than I require, but what can you do. I certainly won't complain, because for all its darkness, it is a quiet and comfortable place to live.
I touched down on the balcony outside my room, headed inside, and quickly changed out of my suit before jogging lightly down the stairs.
"Is that you, Master?" Soujiro's voice echoed throughout the house, and I paused to try and locate its source.
"Yes, I'm home, Sourjiro. Where are you?"
Sourjiro's cheerful laugh answered me.
"In the tea room, sir, just dusting a bit."
I made my way there, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl in the kitchen to munch on as I chatted with him. When I got to the tea room, I found Soujiro dusting inside the ancient armoire my old uncle was so fond of. I leaned against the doorway and took a huge bite of the apple.
"You're in civilians," Soujiro noted with surprise, referring to my sweatpants and t-shirt combo. I nodded and swallowed a huge bite of apple.
"The city's dead today, Soujiro," I told him, taking another bite of apple and watching him carefully for his reaction. "What do you make of it?"
He continued dusting.
"It makes me nervous, Sir." He said honestly. I felt my stomach clench as Soujiro's reaction matched my own, confirming my fears. I took another bite of my apple, as I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "We've seen villains before. It's been bad before. But no one's ever dried out all the crime in Tokyo. I don't know what it means, sir."
"You think someone's orchestrating it?" I prodded.
"You think it's all a coincidence?" he replied instantly, picking up a porcelain vase and inspecting it with narrowed eyes.
"Why, then?" I asked casually. Soujiro turned, finally, and grinned at me.
"How would I know, Sir? I'm but a humble butler."
I laughed.
"It was worth a try." I said with a shrug of my shoulders. I left Soujiro to his cleaning.
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-somewhere, in the heart of the Kyoto Underground-
In a dark room, a man shrouded in shadow sat upon cool satin pillows; nothing visible but the gleam of his yellow eyes and the thin spiral of smoke stemming upwards from a small, glowing red circle. The shuffle of paper – the only sound in the room but his unusually ragged breathing – indicated he was reading something, Across the long, apparently empty room – like a wide hallway with only one door opposite him – came a creaking, and that one door opened to reveal a sliver of sharp-edged light.
"My Lord?"
"Report, please."
"Mongoose has accepted your offer, and Raging Koi is not far from doing the same. Some of the smaller yakuza are starting to complain. They'll rebel unless you invite them to join in on the fun." The man who had entered, and was now himself swallowed by darkness, was tall and had a sneering voice. The seated man chuckled.
"You'll just have to explain their roles in my little game a little more clearly, then, won't you?"
The second man laughed with just a little too much relish, and the first chuckled quietly.
"Don't have too much fun. This is work, and as powerless as they are, they are an integral part of the plan."
"No worries, boss. I'll rough 'em up just enough to get the point across."
"See to it that you do."
The second man, recognizing a dismissal, bowed and retraced his steps out of the dark, empty room, closing the door carefully behind him.
The seated man, alone again, sighed. It was a complicated game to orchestrate, but with his fingers pulling the strings, it was all coming along seamlessly. It was funny, he mused, putting out his cigarette on a thin, bandaged arm, how a few years of careful plotting, of building alliances and planting spies and developing employees, how simple such a magnificent plan could be to pull off.
Of course, it was all underground now. Things would get complicated when people began suspecting. It would be downright war when he finally stepped into the light, so to speak. When his plan was unveiled to the world.
He relished the thought.
But not yet. There were still some traps to be laid…
He harsh, jubilant laughter rang loudly in the empty room.
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A/N: OK, yeah, so, I reeeeally am flying by the seat of my pants with this story. So far it's been one of the most unique fanfiction writing experience I've had so far.
It may take me forever to develop and finish this story, but I'm kind of obsessed with it, and have been for years. I hope to make this my best story yet. I love it, and I hope you do, too. Please let me know.
Forgive me for the enormous lapse in time between this chapter and the last. I've actually experienced some deaths in my life, and it's kind of thrown everything off for me. I'm returning to this story, hopefully, to help restore some balance in my life. Please review, loves :)
~Seabreeze
