Ch 10: Gotterdammerung pt. 3: Death and Rebirth
Kenji took the blade in his hands. It was the Muramasa, so given to him years before in Paris. A gift from master to servant; a gift to be repaid in blood.
ShenLong smirked. "Do you know the legend of Masamune and Muramasa? Long ago, two swordsmiths met near a small stream. They were Masamune and his student Muramasa. Each of them brought one of their finest blades. To show his teacher the quality of his craft, Muramasa stuck his blade into the stream. As leaves floated past, they were neatly cut in two, he held his blade up, proud of his work. Masamune stuck his blade into the stream. As Muramasa watched, the leaves that floated past avoided the blade altogether. He then understood and was ashamed of his amateur skills."
Kenji listened to his idle ramblings; wondering as to what game ShenLong was playing.
"Masamune was a fool. What good is a weapon that can't be used? And that, Kenji Ohgami, is what you are now. A weapon, unweilded and useless. Bakuryu, now there was the keenest of weapons..."
"I'm not a weapon, ShenLong. I am a man!"
"Are you? Are any of us? I was created in a tank, a clone of a man named Long. Am I a man? A beast, as you claim? Neither, Kenji. To the humans, and to my followers, I am God. And you, blasphemous heathen, are attempting to undermine my authority over these sheep!"
"Listen to you ShenLong, you're ranting like a madman!"
"Mayhap I am, dear boy. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm right." ShenLong began to draw his own sword.
"Only one way to find out," Kenji said, drawing his. A silent bell tolled, and the two men rushed each other. The sound of steel on steel filled the clear night air as the two blades came face to face. Shenlong attempted to kick Kenji away, but his superb reflexes allowed him to spin and dodge and counterattack, a move matched by ShenLong's parry. Both men raised their blades high, lifting them into the air and crashing them down on each other with a thunderous clash. Deadlocked again, they struggled for dominance in a test of raw strength.
Both men leapt away to plot their next move. Like a serpent and its tamer they circled, silver blades brandished in the bright full moon. A snarl escaped ShenLong's lips as Kenji remind quiet and composed. "Our destiny, our fates intertwined have led us here," ShenLong whispered.
Kenji said nothing. His response was a low to the ground slash that ShenLong jumped over. With killing intent he used his blade to come crashing down on Kenji's, yet the sword held firm.
"I'm impressed. Maybe you still have some of the old Bakuryu left in you. Come back to the ZLF, Kenji. Kill at my side again, just like old times."
"Never!" with a burst of anger Kenji broke free, his eyes burning a hole in his opponent.
"A little hypocritical, to be grieving over one woman when you have killed hundreds."
"She showed me, ShenLong. She taught me what life is worth. A lesson you could never understand."
"I guess not." ShenLong threw his sword into the air. In a split second, he drew a gun from his coat and fired. Kenji deftly maneuvered his way out of the line of fire, and grabbed the falling sword. He charged, using skills honed over a lifetime to deflect the wild shots of a madman. One shot hit his hand, causing him to drop the Murasame.
"Its not to late, Kenji. Come back to the fold, make the ZLF stronger, and be rewarded with the world."
"No. I have felt what no amount of wealth, no amount of power can ever hold. I have felt the love of another person."
"Love is an illusion Kenji. A weakness best left for the weak."
"Now who's being hypocritical, ShenLong?"
"What do you mean?"
"I read up on you. You never mentioned you had a wife. Suzanne, is it? Tall, green eyes, blonde hair, you met her at a bar in New York, am I right? And what about your son, Shin, correct?"
A cold sweat dropped down ShenLong's brow. "You didn't..."
ShenLong fired a shot, but Kenji was too fast. His blade flew through the air, and into ShenLong's hand. The gun flew through the air, and into Kenji's hand. He smiled, and fired too shot. ShenLong fell to the ground in a puddle of blood.
"You're knees are useless, ShenLong. You'll never walk again."
"Kill me, you son of a bitch. That's what you came here to do, isn't it?"
"No, ShenLong. Revenge is not my motive. Revenge is an irrational trait present in irrational men. We both know I am neither. This is about punishment, ShenLong."
"P-punishment?"
"Your wife and son are alive, right where you left them. I must say, France is such a lovely country. Secure, too. What, three-dozen armed guards? A private villa in the Alps? Safe, isn't it?"
ShenLong groaned as he reached for Kenji's collar. "Of course, you know better. I could easily dispatch those guards, just as easily as I found out you had a family, and just as easily as I found out where they are. You can't hide them. All it would take is for me to wake up one morning and say 'I want them dead,' and BANG, its done by nightfall."
"You wouldn't..."
"I wouldn't, would I? I'm Kenji Ohgami, true, but I am also Bakuryu, then cold blooded assassin you once employed, the cold blooded assassin you royally pissed off."
Kenji rose to his feet, as ZLF agents filtered out onto the roof. Kenji procured a single, black rose from his coat and ran it's throns along ShenLong's cheek. "That's my punishment to you, ShenLong. You'll live every day for the rest of your life knowing that I'm out there. You'll live knowing that I'm waiting in the shadows. I will be the bogyman who haunts your nightmares, the shadows that keep you awake, and the monsters they become. And you know that NO ONE, not you, not your family, and not the ZLF are safe from me. And finally, when you've lost it all, as I have, then and ONLY then will I allow you to die, ShenLong."
Kenji's cold, unfeeling stare tore a hole in ShenLong. For the first time in his life the usually suave and sadistic man whimpered, and started crying. Kenji walked to the rooftop, tossed ShenLong a single, black rose, and shot dead of the ZLF agents. With almost a bemused smirk, and before the eyes of a half-dozen ZLF agents, jumped. They ran to the edge, leaving one behind to tend to the falled only to see the black-clad ninja walk away, with a small gray box in his hand. He pressed it, and a nearby sports car, SenLong's car, exploded into a ball of flames. The fires reached high into the sky, to the nostrils of their crippled and sobbing leader. Some say a bell tolled that night, clear as the midnight breeze.
And those that heard it would say, that it was a death toll.
................................................ The End.
(For Now)
Kenji took the blade in his hands. It was the Muramasa, so given to him years before in Paris. A gift from master to servant; a gift to be repaid in blood.
ShenLong smirked. "Do you know the legend of Masamune and Muramasa? Long ago, two swordsmiths met near a small stream. They were Masamune and his student Muramasa. Each of them brought one of their finest blades. To show his teacher the quality of his craft, Muramasa stuck his blade into the stream. As leaves floated past, they were neatly cut in two, he held his blade up, proud of his work. Masamune stuck his blade into the stream. As Muramasa watched, the leaves that floated past avoided the blade altogether. He then understood and was ashamed of his amateur skills."
Kenji listened to his idle ramblings; wondering as to what game ShenLong was playing.
"Masamune was a fool. What good is a weapon that can't be used? And that, Kenji Ohgami, is what you are now. A weapon, unweilded and useless. Bakuryu, now there was the keenest of weapons..."
"I'm not a weapon, ShenLong. I am a man!"
"Are you? Are any of us? I was created in a tank, a clone of a man named Long. Am I a man? A beast, as you claim? Neither, Kenji. To the humans, and to my followers, I am God. And you, blasphemous heathen, are attempting to undermine my authority over these sheep!"
"Listen to you ShenLong, you're ranting like a madman!"
"Mayhap I am, dear boy. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm right." ShenLong began to draw his own sword.
"Only one way to find out," Kenji said, drawing his. A silent bell tolled, and the two men rushed each other. The sound of steel on steel filled the clear night air as the two blades came face to face. Shenlong attempted to kick Kenji away, but his superb reflexes allowed him to spin and dodge and counterattack, a move matched by ShenLong's parry. Both men raised their blades high, lifting them into the air and crashing them down on each other with a thunderous clash. Deadlocked again, they struggled for dominance in a test of raw strength.
Both men leapt away to plot their next move. Like a serpent and its tamer they circled, silver blades brandished in the bright full moon. A snarl escaped ShenLong's lips as Kenji remind quiet and composed. "Our destiny, our fates intertwined have led us here," ShenLong whispered.
Kenji said nothing. His response was a low to the ground slash that ShenLong jumped over. With killing intent he used his blade to come crashing down on Kenji's, yet the sword held firm.
"I'm impressed. Maybe you still have some of the old Bakuryu left in you. Come back to the ZLF, Kenji. Kill at my side again, just like old times."
"Never!" with a burst of anger Kenji broke free, his eyes burning a hole in his opponent.
"A little hypocritical, to be grieving over one woman when you have killed hundreds."
"She showed me, ShenLong. She taught me what life is worth. A lesson you could never understand."
"I guess not." ShenLong threw his sword into the air. In a split second, he drew a gun from his coat and fired. Kenji deftly maneuvered his way out of the line of fire, and grabbed the falling sword. He charged, using skills honed over a lifetime to deflect the wild shots of a madman. One shot hit his hand, causing him to drop the Murasame.
"Its not to late, Kenji. Come back to the fold, make the ZLF stronger, and be rewarded with the world."
"No. I have felt what no amount of wealth, no amount of power can ever hold. I have felt the love of another person."
"Love is an illusion Kenji. A weakness best left for the weak."
"Now who's being hypocritical, ShenLong?"
"What do you mean?"
"I read up on you. You never mentioned you had a wife. Suzanne, is it? Tall, green eyes, blonde hair, you met her at a bar in New York, am I right? And what about your son, Shin, correct?"
A cold sweat dropped down ShenLong's brow. "You didn't..."
ShenLong fired a shot, but Kenji was too fast. His blade flew through the air, and into ShenLong's hand. The gun flew through the air, and into Kenji's hand. He smiled, and fired too shot. ShenLong fell to the ground in a puddle of blood.
"You're knees are useless, ShenLong. You'll never walk again."
"Kill me, you son of a bitch. That's what you came here to do, isn't it?"
"No, ShenLong. Revenge is not my motive. Revenge is an irrational trait present in irrational men. We both know I am neither. This is about punishment, ShenLong."
"P-punishment?"
"Your wife and son are alive, right where you left them. I must say, France is such a lovely country. Secure, too. What, three-dozen armed guards? A private villa in the Alps? Safe, isn't it?"
ShenLong groaned as he reached for Kenji's collar. "Of course, you know better. I could easily dispatch those guards, just as easily as I found out you had a family, and just as easily as I found out where they are. You can't hide them. All it would take is for me to wake up one morning and say 'I want them dead,' and BANG, its done by nightfall."
"You wouldn't..."
"I wouldn't, would I? I'm Kenji Ohgami, true, but I am also Bakuryu, then cold blooded assassin you once employed, the cold blooded assassin you royally pissed off."
Kenji rose to his feet, as ZLF agents filtered out onto the roof. Kenji procured a single, black rose from his coat and ran it's throns along ShenLong's cheek. "That's my punishment to you, ShenLong. You'll live every day for the rest of your life knowing that I'm out there. You'll live knowing that I'm waiting in the shadows. I will be the bogyman who haunts your nightmares, the shadows that keep you awake, and the monsters they become. And you know that NO ONE, not you, not your family, and not the ZLF are safe from me. And finally, when you've lost it all, as I have, then and ONLY then will I allow you to die, ShenLong."
Kenji's cold, unfeeling stare tore a hole in ShenLong. For the first time in his life the usually suave and sadistic man whimpered, and started crying. Kenji walked to the rooftop, tossed ShenLong a single, black rose, and shot dead of the ZLF agents. With almost a bemused smirk, and before the eyes of a half-dozen ZLF agents, jumped. They ran to the edge, leaving one behind to tend to the falled only to see the black-clad ninja walk away, with a small gray box in his hand. He pressed it, and a nearby sports car, SenLong's car, exploded into a ball of flames. The fires reached high into the sky, to the nostrils of their crippled and sobbing leader. Some say a bell tolled that night, clear as the midnight breeze.
And those that heard it would say, that it was a death toll.
................................................ The End.
(For Now)