Hunted or Busted: A Side Story
Dusted 29: The Forked Path: Not Always Progress
Man, been a while since we came back here. There is still so much I want to uncover and tell with this story. Plus what happens in this one directly leads into another side story that I'm required to tell and finish before getting to a certain point in the main story.
Must! Work! Harder! More! MOOORREEE YOU FOOOOLLLLSSS!
Anyway, here we go.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Hiruzen felt ashamed to admit that he didn't quite respect Tobirama's position enough until now. He respected the man more than anything else; being a man of his community, a veteran, a leader, and someone who cared about the Faunus. Although he did respect the man he didn't think his method of reaching others and trying to make a change was very effective. He saw the former soldier's position as leader of a non-aggressive protest group as more of ease into retirement than any real chance to change.
But now he knew better. He knew just how devastating and terrible this job was.
"And these are the forms for permits to gather in the street. Also, you need to approve these invoices for the hardware purchases and sign off the release forms we were given. After that, you have a meeting to attend to-"
"STOP!"
Danzō paused and watched Hiruzen slam his head into the table with a wail. The monkey Faunus lifted his head and bashed it a few more times for good measure just to make sure he wasn't in some terrible waking nightmare. As he struck his head down harder and harder and an imprint of his forehead started digging into the table he realized he wasn't so lucky.
"Are you done?" Hiruzen stopped his mad head-slamming and looked up in a daze, "We have work to do and you have papers to sign so we can't waste time watching you lose your composure."
The woman berating him was Biwako, a member of the White Fang for several years, and the woman in charge of seeing that his transition into a regional leader - however temporary it might be - goes smoothly. She stared at him unamused as he rested his cheek on the table, "It can't just be paperwork and signing stuff, right? There has to be more to it than that. There's no way this is all Mr. Toshirama has to deal with every day."
"You're right. It isn't." Hiruzen perked up at Biwako's assurance, "He also has to deal with the constant crap you two get into trouble for that demeans and puts everything he's doing in jeopardy." The Faunus woman showed a smug smile, "So if anything this will at least ease the burden you cause him back in the main office."
"She has a point." Danzō nodded from the side after he finished stamping a seal of approval, "I'm sure distracting you with work is the best way to make sure you don't get into trouble. Or give anyone the stink eye. Or cause trouble with people that annoy you. Or start some terrible incident with a diplomat-"
"Okay! I get it! I suck! Anything else you want to add on?" Biwako and Danzō shared a look before nodding in unison. The simian Faunus growled, "That was rhetorical."
"It shouldn't be."
"We have a lot more to complain about."
Hiruzen swore he could feel the vein over his brow filling to the brim and ready to explode. He swore he heard the pencil in his hand creak in his grasp-
"Mr. Hiruzen?"
He nearly slammed his fist and snapped at the person calling his name. However when he looked up and realized it was a young recruit trying to get his attention he eased very quickly, "What is it?"
"We need you to help approve the build happening at the park for our gathering. And we need you to go there and speak with the managers to make sure everything is settled."
"Do I get to leave this desk?"
The young recruit blinked in confusion, "Um…yes?"
"Perfect I'm going now." He stood up and walked out of the chair as Biwako looked ready to berate him, "Hey, just doing my job!" She grumbled in annoyance before she and Danzō followed him to his location.
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"Looks nice." Danzō said optimistically as he and Hiruzen stared at the stage being built in the park.
"Looks cheap." Hiruzen bemoaned as he saw the small stage for their protest being quickly cobbled together by some volunteers.
"Looks affordable." Biwako stated as she turned to the two men and frowned at them, "We don't have a lot of funds to be spending and burning money unreasonably. So if there's anything we can make by hand we have to do it."
The monkey Faunus palmed his face and groaned into his hands, "So not only is this whole damn thing a punishment for me…I'm expected to make it work on the cheap?" He dragged his hands down and leaned his head back with a moan, "Note to self: never get caught doing anything crazy in front of Mr. Tobirama."
"Or you could - I don't know - behave and not do anything crazy!" Biwako chided him as he sighed and turned his head away to ignore her. She seethed in anger before taking a deep breath, "Don't kill him. Don't kill him. Mr. Tobirama asked me to help him, not do us all a favor-"
"Hey you two," Danzō tapped their shoulders and they looked back as the scar-chinned weasel threw a thumb back, "Two humans are approaching."
They looked over and saw a pair of young humans about their age walking over to greet them. Biwako nudged Hiruzen forward and the goatee-wearing man turned down to glare at her before rolling his eyes. He stepped forward to greet the duo, "Howdy. Can we help you?"
"You're Hiruzen Sarutobi, right?" The young man asked as he stepped forward and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you. My name is Homura. This is my partner Mitoko. We're the folks that leased this space out for you today in the park."
"Oh?" Hiruzen looked surprised by that info before looking back at Biwako. As she nodded and confirmed it was the truth, the monkey Faunus shrugged and took Homura's hand, "Well, thank you for giving us a space to talk today. We appreciate your willingness to let us speak here in your park."
Homura shrugged with a guilty frown, "Well I wish I could say I was doing this solely out of the goodness of my heart, but I'd be a stone-cold liar if I did." They stopped shaking hands and the human philanthropist looked around the park, "The deposit you guys made can go into revitalizing this place after the recent Grimm scare."
Hiruzen turned and looked around the park to notice some distinct carves of claws and talons in the geography. He grimaced as he realized what happened, "What caused them to come here?"
"There was an attack a few days back that has the people rattled." The woman at his side, Mitoko, answered dutifully, "A young couple was found dead in the street, and things have been very tense since then because no culprits or clues have been identified."
"A murder?" Hiruzen looked back at his associates for any clarification. Danzō looked just as in the dark of any news relating to a double homicide as Biwako nodded solemnly, "Sorry but me and my friend only just recently arrived in this city. We don't know much about any recent activity or in this case - some untimely deaths. Is there a reason it got so much attention?"
"You could say that. The couple in question had been getting a lot of heat lately because of the girl and her boyfriend…a young Faunus boy." Homura was clearly uncomfortable bringing up the topic. And he could see that the addition of that information put the crime in a whole new context for the White Fang representatives he was speaking to, "They met and it got a lot of people talking." Homura rubbed his neck uneasily, "It got a lot of people mad."
"Shocker." Hiruzen deadpanned, unsurprised to hear something that should have been so minor was causing such an uproar. He frowned but continued asking, "And so one night they just go for a walk and - what exactly? They tripped?"
"No." Homura shook his head, "It was deliberate. There were clear signs it was an attack. They were both struck in the back of the head while they were walking. And both families were in an uproar, blaming and demanding the other get arrested for 'coercing' their child into…" Homura paused, a stiff look on his face as he tried to paraphrase all the things he had heard said and yelled at over the last few days, "It's been getting a lot of people riled up."
Hiruzen grunted, "And they haven't pinned her murder on anyone yet?" The monkey Faunus scoffed and turned away to focus on the rising stage, "Now that's the most surprising thing to hear."
Homura wasn't sure there was anything he could say that wasn't already on their minds. So Mitoko stepped forward and tried to focus their attention elsewhere, "Do you need help setting up the stage?"
Biwako noticed that Hiruzen had gone silent and decided to carry on in his stead, "Yes please, we could use the help to-"
"Homura!"
The young group of humans and Faunus looked over as an older man stormed over in an angry rush. From the way his face was red and a vein was pulsing between his forehead and hairline it was clear he was livid. He stopped by Homura's side and seethed at the younger man, "What in the world do you think you're doing?"
"Father, I'm just speaking with the folks that rented out this space in the park today. They-"
"They're Faunus!" The man snarled out, spittle flying off his lips as he scowled at his son, "What made you think it was alright for them to be walking around here, let alone giving them space to speak!"
The White Fang members listened intently with narrowed eyes as Homura's father spoke about them with such venom in his voice. Homura looked back at them in concern before turning back to his incensed father, "Father, it's been years now. We can't keep enforcing such old rules-"
"Traditional rules!"
"-We can't keep using them!" Homura's voice raised in argument, "I know you might not like it but their payment for this space can be used to fix the park and its damages!"
"I'd rather the park be burned and scorched than used by filthy animals."
Homura groaned, "Well that's too bad father because I was put in charge of maintaining the park and its operations-"
"Not anymore you're not. Not if you're going to disgrace us by shacking up with these people. I still hold ownership of this land and I will not see it desecrated like this." Homura and Mitoko tried to stand in his way but he pushed them aside to snarl at the Faunus, "Get your filthy asses off our land and out of our sight now.
Biwako frowned but kept her cool, "Sir, we have our permits to be here, and we paid-"
"Then take the money back! Here!" He pulled out his wallet and tossed some Lien that bounced off of Biwako's chest. Danzō looked ready to step in but she raised her hand to stop him, "You!" The vicious man turned and yelled at Mitoko, "Give them back their Lien and send them on their way! I will not have us doing business with these-"
"You're going to pop a vessel if you keep screeching like that."
It felt like a match had been tossed on a powder keg as their attention turned to Hiruzen who just lazily dug his foot into the dirt. Homura's father seethed, "What did you say?"
"I said you're going to deafen everyone with your damn screeching if you keep yelling like that." Hiruzen turned to him, stone-faced as he saw the racist fool yelling at them look so red there couldn't have possibly been blood anywhere else in his body. He chuckled, "We all can hear you. You don't have to scream. Your city is getting twisted and your property is being ruined but you'd rather see it all burn than work with Faunus. We get it."
"Exactly." The old man nodded, "I'd rather it all burn than spend a day cozying up to you filthy animals trying to play human."
"Well, that's fine." Hiruzen shrugged, "We wanted to use this place for our protest but if it belongs to you…" He spat a loogie down on the ground before facing the ignorant man once more, "It's not worth it."
"I'd thought you damn Faunus would show some fucking gratitude for everything humans have done for you."
"Like hunt us down, mistreat us, and try to force us all into one island?" Hiruzen looked up in thought before clicking his teeth, "Nah, not feeling much gratitude." He turned and started walking away, motioning for Biwako and Danzō to follow him out, "I'd rather give it to the Faunus that valiantly stood up and made a difference thank you very much."
"I never understood how we could degrade ourselves into allowing you things to walk among us." Hiruzen stopped walking as he heard the ignorant man derisively speak, "I fought for my Kingdom bravely during the war and with pride, even though I didn't get to choose which parts of it I got to fight for. And fighting alongside you filthy creatures just made my skin crawl. How could we expect to trust some damn animals playing at being human? How could we expect to trust our leaders when they decided to let you walk among us? I never questioned my Kingdom and my leaders…until they did that."
Hiruzen growled through his teeth and prepared to turn-
"Don't." Biwako whispered, grabbing his arm before he could go back and pulling him along, "Just don't."
The White Fang walked away and refused to look back at the monster of a man.
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He walked out of his house and decided to take a smoke break to ease his worries about the day.
How could Homura have done something so undignified and insulting? Had he not taught the boy that humans should never degrade themselves by associating with those evolved beasts? Seeing his son interact with them - sell away his principles and honor for some Lien - disappointed him to no measure.
His family had always been firm in their stance against Faunus. Since his ancestor tried to graciously join their lands together only to be met with unwanted violence and hatred in return. Humans needed to be strong while the Faunus lived elsewhere, away from their sight and reach.
It was why he felt so sickened watching that girl demean herself by indulging with that beastly boy. The aim had been to split them up and it was never supposed to escalate as it did, but maybe now they would all know better.
Faunus needed to stay at their station and be grateful for it.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth-
A shadow swung down into the back of his head and caused a metal thunk to echo through the air. He toppled over lifelessly as his cigarette tumbled out of his mouth as the taste of iron filled it instead.
The shadow struck, again and again, slamming the metal pipe into the back of his head mercilessly until there was nothing left. As the ignorant man lay facedown in a pool of blood, the shadow quickly ducked away and left the man dead just feet from his extravagant house.
He was found an hour later when Homura went outside after noticing his disappearance. Police cars and reporters showed up to investigate and report on the vicious murder. No clear answer was found following up on his murder. However, there was a clear opinion in a certain part of the community…
Couldn't have happened to a better guy.
((((((((Hunted))))))))
Done
You know, I usually feel bad or conflicted about killing a character I make up. This time, not so much.
This is a different kind of hatred than I'm used to writing. Not one based on character or actions. Just…innate feeling. It's weird and uncomfortable and awful but…sadly very real.
Hiruzen has been put in charge of a peaceful protest group despite his reluctance to help and his overall refusal to deal with bigots and hateful speech. There's still quite a lot of work to do between this point and the peaceful pacifist he's portrayed as further down the road.
Maybe if I buckle down and write a little more, we can reach that point someday.
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Thank You and Bye
