Disclaimer: I do not own HxH.
The Origin of Spiders
Chapter Four: Nobunaga
In all honesty, Nobunaga didn't like Ubogin in the first place. They had met each other at an underground fighting arena, not exactly a place where you expect to make friends.
Nobunaga had beaten seven boys in a row that night. The emotions of the crowds were high and their cheering was deafening in the underground arena. Then a boy with spiky grey hair emerged from the crowd and entered the ring.
Another challenger. Nobunaga sighed inwardly. He had hoped he could finish the night already and went back to sleep. But it wasn't like he had any choice. He was hired by the mafia boss. And he was to fight until the boss said he could stop.
With a signal from the referee, their fight started.
Nobunaga obtained a defensive stance and observed his opponent. He didn't attack immediately. Neither was his opponent. And that had surprised him slightly. He would think his opponent was the offensive type of fighter who would prefer to charge first.
After a few minutes of standing still, the crowd grew impatient.
"Hey, what ya two scumbags doin? Start fighting already!"
"Lady first." The boy sneered and Nobunaga felt like wiping that grin from that face permanently.
Nobunaga lunged forward, his fist connected the boy's jaw, hard, aiming to dislocate the jaw. The strange boy didn't bulged an inch – he had let Nobunaga hit him willingly. The wolfy grin was still plastered on his face all the while. Nobunaga scowled and jumped back to keep a distance from him.
"Come again."
Nobunaga regained his composure and charged again, this time more cautious. His feet swept across the floor; the boy dodged with ease. Nobunaga continued his attack with rounds of kicks and punches continuously, not giving time for his rival to counter it. Yet the boy still remained standing miraculously.
Monster.
Nobunaga gritted his teeth.
"What's the matter? Need a break or something?" the boy taunted him.
Blinded by his wounded pride, Nobunaga growled in annoyance and charged ahead without thinking much – a big mistake. His fist was blocked. Worse, a solid punch at his abdomen made him toppled and rendered him near defenseless against the following hit.
By the time, the boy finally let go of him, Nobunaga could barely stand.
He had lost.
Afterwards, the boss came patting on his back.
"Well done, boy."
And Nobunaga felt like punching his fat, ugly face.
The next time their path crossed again, the table has been turned around. Nobunaga had accidentally found the boy at an alley, cornered by the underlings of the boss. They were armed with baseball bat and knives. The odds were against the boy this time - he was wounded and greatly outnumbered.
He hesitated for a second, but jumped in to help the boy anyway because it was against his samurai's code not to help a person in distress.
The boy seemed a little surprised at first but he had accepted his help graciously. As they fought back to back, they soon developed a rhythm and pace to fight together. When they finished off the last thug, they were bruised, exhausted but oddly satisfied.
"I don't normally say this but, urm, thanks."
Ubogin beamed at him.
Somehow he didn't seem as cocky as Nobunaga had remembered.
Nobunaga coughed and cleared his throat.
"No problem."
Just when he was prepared to walk away, that boy called out to him.
"Hey, I'm Ubogin. You got a name?"
"Nobunaga."
"You're pretty good with that sword."
Nobunaga paused and he thought maybe, just maybe this Ubogin guy wasn't that bad after all.
One month later, when he joined the group who called themselves as Genei Ryodan, he nearly choked when he recognised one of the members.
Ubogin laughed.
This time, Nobunaga smiled back.
A/N: I'm not very confident about the fight scene but overall quite satisfied with this chapter. Just hope to explore a bit on how Nobunaga and Ubogin began their friendship.