Back to Kuroh!
Chapter 8
After Yukari has destroyed the recorder, Kuroh has spent hours upon hours, remembering all the haiku he could think of. Even though he was sure he has missed some, the longer he kept up the internal litany of poems, the more he became aware they have been engraved into his mind and heart alike. Slowly, the urgency of remembering as many haiku as possible faded and Kuroh found himself reminiscing the circumstances in which Master Ichigen had spoken his words of wisdom and not only the poems themselves. Slowly, he remembered who he wanted to be.
Surprisingly, Yukari let him be.
And with each memory, the precious time he has spent with Shiro and Neko felt less and less significant until it was more like a dream than anything else. It has been a beautiful dream, but it was finished. It was not who Kuroh was, not who he wanted to be. Kuroh Yatogami was the vassal of the 7th Colourless King. Nothing more and nothing less.
When Yukari eventually called him for "training", some undetermined time later, Kuroh didn't hesitate. In his mind there was no doubt as to what he should do to the one who has betrayed Master Ichigen and destroyed Kuroh's only memento of him. Yukari Mishakuji should die for his crimes. In his heart, Kuroh knew that he would be able to kill this time.
He has never killed before. When Master Ichigen has asked him to potentially kill the new Colourless King, Kuroh has accepted without hesitation, but has been worried he couldn't do it. He has wavered when he has had the first chance. In the end it has been the correct thing to do and the Red King has taken the responsibility for ridding the world of the Colourless King. Now, Kuroh would not falter.
He attacked even before Yukari has finished issuing his challenge: as soon as his enemy stepped deep enough inside the perimeter. Fair play was for those who deserved it. Brown eyes widened slightly at the swift response his mocking call got, but that was all he has had time to do before Kuroh attacked.
A hand stopped his first blow, but that was all calculated for. A kick followed, also stopped by Yukari, who was starting to smile now. Kuroh made sure to wipe that smile off his face with a solid punch in the solar plexus. The force of it pushed Yukari far enough for Kuroh to deliver a roundhouse kick that sent Yukari flying out of the perimeter.
Kuroh didn't follow. Quite the contrary: he retreated back into the centre of the perimeter and waited. It was hardly ideal that he couldn't follow through when his opponent was down, but he was past making mistakes in the heat of the moment.
'Ho-oh, you're getting good at it, kid,' the priest noted from the "room", where the others were watching the "training". They were always watching, amused and cheering as though it was sport. They would often mock whoever seemed to be losing, usually Kuroh, and their comments only made it worse when the collar kicked in inevitably. This time, however, there was honest admiration in the priest's voice.
'Who do you think you're praising, damn it? He's the enemy,' Sukuna Gojo protested angrily.
'But think what a formidable ally the Black Dog would make,' the priest countered without a moment of hesitation. Kuroh flinched slightly at the words: was that really their plan? He has wondered many times why they have kept him alive, fed and as well as he could be in the circumstances, even going as far as tending to his injuries on some occasions. Surely amusing Yukari wasn't worth it, was it?
It didn't matter, he told himself, focusing solely on his opponent. Yukari picked himself up from the ground, brown eyes blazing with delight. Was this what he had wanted all along?
'Are we getting serious, my cute, little Kuroh?' he asked, straightening his back. 'Good,' he commented. Slowly, deliberately he stretched both arms. Kuroh took a defensive stance, knees slightly bent, one hand up.
They pounced at the same moment and met roughly in the middle. Kuroh caught Yukari's kick with his hand and Yukari deflected Kuroh's punch with his knee. Barely did they touch the ground when a blow whistled towards Kuroh's face. He ducked under it and twisted his body to push his elbow into Yukari's stomach.
Yukari only partly dodged, but it was enough for Kuroh's balance to be disturbed minimally.
The best choice was to follow through with the downwards move and roll away, trying to kick the legs from under Yukari. Except Yukari was ready for exactly that. He dodged fully and planted his heel in Kuroh's spine. The force of the kick smashed Kuroh into the ground hard and he only partly managed to cushion the fall with his hands, scratching his palms on the hard concrete before his face hit it.
He barely managed to roll away from a forceful stomp that would have surely snapped his spine in two. He rolled some more and got up as fluidly as he could, taking a quick glance around to check whether he was anywhere near the edge of the perimeter.
Yukari was already charging.
In a split of a second he had to decide, he chose to crouch and aim a kick at Yukari's knee. His opponent tried to evade it, but the momentum of his motion was too large and even slightly off to the side, the kick had enough power.
A sickening crunch echoed through the cavern as Yukari stumbled and fell. Vaguely, Kuroh heard shouts of protest, but paid them no heed. Even before Yukari was fully on the ground, he was moving, aiming his heel to smash into Yukari's stomach.
Strong hands caught his ankle. Kuroh snapped his head to look at Yukari, who smiled coldly, cruelly and pulled. The next few heartbeats went by too fast to fully register. Punches were exchanged in an eye blink and the "training" turned into a catfight for a moment. Then somehow, Yukari managed to get the upper hand.
Kuroh found himself flat on the floor, with the other literally sitting on top of him, hands holding both of Kuroh's wrists pressed against his chest. They were both breathing heavily from exertion. Yukari's hair and clothes were dishevelled, a dark bruise forming around his right eye, complemented by a few, parallel scratches on the left cheek. Kuroh had to stifle the immense satisfaction he felt at reducing the normally impeccable senior student to such a state: not only was it unbecoming of the 7th Colourless King's vassal, but also he could feel his own bruises and injuries, on his face and elsewhere.
Besides, Yukari was smirking as though he has hoped for exactly what has happened.
Before either of them had the time to say anything, Sukuna jumped in and fished the remote controlling Kuroh's collar out of Yukari's jacket. Despite everything, Kuroh tensed, steeling himself for what would surely happen, not quite able to stifle the disappointment that even in those circumstances, things wouldn't change.
'Don't,' Yukari barked, eyes narrowing as he glared at Sukuna. His voice was aggressive to the point of making both Kuroh and Sukuna recoil. The latter, however, recovered quickly and shouted at Yukari for taking the wrong side. And, in a sudden wave of understanding, Kuroh realized that the kid was jealous. Jealous that his "brother" was interested in somebody else, in another "brother" with whom Yukari had things in common that excluded Sukuna. And that could only end badly for Kuroh.
'Time out, boys.'
The Green King's voice was faint, just above a whisper, but its tone was that of an absolute order. Yukari twitched and Sukuna took a step back.
'Yukari, Sukuna, if you are bored I have some missions for you,' the Green King continued and it wasn't merely a suggestion. For the first time he sounded like he wanted to exert the power he had over his clansmen. All the same, Kuroh couldn't help thinking that he sounded like a father grounding his sons for misbehaving, just the tiniest bit reminding him of when Master Ichigen has faced Yukari, all those years earlier.
He swallowed thickly.
'One move and I'll use it,' Sukuna threatened, waving the remote. Perhaps he misread Kuroh's reaction as preparation for attack. It had crossed Kuroh's mind that to comply with the Green King's will Yukari had to let him go, but it would be a pointless effort with Sukuna's finger on the trigger. Especially since he knew the other would be more than happy to press it.
Therefore, he remained completely still when Yukari let go of his wrists and got up, the gleeful smirk sparkling up new hate in Kuroh's heart. One day, he swore to himself, he would get revenge.
Yukari took the remote from Sukuna, ignoring the other's protests, and they both made their way back to the "room". Kuroh ignored all of the Green clan, picking himself up and tentatively feeling for any serious damage. Normally, he would barely bother after a scuffle like this. However, with the collar suppressing his supernatural powers, he supposed it suppressed also the healing from being tuned to the influence of two King's sanctums.
All the same, he couldn't quite turn his ears off and the Green clan seemed to have no qualms about discussing everything in front of him or any secrets.
'Sukuna, I need you to arrange for the Silver King to receive my invitation,' Nagare Hisui said, making Kuroh shiver: he didn't want Shiro to see him like that. They weren't going to bring Shiro here, were they? 'I now have the place and the time has come to continue our work. I need to know whether the Silver King will help.'
'Why would the Silver King help you anyway?' the kid grumbled. The Green King smiled fondly.
'I told you already: we want to fulfil Adolf K Weismann's dream. It wouldn't be all that surprising if he has left that pathetic "coffee table alliance" he has formed, to help us.'
Weismann's dream? What could that be? It felt particularly important, but the others seemed to know, so Hisui never had to explain it.
'Whatever,' Sukuna grumbled, grabbing his stick before he walked out of the "room". Kuroh glanced towards him to see which direction he was going, satisfied to note it was the same as always.
'And remember to buy some food for dinner,' the priest called out.
'I'm not your house-help,' came a shrill answer, earning Sukuna laughter from both the priest and Yukari. Kuroh wished they weren't acting so much like a family. It was almost impossible to dislike them when they were.
'He's so cute, isn't he?' Yukari asked when Sukuna was far enough to not hear it. 'What would you like me to do then? Or was this "I have missions for you" only a ploy to get Sukuna out to blow off some steam?'
'You're the one who needs to blow off some steam,' the priest muttered, looking through what seemed to be a first aid kit. Yukari ignored him in favour of fixing his hair in front of his mirror. His injuries from the fight seemed all but healed.
'It wasn't,' the Green King assured Yukari. 'I've been thinking that it's been a while since we showed the Red King how powerful the Jungle is. They thing they have managed to weed us out from Shizume City. I believe the time has come to shake them out of their complacency. Wouldn't you agree?'
Yukari laughed.
'I believe we should. But wouldn't you rather have me show the new Colourless King how the game goes?' he asked. Kuroh definitely wasn't listening more closely at the mention of the 9th Colourless King, so he definitely didn't notice the minimal deflation of the Green King and didn't hear the soft sigh.
'It appears she has decided to remain in Ikebukuro, where our Jungle never really managed to take root. Not yet at least,' Nagare Hisui informed Yukari and the priest. And Kuroh, who was definitely not holding his breath. 'Since it wasn't the ground of any other King, we haven't tried too hard either, focusing on Shizume, Metropolis and the surrounding areas.'
Both Yukari and Kuroh frowned, although probably for different reasons. They also both glanced at each other and, meeting the other's eyes, looked away hastily. As always, when he was caught openly listening to the Green clan's discussions, Kuroh was sure that they would shut up and change the topic. As always, no such thing happened.
'It appears that Ikebukuro has long since been the home of a "colourless gang", which I find very fitting for the home base of the Colourless King,' the Green King explained without anybody needing to ask him. When he looked around to see whether the others were listening, he even looked in Kuroh's direction, nothing on his face betraying contempt or mocking. 'They call themselves the Dollars. I've been to their chatroom multiple times since the Colourless King has returned to Ikebukuro after the meeting in Ashinaka High School.'
'Why would those Dollars pose a problem? HOMRA doesn't: we have plenty of Jungle members all over Shizume,' Yukari pointed out.
'It appears that the Dollars are much more inclusive than HOMRA or any other gang we have heard of or known. Indeed, probably all the inhabitants of Ikebukuro who feel like being involved in any sort of online based group are already a part of Dollars. It will take time for some to shift to Jungle, although it is inevitable.'
'One more reason to give the Colourless King a lesson,' Yukari pointed out obstinately. The Green King seemed to contemplate his words and that appeared to be enough for Yukari, who was already getting up, brushing away imaginary dust from his coat. 'I'll-'
'Wait, wait,' the Green King stopped him. 'I'll create a mission and send in some expendable members. After all, we don't yet know what abilities the Colourless King possesses. You go to Shizume and play with the Red clan. And don't come back unless you put at least two of them in the hospital. It shouldn't be too difficult for you, should it, Yukari?'
Yukari huffed and left without a word. Kuroh watched him go until he could no longer see him in the darkness of the seemingly infinite cavern. Not for the first time he wondered where such a place could have been carved. For tactical purposes, it should be in Tokyo. Perhaps close to Shizume and Metropolis, rather than on the side of Ikebukuro: it would explain why Jungle was the most spread in those areas.
His hand moved subconsciously to the collar on his neck. As his fingers touched the smooth metal, he wondered if there was any way for him to get rid of that damned contraption. He has already felt through the whole collar. There was one button that must have turned something on, a touchpad perhaps: there were patches of the collar that felt distinctly non-metallic. But without seeing the touchpad he could not operate it and blindly trying resulted in a short bout of collar activation every time he tried.
'You know, if you joined us you'd be free to chase after Yukari,' said the priest and Kuroh literally jumped in surprise. He hasn't heard the man approach, which was somewhat terrifying, because the priest was now kneeling just next to him, first aid supplies in his hands.
'I would kill him,' he stated simply, glad that his voice didn't betray how his heart raced after the shock he received. The priest smiled, dabbing a ball of cotton in disinfectant.
'He wouldn't let you kill him so easily, kid,' he said in a fond tone. Then he grabbed Kuroh's chin, far gentler than Kuroh would have expected, and proceeded to clean and disinfect the scratches from rough landing on the floor. 'Besides, we all know that you wouldn't kill him. You think so now, but as your anger cools, you will realize that it won't help anything.'
Kuroh wanted to look away, but the priest held his chin tighter, muttering about not making his job more difficult.
'Why are you doing this?' Kuroh asked, glad that he had a good excuse to change the topic now.
'The floor is dirty. You need to clean those scratches or they'll look absolutely nasty. So nasty in fact that Yukari might want to cut them off your face just to remove them. You know how he is about pretty things,' the priest replied in a casual tone that clashed horribly with the meaning of his words. Unfortunately, right afterwards, before Kuroh had the time to protest his motives, the priest continued with the previous topic:
'You could have a family again, you know? I can see that you want it. Sukuna would complain of course, in the beginning. But once he realized he's still the youngest, with everybody doting on him, things would smoothen out. I know you might think we would not accept you in the Green clan because of that little feud between you and Yukari, but we know that brothers always fight and compete.'
'Yukari and me are not brothers,' Kuroh informed him coldly.
'You could have fooled me,' the priest muttered, putting away the now dirty cotton ball. Kuroh wanted to angrily ask what the man meant by this, but before he could the priest spoke again and all fight left Kuroh. 'Show me your hands. You scratched them on the floor as well, didn't you?'
Wordlessly, Kuroh presented his hands, palms up.