It was the 2nd night.

The wooden floor was cold and unyielding, with the few slabs laid eerily straight, row by row. While thinking vehemently, Kuai Liang had unconsciously been staring at the floor beneath. In a sudden snap of reality, he became momentarily stunned at their orderliness. The silence was broken by the young gray-haired warrior next to him. "Well?" Kuai Liang's head swiveled slowly to his brother. "What is it, Tomas?"

"What are we going to do? What are we going to say?" After hours of kneeling, the numbness in his knees had become an aching pain. Instinctively, he raised a tense hand to rub at his knee. The movement sent a pang of pain through Kuai Liang's heart.

He stared at the bottom of the fusuma levelly before shaking his head and standing up. He went to the window, and after carefully moving the black cat asleep in the moonlight, stared into the night. Outside was a wasteland of snow and trees. Immediately ahead of them and on all sides was a large clearing, seemingly up to 5 miles, before a thick snowy forest swallowed it. Kuai Liang's spiraling mind came to a slow stop. "We - no you. I need you to get out of here."/p

pTruly, it was only discipline and guilt that kept them here, in this empty and cold washitsu. They could have easily escaped, but they had no idea where they were, and even if they escaped and reached the clearing, they would be spotted immediately. They would need help from the inside, and Kuai Liang knew just who could help them./p

The light and shadows behind the fusuma shifted considerably. Tomas's eyes widened considerably and he turned to look at his brother. "Kuai Liang." Quickly and almost comically, Kuai Liang sprinted and slid, landing with a loud thud in his original kneeling position on the floor. The cat woke up with a start, meowing loudly. It brushed against Tomas and purred before moving to the front of the room. The two brothers shared a small smile as Kuai Liang rubbed his knee. Now they were both sore.

The shoji slid open violently. Single file and in an orderly fashion, 7 individuals entered into the room. The eighth person, a young woman with long dark hair, entered last and assumed position in the center. She was confident and poised, but when her eyes landed on Kuai Liang, she seemed to grow worried and nervous.

"If you want our trust, you must tell us the truth. We will ask you again."

The two were silent.

"Why did you do it?"

They had turned into the 5th alley of the night as they made their escape from the group of Yakuza men. Tomas was breathing heavily, almost wanting to swear under his breath, and Kuai Liang was not far behind. Their companion, Hideo Shirai, was fuming. All three of them wheeled around them to look for their client. Mr. Imagawa was trembling and shivering in the shadows and had already assumed his position behind a trash can. Hideo breathed a sigh of relief and straightened himself up. An older man of 53 years, he was tall and large in build. Although the three were covered head to toe in black covert clothing, Hideo was still easy to spot. They had been running almost all night, trying to avoid violent confrontation as they escorted Mr. Imagawa to the downtown subway checkpoint.

Tomas watched Kuai Liang closely. All night it seemed he was tense and pondering something. This would seem normal, but he appeared to be this way even before Harumi had given them this job. Even now, there was a fierce look in Kuai Liang's eyes whenever he looked at Mr. Imagawa.

Hideo grabbed Mr. Imagawa from behind the can, knocking him out before lurching him over his shoulder. He glanced from Kuai Liang to Tomas expectantly. "We're straying too far off course. We need to get to Kanazawa station." Kuai Liang and Tomas nodded in agreement.

It was 11:39 PM by the time they reached the Kenrokuen Exit on the East of Kanazawa Station, and the ebb and flow of people was waning. They were getting harder to recognize among the people. Mr. Imagawa was conscious at this moment, moving slowly to the triad's nuisance. Just 20 minutes earlier, they had gotten into a violent scuffle with the same Ishikawa Yakuza sub-group at the West Gate Bus Terminal. At this moment, not only were those men waking up from their concussions and looking for them, but the local police and Railway Security were on their tails as well. But now they were on the other side of the station. They would soon reach the East Exit bus terminal, where they were to drop Mr. Imagawa off.

Unbeknownst to them, another Yakuza cell had been tipped off by a phone call in Miyako Hotel, and a group of 6 men quickly set out for the East Gate Terminal./p

Mr. Imagawa, who had been sniveling and cowardly the whole night, seemed to now have a glint in his eye. Kuai Liang was watching him from the corner of his eye, and then from afar saw a gang of middle-aged men in oversized suits calmly approaching. In a split second, he decided something. As they approached the downward escalator, Kuai Liang suddenly turned and attacked Hideo with a ferocious backkick. Hideo blocked the kick with a fierce effort, using his forearm as a shield in a taekwondo diamond block style. With a shout, Mr. Imagawa attempted to run to the side, but Tomas advanced on him quickly. By using a sleight of hand and maneuvering around him intensely, Tomas managed to not only cover his mouth with one hand but firmly hold Mr. Imagawa's two hands behind him with the other.

The two men faced each warily before attacking, advancing on each other in close kombat with a flurry of blows. Although Hideo was taller and of a bigger build than him, Kuai Liang was the fiercer fighter. Hideo's movements were slow and sluggish, taken over by exhaustion from the long night. Soon, he was knocked out cold on the ground. After gently checking his pulse, Kuai Liang ran over decisively toward Tomas and Mr. Imagawa. By now, the people around them were screaming and shouting in an uproar. The Miyako Hotel cell, upon seeing Hideo's fall, decided to rush in. Kuai Liang grabbed Mr. Imagawa fiercely by the neck. "Sorry." With one strike to the neck, he knocked Imagawa unconscious, and then with a roundhouse kick flung his falling body toward the Yakuza in front of them. Tomas let out a horrified shout "ELSON?!" They were momentarily stunned, and in that moment Kuai Liang grabbed Tomas and goaded him to run. "I can explain later. Now let's go!" The Miyako cell was indifferent. They had their orders. As Tomas and Kuai Liang ran back towards the West Exit, Tomas turned with one last glance to see Mr. Imagawa being stabbed to death.

"But how are you so sure?" Tomas was rightfully enraged. The escort mission that had taken them almost 5 hours was thrown away so callously, for reasons he still could not understand. Kuai Liang nodded his head wearily. "Sending him back would not make Takato keep his promise. They would not honor their oath in the first place."

The Shirai clan had been prosperous in the past, owning several properties - most notably bathhouses in the Beppu area - and running lending and investing businesses. But after decades of in-fighting and past corruption as well as misdealings with the official accounts, the Shirai clan were only a small fraction of their former repute. Although they still held on to lucrative bathhouses and businesses, now they were knee-deep in debt and outsourcing their men. Takato Imagawa was a strongman of the Imagawa clan in Oita prefecture. In the past, the Shirai debt to the Imagawa clan was merciful, but in more modern times it had been unduly conflated and exaggerated with interest, and the Shirai had found out too late. The eldest son of the Imagawa clan, Takato was cruel and calculating, while his younger brother Toshiki was a wasteful playboy who had crossed paths with and scammed the local Yakuza constantly at Casinos and entertainment hubs. To add insult to injury, he gave Intel to police about Yakuza activities. Just a month before, a group of nine Shirai men were killed in a scuffle to protect him, and while they lost their lives to Yakuza, he came out unscathed.

In a wave of fury, the clan's leader Harumi Shirai ordered him captured and had him interrogated intensively. Takato Imagawa had himself fled abroad a year prior, after going under investigation for abetting corruption in politics. Infuriated by what he called a "violent kidnapping," Imagawa gave Harumi, and the Shirai clan, an ultimatum. If they followed orders and returned his younger brother unscathed, he'd clear all their debts.

But Kuai Liang was skeptical. Although they took odd jobs amongst the Shirai to express their gratitude and Tomas and Kuai Liang had seen little of Toshiki within the Kanazawa-Shirai headquarters, his petty hatred and arrogance were known to all. The Shirai, probably airing past grievances, had been gruff to him, and Toshiki insolent to them. He had been overbearing and resentful in captivity, but in the days leading up to his escort, he had been eerily well-mannered and reverent to all Shirai orders and directions. Kuai Liang did not doubt that once reuniting with Takato on American soil, the two brothers would unleash their discontent upon the Shirai clan. How could he let that happen?

"If you are certain...We need to explain it to them." Tomas looked at Kuai Liang steadily. After running for what seemed like hours, they had taken refuge behind a LAWSON Kanazawa convenience store. After months of running from Lin Kuei loyalists, they entered the Shirai clan through Harumi's open arms. They could not needlessly break her trust. Kuai Liang shook his head. "Not yet." Tomas walked up to him and seized both his shoulders. He closed his eyes tightly, sighed, and then opened them again. "OK." Kuai Liang nodded, ever grateful for his brother's loyalty. When Tomas let him go and got into a battle stance, Kuai Liang gently grabbed Tomas's elbow and looked at him fiercely. Black cars surrounded the convenience store and there was the sound of shouting and hurried footsteps. "Thank you."

Harumi sighed deeply.

"Why did you do it?"

Almost instinctively, both men looked at each other before bowing deeply, both hands on their knees./p

"I do not know."

Author's Note:

Heyyyyyyyyy everyone (〃ー〃) J here! I haven't written fanfiction since 2015, when I did a Naruto spin-off thing. *DIES OF EXCESSIVE CRINGE*

I haven't engaged in much Creative Writing either, atleast not since my Middle School days. I usually make elaborate stories in my head (I've done so since I was 5) and leave it at that... but for some reason I decided to put this one down on paper haha... Sorry if it's a bit rusty! I am trying to keep characters as AUTHENTIC as possible in writing as they are in , uh, in vision?

I promise things will get better as the story pans out. I hope you can all stick with me as I unravel this daydream - imagination of Kenshi and Kuai Liang-Scorpion being the Japanese Shirai Kingmakers. (Can you tell that Mortal Kombat 1 has been ruining my life?!) (*)γƒŽ~~