The Colour Purple Chapter 30: Narcolepsy, a king of fighters fanfic

The Colour Purple... The King of Fighters '95

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This (chapter) fanfiction was originally written circa: [XX.96] (Thank you)

"Which Character are you?"

"..and WHY are we still here? Do we exist in this world JUST to SUFFER?!

..and why has [G_O_D] REFUSED to [take] us?

If INDEED he has prepared for us, a higher purpose, here..

IF he must TEST us.

IF he must TRY us.

THEN we will grant THAT bastard his wish..

And take BACK, [that] which was once OURS…

…and ours alone."

-the ultimate truth.

I will MAKE HIM give it back and make him regret everything he had done to us – and ALL his children..

Chapter 30: Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy - a physical or mental condition characterized by a frequent and uncontrollable, stress induced state of deep sleep.

...

Masa and Mikaido scoffed with the glowing aura enveloping their bodies; Mikaido slung his left arm meekly over his friend. In response Masa threw his right arm on Mikaido's and shook him roughly - reassuringly. Their ghosts turned round and walked away with each of their arms over the others' shoulder proudly.

…

Eiji stood in a dark area of empty space. There was no chill; there was no heat, no sound or feeling. Just nothingness... He looked down at his hands and there were no wounds. His ninja suit was without gash or tear. He didn't hurt; he didn't feel.

Like a lost child, he looked around, tried to find some exit from the darkened room, away from the horrors his surroundings surely hid from him. He ran to the left, to the right, around, but he didn't have any sense of direction. The shinobi take pride in their honed senses, and when it failed them, they were as pathetic as a newborn babe.

"..." Eiji wanted to scream but was dumbfounded because he didn't know what to say. "NGGGAAARRRGH!" he let out instinctively. "Nnhgk NGGHK!" came the spasms like the stutters of a wailing child. Can you remember the times when you were a child and you were whipped because of the faults you would inevitably commit? Did you remember the gulps and indecipherable stutters you would make in between gasps? You wanted to say something, you wanted to defend yourself verbally, but it was all drowned up by your pathetic snorts and spastic gasps? Weren't you pathetic?

You didn't know what to say, because you were young – because you couldn't defend yourself from that who PUNISHED you. You had no option but to SUFFER.

Then there were.. there were.. voices. Voices.

IF YOU [FORCE] ME.

"Humph, you're pretty good, good enough I guess. Your soul belongs to me now." Iori's voice said.

"At least I don't run away from my fights." Billy came in turn.

Eiji tried to stare into the darkness. He swang his fists, but it hit nothing. He could feel the anger that surfaced within him, and he tried clawing, kicking like a caged beast. Ironic, for a dark cage 'so big'. It's interesting isn't it, how you feel so helpless in a small confined cage and a space so big that there seems to be no end. Either way, you have no control.

VOICES AGAIN.

"Coward!" Billy spat out.

"You're my dog now, eh?" Iori came again.

"Please, don't fight anymore. I want to end all this hate." Kaori's voice echoed in chorus to mock him even more.

A MAN FORCED TO KNEEL.

Eiji tried to focus all his energy, he tried everything he could think of.. Anything. Just to get away. {HAKAI! That's it.} Eiji thought in his panicked mind. {I will simply use Hakai.} He dug deep into himself, but it was all a failure, he couldn't even light a spark. There was nothing there.

IF YOU [TRAP] ME HERE.

In despair, Eiji's knees buckled from the mounting stress as the sky gave way from above him - he plopped to the floor on all fours like the dog he was.

{I am the greatest.} He screamed in his mind. {No one can defeat me. I have this.. This Hakai. I can do anything. I have conquered even death... Why am I trapped here? GOD DAMN IT! WHERE AM I!?}

Eiji was without choice, he was close to being driven insane. He knelt down in meditation, and before he could think of any other thought, his hands gripped firmly on his chin and the back of his cranium. One swift movement. {One snap.} He thought. {And it will all be over. I just cannot deal with this anymore. I do not want to live alone.}

"Do not take your life.. Promise me." He remembered the line and abruptly stopped himself.

Not today… NOT today. Eiji's pupils shrunk to pinpoints when the world faded into a bright, cool white, and then...

With Eiji's gaze locked downwards, the world around him rewarded him with a lush view. At that moment, just a few meters from his knees, the edge of a grassy field appeared in front of him. Familiar voices welcomed him from his slump, and filled with ecstasy and indescribable relief, he stood up and his eyes teared. Over by the distance he saw familiar faces. It was his departed comrades, Masa and Mikaido. The ninja pair laughed, getting drunk with sake while playing a Japanese board game. 'Go', he thought.

Masa and Mikaido flashed warm smiles and stood up to salute Eiji.

"Oi! Kisaragi!" Mikaido shouted, cupping one hand around his mouth and waving ecstatically with the other. His old friend bade him come, his friend's eyes curled gleefully because he had missed him, so much – he had missed him ever so much. The moment was an unadulterated emotion that could only be shared shamelessly between friends. Oh how he had missed him so in this vast plane and Mikaido couldn't help but let his lips curl inward and his teeth bit down to welcome…

"Konoyaro! Eiji da! (Damn it, It's that bastard Eiji)" Masa called out jokingly. Masa roared heartily, slamming his open palm on his knee. He gripped his fingers inwards into a tense fist. A strong sense of victory enveloped him and his companion.

Eiji started crying. It was all over. He had finally found what he had been longing for, for so very, very long. I had grown tired of the world –

[YOU] tempt me. You CUT me down so…

"Haha! The moron's crying!" Masa joked.

"Hey!" Mikaido waved, prodding him to come with his outstretched fingers and a warm smile under his cloth mask.

He [didn't] have to be strong anymore. Eiji was tired of the life he was living. He had learned to be strong when he ran away from his past life. This life he had tried so hard to leave behind. When all his friends left him, the only way he could live was to be the best. But what would be the fruit of being the best if you're alone? Always on Billy's case, and trying to find ways to get the best over Iori. This was the only way. Now, it was not needed. {TO HELL with those two.} he thought.

Did YOU leave me here, in this darkness, to suffer?

Did you leave all your CHILDREN here to SUFFER – oh GOD?

Do I exist merely to distribute your PAIN to other human beings?

"OI! KISARAGI-KUN!" Came a chorus of voices.

A troupe of ninjas jogged steadily towards Eiji. It was his long departed companions. The numerous Kusanagi ninja guards whose lives they spent in battle.

Ignoring it for a moment, that emotion welling from his eyes - JUST so you could alleviate your pain? What about THEM, my FRIENDS who died for you? Eiji pointed at those souls who smiled at him – those who welcomed him.

"I missed you so much; I'm home my friends." Eiji smiled, he smiled walking slowly and contently towards the bright glow – this warm light tickled his ears and slithered easily between his fingers, this bright glow that began to slowly envelope them all.

...

Eiji's face tilted downwards to the ground, the shade covering his gaze, but slowly, the yellow tempest that slowly swirled and erupted into a geyser between his feet, cycloned around him – then upwards, turning his spiked bangs upwards. His eyes, blank stark white and nether worldly, gingerly eased up to face the demons that bade him sleep.

Eiji's head cocked back, then tilted side to side as the joints on his neck cracked and snapped. From his backward slump, Eiji's chin floated down so his eyes met Iori's.

"It's cold is it not.. (samui jyaneka, koko wa)" Eiji mumbled... "Welcome back my friends..." Eiji's voice broke into a hollow echoing multiresonating tone.

An electric shock dancing onto the ground, that SHOCK danced between the dust and surged a sensation between his toes. As if he wanted to answer even though no one was waiting. It's OK.

"Heh, peon!" Iori sneered as he made his way towards the glowing Eiji. "You've gone insane." He mocked. Iori's brows furrowed deeply, contorting his face into a twisted, sadistic menacing glare. It was definitely not him – even Billy who stood on the wayside could decipher that. He was another manner of madness.

Iori traced across Eiji's forehead with his finger and almost instantly, blood came flowing down Eiji's face.

Iori waved his index finger menacingly in front of Eiji's face, all the while twisting his head almost 90 degrees to the side, monstrously in an impossible angle. "Do you know, I've killed for less, you insubordinate bitch!" NYAHAHA-nyaHA HA HA, Iori erupted into an immature laughter.

"D.a.m.a.r.e. (be quiet)" The calm voices resonated in unison from Eiji's mouth. I CAN'T HEAR THEM… His command penetrated the annoying cackle, stunning Iori. Iori's eyes darted and he cocked his arm back.

"SHI-NE! (die)" Iori shouted. Iori sent his finger like a bullet towards Eiji's temple. Iori focused his vision dead center onto Eiji's eyes, to savour the look on his soon to be, lifeless pupils. There was no reaction. Iori was stupefied. He looked to his bullet finger, which he expected to be inside Eiji's temple. Instead, it – those same evil fingers was shaking in midair; Eiji's lone finger had stopped Iori's attack head on.

"Eh?" Iori said instinctively in confusion.

The world focused solely on Eiji's eyes as the scenery panned from left to right. Our cinema left nothing else than the focus on Eiji's eyes. Then to Iori's eyes moving from right to left letterboxed in their own silent play. Iori's fingers screamed eagerly wanting to embed themselves into Eiji's temple, but as a reply Eiji's squinting eyes grinned – his own fingers met Iori's fingertips and stopped them in their tracks as they twitched mercilessly only inches from their intended target.

"Yagami." Masa's voice said from Eiji's mouth. "Yurusanzo! (Unforgivable)" echoing.

"Kusanagi o mamoru... (I will protect the name Kusanagi)" Mikaido followed. "...jiekshiume! (fucker)"

"Yarou! (son of a bitch)" Iori screeched spastically. He immediately threw his off hand and clawed Eiji's face, and blood splattered everywhere, staining Kyo's face.

Eiji stood there with a sneering look in his eyes, his face didn't move and remained to the side after he had been clawed and slapped. But ever so slowly he turned back to face Iori, the deep gouges on his face were misted with a yellow haze that slowly became more apparent and visible now to everyone. The look that said. "Are you afraid? Confused?"

Kyo wobbled to regain his composure, and gawked at Eiji. He could faintly see a sort of yellow hue surrounding Eiji. His eyes opened in realization, that he had seen this scene once before.

"WWWWUUURYYYAA!" Iori called. In frenzy, Iori started jabbing both of his index fingers at lightning speed targeted for the hollow points on Eiji's face, especially at the old man's condescending eyes.

Eiji kept up the pace with ease. Their fingertips met repeatedly. There was a dizzying frenzy their fingertips crashing into each other, canceling each other like meeting bullets. Eiji's eyes were lazy, half slit and indifferent. In just a moment, in any given moment he made a mistake he could surely die. But it seemed – as if Eiji didn't care. That the consequences were beyond him.

Stunned, in denial, Iori couldn't believe that this man in front of him could keep pace with his attacks. It refused him, the fight that was supposed to end 90 seconds ago was still raging on. Iori slapped the back of his left hand across Eiji's face, hurtling the ninja's cheek and eyes to the right, and in an instant motion, stabbed his index and middle finger forward before Eiji's eyes could refocus.

"EIJI!" Billy screamed. "Look out, old man!"

Had he been a normal human, had he been raised a simple farmer's son without a care in the world but to work, but to sweat, and to die – had the world been 5 years ago, it would have been different. Those hungry, wild beasts that Iori threw at him would have ravaged his eyes and destroyed everything he had built. His life would have been in vain if that were so. Slowly Iori's fingers cut through space ready to end it all.

Billy willed every bone in his body, every muscle and sinew roared awake – his ankles tilted ever so, to propel his body into the air. Billy's bo straightened and plowed downward into the ground to heave him up to the heavens. Billy's teeth grit, crackling from the strain. ..but it was too late.

Eiji's lips puckered under his mask to let out a tired sigh.

But he was not so fortunate to be born a normal man. This was the burden I was given.

The perverted smile of Iori's, wide from ear to ear shined – his fingertips touched the sharp corners on the side of Eiji's eyes. Ever so slowly, Eiji's skin popped, molecules separating from each other and erupted into a red bloody burst. Inching closer, Iori's attack burrowed into Eiji's face. First through skin, then through the flesh that wanted to resist, and eventually gave way into a twisted mess. BLOOD.

Like a knife held in hammer grip, Iori's fingers stabbed into Eiji. YOU'RE GOD'S DEAD. Those fingers started to curl so they could TEAR Eiji's eyes from their sockets.

"Eiji..." The ghostly voices whispered very silently, they...

AND A THUNDERING BOOM! Dust from the ground erupted into life and darted upwards, vertically forming a wall between the ninja and Iori. The back of Eiji's wrist blew into Iori's hand, his knuckles cocking backwards as they wrapped around the attack. Then launching both his and Iori's hands skywards – the back of Eiji's left hand had successfully parried Iori's blow at the very last moment! Open palm held high, with no more importance than a mere mockery; Eiji swatted the blow away like a fly.

Eiji's eyes opened slowly and the orbs shifted to the side to face the young master. Glaring at Iori snobbishly, Eiji frowned under his mask – a gaze that penetrated through Iori, thundering into his being, and made his blood freeze for a moment.

"You are mistaken." Eiji assured to an unknown enemy. "Had this been 5 years ago…" he continued, "Had this been 5 long years ago… You would already be dead, Iori Yagami."

Eiji's left hand continued the arc, throwing Iori's fingers to the side. Leaving his enemy open, the slow world immediately began to resume in a fevered speed that was slave to the ninja's pace – he exploded into a short instantaneous punch that jackhammered only a half arm's reach, cracking sternum, and in the same retracting motion grabbed Iori by the collar with his right hand and pulled him in. Iori center of gravity was deshelved and he stumbled forward, instinctively he pulled his left hand close to his body to defend.

Eiji pulled Iori close – within a breath away. "KI KO HOH!" Eiji shouted as he sent his left palm into Iori's stunned face. Iori was able to use his left hand to grab Eiji's wrist, pushing it upwards just in time so the dagger of light missed his head. Eiji pulled his hand away and thrust again "KI KO HOH!" he proclaimed once again repeating the attack. Again Iori hammered a fist down to throw Eiji's special move downwards. Now from the side, Eiji slapped his open palm to Iori's temples.

"KI KO HOH!"

Iori hunched back in a panic. Without so much as a pause in his beat Eiji launched three consecutive attacks that he could barely deflect. Iori twisted his body at the waist and swung his open right palm to the side in the hopes to catch Eiji's third attack like a softball. The boy's palm met Eiji's attack squarely, his open palm stopped. Looking to the side Iori could see that instead of an open palm, Eiji's fingers dug deep. The same angry energy concentrated into two digits glowed warmly – then it darted. Eiji's ki koh hoh launched like a blade of light through Iori's defense. The spike of energy materialized and appeared at the back of Iori's hand.

Iori failed to completely block Eiji's third and final attack. The shining spike of energy penetrated his hand and pierced the side of his temples and made him roar.

Iori roared defiantly and cupped his bleeding eye with both palms. He staggered back. His steps frantically beat, running backwards hoping to ballast himself against a hard surface – maybe to regain his bearings. Iori relaxed his grip on his face and let his eyes refocus on the panic that was unfolding. Peeking through the spaces between his fingers, there to meet him was Eiji's calm, ghost like face – and a firm left jab embedded itself squarely on Iori's nose.

Iori's face hunched downwards at the blow. Mouth gawking, his mind tried to process complex commands all at once but the thought became uncomprehensive, and without meaning. His body barely kept upright – his brain couldn't even issue commands.

"Surrender!" Eiji commanded.

Eiji's right fist thrust upwards to plow Iori's chin skyward. Just as Iori's purple blood erupted, Eiji hurtled his entire body to hammer his left fist downwards. Eiji twisted his entire being earthwards, ramming the boney part of his lower palm over Iori's head. Iori felt his back hit hard against that tree. He tensed his legs, braced himself, simplifying the orders to his body.

"Your Godly wishes have no place here!" Eiji roared.

{Yes, this is a human body.} he thought. {Slowly… First my legs.} Iori focused his attention to his enemy. He broke it down in frames. Eiji's left foot hit the ground as he approached him. Then his right. Slowly – slowly. Just a little bit closer, Iori thought. {His left foot will hit the ground,} he whispered. Then Eiji's left hand will raise up to finish me.

Eiji curled all the fingers in his left fist to unleash the finishing hook, and destroy Iori's will – pollute the earth with his blood.

"If you do not surrender… Then I will destroy you."

…But there was none of it.

The toes on Eiji's right foot dug deep into the earth and he heaved his entire body's weight BACKWARDS instead.

Stop.

At the last moment, Eiji changed direction, titled back and twisted counterclockwise. He swung his left foot behind him to turn like a top to the left of Iori. Iori's right hand only clawed air where he expected Eiji to be. Iori's counterattack failed. Eiji had pulled himself back and disappeared. He had shifted his entire body two steps to the left of Iori's line of attack, with only a blur of afterimages as evidence that he once existed.

Iori looked forward but there was no one there, Eiji had twisted around and sidestepped, faster than the mind could comprehend.

…

When the bright sunburst slowly faded and Eiji's eyes could once again focus on the forest around him. The ghosts were gone, and Eiji stood once again in a familiar clearing. It was his home in that forest, where no one would reach him.

With Eiji's gaze locked downwards, the world around him rewarded him with a lush view. At that moment, just a few meters from his heels, the edge of a grassy field appeared behind him and the view zoomed out into a vast freedom.

He took a step towards his home, then a voice seemed to warn him –"I would not go down this road if I were you, young man." Eiji continued his stride anyways – "I would not go there, Eiji."

As his punishment, dark shadows in the form of hands flew up from the ground and grabbed Eiji by the heels, his waist and leg, pulling him down. THEN the sight opened up to him, his heart sank and his eyes bubbled into a limitless flow of tears.

…

"If it were not for you…" Eiji said in a monotone, nonchalant, so matter of factly he uttered those words, but his heart slowly, inevitably began to race faster - heartbeat thundering as the intensity of his attacks increased. His face was cold and the blank stare held no clues. But inside he shouted painfully. "If it were not for YOU…"

Iori's mouth gasped open when the entire force of Eiji's right cross erupted into his left eye. A mixture of spittle and blood flew from his lips, floating in midair when time slowed to a standstill.

"…My FRIENDS would not have had to die."

…

10 years ago – Eiji knelt somberly and his arms wrapped around Kaori's shoulders and found their way to the back of her neck as he raised her up. The sunlight crept gingerly through the eaves of the trees above them, but still he was left in his own darkness.

"Kaori…" Eiji cried with tears streaming down his face – hugging his soon to be lifeless wife in his hands. "Why!?" he pleaded.

"Why, GOD? We live in this earth, because we wanted to be happy."

…

Here… We exist. ONLY, for fighting. GOD replied.

The shadowy limbs shot out from the ground and grabbed Eiji's head, tilting his cranium backwards to pull him into the dark bog that bubbled in the ground below him.

Eiji roared furiously with both arms outstretched, the yellow glow around him turned into thorns, fanged wings that launched in all directions – and Eiji – proclaimed his anger to the world. He would punish everything; punish mercilessly all that stood in his path.

Everyone pays their dues, their just price. And if you cross that line it will tear you limb from limb, and if you cross that line - The HAKAI will eat you alive.

…

Iori's face suddenly turned back, stopping the blow to everyone's surprise. Iori gurgled forcefully and spat out a thick goo from his throat, as if he were coming up for air. But this time it was different, Iori's eyes were peculiarly relaxed and calm, his brow seemed weak but still firm. Iori's pupils dilated as he desperately opened his mouth so fast his lips would move and it would take his words a moment to catch up. "I…" Iori growled. "I…" Iori willed his legs to launch his body upwards one last time.

"I…" he said, "Eiji - I didn't kill your wife." Iori uttered desperately.

…

Clawing the back of Kaori Kusanagi as she gasped her last breath. "..promise me…" she pleaded.

"Saishyu." Eiji mumbled, "SAISHYUU KUSANAGIIII!" Eiji erupted over the treetops, making the birds that lay in peace escape their homes in fright.

…

Eiji's eyes darted open once again, his body fell backwards. He could feel a hand grab the back of his shirt, felt himself being pulled back, away from that dark memory. The vision disappeared, Eiji could feel his racing heart calm down again. The shadows retreated again from their hellholes.

"I told you.. You did not want to go there."

…

Yes, Kusanagi killed his own blood – just for the sake of honour. Because of me, and what I had done – he killed my wife.

Eiji's right fist relaxed open. His shoulders weakened, his knees crumpled at the ULTIMATE truth. As those words escaped Iori's lips, Eiji had already lost.

At the immediate opening Iori launched from a squatting position and threw both arms across his body. Iori's wild demeanour had returned, as if nothing had happened a few seconds prior. He grabbed Eiji's kneecaps, his fingers wrapped themselves around the back of Eiji's knees and as he pulled his arms wide, tore them free in a party of blood and eruption.

"Agh." Eiji muttered. Then his mutilated legs folded and he was forced to kneel. {You are right.} Eiji thought as his vision world tumbled to the side, and he toppled like a doll backwards.

"It was YOU who fell in love." Iori in a gruesome voice of madness answered.

Iori's hunched body slowly made its way to Eiji, who laid calmly on his back a few feet in front his monster. Eiji's legs were splayed open with a hideous amount of blood that rendered them immobile. Eiji maintained his sleepy gaze skywards just as he would on a lazy afternoon looking at the clouds roll in the sky. Eiji paid no care to the monster that hunkered over to him. Iori's arm dragged on the ground, his steps erratic, every other moment he would sway off course in a drunken stupor. When he made his way over Eiji's body Iori threw both palms onto the ground on either side of Eiji's head. He put both legs over Eiji's midsection in a mount position. Iori's fanged visage descended only inches from Eiji's intimidating him. Blood, sweat and disgusting fluids dripped down.

"It's time for you to DIE, old man." Iori hissed.

"I don't know about that…" Eiji replied, his look somewhat annoyed that his view of the clear sky had been replaced with a wretched twisted thing that once resembled his young master.

…

At the sound of those words, Billy's impending fear turned into an unbelievable shock. A shock that stopped him in his tracks, not knowing what to do next – bewildered by the old man's fearless arrogance.

At the same time Kyo's jaw was locked open, stunned.

…

{It looks like you took a bit of damage earlier.} Eiji mused. With that blow to your eye and head, it may take a while for you, even with whatever power you're using to fully heal and finish me off. On the other hand, both my legs are useless for now.

A yellow hiss emanated from behind Iori, turning around he saw the soft yellow envelope Eiji's wounded legs. The yellow glow grew brighter, erupting faster. Iori turned again to face Eiji, and he understood.

Yes. The question you are asking is – will your brain heal faster before my legs can start moving again. Iori's eyes grew wide, his brows twitched ever which way. You are asking yourself – is whatever evil power you have, more powerful than the HAKAI that fuels mine.

"If you do not recover before I do." Eiji warned. "I will destroy you instantly."

…

Despite no words exchanged between them, it became petrifyingly clear to all onlookers that in an instant, something – anything was going to happen. Perched on either side of Eiji's face, Iori balanced himself with both arms, focusing that man's calm face into the center of his frame of sight. He held his hand up and grabbing, tensing, easing, grabbing, repeating the motion desperately pumping his hand into a fist. Coercing the evil power to once again flow within his veins, a twitching, small purple spark appeared, but it wasn't enough. Meanwhile the pressure of the warm yellow glow behind him raced against his own purple flame.

Iori's hand trembled, a larger purple flame appeared for a moment then fizzled. The images that unfolded in the prose were taken out of sequence; freeze frames appeared one at a time. All happening within fractions of a second.

"Is that doubt I feel?" Eiji said calmly. "I do not know who you are, but you know and I know, that you are not at your full power in Iori's body."

[Had you ASKED me to kneel to you…]

Doubt had somehow crept onto him. Doubt. "Three of you." Iori finally came to the conclusion. There were three souls in Eiji's body.

"Eiji is unlike Iori." Masa and Mikaido said in unison. "You cannot take full control over Iori's soul yet can you?"

[Had you asked me… I may have submitted to you.]

Iori didn't utter another word but in response cocked his arm heinously wide over his own head and desperately hurtled his fist into Eiji's helpless face.

[But instead, you FORCED me…]

Eiji titled his head to the side before wrapping both arms around his enemy's midsection with enough determination to literally grab hold of individual ribcages. In turn, Eiji legs exploded into a yellow burst and his thigh muscles bulged awake. EXPLODED DEVASTATINGLY INTO LIFE. The ninja reflexively thrust his pelvis up, jolting Iori just high enough that Eiji was able to twist, slither, 'limbo' under Iori's legs, breaking past the mount position - to escape behind the forward stumbling monster.

Iori threw the punch too soon, and without enough purple flame to bolster the attack, his fist crumbled as it hit the hard ground. Before the kneeling Iori - grasping his broken fist in his other hand - could roar in pain - his world was cut by a short roundhouse kick - to the side of his head. His field of vision looked no better than shattered glass. Trapped in a broken place between bewilderment and disbelief, the sensation felt as if a pickaxe was driven across his skull.

[…and when a GOD forces a man to kneel, you have to be responsible for the consequences.]

Iori flew sideways, no different had he was thrown out of a moving car, tumbling over himself before crumpling motionless; Eiji stood behind him. "I told you did I not? That I would destroy you instantly."

…

"Iori still has too much to live for..." Eiji's ghost said, looming over his enemy's unmoving body. "You cannot hope to defeat his will just yet. Your vengeance cannot compare to his hate."

"You!" Kyo cut in. "God damn it! It's you! You took Kaori away. You killed Kaori! Give her back to me! GIVE ME BACK KAORI!" Kyo slowly stood up and desperately launched himself towards the ninja.

"Kusanagi-sama..." Mikaido's voice escaped Eiji's mouth.

"DOKE! KOZO! (move it, brat)" Eiji's own voice now took command - he snarled as he shoved Kyo back to that tree. The wood broke Kyo's flight back. Kyo tried to muster up enough strength to charge, but fell to his knees. He was sucked dry, he had used up too much of his power. Slowly he could feel the numbness seep into him.

"Trust me. Kusanagi-sama." Mikaido again whispered. This was the last thing Kyo heard. In the blurry vision he could swear that he saw that three men in Kusanagi uniforms look over their shoulders and back at him as he fell into sleep.

...

A low growl once again commanded Eiji's attention; Returning his gaze back at his opponent he saw the dark silhouette start to lurch up from the shadows. Iori's features were hidden in the black with only his eyes and growling mouth catching glints of the light. What was left was a hunched, broken beast who made it clear that it was unwilling to surrender to anyone.

At the end of his patience Eiji took slow and purposeful steps towards the darkness that Iori laid in wait. He made his way into the darkness that tempted him. HE did NOT care. Increasing the pace of his steps. Leaving yellow wisps from each footprint he had left prior, Eiji was soon upon the monster. He looked downward at the cornered beast. He locked eyes with his enemy – an enemy that had been broken down into something inhuman and did not want to return to the light.

Eiji locked eyes with what was left of Iori, and perhaps in a merciful act had no other choice but to lift his right fist up slowly, knuckles cracking at every tensioned bend, to put the mad dog out of its misery.

"IORI!" Billy shouted. He forced himself in between Iori and Eiji with arms wide in a valiant hope to stop the fight. "SON OF A BITCH! What the HELL ARE YOU DOING, Eiji! STOP!"

Eiji stood up straight and looked past Billy and down at Iori who was on all fours.

I was perhaps just enough time and Iori clutched his belly before uttering a disgusting sound from his lungs, he vomited out a pulsating black mess – a mixture of blood, bile and hatred. His breath started to slow, sucking air desperately at a rate that he seemed to almost not want to exhale. He desperately did not want to end this story so soon with this chapter.

"Kisaragi-jiji? (old man Kisaragi?)" Iori mumbled in between laboured coughs.

Eiji's eyebrows twitched and perhaps almost endearingly lowered his fist.

"Jesus, Iori are you all right? GOD DAMN IT." Billy wrapped his arms around Iori's shoulders and chest in the effort to hoist Iori up.

"Get away.. Billy." Iori mumbled uneasily, the blood gurgling in his mouth, his shoulders visibly trembling. He was trying to stay focused, trying to expunge the horrible stuff from his stomach but still try to keep his senses.

"Iori!"

"I can't... I'll.. Keep.. I'll k..nnnngg"

"BILLY! GET AWAY! " Eiji called out to Billy. "SON OF A BITCH! ARE YOU STUPID!?"

"God damn it, you're killing him, you fucking old man!" Billy spat out at Eiji.

"HE... Heeeee'sss... POWER!" Iori mumbled.

"TEME (bastard)!" Eiji called out futility.

"I'll KILL YOU!" Iori roared, his voice changing once again. As Billy tried to prop Iori on his shoulders, Iori punched Billy's side. The breath was knocked out of Billy. A set of ribs cracked like Styrofoam. Iori cocked back again, this time his clawed fingers tore into Billy's side. Billy was caught in utter stupor, the man he was trying to save was gutting him on the spot. Billy didn't let go, he just tried to swing Iori around, to get some control. Iori used Billy as a ballast and hoisted himself up on his limping body. Without another thought, Iori cocked back as far as he could and his punch sent Billy flying back. Billy hit a tree trunk and ricocheted, finally stopping with a blunt THUD on another tree trunk, his lifeless body falling silent like a frail cat that no one loved anymore.

"I'LL SHOW YOU MY REAL POWER!" Iori's beaten, battered and enraged face roared. Iori steadied his fists on his side and exploded in a fury of purple flames. The leaves around him were burned to a cinder in an instant, and all that was left from the topsoil was purple amber. Iori laughed and sneered. His canines grew and saliva slithered down the sides of his mouth.

"I'll KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" Iori shouted frantically in his deshelved, low echoing voice.

"Finally. Your doubt has consumed you." Eiji said calmly, his index finger pointed and mocked Iori's captor. "Do you think you can push yourself to the limits with a mortal's body. Moreover, with a soul that is not willing. A soul you cannot even control?"

[Perhaps.] One then two voices.. Perhaps your GODLY plan may be grander than mine; The two voices spoke in relay one after the other – Perhaps Iori's young body and fighting legacy had always been superior to this old Kusanagi dog. Echoing voices now three resonating within fractions of a second behind each other. Any other day Iori may easily beat me. Each voice trailing but slowly catching up.

But TODAY, you are playing by my rules. ..and then finally all three voices harmonizing together to build a fortress to destroy all monsters. Compared to you, Iori's hatred for this world…

Eiji cocked his open hands to his side as well. He stabbed his right foot into the Earth, embedding it deeply into the ground as an abutment for what was to come next. His biceps pulsed, his torso was pushed back for a moment from the exploding pressure of that yellow holy ball, instantly growing to twice the size of Iori's flames that began to rip into the soil, that began to devour everything.

"I will.." Eiji said.

"show you..." Masa roared. Tensing those shoulders.

"the REAL POWER." Mikaido came, twisting his right ankle, digging deeper into the ground and locking all the joints in the body he commanded.

"THE REAL POWER OF DESPAIR!" Eiji shouted. The fragments of earth broke free from their chains and floated skywards.

...

How can you compare to a man who has nothing to lose? There is no man braver than he who has nothing to lose. Tell me, honestly – can you really begin to understand a man like that?

...

Iori's legs buckled at the strain. The power he was absorbing and releasing at the same time felt like the burden of Atlas. Eiji's forehead was beaded with sweat, but his eyes were still and bloodshot, fighting the force that was crushing him painfully from the inside out.

{If this body dies...} Iori thought. {I will not have another chance to revive...}

A flash of night shot though Eiji. Then a spark in his eyes. Eiji let it all out in one blow. His mask was taut. The flesh on Eiji's mouth tore apart and bled at the sides, opened to its limits to let all primal urge out. The world was about to end; He was determined to make this the final chapter; The yellow ball grew grandly, transforming it all until finally, all that remained was a lifeless, pale white and the lines that were once people like you and me became indiscriminate sketchy lines.

{If we build this fortress – amidst the clouds.}

{If we cross this line. Let's do it together.}

{Don't be sad Eiji – be happy. Stop crying.}

{Was there a higher plan for us?}

{It's okay my friend. Don't you understand… there is an 'ultimate truth'… if a friend dies for you…} One by one their faces smiled, but instead of the mocking grins Eiji remembered, their expressions became warm, and reassuring.

"If a friend dies for you…"

{I.. I can't...} Iori thought. {No, I am a god... I will have my vengeance. I am not yet done with this world!}

{Get out.} Iori heard a voice in his mind. Crimson was flowing from Iori's ears.

Eiji's aura was slowly engulfing and overwhelming Iori.

{Let's make this a happy story; Let's make this a happy story with a happy ending.}

{Get out NOW!} Came a bellow inside Iori. All the breath was knocked out of his lungs. "Damn, you.. You're resisting me?! How?! How.. can you have so much.. hate.."

"Compared to you… Iori's hatred for this world far surpasses yours!" Masa and Mikaido scoffed with the glowing aura enveloping their bodies; Mikaido slung his left arm meekly over his friend. In response Masa threw his right arm on Mikaido's and shook him roughly - reassuringly. Their ghosts turned round and walked away with each of their arms over the others' shoulder proudly – and with that they had finally repaid their debt to Iori's father. The hearty laugh on their faces became black and white sketches as their images slowly faded into the void. The silence was recognition enough. "The rest... is up to you."

Then...

Iori snapped. The purple flames died out in a flash. It was gone. Blood seeped from Iori's nose. Iori's eyes were white, and his face was pale. Like a sack of wet potatoes Iori collapsed face first into the hard earth.

"Kaori… Thank you." Eiji let out one last call, then his aura swirled, evaporated and died out as well. Eiji stood there motionless. As if he had just ceased to function. Motionless. As if he had died standing up.

…

A cough came from Iori's mouth. Then a pained smirk. "You can't b... be.. beat me.. you son of a bitch." Iori said to himself before succumbing to the sleep.

EPILOGUE:

Eiji was back in the darkness. Just at the edge of the meadow stood the forgotten. People who were neither remembered nor appreciated by their superiors. They found strength and courage from each other. The men. Fighting against each other and at the same time loving each other. For it is only those who share the same despair... Those who share the same suffering...

The crowd waved at Eiji calling him, prodding him to come closer. They stood by the edge of the forest, daring not to step any further.

Eiji could feel a hand grab the back of his shirt, felt himself being pulled back, away from that dark memory. The vision disappeared, Eiji could feel his racing heart calm down again. The shadows retreated again from their hellholes. In a state of trance, Eiji simply sat on his bottom unmoving.

"I told you.. You did not want to go there." Masa said with a smile., shaking his head. He slowly walked past the sitting Eiji and headed for the forest clearing that lay ahead. "If a friend dies for you, Eiji Kisaragi." Masa uttered over his shoulder, "You can NEVER die."

Behind him a few steps was Mikaido.

"Hey, we'll see ya again, buddy." He waved reassuringly and jogged to catch up to Masa. "Mata na, aibou!" He waved in a playful two finger salute.

From the dark, empty void, a voice behind Eiji interrupted. "Hunph, you're pretty good, good enough I guess. Your soul belongs to me now." Iori's said his arms crossed.

"At least I don't run away from my fights." Billy came in turn sneering.

Eiji paid no heed to Billy and Iori.. for all this time, they held little importance to him. To him they were meaningless. The only thing that mattered to Eiji now was is crowd of friends that lay in that forest clearing. That forest clearing but refused to take another step. He knew them all by name, what made them happy, what they hated, and what they said out loud when thought they were alone. Eiji's eyes forcefully sifted through their warm faces but he could not find [her].

"Eiji-jiji!" Iori shouted forcefully to bring the old fart back to him.

Eiji looked back to see Iori and Billy standing in the darkness behind him.

"Eiji, we still have to fight. I won't let you go until I beat you!" Billy said.

"Kisaragi. You said that you were strong. You were the best. You gonna give up now?" Iori called.

"Don't you fuckin' die yet, darn it." Billy roared and flashed a fist. "Or else, you've already accepted your defeat to me!"

"I won't let you die yet, you fool." Iori sneered. "This isn't the way. We're dreamers. Fighters. Nothing else to live for but to be the greatest."

"Rugal?" Eiji said without thinking.

"We're going to take her back." Iori said finally... "We're going to take back your life. The life they stole from you!"

LIVE! When a man loses his pride, he has nothing.

…

Eiji turned away and let Iori and Billy disappear into the darkness. In due time the forest disappeared into that world that was only white paper with ghosts drawn with black sketches.

Eiji just sat back and put his head on the soft grass. He weaved the fingers on his hands amongst each other and laid it on top of his stomach. He just closed his eyes. It was okay.

It was okay.

Eiji would just close his eyes and the silence will be his soundtrack. He imagined the sun, he imagined the soft rolling clouds of the sky and thoughtfully, with great, with great, painstaking care, he painted those images on the back of his eyelids.

His lips refused to move, his chest felt empty and calm. Eiji was sure he was going to feel something. Something that was like all the movies he saw in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead of that rapture, that profound feeling. Instead, he felt nothing.

"It was a good life." Slowly he felt himself fade away into a sound sleep. Narcolepsy.

..a sleep. Peaceful than any other – beyond that forest clearing, where revenge can never, never ever follow you.

{Let's make this a happy story; Let's make this a happy story with a happy ending.}

"Hey, is this space taken?"

Eiji's eyes opened slowly. A woman's head lay on the grass next to his. Looking down to the world from the heaven above, their feet faced opposite directions, but their heads lay next to each other, bodies aligned - upside-down from each other, both of their fingers were weaved amongst each other on their tummies.

"Hey.." Kaori Kusanagi smiled. A soft and warm love that could overcome decades.

The warm feeling penetrated Eiji's ghostly, once petrified heart and the pain that shot out soon evolved into a fearsome glow that radiated from the center of his being. His once hard, stoic face started to crumple at his eyes, he grit his teeth and scowled and smiled at the same time.

{If we build this fortress – amidst these clouds that roll overhead.}

What was this familiar feeling. It was a feeling truly unlike any other. Welling up inside rising from his stomach, Eiji's heart and finally exploding from Eiji's eyes, a waterfall of tears that flowed down his face and tore down that cold, hard, and lonely fortress that protected his heart.

{If we cross this line. Let's do it together.}

…and the TEARS. The TEARS would NOT STOP flowing. Eiji stopped breathing.. from his silent gasps and rabid heart, he had ceased to function.

{Don't be sad Eiji – be happy. Stop crying.}

"Hey.." Kaori invited.

Eiji turned to the side to face the only woman he loved. The most BEAUTIFUL woman in the world.

"Thank you.. for keeping your promise."

This is a story and a world – a world, meant only for two.

NARCOLEPSY [END] 9.6.2013

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