The Colour Purple Chapter 61: World Half Way, 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?"

Note to self: Legacy chapter numbering (32- - -), does not match. [Original chapter written 2013]

ORIGINAL CHAPTER.

Thank you… for everything.

For all those sleepless nights – and for all those afternoons where I spent so long a time just staring blankly out into the deep blue sky.

…

Just when Yamashita felt Eiji's knuckles embed themselves into her chin – an unbelievable feeling – for a woman who knew EVERYTHING about this man and held nothing back - that sensation was akin to the realization that the world was indeed flat despite all accepted and common notion.

There was only one thing her mind could do. It pleaded…

Not yet. I am not done yet!

…

Thank you for the memories. Because – it was so much better than forgetting ambivalent yesterdays. Those horrible golden sunsets, even if they were so painful, gave life and purpose to a warm feeling. …and even if those sweet thoughts were borne from years of pain, a heart cannot help but savour even the pain with great fondness.

…

Her body clung valiantly onto that one last command that her brain transmitted through her nerves, into her muscles and into her flesh. Her body rolled with the impact and threw itself furiously, rolling backwards tens of meters back like a comic book climax.

I still have to meet you HALF WAY. In our story.

Just as her mind turned blank.

…

Thank you – for all the memories.

…

Chapter 61: World Half Way: a Sequence of Uneventful Mornings part 7

All of us have had the experience of a sudden joy that came when nothing in the world had forewarned us of its coming - a joy so thrilling that if it was born of misery we remembered even the misery with tenderness.

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The colour that surrounded Eiji's pupils slowly turned from a pastel brown to a dark shade. Even when his shoulder screamed from the stinging pain, on instinct, his fists floated by the sides of his chin when his upper body heaved almost mechanical in motion. Up and down like on hard rails his chest moved up and down when his lungs tried defiantly to fill his lungs in order to pump the blood through his veins and make up for the minute prior.

…

"Hey…" 1 called out unconsciously. "Hey. We have to stop this. The Captain, even Eiji, someone is going to die."

"Captain is just boxing now. This is just a dogfight now," 4 chuckled to himself as he turned to 3 in a worrisome curled Charlie Brown smile. "Did you not say, that she was the weakest of all the Yagami captains? If her plan is facing Eiji-san with a test of strength…"

"If she is challenging Eiji-sama to simple [boxing]. Then she will lose." 3 said flatly while scratching the bridge of his nose.

…

When a minute ago Eiji's body was cold and dead, the sudden burst of panic rushed through him like the raging water that filled the hull of a ruptured vessel that was near to sink deep into the sea. The oxygen filled his body and he slowly realized that he was alive again.

His right fist trembled as the old man kept [it] suspended in mid air. It ached a stinging, painful feeling when it ran up his arm…

…

One drop, then, two… the viscous, red drops of life peppered the ground in chaotic globs of non-uniform shape and texture. When the audience looked upwards they could see the streams of blood run down like rivers from Yamashita's nostrils, and down from the corners of her lips. The ninja captain, her beautiful face once clean and immaculate was now distraught, horrid and disfigured. Yet, she was defiant, stood upright to face her foe. The mask on her goddess like face was now broken and what was left was a true reflection of her heart.

"Hauugghkk!" her voice escaped her throat as her lungs emptied itself and splattered the ground in a pool that looked so much like a bloody Rorschach test. That picture reflected her mind now. "Hah hagh hagh… hauggghhh…" Yamashita took in three quick breaths before exhaling long and slow. Mimicking Eiji's stance, Yamashita now stood slumped, and in similar fashion her body had completed its duty and her fists were up by her cheeks in a boxer's pose.

…

"TAICHOU!" 6 couldn't help but scream out loud. CAPTAIN. He curled both fists and pleaded – he pleaded – for his captain to stop, for Eiji to realize the folly of it all.

Why? Why do you go to these lengths? While it was much a splendid display, now this carnal interaction had devolved to a dirty, pitiful exchange – the same when two lovers would spit venomous words just before they would separate from each other forever in a snowy night within a lazy town. The feelings of love and hate were separated by such a thin line, and while others looked on, what had taken years to build would end in an instant. …and each one of us, at least once, felt this sensation at least once before our hearts crumbled.

When reality finally paid us visit, as our souls faltered. When we realized that the world did not indeed bend to our selfish wishes – when children would accept becoming adults.

…and as beautiful as it was to watch a man and a woman's feelings blossom, so in turn, nothing is as painful as watching it destroy itself in an instant.

…

"Hah hagh hagh… hauggghhh…" Yamashita took in three quick breaths, up until the rhythm of their gasps calmed and synchronized as one, at the same time their, Yamashita's and Eiji's lungs and hearts began to beat at the same pace.

Heaving up and down her body did its very best to tax its facilities just to stay awake at her last order. Yamashita's beauteous face, the face that, by some cruel joke – was the splitting image of Eiji's dead wife stared back defiantly at her enemy. Her mask had ripped itself into shreds as it ran across the rough ground, flew away leaving her face defenseless and exposed, never to be found again. Her temple was bruised and swollen, her cheek looked as if it had been clawed open by a wild tiger, dirty from the soil and sand that embedded itself into her once beautiful skin. Eiji now found Kaori Kusanagi's face welcoming his wishes without the mask that separated their worlds.

"Why must you go this far?" 3 uttered.

"You're fucking batshit crazy!" Billy punctuated the genius ninja's thought.

Despite her sad, pitiful looking face that looked as if it had been run through a meat grinder, Yamashita made no motion to cover her shame and instead of scrambling in a panic to cover her face as the rest of her peers would have – she paid it all no heed and held her proud boxer's posture, refusing to break her gaze from Eiji.

"Uhaaahhhh…" she released a long and firm breath. Do not you dare look away.

…from me.

Eiji bit down and found himself trapped in the same two minutes that looped forever.

The air sucked itself into a vacuum of silence. Into Eiji's ears. Into silence.

…

Yamashita pulled her right fist by the corner of her lip and brushed aside the itching feeling of the flowing blood, then grinned, but with eyes that loomed a look of melancholy. "First of all… Eiji," she said. "I am not as weak as you think." She reminded. "AND…"

The next instant, Yamashita's toes dug deep into the ground before propelling her body forward, and in the next moment when she grit her teeth so hard everyone who paraded round could hear them crack, her right fist ripped into Eiji's left ribcage in a deafening HORRID crunching BOOM.

Eiji's eyes widened once again, still unbelieving and still unable to will his body to come alive once again. His lips puckered eventhough he pleaded that his mouth not let go his last breath.

"And second…" She shouted. The female ninja captain hooked her left arm into Eiji's belly before cocking her right fist back and throwing it upwards into Eiji's chin, "and SECOND, I am not…"

The true embodiment of female RAGE, Eiji couldn't stop Medusa's venomous viper from stabbing into his face from down below.

Though their voices. Yamshita's and Kaori Kusanagi's – were so very far and wide so very different, Kaori's, his wife, was soft and calming, and Yamashita's, his hated enemy's, so dry and wounded, it sounded [the same] to Eiji Kisaragi – [at this time].

Both voices – of women two who thrust themselves into the once young man's life were clean and clearly resonating in his mind – yet they were both starkly different. As the old man finally grew tired of his story, her proclamation came to his ears as if a vision – a declaration.

"I… I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOU – EIJI KISARAAAGIIII!" Yamashita cleaved her sword through Eiji's face, splitting it into two.

…

Their angelic voices, with outstretched arms – one open with forlorn and the other clenched in desperation – though so different, sounded the same that one moment.

Were these the words – that was the final barrier that kept you from me, Kaori? Kaori... Oh Kaori… Perhaps the [God] was kind to you and now you simply watch over me, tenderly, until the day I be free from these obligations our friends put upon me. Oh my dear Kaori how I…

…

"If this continues," 3 came to the conclusion. "Captain will surely lose. BUT… but, surely Eiji-sama, so much a romantic gentleman, will not allow this to drag on," he smiled. "Rather than beat and punch her familiar face, Eiji will end it the same way he did you, 1."

"Heh?" 1 snarled. "What?"

"Yes, 1." 3 said as he turned to his elder comrade. 3 walked till an arms lengths away from 1 and slowly put his fists up by his cheek and grinned. Rather flatly and coldly at that. "Eiji-sama will end it quick. Do you want to know how Eiji-sama put you to the ground, 1?"

1 took a cautious step back and put both curled fist up by his chest in similar fashion, not knowing what 3 was trying to do. He put his hands up in a boxer's defense, uncertain what 3 hid behind his boring and calm face.

"Boxing." 3 said as he walked nonchalantly left shoulder rolling over his right towards his colleague. "It is the basic foundation of 80% of all fighting arts in the world from both empty hand to sword and even firearms combat. It is by far the most basic and most common form of martial art. Empty hand boxing, called by many names, slave to a numerous family of rules, yet very similar in fashion."

An efficient, simple and easy to understand art – yes, even a monkey with two arms - catered to the lowest common denominator.

…

The boy was blind! …and he was deaf! …and she would not stop, not stop, until one day he would be able to understand the words she screamed when no one else would listen to her.

"No!" He replied.

In clear response, Eiji compressed his body to pull his exposed chin back from Yamashita's venomous uppercut, rolling it back from the attack then hurtling it forward to counter, before swinging his left fist in a low hook into Yamashita's belly. He followed up with a right cross over her left cheek. So it pained him – when his knuckles once again felt the woman's once clean and exposed soft cheeks give way to his attack. Then, and, finally, his entire body turned as wide as it could to uppercut the right side of Medusa's jaw, splattering the familiar red colour skywards just again.

…

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.

Hey. On Sunday nights, like it is now, trapped in this room – Kaori Kusanagi. As I waited, there was only one man who saw it fit to rise from the concrete floors below and come to me and make my life worth living. It was so many years ago – and Kaori Kusanagi smiled. Eiji, my love, you made the warm nights ever so cooler, and the sour air, ever so much sweeter.

When you visited me in my kingdom in this ROOM so alone.

…

"It is simple. It is an amalgamation of a sequence of basic fundamental motions. This is BOXING." 3 said flatly. "Just as a quick left jab of a fist lunges forward, so too, does the right fist guard and protect." 3 demonstrated by punching a quick left fist in mid air while keeping his curled right hand hovering over his jaw. "It is a simple technique even a monkey can understand."

While one arm attacks, the other will defend. Then. A powerful right CROSS from the right fist will drive with purpose a menacing attack, and even if a counter erupts to answer, the left fist comes back and replaces the defense.

1 took a step back and put both hands up totally surprised by 3's sudden demonstration. HE hunched both shoulders down and carefully crept forward – his body instinctively succumbing to 3's – the genius' predictions and he had curled into an instinctive boxer's pose without him even realizing it. "What? Are you saying that Eiji-sama knocked me down with just a boxer's romantic, courting exchange? 3?!"

"Wrong." 3 cut him short. [The boxing] is a simple sequence of events – while one fist gauges distance and attacks, the other defends. In the next motion the body twists at the waist and the opposite hand attacks, but not before the other can retreat and defend. It is a simple exercise subdivided into the most simplest of concepts of give and take.

Easy to understand. Compact. Efficient and effective. Attack and defense can be easily prioritized without conscious thought, and accomplished almost simultaneously – a basic art can cover 80% of all encounters in the world.

BUT. From this art, novices and daring experts separate themselves from mortal coils that entrapped and belittled many men.

"Tell me, 1. If I punch you with a left JAB." Tell me, 3 asked. "If I punched you like THIS…" 3 sent a lightning quick jab, his left fist almost disappeared mid flight and ended its journey just millimeters from 1's stunned face. "Tell me." 3's knuckles floated just moments from 1's nose.

Time stopped in now, a dark [room]. Had 3 not tensed his biceps and stopped his attack before it hit his nose, 1's head would be hurtling back. But now, it was still okay. {Are you making fun of me?} 1 wrapped the fingers of his left fist over 3's jab and pushed it aside, a short parry was enough to dislodge the attack from its path and free himself from defeat.

"What will you do now?" 3 asked in education. 3 cocked his right fist back behind his cheek and tensed his right cross to the point that it started to tremble in midair.

{Block it. Surely. Block or parry it.} 1 replied in his mind. {But I can do better. If you attack me with a right cross, your right arms rocketing to my chin as expected. {I can simply, in textbook fashion – he grinned under his ninja mask, I can make my right fist touch my chin and from right to left, now simply sway across my body and parry your powerful right cross in due retort.}

But why? "Why should I? When I can simply COUNTER YOU!" Ignoring it, and separating a novice from an expert boxer, 1 tilted his head to the left, avoiding the so simple line of attack. Yes, if your trembling right fist will ram into my face, why not, I will simply move your target from line of sight and counter with my OWN right cross.

1 imagined it, the phantom prediction of 3's right fist embed itself into his face, but he would be the quicker, and while his head was cocked to the side, he would instead curl his fist around his opponent's arm and reverse the flow, counterattacking 3's own chin.

Why waste effort in blocking with my right hand, when I can COUNTER! 1's arm was now outstretched and when it launched forward, he felt the air curl around his flesh just as his right counter ended its journey and he expected the sound of soft flesh overlap his own.

DOON! 1's right shoulder lurched forward, the young boy's body tilted ever so slightly forward as he committed his entire weight to destroy his enemy with no intention to apologize.

However, instead, just as he heard the space and the air crack with his fist's sonic boom.

The pupil of 1's eyes swiveled on its own to the right and to greet him was 3's sneer, slit gleaming eyes – and in response as quickly as it began, before the clouds of earthly dust could settle back into the Earth below, it was revealed to the world that the back of 3's four knuckles nestled themselves into their new home into 1's right temples.

"IF." If, 3 questioned in a scholarly snobbish voice. "If 80% of the world would expect such an attack – why would a GREAT WISE man subject himself to petty rules, 1?"

…and…

"And that is how he defeated you, and laid you cold into the ground." 3's spinning backfist answered conventional logic that enslaved 80% of the entire fighting world.

…

Please.

Please stop. What had transpired and what was about to happen – was now beyond nostalgia and was now beyond logic. The woman who stood across from him – this encounter that was once started from folly, and from ridiculous arrogance, had now become painful and pitiful to see.

Please, why will not you stop? Do you hate me so much? Eiji was now at his wits end and was destroying the image of his wife, long passed. He was killing the only woman he loved. Eiji's body was now moving on its own… that is fine. Kaori. Let us now tell each other how we really felt, back then. Even when we deluded each other – that our life was PERFECT.

…and the rest of the world could do nothing else, but watch in jealousy at our, so, so ultimate happiness,

If you ever once hated me, Kaori, but could never express it – just LET it ALL GO! I loved you so much, please let me know how YOU really felt?

Is this why, in your dying breath – you told me to never fight again. Could it be? That by this last command, just before you succumbed to the darkness… by asking me not to take up arms and fight ever again, you simply wanted to let me know – that you held your anger inside? I understand it all so clearly now.

…

"Perfect." Was all 3 had to say. Instead of twisting his right ankle to bolster the right cross that 1 expected, 3 instead – 3 instead pulled back, twisted his left and rolled his right foot behind his body. His enemy. 1's cross counter thrust forward only to hit empty air when 3 turned his body like a top clockwise. 3 didn't even have to raise his left hand to defend his face as he twisted and turned, because by that time when he had overcome the apex of his momentum, 1's fist had already committed itself and touched thin air. 3's face was already gone.

"The broadsword attack."

If 80% of the world was accustomed to a pre-determined action, 3 mimicked Eiji's earlier movements eventhough he had only seen it once before. Instead of punching with a right cross, he instantaneously swerved his entire body to deliver a clockwise spinning backfist… swerving a whole torso wide to the right of 1's counter, the perpetual motion f his 4 knuckles landed softly into his senior's temple.

"IF." If, 3 questioned in a scholarly snobbish voice. "If 80% of the world would expect such an attack – why would a GREAT WISE man subject himself to petty rules, 1?"

…and… with a backfist and this full spinning BROADSWORD ATTACK.

"And that is how he defeated you, and laid you cold into the ground." 3's spinning backfist answered conventional logic that enslaved 80% of the entire fighting world.

…

Refusing to give up, Yamashita countered with a hard punch into Eiji's diaphragm then a fast hook into the fleshy part of Eiji just under his armpit. She had nothing else to hide now, with her ninja mask lost to the wind, never to be found, Yamashita felt a burden lift from her shoulders as her plain exposed face, bruised, battered, scarred and bloody looked forward.

"I… I will…" Eiji retaliated with another body blow.

"I… I WILL…" In due fashion Yamashita didn't let up and responded with a reply of her own into Eiji's defenseless face.

I WILL SET YOU FREE! Instantaneous in motion Eiji's right hook [touched] Yamashita's temple, shaking her being, releasing his most carnal of desires into his wife's face, just at the same time when Yamashita punched upwards again into the hinge of Eiji's jaw.

I am not afraid of you.

I… I understand, Kaori.

…

"Can I tell you something, Eiji?" Kaori said softly, shyly and cutely as she looked to the other side, but peeked at her lover from the edge of her vision. In that clear forest clearing, in that one perfect day for all girls under the sky…

I wish time would stop… for us, alone.

What?

"I love you Eiji."