Homeplot (2)

[babyviper]

Chapter 1:
The Empty Room in Osaka

Apartment 217, in a nondescript block of an apartment building on the outskirts of downtown Osaka, Japan.

Laying on a bare floor, a clunky mobile phone began to ring. Despite the amount of money such a phone would cost in the late part of the eighties, before the big rush really began, it wasn't even the most expensive item in the room. The real treasures in this tiny, bare apartment had to do with what was in the closet, which bore a simple combination lock.

The ringing seeped into O-Ren's consciousness even as she struggled to wake up. How late had she been out last night? That wasn't like her, and surely Angua and Dean would have had questions. Was she sick, then? Why the heavy haze around her? The fucking ringing was beginning to wear itself out, too.

O-Ren snapped up from her futon so quickly that she had to brace against the window. She was no longer even a bit sleepy, so aware she couldn't keep her hands from shaking as she patted herself down. Same self that had gone to bed the night before.

But a look around confirmed this was her old apartment. Only a few pots to boil ramen in. Blood spots she'd never bothered to clean up. Locked closet. Mobile phone ringing on the ground. She'd cut the regular telephone line herself, preferring this.

It stopped ringing, and O-Ren took a deep breath. "What the fuck."

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[lonewolflives]

Arya watched the people going in and out of the station, careful to keep her expression at the appropriate level of casual; she was just a girl standing around with a friend, seeing people go by but not really caring.

"I don't suppose they dress any different to everyone else?"

It probably wasn't like the gold or red cloaks. These were criminals, after all, and even dumb criminals were usually smart enough not to advertise they were criminals.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

"They'll wear suits, probably," O-Ren said, scanning the crowd. "Black and white. Other way to tell is tattoos. Lots and lots of them. They're so used to people being afraid of them that they don't always hide who they are."

She motioned to where the ticket booth stood. "Over here. Tickets."

[lonewolflives]

Every time she opened her mouth or so much as looked around it seemed like she was reminded of how different everything here was.

Part of her almost wanted them to show up, because at least she had more of a sense how to handle that. But that was stupid. No one should want someone to be trying to catch them.

"Tickets," she repeated, making a beeline. Tickets. Which you needed to ride a train. Right. Mentally, she checked off any suit she saw in the crowd. Too old, too out-of-shape, maybe, too nervous, maybe...

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

O-Ren pinched herself on the inside of her arm, hard, and that was enough to throw herself into character, so to speak. "Ne~" she drawled, to start herself off, and began to prattle a little at the attendant. Just another empty-headed girl.

Even as she thought about how long it had been since she'd done this on purpose, she just barely registered the flash of black and white at the corner of her eye.

[lonewolflives]

As she listened, Arya realized she was far from fluent; she could work out the general thrust of the conversation, with concentration, but understanding exactly what was said was beyond her. The best she could do was pluck out key phrases and words out of the flow one at a time.

No matter. It had been enough in Braavos, and it would be enough here, and her eyes still told her enough about what was going on.

She started to take out her money to pay for a ticket, and a coin slipped through her fingers and dropped.

Arya was good at sleight of hand. She bent to pick it up, the motion disguising her look at the man off to the side. He was looking for something, someone; he wasn't part of the daily scenery of the station, she could tell.

She straightened. See if they could slip his attention first, she thought. He's looking for one. We're two. It might be enough.

Might.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

The same thought pulsed through O-Ren's mind. No one would expect her to be with Arya, especially not considering the voracity with which she'd had to cut ties to anything gaijin. She forced herself to hold still as the attendant counted the money, sorted her change.

Just as she was about to lean over and whisper to Arya, who seemed to have picked up on things as well, the attendant tugged at his collar, sweating in his little booth.

"Atsuii, ne?" she inquired as sweetly as possible, but it was a cold rush that shot through her veins as he worked at the knot of his tie, and a telltale flash of inked skin appeared.

[lonewolflives]

Shit. He couldn't do anything within his little booth, she didn't think, but he hadn't given them the tickets yet. All he had to do was hold them up for someone else.

If he'd recognized O-Ren. He might still just hand them the ticket and that would be that.

Arya didn't expect it to be that easy.

She didn't bother making an excuse to look around; she just had to watch the attendant. He'd look at his colleagues if they were about to move in, she'd spot that.

While she waited, she put her hands behind her back as if idly stretching, putting a knife close to hand.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

The phone in the booth rang, and O-Ren automatically squared her shoulders as the attendant paused to answer it. As he agreed pleasantly with whoever was on the line, she watched his hands. Watched the tickets print.

His hands disappeared below the counter.

O-Ren's shot out and snatched the tickets, and she was sure she could hear the safety click off behind the booth. The train whistled shrilly, and she didn't look over at Arya. She didn't need to look. "Try not to kill any civilians," she said.

[lonewolflives]

"I'll try," Arya said, and thought, valar morghulis even as she started to move, bending and turning as if to tie a shoelace and then throwing herself into a sprint from the crouch.

The man in the suit had been watching them, had been waiting for a signal, but he'd been waiting for their signal. He hadn't expected an American girl to be there, or to suddenly run at him.

Still, Arya gave him credit for his reaction time. He still managed to get his hand inside his suit, get the gun almost clear of his jacket.

The knife, thrown underhanded, took him in the throat.

She replaced the lost knife with his gun, snatched out of lifeless fingers, and grabbed his shirt with the other hand, twisting him to stay in front of her. He hadn't realized he should fall over, yet, and that gave her a second or two of cover.

Her eyes flicked between O-Ren and the surrounds, looked for who was next.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

O-Ren's heart stopped a beat, but it wasn't because she was afraid.

She smiled, tucking the tickets into her pocket. How beautiful Arya looked as she fought; time slowed down as it often did for O-Ren in these intense moments. It was only the explosion of noise from the booth that made her turn her head away, and she simply let herself spin away, the bullet so close to her cheek that she felt the heat.

One hand on the counter, she pushed up as she jumped, breaking the ticket window open with a kick. She fired a neat round into the attendant's head.

A look at the platform told her all she needed to know. The terrified crowd cleared away until only the four men in suits stood between them and the train.

"Doors close in thirty seconds."

[lonewolflives]

Arya didn't flinch at the shot; O-Ren wasn't going to go down so easily, and what she saw from the corner of her vision confirmed it.

Thirty seconds.

Swift as a deer, she thought, reaching up to pull the knife out of the yakuza thug's throat, spinning around him on the pulling motion, clear of the blood that sprayed from the now vacant wound.

She fired around him as the spin put her clear, fleet steps closing the distance between her and the rightmost yakuza. Gun in her right hand, coming up to fire across her chest, sending another diving, and left hand throwing the knife overhand.

This one dodged, but not enough; the knife took him in the shoulder, throwing his aim off. The shot went wide, and by the time he'd grit his teeth and swung it back, she was on him, in the air. Right leg scissoring out to kick the gun out of his hand, left planting itself square in his face.

Those ridiculous heels were good for something, after all. She kept firing as she rode his collapsing body to the ground, rolling clear after he hit.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

It was enough to make a girl rethink her position on working alone. O-Ren felt for the hilt of her own blade at the opening of her backpack, and pulled it free. She crouched down on the counter, holding still only for the second it took light to gleam off the silver of the katana.

Who knew what they were expecting, really, she found herself thinking as she ran. Surely if they knew how Boss Matsumoto had died, they wouldn't stand there gaping. They would know about her sword by now.

She slid low under their line of fire, skidding right into one's legs. Going sword first made the going a lot easier, especially as she cleared his legs out cleanly below the knees. Another bullet burned past her cheek as she plunged upwards, a slice of red across the hand of the only man standing now, another with a gun.

The warning bell rang on the train.

[lonewolflives]

It was enough to make a girl wish she had her swords; there was a grace to it, even at its most brutal, that you didn't get with a knife.

But a knife worked all the same, and so did the gun. Ultimately, it didn't matter how you killed, so long as the person ended up dead.

She came clear of her roll as a bell rang. Arya knew a warning when she heard one, and she might never have seen a train before, but she knew what a door looked like. She sprinted for it, the knife leaving her hand and burying itself in the back of the knee of the one man still standing, although not for very long.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

O-Ren shoved off the screaming man she'd just liberated several fingers from, leaving the bloody gun there, despite the chance for more bullets. Thing was, guns just didn't come clean in the sink of a bullet train's tiny restroom.

As she passed Arya, bounding over a puddle of blood, she reached out, grabbing for sleeve or wrist or hand. Almost there. Tangentially, she realized they would have to get new clothes in Tokyo. Arya would probably hate it.

She took a bit of a tumble, having to pretty much jump into the train, but at least people moved the hell out of her way.

[lonewolflives]

Arya caught O-Ren by the wrist and let her momentum to add to her own, landing in the train scant moments after on one knee.

The door hissed closed.

She straightened to look at the people staring at them. "Valar morghulis," she told them, and then nearly fell over as the floor moved unexpectedly under her.

The train started to move.