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."

Comments

[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.