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

[lonewolflives]

Look with her eyes, she'd been taught. She'd thought it countless times by now.

Right now, she was trying, but the sheer scope of it, the relentless movement, the cacophony of sights was threatening to overwhelm her. She looked around with her eyes as wide as they'd go and tried not to blink, to try to see everything at once.

They had things to do, but she almost wanted to forget about them and just drag O-Ren about, forcing her to explain everything. Meet everyone, go everywhere.

But she was a Stark, and made of sterner stuff than that, so she just held fast to O-Ren's hand and said, "Hai. It is. I won't."

And because she was Arya Stark, she added a loyal if not particularly emphatic, "Winterfell's impressive, too, though."

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

Despite being trapped in a possibly imaginary version of Tokyo, where the man who killed her father waited, O-Ren let her head fall back and she laughed delightedly at that. "Maybe someday I'll get to see it."

She gave Arya a little tug. "Ikou. We need to stop being schoolgirls. Try not to scare the salespeople, they'll already be afraid of you."

[lonewolflives]

"It's not my fault if they're pansies," Arya complained, as she followed where O-Ren led, mostly by way of the hand tugging her along because she was still trying to watch everything at once.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

O-Ren chose the depths of Shibuya, weaving though the throngs of people. As a wave of steam passed by her cheek, she inhaled and murmured, "After we kill him, we're having noodles." She found herself hoping that her subconscious, if that was what this was, wouldn't send them back immediately.

Coming to a door that looked not that different than many other doors, O-Ren squinted at the writing on the sign, and finally pushed the door open. What a lot of leather.

[lonewolflives]

They'd passed the sign too fast for Arya to do the translation in her head, if she'd have been able to manage it at all, so she didn't know what to expect.

She hadn't quite been expecting this. "...is this the right store?" she asked.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

"For some things," O-Ren said. "See if there's anything you like," she added, heading straight for the counter at the back. Then, as if drawing it up from inside herself, she smiled mysteriously at the bleach-blonde young man behind the counter.

"I'd like to see the back room. I'm planning for a big night, and I need many supplies."

[lonewolflives]

Arya watched her go, looking slightly perturbed, more by the question than the actual contents of the store.

They were just things, after all. It was the idea of any of them as applied to her, personally, that gave her pause.

So she ignored that part and just set about studying everything, sidling curiously through aisles.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

A flash of the pistol on her thigh made the young man disappear into the back very quickly, and reappear with several boxes of ammunition. O-Ren picked through it idly, pausing to glance over at Arya. She smothered a smile.

"You can just wear what you have on."

[lonewolflives]

Arya looked down at the uniform, and then at some of the leather.

She crinkled her brow, clearly in the throes of indecision. She couldn't decide which was worse.

Although, if there was an option that didn't include a skirt...

"I thought you said we couldn't be schoolgirls?" she said.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

"Jeans in the corner," O-Ren said, reloading her gun on the counter. "You can open up a man's throat without blinking, but this is freaking you out?"

She dropped a handful of cash on the counter.

[lonewolflives]

"It's not freaking me out!" Arya protested, a little too vehemenantly. "I just don't like thinking about stupid clothes!"

She did start for the corner, though. She also stopped before she got there.

She knew jeans. Jeans didn't have that as much flexibility as she liked.

She wondered how the leather compared.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

For herself, O-Ren picked a pair of jeans so worn and torn that they hardly existed. After an imperious look that sent the shopkeeper scurrying, she changed unhurriedly, finally pulling on a black leather jacket, popping the collar up like she'd seen all the yakuza boys do lately.

"Ready?"

[lonewolflives]

The leather proved to have more give than she'd expected. She went with that; she wasn't concerned if it clung to her legs, as long as it wasn't a skirt. Not wanting to give what she was wearing any more thought than that, she threw on a shirt, in Tully red - it'd hide blood better than Stark grey - and slung the backpack over her shoulder.

"Always," she said.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

O-Ren divvied up the guns and ammo evenly, and then she turned to Arya, something cradled in her hand. "I don't expect we're going to let him get away, but if it looks like he might--"

She held the grenade out. "It's the only one. I've had practice; don't worry about hitting me."

[lonewolflives]

Arya hesitated for a fraction of a second. She didn't see how you could get out of the way of an explosion, if you were too close, and she'd never thrown a grenade. She knew how it worked, knew how, but knowing and doing were two different things.

But she wasn't about to let O-Ren down. She bit her lip, and took the grenade.

"He won't get away," she said, in lieu of anything else that was on her mind.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad it's you," O-Ren said as her fingers were lightened of the grenade. "You'll see me through to the end, Arya?" Her eyes were serious-- this was serious. How many times could she get it wrong?

Not this time. She would see it all done right.

[lonewolflives]

"Valar dohaeris," Arya said, instinctively falling back on her forms, on the strange, formal way Jaqen had talked. "A girl will have her revenge."

Then she smiled, darkly, just at the fringes of one side of her mouth. "I think your list is shorter than mine. Let's go back it shorter."

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

The promise of a kill shouldn't have given flight to her heart that way, but O-Ren Ishii wasn't exactly made as she should have been these days. And besides that, it was the Last One.

She nodded, sharply. "We'll steal a ride. It's a long way from here."

With that, she headed out to where she'd seen the motorcycle outside. A small screwdriver from her bag, and she was popping open panels and cutting wires.

[lonewolflives]

"Sometime, you're going to have to show me how to do that," Arya said, taking up a position beside her, against the wall, and keeping watch for anyone who might look askance at what they were doing.

Now, though, now they didn't have time for lessons. There was business to attend to.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

"We'll have to find someone back on the island to steal one from," O-Ren said. Didn't that old cripple have one? He didn't even need it. She actually grinned when the motor roared to life under her fingers, and she slung her bag into the saddlebag on the side.

One leg up and over, and luckily, whoever owned this wasn't that much bigger than her. She looked back at Arya.

[lonewolflives]

"You're on," Arya said, sliding on to the seat behind O-Ren, taking a moment to figure out where she was supposed to put her legs.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

Making sure Arya's arms were securely around her waist, the act of which sent a strange thrill down her spine, O-Ren revved the engine and let the bike roar out onto the street. The citizens were easily avoided, and though she knew that they should probably have helmets, there was something to be said for the wind in her hair.

Not far now.

"Keep watch for it," she called over the noise.

[lonewolflives]

"I'm watching!" Arya called back, trying to stay focused with the city blurring past around them.

She liked motorcycles, she decided. Horses were still good, but the speed, the power... she had to remind herself they were on serious business, and not just let out a whoop.

[babyviper.livejournal.com]

Maybe O-Ren was putting on a little bit of a show. But if you couldn't use your training, what was the point in having it anyway?

In fact, they came to the exterior of the House of Blue Leaves far too quickly for her taste. Assuming she survived, O-Ren vowed that they would leave on the bike as well.

"This is it," she said quietly.

[lonewolflives]

The thrill of the ride settled into something more serious, if no less dynamic, as she sized up the building.

"Is there a back way in, or do we have to go in through the front?"

She was remembering the film. In particular, the Crazy 88. At the time, it had seemed impressive. Now, it verged towards the intimidating.

Fear cuts deeper than swords, she reminded herself.