Why they call him Dog
Nov. 8th, 2017 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegunicentAji was born looking for trouble. If Haikada was to be believed, Aji had been born from a violent explosion of pure chaos and destruction. Since Aji didn't remember the event, and he didn't care to speculate about the kind of people who would leave their infants in the garbage filled allies of Rukongai, he chose to believe his brother was being more factual than dramatic.
So it was no surprise that Aji was constantly in fights as soon as they got into the academy, or that he won more than he lost. Though he didn't win them all. As he felt his ribs crack under a vicious kick, he was pretty sure he wasn't winning this one. Three on one he could handle, but six pushed even his limits, and he refused to draw steel on guys who hadn't drawn yet on him, even if they did bring all their friends.
Kada was going to give him one of those lectures again. The ones about actually *applying* for 11, not just thugging his way in.
He curled around his middle with a bloody cough, black spots swimming over his eyes.
"Enough."
Oh shit. Aji went looking for trouble like a dog hunting table scraps, but that soft, almost whispery voice could make his blood run cold and his whole body freeze before his brain had time to catch up. The sharp stab of pain as one of his opponents connected with his kidneys with their sandals told him the other guys had the survival instincts of wild dodos.
Aji was one to give and receive his beatings like a man, if these assholes didn't kill him he'd heal, train, hunt them all down later and repay the debt tenfold. If Haikada had come he'd have brought teachers and the full weight of the academy rules down on all their heads, Aji's included. They'd grown up on the streets surviving day to day with their fists and wits.
Seiko didn't understand fighting fair, and he'd never trusted anyone or anything but himself, and his two 'beloved idiots'.
"I said *enough*."
Together they'd managed to convince him of the necessity of *warning* people, of giving time for people to *run*, and saving his energy for threats that mattered instead of whatever annoyed him. Coming out in the open and raising his voice enough to be heard over Aji's rasping groans *probably* counted in his twisted head.
Later Ajibaldo would claim it was how close he was to blacking out that he failed to see what happened next, though he had the suspicion no one under Captain level could actually *see* movement that quick. He heard one of the morons mutter about having 'fun with the Futa', the rasp of steel leaving it's sheath, and saw his little brother's eyes narrow just slightly. After that was a nearly silent 'shikai' and the air *screamed* with exploding reitsu, wind and pressure blasting the training field. Aji blacked out, still praying the instructors wouldn't be picking up corpses.
Haikada nearly bit his tongue as he snapped his mouth closed in a tight grimace mid-answer to the teacher's history question. Disregarding the woman's sharply barked demands he grabbed his sword and started running. Class was boring, but Duty demanded he do his best. In this instance, Duty took a backseat to the sudden stangling yank on his soul, the rush of fear for the other halves of his heart. Aji hadn't mastered the art of Soul Threads yet, either manifesting or singling out the bonds that allowed shinigami to warn each other over vast distances. His reitsu tended to center in his fists.
Haikada understood the theory, he'd practiced enough to be able to *see* the ribbon-like red threads with a calm mind and a lot of effort. Touching them, finding the ones that meant his Brothers...
He broke into a full sprint as the atmospheric pressure over the school took a dangerous nose dive, clear skies crackling with surging ozone, wind rushing into the vacuum fast enough to tear off roof tiles, snap tree branches and flatten unprepared students. He didn't need to look to find the eye of the sudden storm, he could feel it pulling him like a chain anchored in his sternum, the other end drawing tight.
His eyes picked out the bodies first, since he'd been looking for them. Male, uniformed, young... crumpled boneless and a few at decidedly painful angles that meant broken bones if they were still breathing. Aji, not bleeding but not moving either. he found he was writing a mental casualty report and forced himself to ignore everything but the issue at hand. The bigger issue.
"Seiko don't you kill him!"
Tinier than anyone in the Academy the only way for the diminutive boy to loom was with shadow stepping, but he'd figured the technique out quickly. An older student, one of the next graduating class and ringleader if Kada could guess, was holding tight to Seiko's slim wrists, and only the strength of his arms was keeping him from sliding into the crossed steel of Seiko's twin feather blades.
So it was no surprise that Aji was constantly in fights as soon as they got into the academy, or that he won more than he lost. Though he didn't win them all. As he felt his ribs crack under a vicious kick, he was pretty sure he wasn't winning this one. Three on one he could handle, but six pushed even his limits, and he refused to draw steel on guys who hadn't drawn yet on him, even if they did bring all their friends.
Kada was going to give him one of those lectures again. The ones about actually *applying* for 11, not just thugging his way in.
He curled around his middle with a bloody cough, black spots swimming over his eyes.
"Enough."
Oh shit. Aji went looking for trouble like a dog hunting table scraps, but that soft, almost whispery voice could make his blood run cold and his whole body freeze before his brain had time to catch up. The sharp stab of pain as one of his opponents connected with his kidneys with their sandals told him the other guys had the survival instincts of wild dodos.
"What, little futani here to save her boyfriend? Stay out of this you faggot unless you wanna be as ugly as..."
Aji blinked and forced his wavering vision to focus enough to catch the complete non-expression on his little brother's face, and was stupidly grateful he'd already emptied his bowels before heading out to this beat-down. "Seiko.... Don't kill 'em...."Aji was one to give and receive his beatings like a man, if these assholes didn't kill him he'd heal, train, hunt them all down later and repay the debt tenfold. If Haikada had come he'd have brought teachers and the full weight of the academy rules down on all their heads, Aji's included. They'd grown up on the streets surviving day to day with their fists and wits.
Seiko didn't understand fighting fair, and he'd never trusted anyone or anything but himself, and his two 'beloved idiots'.
"I said *enough*."
Together they'd managed to convince him of the necessity of *warning* people, of giving time for people to *run*, and saving his energy for threats that mattered instead of whatever annoyed him. Coming out in the open and raising his voice enough to be heard over Aji's rasping groans *probably* counted in his twisted head.
Later Ajibaldo would claim it was how close he was to blacking out that he failed to see what happened next, though he had the suspicion no one under Captain level could actually *see* movement that quick. He heard one of the morons mutter about having 'fun with the Futa', the rasp of steel leaving it's sheath, and saw his little brother's eyes narrow just slightly. After that was a nearly silent 'shikai' and the air *screamed* with exploding reitsu, wind and pressure blasting the training field. Aji blacked out, still praying the instructors wouldn't be picking up corpses.
Haikada nearly bit his tongue as he snapped his mouth closed in a tight grimace mid-answer to the teacher's history question. Disregarding the woman's sharply barked demands he grabbed his sword and started running. Class was boring, but Duty demanded he do his best. In this instance, Duty took a backseat to the sudden stangling yank on his soul, the rush of fear for the other halves of his heart. Aji hadn't mastered the art of Soul Threads yet, either manifesting or singling out the bonds that allowed shinigami to warn each other over vast distances. His reitsu tended to center in his fists.
Haikada understood the theory, he'd practiced enough to be able to *see* the ribbon-like red threads with a calm mind and a lot of effort. Touching them, finding the ones that meant his Brothers...
He broke into a full sprint as the atmospheric pressure over the school took a dangerous nose dive, clear skies crackling with surging ozone, wind rushing into the vacuum fast enough to tear off roof tiles, snap tree branches and flatten unprepared students. He didn't need to look to find the eye of the sudden storm, he could feel it pulling him like a chain anchored in his sternum, the other end drawing tight.
His eyes picked out the bodies first, since he'd been looking for them. Male, uniformed, young... crumpled boneless and a few at decidedly painful angles that meant broken bones if they were still breathing. Aji, not bleeding but not moving either. he found he was writing a mental casualty report and forced himself to ignore everything but the issue at hand. The bigger issue.
"Seiko don't you kill him!"
Tinier than anyone in the Academy the only way for the diminutive boy to loom was with shadow stepping, but he'd figured the technique out quickly. An older student, one of the next graduating class and ringleader if Kada could guess, was holding tight to Seiko's slim wrists, and only the strength of his arms was keeping him from sliding into the crossed steel of Seiko's twin feather blades.
"I told him to stop." Seiko murmured, voice arctic in the eye of his private storm. "He hurt Aji."
"And he will be dealt with, *properly*, according to the *rules* Seiko. We don't kill idiots for being idiots." Haikada left his hand on his blade, but kept his tone even and firm. De-escalation. No one else had a chance of saving the bastard in his brother's grasp which left it to him even if he didn't particularly *want* to.
"Why not?" From anyone else that would not have been an honest question. From Seiko... Haikada wasn't sure. But he answered honestly because Seiko was his Brother and he didn't lie to his Brothers.
"Because then we'd run out of *people*. Put him down, don't kill him. We need to get Aji into the clinic." Firm orders, simple instructions, honest answers. A trail of blood ran down the fantastic rippling edge of the shorter blade, but eventually the wind settled down and the terrified fool full of ego fell to the ground with his head still attached.
"Thank you."
Seiko gave him the long, blank stare he'd somehow hoped would disappear with the application of a warm roof and soft bed, steady food and endless availability of books.
