Punching Bag

At least a dozen police had shown up in about 5 minutes from the aftermath, with more on the way to be sure. Using a circular ball, they quickly fabricated a programmable virtual barricade around the entire building, including parts of the street just outside, slowing traffic immensely. This was done simply by tossing it in the air, allowing it to expand its radius until stopped by the push of a remote. It would blink red, and emit a shock if anyone unauthorized tried to enter or exit.

One by one these officers led people outside, and in doing so they each were asked a few things before being allowed to pass through the barricade.

“What exactly happened here?”

“Heir killed some scum, ain’t any different than usual,” Buff replied while looking down onto the officer, slightly annoyed he was being stalled. Both Xion, with a bloody rag up to his nose, and a sword in the other hand, and Saeko stood next to him.

“With what objects or weapons, if you can provide details?”

“What kind of dumbass question is that? Go check for yourself.”

The officer quickly tried to change questions, and pointed a pen at Xion’s bloody display. “What happened to your son’s nose?”

“These two rats are my nephew and niece actually, and this one clumsily fell while everything happened, right?” Buff’s arm slapped the back of Xion, causing a subtle “y-yeah” from him.

“Would you like our medical staff to take him to a facility, and provide him a checkup to see if he is physically safe?”

“No.”

“While I respect your decision, I would strongly advise our expertise on the matter.” The officer began to write down notes, but stopped midway, intimidated by Buff. “You may proceed through the sphere.”

“Thanks,” Buff lied, and purposely brushed by along with his “nephew and niece.”

The blue holographic seal remained dormant as the 3 phased through it. Along with them now were a few more policemen, who currently were busy preventing the amassed crowd from coming any further.

“Is she in there?!” a man began to shout, pushing and shoving. “Let me talk to her!”

“You aren’t worthy!” a woman shouted back. “None of us are worth enough even to be tread upon!”

“Then they should at least let us in, so we can witness her beautiful handiwork! That wonderful woman of war paints the walls of the city red for us while Kitsune sleeps!”

“Yeah! The followers of the heir deserve to breathe in her carnage, and witness the future!”

“All fall for the heir! All fall for the heir!” broke out in chants, and while not everyone from the crowd joined, the chants could be heard a decent way down the street.

“Need a reminder that you’re sane? Just look at how many chase after danger.” Xion and Saeko kept to themselves, realizing Buff was right. There were at least triple the amount of people trying to get inside than there were those exiting the sphere.

The car ride home couldn’t have been any more awkward. However, at least for Xion he wasn’t sitting in the passenger side next to Buff like Saeko was, instead he sat in the back where Buff glared at him through the mirror.

“I’m not even going to try and explain how stupid you two were,” Buff finally said, voice full of disappointment. “And before you go saying anything, I don’t care how many places you’ve smuggled, snuck. or broken into. You knew Daydream was off limits.”

“But it wasn’t our fault!” Saeko pleaded back. “We got in safely, and it was just a bad coincidence is all..”

“Hand over the gravity roll.” Buff placed out his hand, keeping the other on the wheel. Saeko frowned.

“It..got destroyed…during the fight.”

“Hahaha!” Buff cackled out loud. “So we’re telling jokes now?”

“I’m telling you the truth. Right Xion?”

Although he couldn’t see her face, Xion could tell she was begging him to agree.

“Hey instead of getting him into more trouble, why don’t you accept the blame yourself for once. No excuse is cutting it this time kiddo.” He gently knocked on her shoulder twice.

“I’m sorry for messing up, Buff,” she said while rubbing her shoulder.

“And?”

“For losing the gravity roll…”

“So it wasn’t broken?”

“No- but you should’ve seen Xion! He legit figured it out in one try!” she said with more energy.

“Oh?” Buff smirked up at the mirror, looking back at Xion.

“We maybe cut it a little too close for comfort,” Xion nervously laughed back, squinting his eyes as the pain from his nose shot back.

“Had your smuggler here been a little smarter, she’d have let you learn on a smaller building. Still, I’m glad to find you in one piece.”

“Me too.”

“Unfortunately that doesn’t rationalize Saeko’s actions, so she’s grounded from future jobs for me.”

“You can’t ground me, I’m not your daughter!” she squabled back at him.

“You aren’t my niece either, but it’s my operation and equipment. Final say.”

She kicked the dashboard, and turned to face the side window.

“As for you in the back. You wanna speak up on what happened between you and…well, you know who, or is it a private affair?”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me why you hate her,” Xion proclaimed boldly, seeing he had an opportunity to learn more.

“She say that?” Buff’s half shaved eyebrows raised.

“Yeah.”

“Glad to know her and I both still see it the same way then. Sure, I’ll tell ya, but after we get home and fix your nose. Better not have gotten any blood on the seats.”

Shortly after this, they arrived at Tough Buff’s home at about 10:30pm.

Xion sat in a cushioned chair that Buff had rummaged out of his piles of junk, placing it in the middle of the surface floor’s room. It connected to a pillar in the floor, much like you’d find at a car maintenance station.

Nearby him Saeko stood with a clean wet rag, along with a bucket of water and an ice bag.

Buff returned from the basement with a black duffle bag. He then pressed a lever with his foot, reclining both Xion and the chair.

“So good news and bad news. Good news, looking at it now, I don’t think it’s broken. Definitely a fracture though.”

“What’s the bad news?” Xion asked as he tried to block the ceiling light blinding his eyes.

“This isn’t a hospital, which means I don’t have any anesthesia, so you’re gonna have to deal with some of my old numbing cream.” On queue, Buff retrieved a container with a pale paste inside.

Xion studied the scratches on Buff’s face.

“Is it going to hurt?”

“It’s going to be uncomfortable, just like someone is pinching your nose for a long time, but it won’t be painful.”

“Alright…”

“Just stay still, and keep your eyes closed so you don’t have to look at my pretty face for too long, and you’ll be fine,” he smiled.

Xion did as told. Buff scooped out some paste with his fingers, applying it to Xion’s nasal regions and surrounding facials. He then reached back into his bag, pulling out a few tools intended for squeezing and pulling.

Saeko flicked on the nearby radio, providing a quiet guitar ambience with vocals.

“By now you know that back in my prime age I was a boxer. Whether that was from Saeko’s big mouth or scavenging around the place, I’d have probably even told you myself anyways eventually if you stuck around.”

“In the record books I’ve gone down as undefeated throughout my entire professional career of punching faces. I’m mentioning this because that’s a lie actually. In-ring, yes, but outside of it I lost one single match off the books, and my opponent was my own younger brother.”

“Your brother? How?” Saeko gasped at him.

“See, he'd been nagging me for years with this huge passion project he wanted to do, ever since I started fighting actually. So we finally made a bet together.” Buff placed a clamp over the bridge of Xion’s nose, then tightened it with a screw.

“If I won, he’d shut up about it, and be in my corner every fight. If he won, I’d drop my gloves for good, and help him reconnect Japan’s regional trade routes.”

“We fought until the final twelfth round, neither of us holding anything back. What surprised me wasn’t how he could fight, but I’ve never had an opponent make it past the tenth round. At some point he hit my sweat drenched body with one blow that knocked my mouth guard out, and the next follow up punch on my jaw sealed the deal, handing my ass the retirement papers. Worst part is he looked like he could go at least three more rounds. Maybe he should’ve been the boxer in the family.”

“Where does he live then? You’ve never mentioned him before, even though we’ve been working together for a while,” Saeko pondered as she paced around the room.

“The Kanto region, or Tokyo to be more specific.” Buff’s large hands began to massage around Xion’s face. “Still feeling okay there?” he asked, to which Xion held a thumb up.

“All the way over there? Jeez, how are you guys even working together then?” Saeko smiled as she saw Xion’s thumb go up.

“Before regions had secluded themselves, and focused on national pride, there had been a unified trade throughout the country, including even the lesser regions. My cluttered garage probably doesn’t look like much, but it’s a start of the return to that dream my brother has. The things in here aren’t made anywhere else, much like vintage cars.” Buff began to tap the clamp around Xion’s nose with a small rubber mallet.

“Oh! So if you could get a small garage like this in every region, that’s a start right?” Saeko answered quickly.

“Yeah, we just want to sell more than old pieces of junk, but that’s progress. If the people like it, then the Daimyos will have no choice but to open up.”

“Has your brother succeeded with a shop in Kanto then?”

“No. My brother has completely opened up Kanto.”

Saeko peeked her head around Buff’s shoulder in awe.

“How?”

“I have to assume it’s pretty easy when he’s Kanto’s Daimyo.”

She nearly jumped in surprise at the news, along with Xion, whose eyes opened up. Buff returned his hands to the clamp, and began to unscrew and remove it, then placing a small bandage that wrapped around the bridge of his nose.

“You should be fixed up now. Let it heal up for a bit before you go hitting your face on anything again.”

“Thanks…Buff,” Xion sat up and offered a handshake, to which Buff promptly declined.

“Tell me what happened there, and we’ll call it even.” Buff was straightforward in telling him.

“Right,” Xion nodded in agreement. He proceeded to recount his interaction with Akuma.

Buff rubbed his chin while listening.

“Why am I not surprised she’d threaten you like that,” he said with disgust. “Still, all that memory shit is bizarre. If the point of the machine is to see into your own past, how in the hell did you see hers?”

“She was confused about that too,” Xion said while shrugging. “I’m sure it bothered her more honestly.”

“Bet it did. Would you seriously consider accepting her offer?”

“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t interest me. To move as fast as she does, and a chance to maybe even meet Kitsune himself…” his words trailed, not needing explanation.

“What if I offered you a job for me?” Buff suddenly asked, startling Xion. “I can’t promise it’ll pay much at the start, but you’ll be contributing to the greater good, and can maybe even keep an eye on her,” to which Saeko grinned at.

“With all respect, you still haven’t told me why you hate Akuma.”

“Be sure you want to know, for it will influence whatever opinion it is you have of her.” Buff began to return the tools back to his bag, and went downstairs.

Xion and Saeko looked at each other.

“Should I ask?”

“I think it’s important to know about the person you’re considering joining,” Saeko said promptly, adding, “especially for something so life changing.”

“I just can’t shake this thought that there's this bigger picture to everything. Me seeing her thoughts, having been protected by her for three years, which is the same amount of time since my father’s passing. That number shouldn’t be important, but considering she was there when my father died, and knowing that the streets are supposed to be deserted, maybe she can help me figure out more about what he was doing there.”

“Why is it such a big deal to know what he was doing? My dad left too, and I’m not fantasizing over it.”

She was right, and he had nothing to say in return that would make her content. If only she understood how he felt now, knowing the things he knew.

When Buff arrived, in his hands he held a long black case with a single latch.

“If you want to know, then you open this on your own accord.” He gave it over to Xion, placing it on his lap. The case was light, though something was held firmly inside.

After a moment’s hesitation, Xion unhooked the latch, opening it. Inside was a katana nearly identical to the one she’d given him, which was leaning up against the doorway. The only difference between this and the one he had was the stained blood, dried and dark, plastered around both sides of the blade and hilt.

“I don’t understand,” Xion said cautiously. “What’s this have to do with Akuma?”

“That’s my brother’s blood on there. She took his sight.”

“W-what?!” Saeko nearly choked.

“N-no…” Xion added, fully in disbelief, and wanting to drop the case.

“When I lost my eye in a fight, doctors said the retina was still intact, so I got this cybernetic eye to help with it. My brother wasn’t so lucky, but then again, she knew where she was swinging.” Buff’s tone had gotten much lower than before, clearly regretful for what had happened. He took the case back into his hands, shutting it tightly.

“He told me he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If that isn’t enough advice for you to stay away from her, I don’t know what else is.”

Xion’s heart raced. Surely there had to be some good reason she would resort to hurting what seemed to be a nice person. However, each time he thought this, the idea became more impossible.

“Now that’s enough of all that. Come on kid, I’ll drive you home.”
The three returned to Buff’s car, where the ride was completely silent.

They arrived at Saeko’s place first at about 11:30pm.

“Thanks Xion for coming with me today, even if it wasn’t the best idea. Hope I kept you entertained” she tried to say with a smile, clearly struggling as she hopped out of the car. “I’m going to be laying low since Buff has me grounded,” she sneered at him, “so you’re more than welcome to come here and hang out anytime.”

“I might try to,” he said with a subtle wave as Buff began to drive off. “See you.”

When they’d gotten a little ways away, Buff spoke up.

“We’re going to take a small detour, unless you need to be home right now.”

“No, that’s fine. Where are we going?”

“Showing you someplace near and dear to me.”

After quickly stopping at a drive thru for burgers and shakes, Buff pulled the car into an empty parking lot. Getting out, he placed his burger and shake onto the hood of the car, and walked out into the lot. A single large street light illuminated a decent area of the dark lot. Xion got out to join him.

“This place used to have thousands of screaming people here all the time. Any ideas?”

“You boxed here,” Xion guessed. “And you come here more often than you’d like to admit.”

“It’s strange. I can still feel the energy from that arena,” Buff said while gripping his fists tightly, and holding them up in his fighting stance, taking a few practice swings.

“Earlier I overheard you say that you used to play baseball. My brother used to as well before he lost his sight.” Buff grunted as his augmented arms got louder with each swing. “It was the only sport he cared about, and I went to every game of his I could.” He took one last swing, panting afterwards, now staring directly into Xion’s eyes.

“If you seek out Akuma, and join her little bloody brigade, then you stay away from Saeko. Understand?”

Xion nodded, for that was all he could do.

They returned to the car, and drove to Xion’s home, reaching it at 12:01am.

When they had arrived, Xion thanked him for the ride, and went inside with his new sword, and new red coin, both from Akuma. His mother was asleep now, so he quietly crawled back up onto the couch, where he had previously been sprawled on earlier today tossing his baseball.

His phone rumbled.

Taking it from his pocket, he saw there had been a new message sent. It was from Kazue Kinoskue:

“Hey man, you wanna hang out sometime?” It simply read.

Xion nearly laughed. Of course he did, but where, when, and why? Couldn’t Kazue have added slightly more information, seeing as he’d just left for the last few days?

Then his phone rumbled again, this time Xion dropped it after reading the message that followed.

“I got the job.”