Biting the Hand that Feeds

‘What was that just now?!’ The shock from the wound paralyzed Yuki for a second. Blood painted across his left cheek stretching to his eye and mouth. Even if he had been allowed to move he would not have budged.

His mind reeled through the events repeatedly. Each viewing didn't give him any more clarity than the last. ‘When did he attack me? I didn’t see anything!’ Yuki’s eye darted about trying to focus through the pain back on Katsu. ‘He’s one of those superhumans I created!’ It was that realization that something of his creation turned back on him that sank in deeply.

Chapter 81 – Biting the Hand that Feeds

“That’s the look!” Katsu shouted with glee in his voice. A sinister laugh escaped his lips. It was a laugh that grew and fed off of the pain of Yuki. It had only seemed to get darker the longer that he continued reveling in the misery. “Yes, the look of despair is one I truly relish.”

‘…he’s playing his part well…’ Yuki forced his head up, which had been hanging low on his neck, to try to get a clear view of Katsu. He needed to figure out what power it was that Katsu had.

All he could see was just the same haze surrounding him as before. A consistent wind seemed to be blowing against Yuki's face. The cool air made the gash, which began in the front between the end of the collar bone and joint at the shoulder back stopping a little before turning down his shoulder blade, in his shoulder sting sharply making him wince in his left eye. ‘…have to remain focused…’

Katsu stepped forward, nearly coming in contact with Yuki with his proximity. The wretched grin on his face seemed to have developed into a permanent feature. He grabbed Yuki’s face under the jaw to make sure they were eye to eye. “I see you weren’t lying when you said you had seen worse. A normal person would have been screaming tears after something like that. But you just grit your teeth and suck it up. Hearing your scream will be quite the pleasure for me.”

“I’m not interested…but I know someone that would take you…up on that.”

Another laugh ripped from Katsu's mouth. “I’m pleased to see you’ve still got plenty of spirit left!” Katsu removed his hand from Yuki’s jaw. He pressed his thumb into the wound, twisting it around waiting for a scream. The longer he was left not obliged the harder he pressed. A groan was pulled out of Yuki, but nothing more as he endured.

Haruo from across the street watched everything. ‘I can't do anything to stop this… He’s become involved because of me… I need to do something.’ In between dodging attacks from the punks Haruo tried to get around them. He hoped that he could distract Katsu enough from Yuki to allow him to escape. Unfortunately, they weren't making it easy on him.

Two of the boys made another attempt to take hold of him, a tactic that seemed all too common for them. Both were simply avoided and put Haruo in the position he wanted to escape finally. ‘Now’s my chance…’

Haruo broke from the group. It took them a few seconds to realize that Haruo was actually trying to flee away from them. ‘Just have to reach Katsu now…’ He pushed his legs as hard as he could to reach Katsu in time before anything more was done to Yuki. The torture became increasingly sadistic with each second that Haruo watched. He was still too far away. It had seemed like the distance was getting further away from him.

‘Almost there…’

A slightly muffled ripping of cloth alerted Haruo, but it was too late for him to be stopped. He felt a shallow sharp pain rising up his leg as blood dripped from a sudden wound. Haruo stumbled over falling into the grass. As he fell he felt even more slices along the right side of his body. Pain washed over him from head to toe making it difficult to restrain. ‘What happened to me?! Did Katsu see me coming and do something?’

The longer Haruo looked around the more he could see that Katsu was heavily engrossed in his torture of Yuki. An earthquake could have happened and leveled the entire place and Katsu would never have known the difference. ‘No…it’s not him…then what?’ Haruo kept searching, seeking his answer in the grass. It had felt like the grass was sharp enough to cut him, but he knew that did not make any sense. The grass next to him blew about gently innocent to all of the savageness occurring.

A single grass blade brushed against Haruo’s cheek leaving a thin cut. He had barely felt it, but the slowly dripping blood along his jaw made it clear to him. ‘The grass? But how?’ Haruo backed away until he realized that he was bumping into more grass, as it surrounded him. However, this time it was not cutting him. He paused even longer trying to understand. ‘Only some of the grass… What’s going on?’

One of the punks that had been fighting with him appeared towering over his fallen position. He smirked at Haruo with a knowing look in his eye. “Boss, didn’t say he was tah only one with powahs!”

Haruo narrowed his expression, feeling that this fight had suddenly turned much darker for him. ‘A second one with abilities…but what are they? Turning grass into blades? That seems a little too specific to be right…’

“Name’s Akihiro,” introduced the boy. The confident air about him was unmistakably thick. His entire attitude had changed from before. “I guess since tah boss isn’t holdin’ back a’ymore I won’t either!”

‘Holding back? But what is his ability?’

“I can see from yer dumb look tha ya confus’d.”

In the time that he was being given to recover by Akihiro, Haruo was able to stand back up. The pain in his leg was still stinging him, but it was not too deep to keep him from being able to run. It felt more like he had paper cuts that were increased in sharpness. ‘I should be grateful these guys enjoy hearing their own voice…’

“Ya see I can make a’ythin’ I want intah a razor sharp blade!”

‘So he can make grass sharp enough to cut. That makes sense, but with so many things for him to turn into blades I won’t be able to move…’

“And I dun have tah touch ‘hem either.”

‘Activated by sight…that’s even worse… I won’t know when he changes it.’

“An’ ‘cause tha ‘hole city fill’d with grass! There’s nowhere ya can run!”

Haruo stared grimly at his surroundings. ‘Hate to admit it, but he’s right…’ He had no certainty where there could be blades in the grass. The only fortunate part was that they hadn’t been enough to seriously injure him. He knew that he could get past the pain with some effort.

Akihiro stalked forward with a hungry look in his eye that seemed eager for the next round of blood. They had been savage before, but it was different from before. The man wanted only blood anymore. It was the thirsty eyes of death. “So whacha gonna do?”

In the break in the action, it had given the rest of the teens that had been beating up him the time to regroup around Haruo. There was little room left for him to go anywhere. ‘If they’re all around here though it’ll limit how he can use his powers… I just have to keep wearing them down…’

“Looks like he’s thinkin’ sumthin’,” joked one of the other boys to Akihiro.

“Nah! That’s just fear yer seein’,” another teen spouted ignoring Haruo.

“Whacha thinkin’ Akihiro?” questioned the third.

“I’m thinkin’ more blood less talkin’!”

“I like that, Akihiro!”

“Let’s have sum fun!”

Haruo was forced to take the fist to the cheek, but as the teen followed through with his arm he over extended the reach. The motion easily flowed through by Haruo to send him off balance into the front line of the gang members. The ranks broke a little, but they simply pushed the stumbled kid aside to go after Haruo.

He tried to back up, but razor sharp edges of the grass cut into his pants. ‘He’s made the grass behind me blades so I can’t move…’ Haruo changed into a hardened defensive position planning to take everything. The wave of attacks broke upon Haruo hard, but they only got blood from his previous cuts. They figured out quickly that Haruo wasn’t going to move and unleashed everything to break through his defense.

Eventually, the pressure became too much for Haruo. His legs fell first against the blades of grass. He collapsed on his bleeding back seeing the teenagers coming. There was a moment of clarity for Haruo through all of the delayed pain. ‘He’ll have to turn it off with them coming after me… I can use that…’

“Dun think fallin’ and getting’ cut up’ll be enough for us!”

‘Have to move…’ Haruo waited until they were close enough that Akihiro would not have the time to react. He took the first kick to the ribs and used some of the momentum to get him rolling out of the way until he could stand on his feet once more. ‘I’ll have a few seconds…’ Haruo sprinted through the grass, soon feeling the blades cut into him again, but he was already at his target. The property wall near them in the fight would give him safety. He mounted the wall quickly with his hands before getting his feet up out of the grass.

There was a moment that he could take to breathe and look at the situation. ‘I’ve got to do something about Yuki… This is my problem and I need to handle it alone. He’s involved because of me and I can’t let that continue.’

While Haruo was in thought he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his leg. “What?” He looked down to see a serrated silver blade protruding from the cement shelf on top of the wall. Haruo jumped back to get the blade out of his leg only to see another appear where he was landing. Several more blades of various design, size and shape burst from the surface at him forcing him to fall back into the property of the house. ‘I thought he could only make edges sharp.’

Akihiro stepped into the grounds of the house, breaking the gate down with a sturdy kick. “Guess I forgot tah mention I can make blades from a’ythin’ even if it’s just makin’ my own!” He let out a low snicker as he took another step forward casting a shadow over Haruo. The other boys soon joined, looking down from the top of the wall. They all looked like starved vultures just waiting for their meal to die.

‘…how do I survive against this…powers and abilities that aren’t human…’ The pain he had experienced in his leg from the real blade digging deep into his muscle was wholly different from everything else. He had been bruised and pummeled before even being cut and bled. However, they had always only been physical with him never bringing a weapon into the attacks. The feeling of the metal plunged so deep into his leg was only momentarily painful compared to the excruciating throbbing he was taking now. ‘I have to do…something…’

Akihiro’s face darkened a little more as he grew more sinister. “I guess since tha cat’s outta bag I’ll have my fun!” He raised his right hand pointing it at Haruo like he was reaching or directing something. A moment later a large blade the size of a bastard sword erupted from the ground piercing Haruo’s leg. Blood sprayed up on the faces of the gang members making their hungry grins look even more wicked.

Haruo coughed and released a dull, restricted scream as though his throat had never known a raised voice. The blade was soon gone from his leg, the tearing from it being forcefully removed hurting even more. He was grinding his fingers against the sidewalk tearing the nails and flesh apart from trying to endure the pain. ‘…what can I do…I’m powerless against this… It’s like they aren’t human anymore… Like they’ve been possessed by…the call of the blood…’ Haruo took another blade this time thin and narrow through his shoulder along with several short stabs in his back purposely missing vitals.

His breathing began to become ragged and drawn out nearly exhausted from the unfamiliar pain he was forced upon. ‘I need…to do something…but how… I can’t move and the pain’s too… much to bear anymore…’ Haruo blinked his eyes, seeing things looking blurry. ‘I’m going to pass out? Am I dying?’

Suddenly Yuki’s voice echoed in his mind from earlier. ‘You don’t have to keep taking it from them! You’ve got the strength to protect yourself, use it! If you don’t they’ll just keep walking over you again and again! You said before that you were determined to leave that life behind you right? Well your past is staring you down right now. You going to let your past control you or are you going to control your past!’

‘I don’t want to…take it, but I…’ Haruo couldn’t keep his body up any longer and fell flat against the ground. ‘I can’t fight back… It won’t solve anything…’ Yuki’s voice pounded in his head firmly again. ‘I…I…’ The blades penetrating his body were almost a distant feeling to him. Everything seemed to be dulled out to Haruo. ‘…maybe… but I don’t have anything… I need… something… anything…I don’t want to be beaten down anymore…’

Haruo clutched on to a broken piece of a pot that shattered from his fall. His hand tightened around it as he became desperate for anything. He wanted to put a stop to what was happening. It was his fight to deal with his way.

Akihiro paused in his poking with his swords seeing Haruo beginning to look more lifeless. As he stepped forward to examine Haruo he felt a sudden invisible surge that pushed him back a little. He barely had a moment to look back at Haruo afterward when a light of pure white exploded from Haruo’s hand. The entire area was bathed in the light blinding everyone. “What’s goin’ on?!”

“I can’t see anythin’?!”

“Haruo?” Yuki said slowly confused through all of the pain he was forcing down.

Akihiro stepped back by reflex. Near him he heard a blood curdling scream followed by a very sloppy splash. “What’s happenin’?!” There was another scream leaving him panicked and confused. Akihiro frantically looked about in the blindness trying to focus on the screaming. “Guys?! What is it?!”

When the light finally came to an end, Akihiro could finally see the horror. Two of the teens that had been on the wall were missing and a blood spray was left on the wall. The next moment a low growl permeated the air setting everyone’s hair on end. It was a primal growl that only knew the law of nature. A large transparent white tiger leapt over the wall and stood over Haruo in protection bearing its fangs at the boys.