Post by Rei Kai on Dec 7, 2016 4:35:37 GMT
"You did it my boy! I knew you had it in you to make it this far. Best Sixteen on your first tournament? Incredible!" Seras' assault of praise began the moment Rei turned the corner around the barrier separating the crowd from the victorious fighters. His leg throbbed in an unsettling way with each step, but he took great pains, quite literally in fact, to keep from hobbling as he walked. They'd all watched his fight he knew, and it would be a weak point for them to target if they were so inclined, but there was no reason to let on just how serious the damage done really was.
Especially not until he knew himself. Each step sent a lance of pain shooting up his instep, which meant his priority was to sit or lean, anything to get off his leg until he could decide if he needed a rest, a doctor or a senzu.
"Y-yeah, I didn't think I was going to make it for a minute there to be honest." Rei said at last with a self-depreciating laugh. The sheer bulk of the older man's body was frustratingly in the way as he loomed over Rei with his congratulations and a few agonizing slaps on the shoulder.
Not for the first time since earlier this morning Rei sort of had to marvel at Seras. For a man pushing seventy Seras was in great shape, but time had clearly take its toll on a body that had once been mountainous. The elder was stooped in the shoulder, his once powerful frame withered and his originally pristine gi torn and scraped here and there from his scuffles in the preliminaries.
Seras had taken a comparatively tougher matchup in his preliminaries, pulling a Best Sixteen runner up in his initial bracket which had led to a full on battle between the two that had clearly taken a toll on Seras when the older man had come limping back the victor. Even now bright purple bruises were growing on the side of the elder man's face and he was slowly clenching and unclenching his left hand in an unsubtle attempt to stretch out wounded tendons.
Despite all that he was clearly ecstatic to see Rei once again, just as he had been after his preliminary bout. Though for the life of him Rei couldn't even begin to guess why the old man had taken such a fondness for him.
Maybe I remind him of his grandkids. He thought with a slight smirk. Or maybe we're both just the misfits around her.
It was an interesting thought. Of the remaining Thirty-one fighters in the warrior's hall Rei would have pegged the average age at probably the early twenties. Twenty five men, six women and none of them were younger than Rei or older than Seras. They were the outliers, with Seras a repeat contender for close to six decades running while Rei himself entering into the Best Sixteen on his first competition.
"Come now my boy, you didn't believe that for a moment." Seras scoffed, slapping him once more on the back in a way that nearly made him stumble though blessedly he finally stepped out of the way to allow Rei to carefully walk for the benches.
"Well he did have me on the edge there for a bit."
"And you would have just dashed back out of his reach if he'd pushed you further. Frankly I'm in admiration that you're holding back as much as you are. It is a wise strategy."
"You think so, huh?" Rei asked cagily.
There was a certain glint in Seras' eyes as they met Rei's, a twinkle that seemed to scream 'I know something you don't know'. Was the old man right? He'd thought he'd given it his all, but that knowing look continued to beat down on him until at last, mercifully, Seras spoke. "Oh I don't doubt it in the slightest. Though it does concern me dearly?"
"Why?"
"Why? Why? My boy!?" Seras boomed an immense laugh that seemed as though it were an echo of the power Seras' withered must have had decades gone by. "Did you not read the brackets?"
"Well, I was sort of... oh. Oh!"
The bracket selection has been a chaotic affair. Each fighter had been pulled up to the stage, rushed out by a monk and urged to select a numbered ball from a copper basket. As he'd been the first to win his preliminary he'd been the last to select his ball, and had been doubly 'blessed' to fight the first match in the Best Thirty Two elimination round. With monks dragging him this way and that he'd barely had the time to read the name of his opponent, to say nothing of study whom else he might be fighting in the future.
But there it was, clear as day. Rei Vs. Cauli, followed by Joho Vs. Seras. Which meant if the old man won...
Rei Vs. Seras.
"It is a cruel fate for them to deal me an opponent so young and talented. But no matter, I have never failed to reach Best Eight in the past four decades. I'm afraid the flower of your youth must be crushed under my dingy experience."
Rei paused, taking in the moment as Seras stared at him with the most serious of expressions. Yet just as he opened his mouth in reply he saw the slightest twitch at the corner of Seras' mouth. "Are you... are you smack talking with me?"
"Perhaps..." Seras admitted, still clearly struggling not to grin. "How did I do?"
"I hope you fight better than you trash talk, for your sake anyways. If you don't this Joho guy is going to cut our match short before it even begins."
"Ha! That will be the day. I broke Joho's arm last year when he thought I was going for a body blow. I know it is bad luck to look past an opponent, but I'm already looking at you my boy." Seras glanced over his shoulder to see a tall, bald, dark-skinned man heading for the entrance to the hall. "Though speaking of looking past my opponents... I had best get prepared."
"Good luck. Knock'em... out." Rei finished awkwardly, remembering the tournament's prohibition on fatal blows.
"Rei my boy, I'm double thirteen this tournament. I might even win this year after all."
One of the silent monks drew Seras' attention before Rei could have any final say in the conversation, the orange robed figure directing Seras towards one of the side entrances to the hall. Though there Rei knew, he would undergo a cursory medical inspection, have the rules of the tournament reiterated to him once again, and then be lead onto the stage for the second round of the Best Thirty Two.
With Seras gone and the adrenaline finally beginning to flood out of his system, a sudden wave of weariness began to overtake him and he realized that despite walking over to them, he'd never even taken the moment to sit down.
It felt glorious to be off his feet. His leg still throbbed angrily, but a cursory examination of the wound told him everything he would be able to tell at a glance. He was injured. Among the various skills his father hadn't deigned to teach him over the last few years was any sort of medical care. If he injured himself in the wild he was expected to grit his teeth and bare with it, or submit to his father's tender care. Often the former was preferable to the latter.
His leg was swollen slightly, but it wasn't broken, and he could move it to full extension, so his tendon's weren't ripped. For having another four rounds to fight over the course of the day it was hardly an ideal wound, but it shouldn't have any long lasting side effects. He'd certainly had worse.
Satisfied with the condition of his injury, he began to roll the bunched up fabric of his gi back down his leg when he finally noticed the silence. With Seras and Joho absent there were twenty nine people in the hall, many of them friends or acquaintances chatting in cliques' around the room. But it was silent. Utterly, and completely silent.
"That looks like it hurts." Jin's voice shot through the quiet like a lightning bold, startling him so severely that he leapt to his feet, gi still half tangled around his calf. He spun to face her, his bare feet awkwardly sliding along the tile moments before giving out from beneath him with a sudden jolt of pain.
He fell sprawling, yelling like a confused animal with his clothes in disarray and a room full of men and women laughing at him. Pretty typical for how he dealt with women.
"That looked like it hurt more." The pale beauty quipped as she giggled down at him. She wasn't completely without mercy however, extending a hand that he graciously accepted. "Sorry I really didn't mean to startle you."
"And yet you keep startling me! Maybe change your approach. Don't walk up from behind someone for starters!" Rei retorted, perhaps a little more forcefully than he intended.
If she took any offense to his tone, she didn't let it show. That giggling smile never faltered, nor did her eyes leave his while he took pains to collect himself and right his clothing. Everything about her was personable, everything except those cold eyes that seemed to be reading him, analyzing him, even as they sparkled with mischief.
"Sometimes I think I really ought to just keep a camera crew around. Too light on my feet I suppose. Apologies." She said at last in a tone that was hardly apologetic.
"Accepted. Really just need to put a bell on you."
"So I've been told." Jin smiled wryly. "I was wondering if that rain cheque was still valid?"
Rei studied her a moment, then cast a look over his shoulder to the fighters milling around on the far end of the small hall. "I'm not sure if-"
"Oh I don't mean here. We have rooms."
He blushed, a very teenage thought coming into his head as he suddenly found the wall of names of great interest. His mark was up there now, tucked neatly into the bottom right corner amidst a tangle of strangers. It was as far as he could get away from his father's name and still be on the wall, and not for the first time he wondered if that would make his father proud, or angry.
Probably both.
"You have time now? I saw you at the booth earlier?" He said at last.
"Yes. We alternate in and out depending on the projected ratings. They usually only bring me out when they expect people will be watching. Gotta keep the Voice strong and all that." She seemed to catch something in his eye, and laughed it off before his ego could inflate too heavily. "The first of the Best Thirty Two always has high ratings, doesn't matter who is fighting."
"You just can't let me have anything, can you?"
"Not really, no. I'm a bit of a buzzkill."
"Seems like a really counterproductive way to get an interview." Rei remarked, only to nod towards the side doors. "That way?"
"Precisely."
"Lead on."
Her steps were the brisk steps of a person who had somewhere to be, and though he stood nearly a foot taller than the diminutive ginger he would have had to scramble to keep up with her even if he wasn't hobbled. Their path led them through the side exit, down a short hallway that connected it to the facility proper. Once inside she led him through a series of short corridors, her heels click-clacking away a steady tempo as she tapped a series of commands into a touch screen device in her hand.
"Honest question. Off the record." She asked as they walked, her head craned back to regard him. "How bad is the leg."
"Right as rain." Lying about injuries was second nature to him, and he didn't even think before he spoke the words.
She stopped in her tracks and dug in her heels, her petite frame barely budging as he bumped into her and stumbled back. Those blue eyes were harsher now as they studied his expression. "It is off the record. I have no interest in telling your competitors, I just want to know for my own personal sake. You weren't looking at it when I walked in because you thought 'gee I ought to look at my perfectly fine leg. What a great leg it is'."
He laughed, but despite the absurdity of her words, she wasn't laughing. That stern visage sobered his own in an instant, and after a few seconds deliberation, he answered honestly. "It hurts. The kick might have cracked something, but I'm guessing its mostly just swelling and bruising. I'll be able to fight on."
"I'm glad to hear that." She took a few steps away up a small switchback ramp that led up to the second floor of the facility, her interest turned away from him to stare out the large pane windows. She was a hard woman to read, and Rei had little practice at reading women, but even he could tell something was eating at her before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Why didn't you fly?"
"What do you mean?" Rei asked innocently.
"Oh do not play dumb with me." She snapped back. "In your last match. You've got an injured leg but you keep standing on it when you fight. You've got your back pressed up against the edge of the ring and you don't fly. You have to dodge a pretty sizable technique, and you jump out of the way of it." She rounded on him, eyes narrowed. "I watched both your fights and you never threw anything stronger than a kami-damned punch. Is this just all a game to you? See how far you can go without even trying? Just how strong are you and how can I never have heard of you until today?!"
"You are the second person to make that assumption today." Rei said cautiously.
"Were they as pissed off as I am?"
"No. But just as wrong." He held up a hand to forestall an angry reply as her nostrils flared. "It isn't that I won't. It's that I can't."
"What do you mean 'you can't?'"
"I mean I can't. I can't fly. I can't project my ki at all."
That wiped some of the anger from her face, though it was replaced within an instant with a look of total consternation. "I... what? That doesn't make any sense. You're in the Best Sixteen!" Her incredulity showed through as she lifted her hands up, as if literally trying to grasp the absurdity of all as her body began to levitate a few inches off the incline. "It took me six hours to learn how to... how can you...?"
A year ago he would have been insulted. But a year ago he hadn't heard the same confounded spiel from two dozen different experts. He hadn't been faced with baffled chakra practitioners, acupuncturists, medical doctors, martial arts teachers or any of the others his father had taken him to. Whatever was 'wrong' with him was still frustrating almost beyond measure, but he could take a certain special joy in the confusion of those who couldn't understand how he could fail to do something as 'simple' as fly.
"Your guess is as good as mine. I've seen every expert Zeni can buy and the guesses range from mental blocks, to a birth defect to literally divine intervention." She didn't need to know that the man who'd claimed divine intervention had suggested that only after his father had beaten the man half to death for failing to find a cause. "No ki attacks, no flying, no clothes' beam. Hell, I can't even sense ki."
"Wait. So you don't even know- " Jin stopped mid sentence, a mix of... something playing around behind those icy eyes. Whatever it was, the brief spike of anger seemed to have flowed out of her as quickly as it had arrived. "You made it into the best sixteen, against some of the strongest fighters in the galaxy, and you can't even control your ki? Incredible."
Rei blushed, and upon seeing the sudden redness in his skin, Jin's own began to take upon a similar hue. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard it described that way."
"So why are you even here then?" Jin asked. "You have to know you can't win. Even if you could keep up with some of the people who are going to make the Best Eight, which I'll be honest, you can't, all it is going to take is someone realizing you can't fly."
"You really don't mince words." Rei tried not to look annoyed, before pointing to the ground. "Could you...?"
"Could I? Oh, right!"
Once she landed Rei joined her by the window, looking out over the bamboo wilderness surrounding the temple grounds. "My father has been getting more and more desperate. I'm supposed to be his legacy in more ways than one I guess, but if I can't even do the basics I can't inherit the family style. I guess he thought that if push came to shove I might push past whatever barrier is in my way."
"An emotional trigger." She mused. "Not a bad thought, but I don't think you'll have much luck." It was her turn to raise a finger to silence any protests. "Earlier on air I said, you aren't like the normal fighters here... its why I came looking. You don't have the same hunger someone like Cauli does. For you this isn't emotional, its training. If frustration would help I'm guessing it would have helped years ago."
"To put it lightly."
"I know the feeling." She said wistfully.
"What do you mean?"
"Hmm? Oh. Nothing." Jin shook her head, as though clearing out whatever bad thoughts had intruded. "Sorry for yelling at you before. I just... these tournaments are important to me. I don't like to see people making light of them."
"You don't think using them as training is making light of the tournaments?" Rei grinned.
"So long as you're giving it your all? Not at all." Jin returned his smile, gesturing up the ramp. "We should get moving. I do still have to get a puff piece or my boss is going to be on my wondering why I spent thirty minutes with a contestant and didn't record a second of it."
"Lead on."
The interview passed in a whirlwind.
Once they arrived at the small room Jin had produced a handful of capsules and as promised they had everything she needed. The three floating capsule corp robots were named Cam, Mike and Sol, a terrible pun for Camera, Microphone and Lights that she had insisted on explaining to him three separate times before the interview, as if the problem was that he simply didn't understand rather than the joke being awful.
Despite their ridiculous names, the three robots were an amazing trio when they worked in concert with their owner. In seconds Mike had soundproofed the walls, Sol had a perfect set of overhead lighting held somewhat precariously above him and Cam had produced a pair of portable recorders on extendable arms that shifted around the room to capture just the angles she wanted of their interview.
They were simple little robots with a barely functional AI, but together with Jin the trio were a force to be reckoned with, providing her the perfect environment to barrage him with question after question. Where was he from, how old was he, what did he think of his opponents in the first round.
Perhaps more interesting than the sheer volume of questions was the way she weaved them together. She wasn't just asking him questions, but telling a tale. Sometimes he would respond, and before she would ask her next question she would tell some small anecdote that seemed entirely unrelated to train of logic she had just been on, only for the line of questioning to swerve perfectly into focus as she wrapped up the short tale into a question that applied almost perfectly to his situation. Her knowledge of the tournament was almost encyclopedic, and as the minutes passed he found himself wishing more and more that he could stay.
Just a few more minutes of conversation with the pretty redhead who knew everything there was to know.
But all good things had to come to an end, and with a beep from Cam their interview came to an end. She thanked him and offered both her hand and her genuine wishes of good fortune for the rest of the tournament. And then with nothing more than directions back to the Warrior hall, she was gone.
He got lost of course.
In his defense, the temple was a sprawling edifice that covered an enormous area. At one point he ended up stumbling into the spectator's area, where a child ten years his junior spotted him. For a moment Rei worried he might draw the attention of the crowd, but the young boy simply eyed him briefly, then nodded, as if he fully understood and was willing to hold onto Rei's secret.
He ended up at the loading docks, a technical workstation and even a basement he was fairly certain shouldn't actually exist. But it wasn't until he finally heard someone shouting for a doctor that he finally had a real hint on finding his way back.
The commotion was easy to follow, even through the somewhat twisting passageways, and Rei felt his shoulders sag in relief as he caught sight of the corridor leading back to Warrior's Hall. But that relief turned to confusion, then to shock as he saw the doctors rushing up the hallway towards him with a bloodied man on a gurney.
With Seras on a gurney.
Word Count - 3700. Zeni with human bonus please.
Especially not until he knew himself. Each step sent a lance of pain shooting up his instep, which meant his priority was to sit or lean, anything to get off his leg until he could decide if he needed a rest, a doctor or a senzu.
"Y-yeah, I didn't think I was going to make it for a minute there to be honest." Rei said at last with a self-depreciating laugh. The sheer bulk of the older man's body was frustratingly in the way as he loomed over Rei with his congratulations and a few agonizing slaps on the shoulder.
Not for the first time since earlier this morning Rei sort of had to marvel at Seras. For a man pushing seventy Seras was in great shape, but time had clearly take its toll on a body that had once been mountainous. The elder was stooped in the shoulder, his once powerful frame withered and his originally pristine gi torn and scraped here and there from his scuffles in the preliminaries.
Seras had taken a comparatively tougher matchup in his preliminaries, pulling a Best Sixteen runner up in his initial bracket which had led to a full on battle between the two that had clearly taken a toll on Seras when the older man had come limping back the victor. Even now bright purple bruises were growing on the side of the elder man's face and he was slowly clenching and unclenching his left hand in an unsubtle attempt to stretch out wounded tendons.
Despite all that he was clearly ecstatic to see Rei once again, just as he had been after his preliminary bout. Though for the life of him Rei couldn't even begin to guess why the old man had taken such a fondness for him.
Maybe I remind him of his grandkids. He thought with a slight smirk. Or maybe we're both just the misfits around her.
It was an interesting thought. Of the remaining Thirty-one fighters in the warrior's hall Rei would have pegged the average age at probably the early twenties. Twenty five men, six women and none of them were younger than Rei or older than Seras. They were the outliers, with Seras a repeat contender for close to six decades running while Rei himself entering into the Best Sixteen on his first competition.
"Come now my boy, you didn't believe that for a moment." Seras scoffed, slapping him once more on the back in a way that nearly made him stumble though blessedly he finally stepped out of the way to allow Rei to carefully walk for the benches.
"Well he did have me on the edge there for a bit."
"And you would have just dashed back out of his reach if he'd pushed you further. Frankly I'm in admiration that you're holding back as much as you are. It is a wise strategy."
"You think so, huh?" Rei asked cagily.
There was a certain glint in Seras' eyes as they met Rei's, a twinkle that seemed to scream 'I know something you don't know'. Was the old man right? He'd thought he'd given it his all, but that knowing look continued to beat down on him until at last, mercifully, Seras spoke. "Oh I don't doubt it in the slightest. Though it does concern me dearly?"
"Why?"
"Why? Why? My boy!?" Seras boomed an immense laugh that seemed as though it were an echo of the power Seras' withered must have had decades gone by. "Did you not read the brackets?"
"Well, I was sort of... oh. Oh!"
The bracket selection has been a chaotic affair. Each fighter had been pulled up to the stage, rushed out by a monk and urged to select a numbered ball from a copper basket. As he'd been the first to win his preliminary he'd been the last to select his ball, and had been doubly 'blessed' to fight the first match in the Best Thirty Two elimination round. With monks dragging him this way and that he'd barely had the time to read the name of his opponent, to say nothing of study whom else he might be fighting in the future.
But there it was, clear as day. Rei Vs. Cauli, followed by Joho Vs. Seras. Which meant if the old man won...
Rei Vs. Seras.
"It is a cruel fate for them to deal me an opponent so young and talented. But no matter, I have never failed to reach Best Eight in the past four decades. I'm afraid the flower of your youth must be crushed under my dingy experience."
Rei paused, taking in the moment as Seras stared at him with the most serious of expressions. Yet just as he opened his mouth in reply he saw the slightest twitch at the corner of Seras' mouth. "Are you... are you smack talking with me?"
"Perhaps..." Seras admitted, still clearly struggling not to grin. "How did I do?"
"I hope you fight better than you trash talk, for your sake anyways. If you don't this Joho guy is going to cut our match short before it even begins."
"Ha! That will be the day. I broke Joho's arm last year when he thought I was going for a body blow. I know it is bad luck to look past an opponent, but I'm already looking at you my boy." Seras glanced over his shoulder to see a tall, bald, dark-skinned man heading for the entrance to the hall. "Though speaking of looking past my opponents... I had best get prepared."
"Good luck. Knock'em... out." Rei finished awkwardly, remembering the tournament's prohibition on fatal blows.
"Rei my boy, I'm double thirteen this tournament. I might even win this year after all."
One of the silent monks drew Seras' attention before Rei could have any final say in the conversation, the orange robed figure directing Seras towards one of the side entrances to the hall. Though there Rei knew, he would undergo a cursory medical inspection, have the rules of the tournament reiterated to him once again, and then be lead onto the stage for the second round of the Best Thirty Two.
With Seras gone and the adrenaline finally beginning to flood out of his system, a sudden wave of weariness began to overtake him and he realized that despite walking over to them, he'd never even taken the moment to sit down.
It felt glorious to be off his feet. His leg still throbbed angrily, but a cursory examination of the wound told him everything he would be able to tell at a glance. He was injured. Among the various skills his father hadn't deigned to teach him over the last few years was any sort of medical care. If he injured himself in the wild he was expected to grit his teeth and bare with it, or submit to his father's tender care. Often the former was preferable to the latter.
His leg was swollen slightly, but it wasn't broken, and he could move it to full extension, so his tendon's weren't ripped. For having another four rounds to fight over the course of the day it was hardly an ideal wound, but it shouldn't have any long lasting side effects. He'd certainly had worse.
Satisfied with the condition of his injury, he began to roll the bunched up fabric of his gi back down his leg when he finally noticed the silence. With Seras and Joho absent there were twenty nine people in the hall, many of them friends or acquaintances chatting in cliques' around the room. But it was silent. Utterly, and completely silent.
"That looks like it hurts." Jin's voice shot through the quiet like a lightning bold, startling him so severely that he leapt to his feet, gi still half tangled around his calf. He spun to face her, his bare feet awkwardly sliding along the tile moments before giving out from beneath him with a sudden jolt of pain.
He fell sprawling, yelling like a confused animal with his clothes in disarray and a room full of men and women laughing at him. Pretty typical for how he dealt with women.
"That looked like it hurt more." The pale beauty quipped as she giggled down at him. She wasn't completely without mercy however, extending a hand that he graciously accepted. "Sorry I really didn't mean to startle you."
"And yet you keep startling me! Maybe change your approach. Don't walk up from behind someone for starters!" Rei retorted, perhaps a little more forcefully than he intended.
If she took any offense to his tone, she didn't let it show. That giggling smile never faltered, nor did her eyes leave his while he took pains to collect himself and right his clothing. Everything about her was personable, everything except those cold eyes that seemed to be reading him, analyzing him, even as they sparkled with mischief.
"Sometimes I think I really ought to just keep a camera crew around. Too light on my feet I suppose. Apologies." She said at last in a tone that was hardly apologetic.
"Accepted. Really just need to put a bell on you."
"So I've been told." Jin smiled wryly. "I was wondering if that rain cheque was still valid?"
Rei studied her a moment, then cast a look over his shoulder to the fighters milling around on the far end of the small hall. "I'm not sure if-"
"Oh I don't mean here. We have rooms."
He blushed, a very teenage thought coming into his head as he suddenly found the wall of names of great interest. His mark was up there now, tucked neatly into the bottom right corner amidst a tangle of strangers. It was as far as he could get away from his father's name and still be on the wall, and not for the first time he wondered if that would make his father proud, or angry.
Probably both.
"You have time now? I saw you at the booth earlier?" He said at last.
"Yes. We alternate in and out depending on the projected ratings. They usually only bring me out when they expect people will be watching. Gotta keep the Voice strong and all that." She seemed to catch something in his eye, and laughed it off before his ego could inflate too heavily. "The first of the Best Thirty Two always has high ratings, doesn't matter who is fighting."
"You just can't let me have anything, can you?"
"Not really, no. I'm a bit of a buzzkill."
"Seems like a really counterproductive way to get an interview." Rei remarked, only to nod towards the side doors. "That way?"
"Precisely."
"Lead on."
Her steps were the brisk steps of a person who had somewhere to be, and though he stood nearly a foot taller than the diminutive ginger he would have had to scramble to keep up with her even if he wasn't hobbled. Their path led them through the side exit, down a short hallway that connected it to the facility proper. Once inside she led him through a series of short corridors, her heels click-clacking away a steady tempo as she tapped a series of commands into a touch screen device in her hand.
"Honest question. Off the record." She asked as they walked, her head craned back to regard him. "How bad is the leg."
"Right as rain." Lying about injuries was second nature to him, and he didn't even think before he spoke the words.
She stopped in her tracks and dug in her heels, her petite frame barely budging as he bumped into her and stumbled back. Those blue eyes were harsher now as they studied his expression. "It is off the record. I have no interest in telling your competitors, I just want to know for my own personal sake. You weren't looking at it when I walked in because you thought 'gee I ought to look at my perfectly fine leg. What a great leg it is'."
He laughed, but despite the absurdity of her words, she wasn't laughing. That stern visage sobered his own in an instant, and after a few seconds deliberation, he answered honestly. "It hurts. The kick might have cracked something, but I'm guessing its mostly just swelling and bruising. I'll be able to fight on."
"I'm glad to hear that." She took a few steps away up a small switchback ramp that led up to the second floor of the facility, her interest turned away from him to stare out the large pane windows. She was a hard woman to read, and Rei had little practice at reading women, but even he could tell something was eating at her before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Why didn't you fly?"
"What do you mean?" Rei asked innocently.
"Oh do not play dumb with me." She snapped back. "In your last match. You've got an injured leg but you keep standing on it when you fight. You've got your back pressed up against the edge of the ring and you don't fly. You have to dodge a pretty sizable technique, and you jump out of the way of it." She rounded on him, eyes narrowed. "I watched both your fights and you never threw anything stronger than a kami-damned punch. Is this just all a game to you? See how far you can go without even trying? Just how strong are you and how can I never have heard of you until today?!"
"You are the second person to make that assumption today." Rei said cautiously.
"Were they as pissed off as I am?"
"No. But just as wrong." He held up a hand to forestall an angry reply as her nostrils flared. "It isn't that I won't. It's that I can't."
"What do you mean 'you can't?'"
"I mean I can't. I can't fly. I can't project my ki at all."
That wiped some of the anger from her face, though it was replaced within an instant with a look of total consternation. "I... what? That doesn't make any sense. You're in the Best Sixteen!" Her incredulity showed through as she lifted her hands up, as if literally trying to grasp the absurdity of all as her body began to levitate a few inches off the incline. "It took me six hours to learn how to... how can you...?"
A year ago he would have been insulted. But a year ago he hadn't heard the same confounded spiel from two dozen different experts. He hadn't been faced with baffled chakra practitioners, acupuncturists, medical doctors, martial arts teachers or any of the others his father had taken him to. Whatever was 'wrong' with him was still frustrating almost beyond measure, but he could take a certain special joy in the confusion of those who couldn't understand how he could fail to do something as 'simple' as fly.
"Your guess is as good as mine. I've seen every expert Zeni can buy and the guesses range from mental blocks, to a birth defect to literally divine intervention." She didn't need to know that the man who'd claimed divine intervention had suggested that only after his father had beaten the man half to death for failing to find a cause. "No ki attacks, no flying, no clothes' beam. Hell, I can't even sense ki."
"Wait. So you don't even know- " Jin stopped mid sentence, a mix of... something playing around behind those icy eyes. Whatever it was, the brief spike of anger seemed to have flowed out of her as quickly as it had arrived. "You made it into the best sixteen, against some of the strongest fighters in the galaxy, and you can't even control your ki? Incredible."
Rei blushed, and upon seeing the sudden redness in his skin, Jin's own began to take upon a similar hue. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard it described that way."
"So why are you even here then?" Jin asked. "You have to know you can't win. Even if you could keep up with some of the people who are going to make the Best Eight, which I'll be honest, you can't, all it is going to take is someone realizing you can't fly."
"You really don't mince words." Rei tried not to look annoyed, before pointing to the ground. "Could you...?"
"Could I? Oh, right!"
Once she landed Rei joined her by the window, looking out over the bamboo wilderness surrounding the temple grounds. "My father has been getting more and more desperate. I'm supposed to be his legacy in more ways than one I guess, but if I can't even do the basics I can't inherit the family style. I guess he thought that if push came to shove I might push past whatever barrier is in my way."
"An emotional trigger." She mused. "Not a bad thought, but I don't think you'll have much luck." It was her turn to raise a finger to silence any protests. "Earlier on air I said, you aren't like the normal fighters here... its why I came looking. You don't have the same hunger someone like Cauli does. For you this isn't emotional, its training. If frustration would help I'm guessing it would have helped years ago."
"To put it lightly."
"I know the feeling." She said wistfully.
"What do you mean?"
"Hmm? Oh. Nothing." Jin shook her head, as though clearing out whatever bad thoughts had intruded. "Sorry for yelling at you before. I just... these tournaments are important to me. I don't like to see people making light of them."
"You don't think using them as training is making light of the tournaments?" Rei grinned.
"So long as you're giving it your all? Not at all." Jin returned his smile, gesturing up the ramp. "We should get moving. I do still have to get a puff piece or my boss is going to be on my wondering why I spent thirty minutes with a contestant and didn't record a second of it."
"Lead on."
The interview passed in a whirlwind.
Once they arrived at the small room Jin had produced a handful of capsules and as promised they had everything she needed. The three floating capsule corp robots were named Cam, Mike and Sol, a terrible pun for Camera, Microphone and Lights that she had insisted on explaining to him three separate times before the interview, as if the problem was that he simply didn't understand rather than the joke being awful.
Despite their ridiculous names, the three robots were an amazing trio when they worked in concert with their owner. In seconds Mike had soundproofed the walls, Sol had a perfect set of overhead lighting held somewhat precariously above him and Cam had produced a pair of portable recorders on extendable arms that shifted around the room to capture just the angles she wanted of their interview.
They were simple little robots with a barely functional AI, but together with Jin the trio were a force to be reckoned with, providing her the perfect environment to barrage him with question after question. Where was he from, how old was he, what did he think of his opponents in the first round.
Perhaps more interesting than the sheer volume of questions was the way she weaved them together. She wasn't just asking him questions, but telling a tale. Sometimes he would respond, and before she would ask her next question she would tell some small anecdote that seemed entirely unrelated to train of logic she had just been on, only for the line of questioning to swerve perfectly into focus as she wrapped up the short tale into a question that applied almost perfectly to his situation. Her knowledge of the tournament was almost encyclopedic, and as the minutes passed he found himself wishing more and more that he could stay.
Just a few more minutes of conversation with the pretty redhead who knew everything there was to know.
But all good things had to come to an end, and with a beep from Cam their interview came to an end. She thanked him and offered both her hand and her genuine wishes of good fortune for the rest of the tournament. And then with nothing more than directions back to the Warrior hall, she was gone.
He got lost of course.
In his defense, the temple was a sprawling edifice that covered an enormous area. At one point he ended up stumbling into the spectator's area, where a child ten years his junior spotted him. For a moment Rei worried he might draw the attention of the crowd, but the young boy simply eyed him briefly, then nodded, as if he fully understood and was willing to hold onto Rei's secret.
He ended up at the loading docks, a technical workstation and even a basement he was fairly certain shouldn't actually exist. But it wasn't until he finally heard someone shouting for a doctor that he finally had a real hint on finding his way back.
The commotion was easy to follow, even through the somewhat twisting passageways, and Rei felt his shoulders sag in relief as he caught sight of the corridor leading back to Warrior's Hall. But that relief turned to confusion, then to shock as he saw the doctors rushing up the hallway towards him with a bloodied man on a gurney.
With Seras on a gurney.
Word Count - 3700. Zeni with human bonus please.