Hatred (Open)

[Shimizu Kuribayashi]

Flashback

Born in the Keijo province, he was normal accept for the fact that he was born into a somewhat high status family. They didn’t have money pouring from their brains nor did they have any problems paying the bills. They lived a peaceful life until he turned the age of 3. 3 is the lucky number that most high-class families send their children off to apprenticeship or other jobs. They are sent at 3 because that is the beginning stage of learning and family attachment isn't yet developed.

It is tradition that the first son always carries out the job that his father before him had. In this case, Shimizu's father was a Captain in the Imperial Army and that was precisely what Shimizu was supposed to be. He was taken from his parents and sent off to live at the Tung Wen College, also known to others as The Imperial Japanese Military School of Kempei Tai. (Skip forward in time a couple years.)

Shimizu was now the age of 10. He had been at the top of his class at the school since he could remember. Shimizu was getting to the point in his career that he would become what was known as Kempei Tai Captain. This meant in other words that he was going to graduate early and be sent into the army as Captain of the Military Police known as Kempei Tai. This was a great honor. He would graduate at the age of 21 instead of 28 and be the youngest Captain in the schools history.

He was thrilled that he was to become a leader in the military and began to do all that he could to make the cut. He constantly excelled in class and was even sent a letter of honor for his performance from the Emperor himself. To have the Emperor give him thanks was something that most could and would only think of. This made him feel special and help him rise up through the ranks in school. It helped him all the way until he was just about to graduate and things started to go downhill.

Shimizu was sent out of the school for a still unknown reason. Some say that factions in the government to be a bargaining chip in their efforts to take over the empire and get rid of the emperor were targeting him. Whatever the reason, he was sent out of the school at the age of 17 years old. He was so close to making history, but it was out of his reach. It angered him to no end and he wanted to do all that was possible to place a hold on his rank and place, but it was to no avail. He was sent out of the country.

To keep him safe Shimizu was sent to America, but was still promoted to 1st Lieutenant and was given his proclamation of graduation from the Tung Wen College. He never really asked why he was sent away, but he knew that he was lucky to be alive. Now the only thing left for him was to start a new life in the school known as Hircine. He was sent here because the structure was closely related to Kempei Tai.

He was told at all costs to stay alive until it was time for him to be taken back and finish his schooling. Until then, he would have to adjust to the life of a school student in another country. He would have to adapt to a new culture that he had never heard of accept in history books. He would have to learn the way of the American. To him, this was only a tactical exercise. He would know soon enough that this might be a fight for survival also.

End Flashback

They came for him. He didn’t know what time it was when they came, but he knew it must have been sometime in the AM hours. He looked about him. There was no light round about him at all. It seemed as if he was in a dark room or in a paradox. He didn’t know what to think what to say what to do. He just loomed in this darkness, that is until he opened his eyes. He was outside and he was fully dressed. He looked around him and he was in a dark alleyway and he heard nothing, saw no one, but knew that people were there. He could feel it from his skin all the way down to his bones.

“I know you are there so you might as well make yourselves known.”

He spoke in a raspy tone, unlike him at all. It was as if he was a different person than what people normally saw. He didn’t smile, frown, and talk with feeling or anything. Now it was different, hatred and pain. Those were the feelings that were being let loose from his body through his voice. He wanted them to come out so that they could see it on his face too. He waited and waited, slowly figures started to come out of the shadows. He still heard no footsteps, but he didn’t need to. He could feel them anywhere, everywhere. They constantly were around him.

“What do you want from me? Why do you follow me at all times of the day and night? What will you accomplish by doing this? If you want me so badly then why don’t you just take me? Why don’t you just KILL ME!”

He yelled out into the open air, but before he could close his mouth a sharp feeling filled the back of his neck. It was warm. He didn’t know what to do, but felt his body falling forward. Soon his face saw the ground and then met the ground. His eyes were still open and the warm feeling turned slowly to pain. He had been hit with something warm like the palm of someone’s hand and he couldn’t feel anything from his neck down. Whatever had just happened he wouldn’t know for a long time. He realized this as he was turned over and saw men standing over him. He saw them looking down at him. None were talking, but just looking.

“Are you going….to…”

That was all Shimizu could muster before his eyes started to close and he passed out into nothingness. He wasn’t aware of anything around him and wasn’t aware that he had been picked up and was being taken to a van. The men were talking to someone, but not each other. It was probably the man who was in charge of this. He didn’t feel anything of being put in the van or anything while it moved. The van took him somewhere but didn’t know where. While he was out, the men stopped in a park and took him out of the van. They had rope and spray paint. They tied the body of Shimizu to a high pole where everyone could see him.

They strung him up and placed a board at his feet. Shimizu started to come to when he saw what they wrote. It read ‘Kempei Tai’. He looked at it for a while longer and didn’t know why they would have written it, but soon figured it out when men came and started to beat him. They looked to be different then the men who took him. He didn’t know what to do because he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even yell out in pain as they beat him mercilessly until he passed out once more. What would happen to him now? Would they beat him until dead or leave him to bleed to death. Whichever one he could think of while he was out, they all involved his death.

[Tiao Lei Shen]

For Tiao Lei Shen, his life was nothing but a field test. At least, that's what it was in his father's eyes. Lion cubs were often thrown off cliffs, only to see if they held the strength to climb themselves back to the top. Only then, would they be regarded as true king of the jungle. At least, that's what his father had told him over ten years ago. However, for the Tiger of Hircine, it was certainly more than a story.

To say Tiao has father issues would be a great understatement, for there's no real way to put their relationship into words. When your upbringing has less to do with love and more about honor, respect, and most importantly dissapointment; once can imagine the distaste for family life. Raised to be the best, its what Tiao had always done. He rose to the rank of 2nd Pillar, under his good friend Darren Blayne. Together, they had taken out Principal MacMillan. From there, life had only been in a downward spiral.

There was little word on the whereabouts of Keith at the moment and with the trail of his masked attacker growing colder, it seemed Tiao's current life had little direction. Violence was all the ex-pillar knew. Violence, power, and honor. As Tiao would turn the corner, the poetry of those three words would paint a picture: a bonded boy attached to a sign saying something in Japanese being attacked by a group of men.

"What's going on here?" Tiao gestured upward at the body with his head, putting little curiosity and even less emotion into his speech.

Though all of them turned their heads, only one of them stepped away from the group, poking Tiao in the chest with his right index finger as he spoke, "Beat it, boy."

His hand reared back for another thrusting poke, but before it could land Tiao's left hand shot out and around, gripping the finger and pulling to the outside. Rather than trying to control the man's movement Tiao simply yanked it out of place, easily dislocating the weak joint as he slipped behind the right leg of the man with his own right leg. Sweeping it out, Tiao's right hand would shoot up and strike the man in the throat, forming a tiger claw around the trachea. Letting go of the man's broken finger, the only thing that kept the man from falling to the ground was the small support of his back on Tiao's hip, and the frightening grip upon his throat.

"Uh, uh." Tiao waved his own left index finger at the rest of the group as they prepared to jump in to aid their friend, partner, or whoever this man was to them. Tiao tightened his grip on the man's throat, making him shoot out an audible hack, also preparing to slam him down the moment he would try to resist his current hold.

"Tell me what's going on here, and then I'll decide what I want to do. I'm half curious, half apathetic, so save us all the time and tell me the truth."

[Shimizu Kuribayashi]

The beatings. They continued for what seemed like hours until a pause came. Shimizu slowly came to once more and noticed that he wasn’t being hit. He tried as best he could to turn his head, but it felt as if to weigh about a million pounds so that was out of the question. He could, however, still hear so he waited for words to come out. He waited and waited, only hearing a small scuffle and then a loud audible hacking sound like someone was being choked. When he heard the voice of the person who arrived, it seemed familiar to Shimizu. It was a voice of power and he had heard it around campus in his short time being here.

Shimizu once again focused his power to move his head and this time it moved. Still feeling like a million pounds it moved and he saw the person holding one of the men by the neck and had him off balance on his leg. It seemed this person was well versed in defense tactics and was ready at any time to show that he had an offense too. Shimizu looked him over from head to toe, taking in the clothing. He got to his feet and started his way back up, only noticing one thing, and saw the hat on the kid’s head. He had seen that hat in pictures before and only knew the last name of the person who wore it.

“Shen”

He spurted out the name of the supposed person in his mind and waited for a reply. Be fore he could receive one, a man in the group flared around, sending a back fist into Shimizu’s face rendering him unconscious once more. The man that hit Shimizu then turned and started his way out from the group and stood up straight. He walked over to the boy who was holding one of the men and kicked the man in the back of the head, knocking him out. He then looked to the kid and started to explain what this was all about. He didn’t seem too concerned for the fact that this boy could fight. He didn’t care one way or another.

“You want to know so ill tell you. This boy we have strung up here is what we call Kempei Tai. They are gruesome killers and are feared by our countrymen for ages. This one in particular is of a royal family and was sent here to escape the factions that try to take over our government. We are 'that faction' and he is paying us his dews for disappearing. He almost caused us the whole effort to start anew. He almost got all of us killed or put in jail. He’s the source of a lot of pain and suffering. He’s the one called Shimizu, Kempei Tai of the Royal Seal. Since this is none of your business I think it wise of you to leave and let us to our own business.”

The man started to turn away before stopping and turning again.

“If you don’t leave, you’ll end up like him or worse.”

[Tiao Lei Shen]

(OOC: Just to note, Tiao doesn't wear the hat anymore. Also, his name being chinese, technicall 'Tiao' is the last name, and 'Lei Shen' is his first name. I'm not asking you to change your post, but that's just something for you to be aware of in the future.)

The assumed leader of the gang stepped forward. He continued, dealing with the man in Tiao's grasp. It was a show of discompassion towards his comrade, either to make him look unpredictable or more dangerous. Not an uncommon tactic, though Tiao was hardly disheartened. It wouldn't be a stretch for him to do the same thing elsewhere. Regardless, Tiao would drop the dead weight of the unconcious body and stand upright, hands relaxing straight at his side.

Throughout the whole explanation, Tiao continued to show strong disinterest. If his eyes were not fixed upon the figure throughout the whole story, it could easily be assume he wasn't even listening. When the man finished his story, and furthermore his threat, Tiao spat on the man's shoes, placing his left hand in his pocket as he now physically displayed his distaste for the story.

"The truth definately appealed to my apathetic side, I'll give you that one. Though, to be up front I have extreme prejudice towards Japanese politics."

Tiao removed his hands from his pockets, turning on the balls of his feet to fully face the rest of the men as his eyes hardened and narrowed in on the leader.

"Unfortunately, it means I care little for whatever crimes this man has against you, leaving me only with what I'm seeing right now. So let me lay it down for you, leave this boy alone or I'll be left to feed you eachother's tracheas."

[Shimizu Kuribayashi]

“Well since you didn’t have the courtesy of asking my nicely, then I guess well have to do something about that.”

The man motioned over to the bunch with two fingers placed together. In almost an instant a man pulled out a weapon. It was a silver-plated 9mm pistol with a flash suppressor on the end. The man placed the gun in the direction of Tiao, but it was then placed on the chest of Shimizu. The man in charge motioned down with his two fingers and the weapon in turn moved down until it was pointed directly at the diaphragm. The man looked back to Tiao and smiled.

“Well what do you think of this little predicament. If you ask nicely I may not kill this boy, but if you so much as take one step towards me in anger, the man you see holding the gun will shoot without hesitation.”

As the scene seemed to get worse, Shimizu came to. His head down, his eyes opened to a gun pointed at his own stomach. His eyes jolted open the rest of the way and he gasped for air as if to be drowning. He didn’t know what to do accept hope that the weapons trigger would not be pulled and a round shoot straight through his already fragile body. He closed his eyes and started to pray, not realizing that he was praying out loud. When he was done praying he opened his eyes to see the man with the weapon now holding it to his head.

“Son if you know what’s good for you, you had better shut your mouth. You hear me”

Shimizu couldn’t answer him and didn’t think he wanted an answer. He thought wrong when the man suddenly sent the butt of the weapon into his skull. Blood, rushing out of the new wound, rolled down the left side of Shimizu's face. The blood flowed into his left eye, causing some irritation, but not enough to quiver the growing rage inside of him. He still didn’t know the full reason of his punishment, but it was getting to the point that he wanted to kill every last one of them. He closed his eyes and began to breathe slowly, calmly.

“You still don’t think you have to answer me boy. I'm beat the brains out of you, you disrespectful piece of shit.”

The men, blinded by his own anger, placed his gun back into its place and started to untie Shimizu from his perch. Once the bindings had been let loose, Shimizu's eyes opened once more. If you could see the rage and bloodlust the filled his eyes it would scare even the devil from his hellish thrown in the deep. The man didn’t look Shimizu in the face, but when he did he noticed what a grave mistake he made. Since the head injury was the only major injury, he could still stand and that meant he could still fight. He had taken one step towards the man and a shot rang out.

A warm feeling filled Shimizu’s body. It was somewhat familiar, like this had happened before. He looked down and saw only a small wound. It was in his stomach. He looked at it, still in shock and looked at the man who had let him loose. He wasn’t holding a weapon. He was just as shocked at Shimizu was at this point and both looked around to find the culprit. They looked over to the leader, who brandished a gold-plated 45. A small amount of smoke rose from the barrel of the weapon as he realized he had been shot. He looked back down at the wound and saw a small amount of blood start to pour from the wound. He placed his hand over the wound and blood started to trickle between his fingers.

His mind raced as to what to do. He didn’t know if he should run or walk or stand there. He didn’t even think of just falling over. He couldn’t think about even breathing, and quickly realized he had been holding his breath for quite sometime. His vision became blurry and he started to stagger around, only trying to stand still. He was loosing the ability to hold his footing and started to fall. He fell on his side in what seemed like an eternity. His head slowly sunk to the ground, his eyes still open. They were pointing at the two who stood not too far off from him, the leader and the boy who apparently wanted him to be released.

His gaze stayed on them until his eyes started to slowly close. He felt tired so he closed his eyes. The man who let him free only looked at his body. He looked at the leader and then back at Shimizu. He knelt over him and placed his finger under Shimizu’s nose and felt no air. Shimizu was in fact still breathing, but you wouldn’t be able to feel it. The man stood up and waved his hand to the leader in a sign that Shimizu was probably dead. The leader looked back to Tiao and only shook his head.

“See none of this would’ve happened if you didn’t demand me to let him go. Now he’s probably dead and what are you going to do about it? I don’t think you can do anything, unless you have the power to bring him back to life. Do what you will with his body because we don’t have a use for it.”

[Tiao Lei Shen]

Threat after threat, the ring leader of this gang beat tried to get into Tiao's head and scare him away. As he had up to this point, Tiao Lei Shen kept a calm demeanor, showing neither fear nor anger, though a good deal of arrogance. A gun was pulled, not being the first time Tiao had seen one, but the first time it was pointed at him loaded, he assumed. About to act before the triggerman could react, Tiao hesitated his motions as the gun went from his chest, to the other boy's.

Idiot. Be quiet!

Tiao grit his teeth together as the boy in bondage began running his mouth incoherently, scared out of his mind. Not that he could be blamed for that. Death was a frightening thing. No matter how he acted, Tiao couldn't say he wasn't afraid of death. It wasn't the fear of pain or leaving the loved ones he didn't have behind, but the fact that most death was meaningless. If it was an honorable death, so be it. Although, that didn't mean he was going to go in search of it liked some damned martyr.

The next events happened so fast, there was little Tiao could do to stop it. Another man was downed by the boy, formerly tied up. It didn't take long to put him back down however, as the gun was fired into the boy's gut. Words were exchanged back to Tiao, who by the time the sentence was finished, would already be inches away from the leader. Bursting forward before the man could fully turn around, Tiao gripped the man's wrist and elbow of the right arm that held the gun. Quickly changing his style to that of Northern Mantis, Tiao's right hand would point the weapon at the man's face as his left arm snapped down on the elbow to make it naturally bend and turn. Holding the weapon inches away from both their faces, Tiao spoke quietly.

"I can balance your karma."

Without another moment's hesitation, Tiao point the weapon down, using the man's own finger to pull the trigger. The man shouted as the bullet entered his foot, quickly following up by raising the arm again, smacking the pistol into the man's nose, knocking him unconcious. Instantly pulling the gun out of the man's limp hand, Tiao turned and pointed it towards the other man. Halting the man mid-draw into his coat, Tiao gestured for him to drop the weapon and leave.

Once accomplished, Tiao released the clip and threw the gun to the side, kneeling down by the boy's side as he withdrew his cell phone to call 9-1-1. He'd tell them they'd need more than one ambulence.