Inevitable (Kazuki, Open)

[Pain Killer]

OOC: I know I said I wasn't going to write this until the tournament was over, but I got bored.

IC:

Tonight's the night.

Looking up into the black night sky, the self-proclaimed Pain Killer took a moment before closing his car door shut, dropping the keys into his trenchcoat pocket after locking the door. This moment had been coming for a long time now, though it seemed Adam had only really become aware of it recently. The youngest surviving Rydell strode quickly out of the parking lot, entering Club Legion with a determined glare.

The club was as busy as any other weekend, forcing the graduate to weave his way in between groups of people.He'd never liked crowds, but after working as a bouncer for so long, he'd managed to keep his unease from becoming unmanageable. His eyes wandered across the people, hunting for a familiar face, before finally landing on Rene.

"Rene! Where's Kazuki?"

"...In the office, why? You're not starting another fight, are you?"

"That's not the plan, tonight."

For a moment, Pain Killer would pause, looking towards the path leading to the main office, before turning and walking over to the bar. Having worked there for so long, and during his entire employment rarely ever come in on a casual occasion, the bartender was confused by his presence.

"Hey, PK, you don't work tonight."

"No kidding. I need a shot of something good, surprise me."

Picking a random bottle off the wall, the bartender placed the shot glass in front of him, filling it nearly to the top. Without skipping a beat, Adam swallowed it down, making a sour face briefly at the taste, before turning back towards the main office.

"Gonna pay for that?"

"Put it on my tab."

"...You don't have a tab."

"Make one."

The self-proclaimed Pain Killer pushed through the crowd once more, making his way through the staff doors and up the stairs, finally stopping at the door to the office and giving it a few sharp knocks with his knuckles.

"Hey, old man. I need to talk to you."

[Kazuki Akimoto]

The paperwork.

Oh, god, the paperwork....

His hand was cramped from the hours he'd spent ploughing through the almost unfunny stack of forms and applications in front of him, and silently he rued the time of year when he had to reapply to the city council for his liquor licence. Every year it would be the same thing, answering questions that they no doubt already had the answers to, but bullshit piles of bureaucratic red tape meant he had to re-affirm everything.

Staring at the pile he'd finished, his eyes grudgingly shifted to the slightly larger stack he had left to complete with a sense of loathing as he contemplated the theories behind pyrokinesis. That would come in handy right about now...

His musings interrupted a moment later by a buzz from his intercom, he tapped the 'open line' button on the phone.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, Kaz? Adam's in. He seems a little flustered about something, I think he's on his way up to you--wait, no. He's stopping at the bar for something..."

Raising an eyebrow at the statement, he questioned why exactly Adam would be showing up for any other reason than to take another effort at caving his face in. After all, though the pair could call themselves friends, it was an...odd relationship. Neither thought anything off-kilter from taking a pop at the other, but at the same time there was a mutual understanding. Still, he wasn't terribly concerned with the notion, and he replied calmly to Rene as her voice trailed off.

"Well, let me know when he's on his way up."

"He is, he only stopped for a shot of something, I think. Be careful, I'm not sure what's going on in his head right now..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm a big boy and I'm capable of taking care of myself, after all...", the traces of a smirk were in his voice, and Rene picked up on it with an affirmation before the drill of knuckles on his door alerted him to the large youths presence.

"He's here, I'm sure if anything goes off, one of us will go flying through the window."

"Hilarious, behave yourselves alright?"

The click of the line dying noted the end of the call, and after switching off the intercom he called out for Adam to come in. He rarely locked the office door when he was in it, after all what need would there be? It was nigh impossible for someone to get up here without his prior knowledge, and even if they did they would find themselves in far bigger trouble than they might have thought.

"Sit, then, and talk."

Short, straight to the point. It seemed appropriate, considering the apparent mindset of Adam just now if Renes observation was anything to go by. Kicking his feet up onto the desk, secretly glad to have a valid distraction from the paperwork, he folded his arms loosely and watched the younger male with blank eyes.

[Pain Killer]

With permission granted, the door opened, and Pain Killer stepped inside. Despite the rather gruff demeanour the youngest surviving Rydell boy had demonstrated downstairs, his no longer held the usual hostility. The offer of a seat would be met with a nod, the larger male pulling the chair out away from the desk and dropping into it. Rather than slouch as usual, however, Pain Killer sat on the edge of the seat, resting his forearms on his knees in a slightly hunched position, his gaze wandering between Kazuki and the desk.

"You know I'm not good with this sort of stuff, so bear with me a bit. There's actually a couple things I wanted to say to you, but since I dunno how I'm "supposed" to say 'em, I'll just... say 'em, I guess."

For a moment, Adam paused, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably as he struggled to find the words needed.

"Well, first, I... uh... wanted to thank you. For everything. You've picked me up when I've fallen down, given me a job... all sorts of stuff. And uh... I really appreciate it. I do."

His hand dropped back down to his knee, Pain Killer finally managing to keep his gaze on Kazuki, rather than the wandering motion it had been doing before.

"But I guess this is my two weeks notice, or whatever. I can't stay here, and I don't mean this club, I mean San Francisco. I don't know how long I'll be gone, and because of that, I need to ask you a favour. I need you to look after Mya while I'm gone."

The younger man swallowed hard. This was the hardest part of what he had to say, because not only was it admitting that he would need help from someone else, but he would need it for someone who was incredibly important to him. He would be leaving her in someone elses hands.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

The noting of Adams demeanour was immediate, and somewhat perplexing in itself. With a raised eyebrow, Kazuki watched as the younger man took his seat and stumbled his way through his words. At first, he was almost amused by the discomfort Adam was showing, but when it became quickly apparent that there was something serious to be said, he lowered his feet from the desk. Keeping his arms folded, his eyes narrowed slightly.

'What's this about, Adam?'

A brief flick of an eyebrow again, this time at the verbal gratitude being expressed. In fact, in the time Kazuki had known Adam, he had never expressed himself like this. Something was afoot, and he was intent on finding out. Not that he apparently had to wait long, in any regard.

"Before I answer that, explain why, exactly, you can't stay here. Moreoever, where are you planning to go?"

The raised eyebrow had lowered into a furrowed expression as his arms unfolded and he leaned forward onto the desk somewhat. Far be it for him to put the young man on the spot, but he wasn't going to play babysitter without a valid reason, and he had plenty of time to listen.

[Pain Killer]

A slight frown made its way onto Pain Killer's face at the fact that Kazuki hadn't agreed to the favour yet, though of couse, Adam couldn't blame him. He'd expected that the older man would want to hear his reasons, even from just an employers standpoint.

"Where I'm going is kinda hard to answer. After we're done here, I was gonna head to the hospital, and after that... probably Varron. I need to find someone."

With the second question more or less answered, Pain Killer contemplated expanding on the first, once again struggling with how to express himself. A slow blink signalled all the time it took for him to consider his words, remembering advice Mya had given him before.

The most important thing is turning what you're trying to say into something they can understand, or relate to. Build off that.

"It's like... I'm sure you've found something very important to you. Something that drives you, pushes you, eggs you on. For a very long time now, I didn't know what that was. Something's nagged at the back of my mind, pushing me to get that recognition I wanted from fighting you, fighting in tournaments, that stuff. The same thing that made me want to help Stern fix the system. I know what it is, now, it was for her."

For once, Pain Killer was mentioning a female other than his sister, something that was rare in and of itself. Whether he had told Kazuki of who he was speaking of, however, was something the young man couldn't quite remember. Adam smiled for a moment, remembering how he had been so disappointed that he hadn't thought of it before, when he'd finally figured everything out.

"I tried to get famous so that she'd be able to find me, rather than me having to find her. But apparently, she didn't ship off with the rest of us. If you're gonna ask why she's so important... well... I honestly don't know. But I do know that the only way I'll figure it out is by finding her again, and the best chance I have of that is asking her cousin at the hospital, Ran."

Pain Killer leaned back, feeling somewhat drained from having to talk so much. It had taken him almost two full years, but he'd finally managed to figure himself out, though in his own typical fashion, it had taken him far longer than most everyone else.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

The senior of the pair sat with a small smirk creeping onto his lips at the revelation Adam was giving, that his motives for leaving were not sinister in the slightest. He had expected that Adam was intending to go on a journey of self-discovery, or to train alone as he had done himself many times.

No, Adam Rydell was leaving San Francisco for something completely different.

Adam Rydell was going off chasing tail.

It took massive effort to prevent himself from snickering at the realisation, partly because he knew it would anger the younger man to some degree, and partly because he himself knew it would be insulting to do so. After all, however unexpected the notion might have been, there was always a good reason. With a slow nod, he leaned forward on the desk further, pitching his fingers together and leaning on the heels of his hands.

"I know what you mean. In fairness, my drive didn't come from a girl. Not at first, anyway..."

He left the musing at that, his eyes focused on a random section of the desk. "Pan Yi Xiao. I know who it is, if it's Ran's cousin. Tough cookie from what I remember, sounds perfect for you."

Smirking again, he nodded and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head with a slow sigh.

"Well, if you have to do this, then I'll do what I can for you as far as Mya's considered. You have to understand that I can't be everywhere at once, but I'll do what I can to make sure she's safe."

[Pain Killer]

Initially, Pain Killer had been waiting for the comment that would inevitably come, the teasing that would send him diving over the desk in an attempt to strangle Kazuki, employer or not. He wasn't in the mood to be teased, not about the very reason that was causing him to leave the life he had begun to get used to. Yet, the teasing never came, surprising the youngest surviving Rydell and causing him to stare back at the older man. The smirk, however, caused his eyes to narrow, Adam figuring he knew exactly what Kazuki was so smug about.

"Don't get the wrong idea, old man. If I was out for a good time, there's a lot easier girls than her."

Simple-minded as he was, the thought never occured to him that he may be confirming whatever Kazuki was thinking with his rapid denial. Nevertheless, Adam believed the problem solved, at any rate, letting the glare fall from his face.

"I'm glad I can count on you, Kazuki. I know you can't be everywhere, and even if you could, I doubt she'd let you watch her all the time anyway. It'll let me rest easier, though, to know that at least there's someone checkin' up on her."

Awkward as he was in most situations, Pain Killer hesitated for a moment, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do in a moment like this. Figuring he might as well follow the examples he'd seen on T.V. a few times, he extended his right hand across the desk for a handshake, assuming it would be an appropriate gesture towards someone who had been, and continued to be so helpful, even if he may not see him again for a long time.

[Kazuki Akimoto]

"If you were out for a good time, youngster, Rene would have already beasted you. No wrong ideas here, I assure you."

The quick retort was delivered deadpan, before a crooked smirk crept onto the older of the pairs face. He owed Rocco money now, the pair having bet a few months ago that Rene would have taken a pass at the burly brawler, but the Italian had been the wiser of the pair in that little wager. That thought aside, the smirk faded into a more calm smile as he nodded in response to his now-former employee. No, his...friend.

"She'll be as safe as I can keep her. You have my word on that."

At that, he was surprised for a moment when Adam reached across the desk. For a second he glanced at the hand as if it might suddenly detach from the bigger of the pairs wrist and start scuttling around, but with only a moments pause he reached out himself, clasping it firmly in his own.

"You do know I'm going to get you completely wasted tonight now, right?"

A faint chuckle slipped from his lips at the remark, and he raised an eyebrow almost daring the burly male to argue against the notion. For all of Adams stubbornness, it would do him no good to argue the matter tonight. Kazuki was going to send the 'self proclaimed Pain Killer' off in a style that he'd certainly remember.

[Pain Killer]

Rapid flushing of the cheeks would be the only response Pain Killer gave to the older man's retort, unable to really come up with anything to say otherwise. The idea that Rene had liked him had never occured to the youngest surviving Rydell, and even though Kazuki had made mention of it, nothing Adam could think of would suggest such a thing in his mind. Rather than argue the matter, Pain Killer would simply accept what the older man said at face value, figuring it to be some sort of joke he didn't understand.

Regardless, the blush had long passed by the time Kazuki accepted the handshake, something that caused a smile to tug at his lips, though Adam supressed the feeling.

"That'll take all of twenty minutes, not much of a night."

Finally, Pain Killer allowed some of his humour to bleed through into his voice, letting Kazuki know that he didn't see the idea as bleakly as it would have sounded normally. Things had certainly changed between the two men; the more they fought against each other, the more they seemed to understand each other, ironically enough. As much as Adam hated to admit it, it seemed all these friends and family popping up had rubbed off on him, changing his views of life as varying shades of gray.

"I guess it'll be alright, though. Might as well go out with a bang, or something like that. Speaking of, there's one more favour that just occurred to me. I want you to get in touch with someone for me before I leave, I want to fight that guy you told me about before. Sham-something."

[Kazuki Akimoto]

"You don't escape that easily, I know how much of a stubborn ass you can be, so you'll just have to suck it up and hold out for the night. It's been a while since I had a decent night out, and somehow I have a sneaking suspicion that you'll be the hidden gem that makes it all the more...interesting."

The same smirk lingered as he let the words stay at that, knowing that Adams tolerance for alcohol was virtually non-existant, but everyone had to start somewhere, and he was as good a trainer as anyone could be. A private joke Kazuki had mused over was that whilst he was in good shape, it wasn't his muscles that hardened his abdominals. No, it was his liver, some freakish mutated brick after years of...indulgence. Sure, the doctors warned him that he needed to take it easy and whatnot, but once in a while wouldn't cause any harm.

As other odd thoughts continued to filter through the elder mans mind, he blinked at something Adam said, mentally rewinding to see if he'd heard it correctly.

"You want me to what?"

No, surely not, but then, it was a unique enough name that there was little confusing it for anyone elses. Raising an eyebrow in mild incredulity at the 'request', he crossed one leg over and leaned comfortably into his chair.

"Well, if you want to go out with a bang, that's certainly the way to do it, but let me point something out for you, Adam. Shamino Warhen is the only fighter I've ever faced that I've never been able to match. The first time I fought him I got lucky, I managed to actually injure him, but he underestimated me then. Every other time, he's practically polished floors with me. I mean, I know you still want to make your mark among the old school graduates, and if you're so intent on it I'll do what I can, but you need to understand that the last time I fought that crazy Swede he was at least twice as good as me."

Raising both eyebrows as a sigh ripped through him, he rolled his eyes.

"You sure you want me to make that call...?"

[Pain Killer]

"Fine, fine, but if you try something funny, I swear to God I'll put you through a window."

Just how much of the statement was a joke was hard to tell, as once again Adam had gone back to his typical disapproving attitude. He had little doubt he would at least enjoy himself tonight, provided there wasn't a crowd around. Who knows, it may even help him relax a bit before heading out on his journey, something that he hadn't done in a long time. Nevertheless, he found himself more interested in Kazuki's response to his second request, finding it surprising and admittedly exciting at the same time.

"Do I look like I'm kidding around, Kazuki?"

The younger man leaned back, refusing to hunch over as he glared towards his oftentimes rival.

"Your concern is touching, but this isn't just some random fight. I realize he's a lot better than you, that's the point. From what you've told me, Shamino should probably be the best, here or in Varron, and you know first hand the way I improve myself. The hardest challenge gives the greatest reward, win or lose. I figure, with this experience, I'll be ready for anything that's thrown at me while I'm gone."

It was the same concept Pain Killer had used since the beginning, searching out powerful fighters in order to fight them and get better himself. Thus far, it seemed to work, as he considered himself to be around Kazuki's level, but this would be his chance to ascend above it.

"But since you're so eager to floor me tonight, I'd prefer if you set it up for a few days from now, so nothing that happens tonight impacts that fight. If you know what I mean."

[Kyukaku]

---Fifteen Minutes Ago---

Kyukaku laid lazily on the couch, his left leg propped up on the coffee table as he flipped through channels. He'd dislocated his knee a while back, scratch that, Adam had dislocated his knee a while back. It was a clean dislocation though, and only needed a brace once it was popped back into place. It would have healed nice and quick...had he not fallen through the floor of Paragon Institute.

The fall had re-injured his knee, only this time the dislocation was much less clean. He now had a full blown broken leg, leaving the only limb to never be broken at this point his right leg....and that probably just jinxed the damn thing.

Kyukaku's attention changed from the TV down to the table, where his cell phone began running away from the vibrations.

"Hello?" Kyukaku asked, pulling his phone up to his ear.

---Now---

Kyukaku raced down the streets in his Mercedes, on his way to the place owned by the very man who gave it to him. Unlike most trips to club Legion, though, Kyu wasn't on his way to see Kazuki. No, it was Adam Rydell, the only man to consistently switch between arch-nemesis and good friend of the former School Captain.

According to Mya, Adam's sister, the burly bastard planned on jetting off tonight. Mya didn't say why, and Kyukaku wouldn't be surprised if the self-proclaimed Pain Killer didn't tell her on purpose. Kyukaku wasn't exactly pondering the reason at the moment, though. No, Kyukaku was just currently pissed that Adam hadn't told him himself.

Kyukaku burst through the doors with all the rage of a one-legged madman, eyeing the club hard for his current target. Kyukaku didn't get far until Rene approached him however, not surprising given the lady's attentiveness...and Kyukaku lack of real mobility with his crutched in the backseat of his car.

"Tyler!...What's going on?"

"Is Adam here?" Kyukaku asked, toning down his aggression but not his apparent rush.

"Yeah, he's up in Kaz's office. What's the apparent rush with all you guys tonight?"

"...I'll have to get back to you on that one..."

Kyukaku said, not having enough of the facts to answer her as he hobbled away, heading up straight to Kazuki's office where he intended to go through the door without knocking first. Reaching for the handle Kyukaku didn't slow down, not realizing Kazuki had locked it as he walked directly into the door, causing a thud that made him stop and wrap his knuckles on the glass window.

"Hey! Open up! I know you're in there you jackass!" Kyukaku directed towards Adam, which could easily be confused to Kazuki, given it being his office.