The Sins of the Brother (Kenji/Closed)

Kenji walked along the street with his guitar case slung on his back. He hummed a gentle ditty that only he heard over the hustle and bustle of New York. It was a cloudy day, fairly cool, looked like it'd last for the rest of the day, if not rain. Such would be alright with him.

"Things are gonna catch up to you now, bitch!"

That was the phrase that snapped him out of his tune. Turning his head to look behind him, Kenji saw half a dozen thugs start running after someone, and ahead of them, he caught the faintest glimpse of silver hair. Without even thinking about it, he started off after them at a brisk jog, keeping distance but making sure he advanced through the horde of people between him and the sextet. The group turned into an alleyway, and Kenji caught up but immediately planted his side into the mouth of the alley, peeking down to see the six of them running after their target, whom he confirmed to be a young lady with silver hair. He slipped in and made his way quickly and quietly to a dumpster as the girl tried to vault the wall.

When she was brought down to the ground and the boys started laying into her with kicks and the like, Kenji took the moment to roughly estimate how long it'd take him to advance from his current position to theirs; his best guess was a matter of a few seconds. Those seconds seemed to be dwindling, however, as he realized who the victim was just as a man with a knife reached down to snatch her up, catching a glance at her face.

Bianca was the target. The very same Bianca who had assuaged him over the Sex Ed incident.

Now, normally someone might be inclined to spite a person who had caused them some form of grievance in the past, especially the recent past. Kenji was not someone who would do this. Instead, as Bianca hit the wall and was in the process of being suffocated, the easterner flipped the hidden catch on his guitar case with one hand and brought it to his left side, horizontal with the ground, his right hand picked up a rock about the size of his fist. He counted one second... Two seconds... Time almost seemed to slow down.

"You can see your brother again in Hell, you whore." Three seconds.

Kenji took a rising step out from behind the dumpster, and a second step forward as he brought his rock back, ready to throw. Four seconds.

The lead man brought his pigsticker up to Bianca's eye as Kenji took his third step and baseball pitched the rock. Five seconds.

At six seconds, the man grinned widely, and halfway toward the seventh second, the earthern projectile impacted with a dry KRAK against his temple. His eyes rolled up into his head as he released Bianca and fell hard to the alleyway ground with a bleeding skull. The remaining five men blinked and gasped for a moment, then all eyes fell to Kenji, who laid his faux guitar case against the dumpster he'd been taking refuge behind until now, and drew out his katana from the narrow end, then held it low at his side, tip level with the ground.

With an aura of frightening calm, Kenji regarded the five set before him with a cool stare. "You won't harm her again, worthless trash. Here, let me help you into the dumpster where you belong." Raising his free hand, he beckoned them forth, sealing his involvement in this alleyway scuffle.

Bianca certainly had a quick recovery, and a miniscule fuse on top of it. Kenji wasn't planning on stopping her from seeking her revenge, because he'd seen what they were doing and intended to do. Instead, he'd focus on taking down some of the remaining four men, who split up to target the both of them.

For Kenji's part, he wasn't planning on showing quarter, not unless one of his targets genuinely yielded. The first of his two men rushed forth with a snarl as he pulled a knife from his pocket, thrusting at Kenji's stomach. With a turning step that led his opponent to stabbing the empty space where he stood, the easterner was in position to ram his knee into the man's gut, then followed with a stomp kick with the same leg into the side of the man's right knee, causing him to fold and fall to the floor in pain. By this point, the second man was within two steps of him, unarmed, but determined to punish him for rocking their leader's world.

Kenji turned in time to catch a glancing blow from the man's cocked fist on his ribs; a stinging strike, but more of a negotiable distraction than a debilitation. Emboldened by his first hit, the thug took a second swing, this one a clothesline. This time he wasn't so lucky as Kenji ducked low under his arm and slashed up at the man's vulnerable armpit with his katana. With at least a three-quarter gash sliced neatly through his pit, it was understandable that he'd yelp in displeasure, but as the easterner stepped back and rose outside of his afflicted target's reach and the man made a move toward him, he stopped in shock and looked down at his arm. It was immobile, paralyzed; his axillary nerve had been injured.

"Do yourself a favor," Kenji started. He paused his dialogue to snap a karate chop into his foe's neck, then turned his palm and grabbed the spot with a death grip, startling the twice-injured thug. Fixing his gaze, the swordsman continued. "If you want to wank with that arm again, get to a hospital when you wake up." With that suggestion, he sweeped his foot through the man's ankle and caused him to fall, Kenji using the hand on his neck to slam him face-first into the concrete. He did not move again.

A sharp blow to his back caught him by surprise, and Kenji turned in time to catch the fist of the first man's second punch, who had apparently recovered enough to come at him from behind. Knife still in hand, he attempted to use his closeness to stab at Kenji's head. With honed reflexes, he timely tilted his head to one side, then crushed the man's toes with a full force heel stomp. The scream that left his lungs could make a banshee envious, but was drowned out by a timely blaring police siren from a cruiser flying past in the street outside of the alley. Kenji's palm-heel smacked into the bottom of his chin, clamping his mouth shut and around his tongue before the easterner punched the man's temple with his sword pommel. His legs became as jelly, wobbling before he collapsed into a heap.

As Kenji brought his sword back down, he felt a presence behind him, then felt it weaken with the sound of a knife sinking into flesh. He turned around to see the leader screaming and falling to the ground, his back very much defiled by steel. "What do you think, Miyamoto? Do you think scum like this deserve to live?" he heard Bianca ask with rage in her voice as the vindictive student approached and took to kicking the hell out of her fallen prey, punctuating each solid, unrelenting blow. "DON'T. YOU. DARE. BRING. UP. MY. BROTHER. AGAIN." At the last strike, he lay still, unconscious.

Kenji let himself relax a little. Just a little. In the meanwhile, Bianca had all but fallen against the wall to look upon her disembowled victim, seemingly fixated. Or perhaps she was looking right through him. It wasn't a sure thing in any case. The uncomfortable calm after the storm was ended with her tired inquiry, "Why are you even here still...? Come to laugh at me...?"

The easterner let her questions hang in the air for a few moments as he turned toward the dumpster and picked up his faux case by the strap, using one of the KOed thugs' shirts to wipe the tip of his katana clean before flipping certain catches to sheathe his sword in the case. With that done, Kenji slung it over his shoulder and walked over in front of Bianca, looking down at her, but not looking down on her. "I saw a girl who I respect in danger of being killed... So, I did what I'm good at." He gestured to his share of fallen foes to emphasize his point. "I'm just glad I caught what was happening."

Kenji kneeled down to her level as he shifted the guitar case to its normal place on his back, angle and all. "If you think I'm gonna ask about your brother, don't worry. That's for you to talk about if and when you choose. My concern right now is your safety." He gave a light smile as he offered his hand to Bianca, planning to help her up if she wanted it, but would stand up by himself if she declined. "Let's get outta here before we catch their filth."

Quietly accepting Bianca's thanks, Kenji helped her to her feet. He afforded her some space once she was upright, but followed her on her apparent path out of the alleyway. His question made him wonder, for he had indeed heard of Riot. After the incident with the man on the loudspeaker at the computer lab - Ty, as he found out - Kenji had done a little digging and newspaper-reading to discern that the group behind his actions, as well as two other incidents in the same timeframe, was Riot, and that the other two noteworthy names he dredged up included one Kaiser, and one Mikey. There was also something about the school kitchen exploding, but the last he checked, it was perfectly fine.

Some people must've worked fast to fix it up nice and new again, because it didn't look a damn bit different.

"They were behind the recent incidents that made headlines, right? I was involved in one of those, actually. That Katsumoto guy who drew Macht Starke's ilk to the computer lab and suffered for it? I heard his announcement and went to see what was up, and ended up getting involved in the fight." He shifted the weight of his guitar case in a brief pause. "You're saying that you're related to them?" Kenji inquired, not with any apparent concern or worry, or even anger. If Bianca was involved with Riot, well, she wasn't doing anything that merited the need for a takedown. If anything, she might be above Riot, but that remained to be seen.