The smell of the dinghy bar caused Saito to groan softly. He thought it wouldn't be as bad on the inside as on the outside, but it was obviously a false hope. Already he could see the flies and mosquito's flying in packs around the small area, along with the bodies of various adults and teenagers as they lay against the walls either from intoxication from the stale alcohol or sickness spread by the flies. He personally thought it was both.
He gave the area around him a quick glance before quickly spotting his target. It wasn't hard; he was the only foreigner there, apart from Saito himself, and he looked way too cheerful for someone in a decrepit building. Saito steeled himself before taking a seat opposite him.
"Well, looks like someone's cranky," He spoke before Saito had a chance to, "What's wrong? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"
"Shut up." Saito glared at the source of the voice, doing his best to ensure his temper didn't flare, "You know why I'm here........so lets not bother with playing games."
"Aw, no hello? That's too bad."
The person across from Saito wasn't his friend, not even an acquaintance. Actually, Saito wanted to stab him in the throat then watch the life leave his cold, dead eyes slowly and as agonizingly painful as possible. Unfortunately, for various reasons that were impossible to solve without him having the power of precognition, he couldn't afford to do so without putting his friend at risk.
"Look, I just want my friend.....Kazehaya...." Saito twitched when he saw him give a yawn and take another sip of the beer in his hand, as if he didn't care at all what Saito was saying, "You bought him from Hoyt....." His voice momentarily cracked its neutral facade when he said the word 'bought', like his friend was a product from sale and not a human being.
The person in front of him was also a monster, metaphorically if not literally. Bambi (pfft) "Buck" Hughes, an Australian mercenary with years of military experience. Got kicked out of the army when his superiors saw his sadistic tendencies and his enjoyment for causing pain. Drifted for years as a mercenary till he met Hoyt Volker, and since then he hasn't accepted work from anybody else.
Physically he wasn't too unique: Somewhat tan skin, dark hair with streaks of brown in it, a beard that reached lower than his chin, and a muscled physique. The clothes he wore certainly didn't seem to be that of a mercenary's, consisting of an open hawaiian shirt, light blue jeans, and some black boots. Through the exposed chest Saito could see a tatoo of a deer covered in wreath's of flame, with the word "BUCK" written underneath in all capitals.
Buck stood up from his seat with purposeful slowness, making sure to keep his eyes trained on Saito's; looking for any cracks to his neutral expression no doubt. He wanted Saito to get angry, to lord over him that he held his friends life in his hands and that if he lost his temper, he'd never get him back.
"Oh him? He said his name was- Mmmmmmpph!Mmmmmmphhhhhhh!" He placed his right hand over his mouth and squealed, reminiscent of a pig's almost, "Hahahahaha, see what I did there?" He tapped Saito in the shoulder quickly before sitting down in his seat again, an amused grin off his face.
"You're hysterical......" That wasn't what Saito wanted to say. Personally he would've preferred "I'll kill you for that" or, more favorably, jamming his face into a candle and saying "You tell me where Keith is now before I shove this entire thing down your throat." Really, either of those would've been infinite preferable, but that's exactly what the older man wanted; to rile him up, make him lose control.
"In any case, I do believe I remember buying that certain product from my boss," Product, not a person. This was why Saito hated dealing with people like him, and it wasn't just because they were so morally bankrupt that they made serial arsonists look like harmless kids playing with matches. People like him put themselves above others, toying with lives because they got off from the feeling of power they got from it. They weren't satisfied with just killing, they wanted more, "But since we're both businessmen here, I believe I can make a trade. You get something I want, and I'll give you something you want."
"And what the hell is that?" Saito leaned down from the table, eyes narrowed and ready. Already his hand had clasped onto a stray piece of wood from the rotting table, ready to jam it into his eye at a moments notice.
"Ohhhh, temper temper," He chuckled at the impromptu nickname he gave him, "If you do me in, you'll never get him back." There was a tense moment of silence, longer than Saito liked, before he exhaled and let go of the makeshift weapon. The threat was genuine, "Right, that's a good boy. And I believe I already have something you can trade with."
From his back pocket he procured a tattered paper and laid it on the table. On the yellow parchment he could see a rough drawing made of charcoal, of a knife that looked more ceremonial than practical. He could see the different designs that went into it from the rough sketch alone, and it certainly wasn't a mystery why one would want such an item.
".....I'll do it."
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Time skip (The intervening parts of getting the knife are way too long, so I'll be skipping them)
"Aha, you found it! Give it here."
To say Saito went through hell to get this thing would've been an understatement. Exploding ships, being forced to navigate a maze of corridors underwater, ruins filled with sulfur that nearly melted his skin off its body, and dozens upon dozens of pirates (and not the fun kind, more like the type to shoot you if you have money, rape you if you have the y chromosome, or both if you have both) looking for the exact same thing he was. Needless to say, he wasn't in a happy mood.
Saito flipped the knife carelessly through the air, spinning it around two times before it landed back in his hand with a dull thud, "Kazehaya first...." He pointed the knife to the older man's chest, making sure to keep it just a few inches from touching his skin; a subtle threat, but a threat nonetheless. Of course this was mostly due to the fact that he wished
"Alright," A clang and the shape of a key being thrown haphazardly into the table, "He's through the back." Buck gestured to the small wooden door off to Saito's right side, barely noticeable under the annoying purple and yellow lighting dangling above them.
Saito wasted no time and grabbed the key, not even bothering to give a goodbye glare to the sadistic former soldier. With a nervous breath, he placed the key inside the lock and pushed inward, steeling himself for anything.
"You gotta hand it to the Chinese! When, they disemboweled you, they did it in bloody style!" Buck gave a chuckle; an action which caused both Saito's blood to boil and his insides to turn ice cold, "Can you imagine getting shivved by this? Like Shakespeare stabbing you with his quill!" Oh, Saito could certainly imagine stabbing somebody with it, preferably slowly and painfully.
He had more important things to worry about, however; Kazehaya. Behind the door was a room he didn't imagine would be there: It was bare bones, which was to be expected considering it was only from a small shack, but the things inside certainly didn't seem to fit. Pink and purple lighting coming from two small bulbs, a small camera and TV set most likely made for recording, and - the most odd thing there - single bed with a lumpy mattress on it containing his missing friend.
To say his friend looked bad would have been an understatement. Kazehaya was always considered handsome by many, and even pretty by some. Long blond hair, pale skin, and blue eyes marked him as an obvious foreigner, but his appearance put others at ease nevertheless. Now......it was different. Bruises marked both his exposed arms and face, his hair was torn in different parts and he constantly shivered as if he was exposed to cold temperatures. The fearful expression on his face was something he'd never seen in his friend before.
"Kazehaya....." Saito walked slowly over to the cowering teen. He didn't understand what he felt at the moment; fear? anxiety? relief? He just didn't know. Unconsciously, Saito placed a hand on the latter's shoulder.
"Please, no more!" Saito nearly jumped back at the sudden demand, "I'm begging you, please, I can't take anymore." Kazehaya's body shivered even more fiercely and Saito backed away slightly in hesitation. He wondered on what to do briefly before Kazehaya slowly turned towards him. What he saw in his friends eyes were many things: Fear, Surprise, but the most prominent was relief. Relief that Saito was there, that he wasn't alone.
"...Saito?" Kazehaya gripped the blue haired boys shoulders tightly, as if trying to make sure he was there and this wasn't fake, "Saito......please....you have to get me out of here. I'm begging you please, you have to get me out of here."
Saito immediately nodded, "I'm getting you out, okay?" He gripped Kazehaya's shoulders firmly and nodded again, "I'm getting you out of here...."
"Really? You promise? You have to promise me!"
What had happened to his friend that made him this way? Saito both wondered and dreaded the answer to that question. Unfortunately, he was going to get the answer to that question whether he wanted it or not.
"Yeah, about that mate..." Saito quickly let go of Kazehaya and turned back to the door. Buck was standing there, a sadistic grin on his face and the Chinese knife held firmly in his right hand, "I am grateful, right? And I really wanna show my appreciation, you know, proper?" With his left hand, he grabbed between his own legs and squeezed, "Like a man should."
Saito instantly felt bile rile to his throat. What was he implying? That he......God, was that what Kazehaya had to deal with? Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kazehaya whimper and his shivering increase. He didn't want to admit it, most of all to himself, but the implications were obvious.
"You said we could leave!"
"Nononono," He shrugged his shoulders like a parent scolding a child, "No, what I said was Kazehaya could leave with you. But you? You're not going anywhere, so neither is he."
"We are walking...through that door...." Saito could feel his temper flare again, but this time he made no effort to calm it. This man - no, this monster didn't deserve it. He wanted to kill him, to make him pay for what he had done to his friend.
"You are when I say you are," With the smirk still on his face, he gripped the knife harder and crouched down slightly, "I'll take you bloody if you like. I like my meat rare," Saito had to resist the urge to gag when he saw the older man lick his lips slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.
'That's it!' Saito didn't know what overcame him at the moment. Whether it was the need for justice or want for revenge, he found himself grabbing his knife from its sling and charging towards the older man.
"Die, you sick son of a bitch!" He pushed forward, aiming for the face or the neck to ensure that he died, an attack which was blocked rather easily by the more experienced fighter. Saito briefly felt the two knives clash against each other simultaneously before his knife thrown away from him.
He didn't have time to go into shock, however. Buck was already on the offensive, using various wide sweeps to cut open his flesh by any means necessary.
Saito dodged them all, using his smaller frame to his advantage for once. Every strike, every stab, every slash was dodged simply by using his shorter in comparison height and ducking under his assailants arms. He tried in vain to reach his discarded knife, but was thrown away every time by the need to dodge. He wasn't an idiot; one slash was all that was needed for either side to win.
Buck seemed to be aware of this, as by the 10th dodged strike he changed tactics. Saito didn't even have time to scream was he felt his shoulders get roughly grabbed and himself thrown a few feet across the room and smacking against the wall.
The younger man quickly got up, but by then it was too late. The Chinese dagger soared through the air as if in slow motion, a reminder to Saito that he was going to lose. The trajectory of the knife meant that soon he would find himself missing some vital skin where his neck should be. He couldn't dodge, nor could he evade it. There was only one thing he could do now.
He blocked it. With his bare hands, the blade was stopped. Saito's mouth opened slightly in surprise as he saw the red liquid trickle down his hand onto the dirty wooden floor. The blade had been stopped, but his hand didn't come off unscathed. The edge of the blade was piercing his hand, its dull silver metal coated in his blood. He didn't scream, he didn't cry, he didn't do anything. All he could do was stare blankly at his injured hand, at the dark crimson fluid running down his fingertips.
He felt no pain. Though the blade continued to dig deeper into his skin, he ignored,"......Die." Against his better judgement, he pushed. The blade dug into his palm even deeper this time, but he pushed. Through his hazy vision, he could see Buck's face turn from enjoyment and glee to surprise and, to his enjoyment, fear. Inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter the blade closed in on him. Due to their size difference, the blade that reached Saito's neck reached only up to Buck's chest.
Right at his heart.
'Now!' Saito leaned back and smashed his face against him, making sure his forehead took the burnt of the attack. Buck walked back, disoriented by the attack for only a second, but it was already a second too late. With one last blast of effort, Saito turned the knife and pointed it towards the older males torso before plunging the knife as hard as he could.
Wordlessly, Buck pressed a hand against the wound and grimaced, though it didn't last long before Saito kicked him hard in the stomach and sent him sprawling back. He didn't move at all.
"....I've got you...." Saito stared down at the bloody knife, unsure if he was talking to Kazehaya or the recently deceased sociopath. Already the feeling of adrenaline started to leave his body and he could feel his left hand give off feelings of pain again. But there was something else there; satisfaction. He had done it.
"Saito....are you sure he's dead?" Kazehaya looked at the body with a mixture of a grimace and a smile. He had just seen someone get killed right in front of him, but no one would have faulted him for being happy about it.
"Everything's going to be alright. Come with me, Aria and the others are worried about you...." The words were said automatically. It was a rehearsed line, something that he'd planned to say after he rescued him. Frankly, he didn't know how true the first part of it was.