New Dawn: The Bigger They Are
Story by Will Thomson on SoFurry
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Been awhile but hoping this will motivate me to return to writing this story again. Got a lot of projects beside Zeke's story in the works but I want to see this one through it all. By all means enjoy this chapter and comments and critique are welcomed. This story is almost done, so enjoy its last bits.
After helping Genta's family with the realty issues the days just flew by. I heard from Nanairo that they were doing well and that they had gotten better security, though Ms. Matsuo said she still would have preferred to have me on the security detail. She was a kind woman for sure and it was obvious she thought very well of me even though I was just a novice really.
I hadn't heard from Officer Tanaka since the day he wanted me to find that gun, but I had read in the newspaper that the man they had as a suspect would be going to trial soon. The papers said that the evidence was overwhelmingly against him and even made mention that his lawyer was trying to go for a plea bargain to lessen the sentence. I hoped the man went away for a long time, though, having one less guy like that around would make the streets a little bit safer for everyone who lived here.
I had met up with Jessan and Tomaka a few times as well. They seemed to be getting closer to each other and they had that look that you could just tell that they had taken big steps into their relationship. I was proud of Jessan, I honestly didn't think he'd have the courage to get this far. He told me that Tomaka had some issues that he had to deal with one day, but I told him not to tell me as it wasn't my business to be told, nor was it his business to tell me.
As for Genta and the Dojo, I had progressed a good bit from being there in less than two weeks. Norito had gained a slight respect for me when I helped him clean up one afternoon when I didn't have to, but he still thought of me as a punk. I didn't mind that though as I thought he was a punk too, but at least he wasn't being a bully anymore. With Genta though Juri had given me a lot of her recipes to try out on my own and I had written down several of my own and given them to her. She had taught me a bit about traditional Japanese cuisine and I'd helped her understand what good American food could be like, and not the greasy stuff full of fat that televisions and things portrayed people as eating all the time.
Genta himself was both excited and nervous about switching schools in the fall, but as someone who had had plenty of experience in the area I was able to set his mind at ease. After a good long talk and some ice cream he said that he felt a bit better. The butterflies would still be there for awhile, but they would go away soon. He just needed to get into it and he'd be fine. The fastest way to get used to the water was to dive right in.
In regards to their choice of housing they had decided to go with the more expensive house that was in better shape. We had gone out there that weekend to see the house along with my dad and we toured the city a bit more. The pagoda tower that we went to see was an impressive sight and I knew I'd have to come back one day with Matt to show him how wonderful their ancient architecture was.
My dad was also impressed with how I had selected the house and seemed to know what to look for. He said that I had checked out everything that most people never even thought about checking and that he was proud that I was growing up so well. I took that as a mixed compliment and didn't let how it sounded bug me too much, though I wondered what he had thought of me before.
It was now my fourth week in Japan and in less than 4 days I would be back on plane heading towards Massachusetts. I had been hanging out with Jessan and Tomaka a bit these last few days but today they were doing whatever it was they did alone, which I figured was 'doing it', but I didn't like to assume. Right now it was a bright sunny day and there was a nice breeze going through the green of the trees and I was just laying on a bench relaxing looking at the clouds as they passed by.
I was just relaxing and enjoying the sun beating down on me and warming my fur when I picked up a scent that I was downwind too. It was human obviously but I knew the scent from before. It smelled of a guy who didn't bathe enough had a bad problem with his body odor and even from being several yards away I could tell the guy was greasy. Also based on the scents I knew that long before they got close to me, and without even having to look back, that not only were there several of these guys but they were the same ones that I had fought off that day I had met Tomaka. It was that idiot who Tomaka had said was named Hitomi and his goons.
As they got closer his smell started to get worse and I seriously had to wonder if these guys bathed on a regular basis or if they were perhaps living in squalor or something. I started to sit up and stretch out though as their footsteps came within hearing range and I heard them laughing.
“Hey, where's your friend, the fur loving faggot, at, puppy?" I looked back at him as his friends started to laugh at his comment and wondering if they were really that stupid that they thought that was funny or were they just laughing at me for being insulted and not doing anything about it.
I just rolled my eyes and sighed, “Wow, did you come up with that line just now or were you rehearsing it on your way up here?"
“Heh, actually I came up with it a few days ago, but I was saving it for the right time." He puffed out his chest like he was proud of that and I looked at him like he was crazy stupid, which he was. It was almost pathetic how stupid those guys were. If ever there was a prime example of survival of the fittest, what I knew was about to happen with this confrontation would be proof of it.
I just sighed though and rubbed my temples, “You know… just for future reference that wasn't something you should have answered or admitted to. It's called a rhetorical question, just so you know." I shook my head and looked at him with a bored expression, “So anyway, what can I do for you moronic pea-brained butt-scratchers today?"
This earned me quite the evil scowl from the guy known as Hitomi, “What did you just call us?"
“I didn't call you anything, I just put upon you a label that described you, your personality, and how you act, i.e. 'moronic pea-brained butt-scratchers'." I shrugged and looked at him. I didn't show any emotion, I wasn't afraid of them nor did I find any of this serious. I would have actually laughed about this idiot standing before me if I didn't really dislike laughing a lot.
“Yeah! Well I know an insult when I hear one, bastard!" Oh and now the human growled at me thinking I'd be scared of that. He was actually one of the least intimidating people I'd ever met who thought they were intimidating.
“Wow, really?" I smirked and stood up leaning against the table I'd been sitting on, “You know I'm surprised that you even have the intelligence to distinguish a word let alone an insult."
This guy was beyond stupid and also had almost no talent for fighting. No sooner had I said that had he charged at me and swung with a right hook. Like every undisciplined fighter though he was sloppy with it and he overthrew the punch making it easy to step to the side and get away from.
He stumbled around and moved backwards a bit and I kicked him in the back to send him stumbling towards the ground, landing with a thud. It was actually pretty comical how he just fell like that and how he and his group were trying to still act tough even though they were way out of their league with me.
It wasn't more than a second later that another one of the guys came at me, this one was a bit more muscular and had a buzz cut; he at least had better aim than that Hitomi prick. He had a bit more skill and power behind his punch but I easily blocked it. After I blocked the punch I turned around and put my foot behind the guy's left knee and then delivered a punch right to his chest, tripping him and sending him down to the ground.
The next one to challenge me was tall but thin and I let him throw a few punches that I quickly moved away from and got out of his reach. These guys were so pathetic it was laughable so I didn't see any reason to finish this quickly. They weren't tough enough to carry weapons and weren't stupid enough to try to it seemed, oddly enough. I decided to play the sadist for this fight and play with them like a kitten does with a mouse its caught. I'd show these boys how stupid they were for challenging someone they had no knowledge about and would make them suffer for their own stupidity.
Now let me just clarify a few things at this moment here, I never enjoyed fighting, not ever, but I knew that it was never a bad idea to learn to defend yourself so that's why I learned how to fight. In most instances though I always had to fight seriously and no matter where I had gone before, each time I fought someone they normally had an advantage over me like a weapon, size, experience, or numbers, and sometimes they'd just be really good fighters that would look down at me for one reason or another.
Mostly I was drawn into fights, and I hated having to fight because of that. I really wanted people to just shut up and stop doing stupid things but when I see a person in trouble I have to fight to protect them. I knew first-hand what it was like to feel and be defenseless and I didn't want anyone to have to feel like that again and I would do all I could to make sure that no one I saw would feel like that.
Still though, this was both sad and funny. I mean having to fight such pathetic guys who couldn't throw a decent punch to save their lives was sad, but it was actually funnier that they thought that they could actually beat me like they were.
I didn't have time to lament on my philosophies at the time though and the path that I was being forced to travel now as the tall guy was starting to throw more punches again.
“Get the hell over here you damn gay bastard!" He yelled at me but I just kept dodging them with ease, ducking, bobbing, and weaving with barely any effort at all on my part. Like I said they were undisciplined so reading their moves was child's play to me.
I did however quickly grow tired of this and blocked one of his punches. I then quickly wrapped my arm around the guy's arm and held him in place. When he tried to punch me with his other arm I repeated the move and smiled at him as he had no chance of escape.
“Gay huh? You know that there's a certain way in Glasgow, Scotland that men will sometimes kiss other men, would you like to see it?" I smiled and then growled as I slammed my head into his right between his eyes and right at the top of his nose. I let him go as I did that and watched as he stumbled to the ground.
“That's called the 'Glasgow Kiss' and over there, lots of men kiss each other like that when they've had too much to drink." I popped my neck and looked around, “Anyone else want a love tap?"
I smirked as I looked around at the remaining guys. They were all dropping like flies, but that's when I caught his scent again. I had to admit that if it hadn't been me he was fighting against this Hitomi guy might have actually gotten a hold of me with his next move, as the boy seemed to be incredibly light on his feet despite how large he seemed to be.
Sadly for him, though, he was facing me and I could smell him approaching me from the moment he got up. I stepped to the side as he got behind me and then thrust my elbow back and into the guy's ribs. He then proceeded to keel over as I had knocked the wind out of him. I looked down at him as he held his chest at where I had hit him and then looked up as I saw the rest of his so called gang run off in fear of what I could quite possibly do to them.
A sudden thought came to me as they ran off and I went to get my camera and came back to Hitomi. Pulling his hair back so he was forced to look up I took a picture of his face and then placed it back on the table as I came back and looked down at him.
“Now… Hitomi-san was it? What have we learned from all this now?" I didn't wait for an answer, I knew he wouldn't be able to anyway after I had knocked the wind out of him.
“Let me just sum it up for you, prick. We have learned that you should not pick on people. Not on people that can fight back, nor should you pick on people that can't fight back. It is not a nice thing to do." I bent down on one knee and looked at him, “So next time you think it's ok to pick on someone, try to remember what you are feeling now."
I crouched closer and pulled his head back as I sneered at him showing off all my fangs, “Because…Hitomi-SAN…!" I used the honorific with as much sarcasm as I could muster before I got closer, I could detect a slowly increasing scent of urine coming from him as I held him, so I could tell my message was hitting close to him.
“I will be back next year, Hitomi-san, and until that happens I will have people watching out for you. You don't know who they are and you never will, but they will be watching you, and if I hear so much as you accidentally stepping on someone's toe or abusing an animal or being the same prejudice bastard that you are now… I will turn it all, every last ounce into pain… Meant solely. For. You…" I looked into his eyes and I saw fear swimming beautifully in them.
I may not have liked to fight, but scaring people was something I did enjoy. Either the prank like jumping out and scaring someone type of scaring, or the type I was doing now on this guy who knew just how dangerous I was. The art of manipulation that my brother had taught me all those years ago was something I enjoyed in times like this. I could make people start shaking with just a few words and a few dark looks and it served me well in times like this.
“So… Do we understand each other, Hitomi?"
He nodded quickly and managed to stutter out a yes and I just stood and smirked again.
“Good. Glad we had this talk. Now be a good boy and go home and take a bath, you stink." I turned and walked back to the table I'd been at, collected my stuff and walked off from the park. I now had to go do some things before I had to leave this city.
Well then, let me know what you think and I'll try to wrap this up soon.