White Covered Brawl

Winter dyed the leaves white, a blood-dyed night has quelled down, vigilance is left…

Takemune has been expecting a visitor in his own self-proclaimed and “rightfully taken” domain on the outskirts of Burrowgatory, all he sees within his windows are white snow, trees, and the city itself seen as a small light far off. It’s only hours away from the city so it should be no problem for anyone to come and go. He would eventually hear footsteps from a distance past the hallways. Entering a room would be a silver braided envy bun, escorted by one of Takemune’s lackeys.

“I came to spar with you… I hear you held off a group of vampires…”

“heh… give some credit to my men, will ya? They worked hard too, I simply guided them, although I did hold a handful on my own too… I recon you sent me a letter a few weeks ago to know the full story, but I can tell, you’re aching for a little form of communication here…Silver, right?”

Takemune looked back to see Silver by the entrance and he noticed a smile on his face.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Takemune stood up from the tatami mat he was sitting down on as he set aside a bottle of sake after closing its cork. “Follow me”, he continued as he shook his head a bit sideways, gesturing the guest to come. 

Outside was a zen garden that was practically covered in snow. Silver looked around seemingly a bit concerned.

“I own this place, so I make the rules so don’t worry about the damages. Besides, I moved the bonsai trees somewhere else.”

Upon further inspection, Silver noticed Takemune only had his left arm, and his odd weapon of choice was a nodachi, a weapon related to the katana but with a longer blade length, usually twice the size. Takemune could see Silver’s face of uncertainty and curiosity, and he knew how he could dispel that. 

Takemune charged at Silver with his nodachi still sheathed in its saya.  He was quick on his feet to the point where Silver had no choice but to block an upward diagonal slash with his silver dagger.  Silver was pushed back hard, there was a lot of force from the slash itself. Before Silver could try to regain his ground, the one-eyed bun was already below him, preparing to make another slash upwards. Silver didn’t have time to fully dodge it as he was hit by his right arm. It felt like a hammer striking on your shoulder. Takemune did not let up as he thrusts his sheathed nodachi at Silver’s stomach. Silver was thrown to a wall, partially breaking it as he slid down recoiling in pain. Immediately he stood up while picking up his dagger, this time sheathed.

“Tough one are ya?” Takemune commented as he prepared for another strike, Silver immediately dashed to Takemune as he prepared to land a blow. He succeeded so by dodging a downward diagonal strike and thrusting his sheathed knife close to Takemune’s chest.

One might think getting hit by sheathed weapons would not hurt but that’s not likely the case, as both are practically fighting with blunt weapons. They weren’t really wearing protective gear at all, although they both already experienced far worse.

“Not bad! But take this”

Takemune proceeded to headbutt Silver as hard as he could, Silver maintained his ground by gripping Takemune’s arm so he couldn’t use his nodachi. Silver pulls out a stake and thrusts Takemune with the flat end. Before Silver could land a hit, Takemune threw another headbutt on Silver’s head, this time dazing him to the point where he missed his mark. Takemune grabs Silver by the arm this time as he flinches backward from the impact. He drags him closer before striking him with one headbutt after another.

Silver Somehow kicks Takamune in the chest, and from the impact, Takamune loses his grip for a moment and recoils backward before quickly recomposing himself as he quickly picks up his nodachi.

Takemune charges at Silver and before he gets close, Silver kicks the snow beneath him at Takemune’s face. It wasn’t just snow. But the sand was underneath as well. He hoped it would slow down the one-armed bun but he didn’t stop. Takemune quickly made an arching horizontal strike, Silver quickly blocked while still taking the impact, sliding sidewards.

“Don’t try to exploit the environment around you! Especially in enemy territory!” Takemune growled as he continued to push Silver to his Knees. “It’s a basic rule in fighting”

Silver does what he can to resist with both hands on his dagger. His back was against the wall. Surely he faced worse since the Vampire Incident but even after everything, he still has much to learn. Silver took a deep breath before letting out a battle cry. His last ounce of adrenaline rushes in as he starts to push back and soon after he is on equal footing with Takemune.

Silver eventually pulls himself away from Takemune as he sets himself In his fighting stance once more. In a burst of a dash, he rushes towards Takemune. Takemune quickly reacts by preparing for another swing, Silver gets within Takemune’s range, and as soon as the nodachi’s blade gets close, he blocks it with his dagger and glides along the blade, leaving sparks flying off. He closes the distance before landing a punch square to Takemune’s face. Takemune didn’t flinch from the first punch.

Silver then quickly drops his dagger before landing another jab to the face, followed by a flurry of more jabs and punches, forcing Takemune to drop his nodachi to block his attacks. Silver throws a haymaker to the right, where Takemune’s left side is more vulnerable. He tries to step back but he is abruptly stopped by a large stone behind him. Silver’s haymaker was also stopped by the large stone, hurting his own arm.

Before both buns could continue, the toll of a high adrenaline spar caught up to them with Takemune dropping first to the ground, leaning against the stone. He pulls a cigar out before lighting it. Silver soon fell on the ground, lying on the snow-covered sand.

Silver catches his breath trying to think of what to say while gripping his right arm.

“How the hell are you this strong?”

“Let's say I did a lot of climbing back when I was a geologist and archeologist”

“You’re shitting me… your strikes are as if you still had both hands”

“I still do some pull-ups every now and then…  haha” Takemune laughs as he takes another huff of his cigar before continuing.

“You’re not bad yourself. You seem to follow your instincts pretty well in the heat of battle. Guess I did make the right call to accept your request.”

“I see… How did word of a vampire attack here not spread into the city?”

“Our settlement is a few hours off from the city, there’s that. Calla made sure no one over there heard about it, not even the vampires we captured before turning them back into regular buns.”

“So you did meet her.”

“Yes, but funny enough, there have been old accounts of a vampire lady running around Burrowgatory before its recorded history, that’s according to my findings at least”

Silver got up, not curious about what Takemune knows.

“Tell me, where can I find whatever documentation you found?”

“I sold them to the Church of Sulfur, and in turn, sold them to the Burrowgatory Museum.”

Hearing this, Silver was somewhat disappointed with the casual response from the one-eyed bun as he took another huff from his cigar.

“Hey, I made some copies too. Take this business card here.” Takemune hands Silver the card. “She has them and other obscure history documents I found for further lectures, although it's usually me who holds them… You’ll have a great deal of knowing more about vampires if that helps…”

Silver nods in acknowledgment as he gets back to lying on the ground still exhausted after accepting the card.

“hmm… looks like I’ll have to get back to the city then, I’m beat”

Snow would eventually fall on them and the practically ruined zen garden, the blood that stained the snow would eventually be covered in white or gain a pink hue from it. Takemune observes the snow around him.

“There’s this saying that a battle can always turn winter into a pile of Sakura petals… Get up, before we we become popsicles here. I'm guessing we’re about to experience a heavy snowfall from here.” Takemune said as he reached his hand to Silver the latter grabbed his hand and nodded.

“You know, I always heard stories of an eccentric gang leader with one arm from others, especially from Jackal.”

“Guess that explains why little old me could put up a fight”

“If that stone wasn’t there, I would have landed the blow”

“S

“Suppose you’re right there”

tars always align at the right time”

“Or

just plain dumb luck”

“C’mon don’t put it like that, if you weren’t that passionate in beating me to a pulp, you would have seen that coming.”