tampered | Log; Incomplete

Log; Incomplete

When; January 2nd, morning
Rating; PG-13 at the moment
Characters; Currently; Harry Dresden

dresden4hire, Sasake Kojiro

swallow_cut, Mitsuhide

baptisminblood, Waverly Raine

light_lost, and Amanda Claire

electronicly
Summary; Harry and Kojiro finally have their duel.

Harry would be glad when this duel was over. Not because it was particularly dangerous (although it was certainly that) but it would hopefully be the last of the nightmare of a situation this had turned into. Really, it wasn't even the dangerous part that had been a nightmare, it had been the fighting with Waverly that was really upsetting.

Still, if all went well then this should be over pretty quickly. Knowing the time and place of the duel before hand allowed him to prepare the area with several surprises. Mostly just a series of binding circles that would allow him trap his opponent within a circle. Unless he was an especially powerful magic user Kojiro would be stuck there until Harry let him out. Theoretically, that's how it was going to go.

With Harry's luck he just might end up missing all his limbs and his head before he had time to do anything. Unfortunately, that's how he rolled. And then Waverly would feel awful and he'd never hear the end of it. And he would miss ice skating with Megumi. There was just no way he was going to lose with all that at stake.

So he waited at the beach, idly drawing symbols in the sand with his staff while waiting for the psychopath to appear. He tried not to think too much about the fact that he very well might die this morning.

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Kojiro arrived on time. He had never been late for a duel, and especially one against a promising opponent like Harry Dresden, whose power - in whichever way - had already defeated Mitsuhide, demanded, in the psychopath's opinion, the manners not to let him wait for his death too long. That was, of course, after he had had his fun and seen all of the other man's power. It was easy to find the way to the duel place, even when dawn had only begun to rise and the sun was still hidden. The beach was the place he was most familiar with in the City, after all. The baby monkey on his shoulder made a grimace and chattered loudly when Harry came into view, maybe figuring what was going to happen, maybe just excited. When its owner did not stop, it jumped from his shoulder and ran off.

Kojiro's expression, casual at first, underwent a multitude of tiniest changes; a small smile appeared, his eyes stayed empty, the smile disappeared again, he looked up and a strange sparkle stood in his eyes, before he blinked slowly, eyebrows rising, and with a tilt of his head his smile spread again - disturbingly open and almost with a childlike, surprised joy.

"It's so nice to see you," he explained softly, his boyish, effeminate voice accompanied by the same beaming, yet strangely empty smile. He glanced around, and the smile slowly shifted and strained, to something that seemed more a tense expression of irritation than a smile, although it passed within a few seconds, and he asked politely and with the same soft calm in his voice, "Are the ladies not going to watch?"

A duel that had started, in its own way, over him. Over the childlike, innocent personality that had currently been pushed back into a state of dormancy, what with certain influences awakening the bloodthirsty dominant one again. Mitsuhide had found his vantage point, close enough to be able to see fully but far away enough that he could walk away should certain people try to do things they shouldn't. Despite everything, he did not want to be put in a situation where he would be forced to hurt Waverly. He liked her, even the dominant one did, and it would upset him if he had to do it. But he was not going back to the hospital. Nothing would make him go back.

On his shoulder, the beautiful raven he called Kami cawed softly. Mitsuhide raised a hand to stroke the bird's head.

"This is exciting, isn't it, Kami?" he purred, voice too angelic and soft to be convincing. "Look... Kojiro is going to fight that man Dresden. Wouldn't it be beautiful to see Dresden gutted? But whatever happens, I'm sure it will be a lovely display, hmm?"

Flicking his head a little, silvery hair still remaining in place and shielding his right eye but somehow, not his vision, his gaze became fixed firmly on the two men on the beach.

Kami left his shoulder and took off into the air, circling above.

Was that a monkey the guy had on his shoulder? Who walked around with a monkey on their shoulder? Harry sighed and shook his head. If something threw feces at him he was going to be really pissed. He hated it when monkeys did that.

"I don't know," Harry said, yawning as he stretched a bit in preparation for the coming duel. Not that being limber would help him at all since his opponent was obviously in far better shape for physical fighting than Dresden was. Harry just wanted to look bored. His heart may have been pounding in his chest as a bit of fear settled in his stomach, but he certainly didn't want Kojiro to know about that.

"Maybe they didn't think it was worth coming out to see since I'm going to own you before anything really gets started. Or they're just watching from a safe distance."

The bored expression, even though fake, did not escape Kojiro, and the detached calm returned to his features and his constant, now weak smile. This was going to be good. He liked it when his opponents showed no sign of fear when they faced him. Slaying vermin that already trembled before he had even begun had grown so tiring and dull. And this was, for him, more than anything an indication that Harry Dresden's power was indeed as immense as he had heard. Although long since dead, he drew in a small breath, just for the sake of feeding the fire he felt burning in his veins in anticipation to the fight. And as slowly, eyes gaining a faintly predatory expression, he exhaled, loosening the sword sheath from his hips.

"Where is your weapon?" he demanded gently, eyes half-lidded and staring at the magician over the gleaming edge of his blade while he unsheathed it almost ceremonially. With a sudden, almost violent motion, he threw the sheath far behind him, letting the finality of the gesture settle in before lowering his sword from the horizontal into a fighting position; his eyes never leaving Harry for a second. A soft chuckle escaped him, and with a halfway bored, halfway cold or hungry glance at Harry's hands, taking a slow, casual step forward while his sword was still held in front of him to attack at any second, he asked, "You didn't come unarmed, did you?"

The raising of his voice and the instant dropping of all softness and politeness from it in the end of the question was the only warning he gave. Instantly, his shape seemed to blur in a flash of metal aimed at Harry, almost faster than the human eye.

((OOC: Sorry for the delay, I was having dinner. ._.))

She kept herself hidden. Harry had asked her to and she would do her best to keep that request. She had already upset Harry enough. She didn't want to upset him anymore.

She could see them both clearly and hoped to god that Harry would be alright. It wasn't that she didn't trust in his abilities; she was just worried. If anything were to happen. If Harry were to lose, she would be sure to try and get Harry's body away as fast as she could. To keep Kojiro from doing anything worse to the man.

Amanda looked around, her expression turning to a scowl for a few seconds when she realized she was late. Curse that few extra moments spent in bed thinking that dawn was vague enough to allow for a wide range of times. Her expression changed to a determined look quickly, in case anyone happened to look over. It was partially her fault that Harry would have to fight today, and her bet could either spell a blessing for Commander Vimes or a dark curse for herself and Harry. There was no way she would miss the rest of this or let either man see that she’s actually more than a little afraid.

She was far enough away that it was unlikely they would come close unless something happened to cause them to deliberately go that direction, but still close enough to see both Harry and Kojiro clearly and for them to recognize her if they bothered to look over.

Alexander, the German Shepherd which she’s adopted, sits at her feet, though he does growl or whine occasionally at the sight of what is going on; even dogs are smart enough to recognize a bad fight when they see it.

Edited 2008-01-02 22:58 (UTC)

"It's right here," Harry said, tipping his staff forward, the runes glowing with a dull orange as his power began to build. His magic was partially fueled by emotions, the stronger the emotion the more magic you could channel. The wizard just thought about all the people this man had killed, how he had threatened to kill Waverly and probably Amanda and who knows who else. The anger came fast and hot and the magic practically rolled off of him in waves.

Of course, the staff was far from his only weapon. Really, it was more of a focus than anything else. His blasting rod was tucked up his sleeve and on one hand he brought all the rings he had that were full of kinetic energy while the gifts of Waverly and his Godmother were on the other. In reality, Harry was armed to the gills.

It almost all came to nothing though as his opponent moved in a burst of speed. Harry was used to fighting creatures that moved faster and were stronger than humans but this was almost unreal. He didn't even see the guy move, all he saw was a... shape come at him.

With a strangled cry that was mixed with a growl Harry threw himself to the side and activated all of the binding circles that he could, praying that at least one of them would contain Kojiro because this guy was hella fast.

[ooc: So I think Waverly calls the sword now, then Kojiro uses the phantom swords, correct?]

It was all happening so fast and Waverly was having a hard time catching everything. Her fingers dug into the tree that was keeping her from trying to stop the duel. God help her if Harry ever discovered she was there. He would have her head for trying to keep him safe.

More and more she felt like her fingers were going to break from the force of her grip. This was all her fault, all because of her. Yet she and Harry couldn't stop fighting. She didn't want to fight with him anymore. She didn't want him to be angry with her anymore.

She knew he trusted her; that he cared deeply. He just ... he seemed to protect her too much. He seemed to worry about her more then others. To jump in before she even had time to react. It worried her.

When she saw the blade about to slice him twain she couldn't stop herself. The sword, it was going to - "HARRY!" The scream escaped her lips before she even had time to think twice about what she was doing. Her feet only took a few steps before she could feel something hefty in her hand. Length and cold.

He head turned to see Kojiro's sword in her left hand, the right still holding the tree; as if logic was trying to keep her back from being a fool. Her mouth hung open, staring at the thing. How did it? When did she? It didn't make any sense. She hadn't gotten close enough to grab the thing. It had been in her mind; taking the sword; she wanted to keep Harry safe.

None of this made any sense. She, she hadn't moved ... had she?

It happened too fast, and more than that, too sudden and inexplicable even for Kojiro; from one second to the other, he was disarmed, and worse than that, he could not move forward. There was his opponent, still on the ground after evading the attack, and yet - he could not move, could do nothing to attack. Had he lost that easily? That cheaply?

An irrational anger not at his defeat but at the loss of his sword and the way he had been defeated so easily flared up in him. He had been ready, more than willing to fight with everything he had, to fight to the death, but now he had lost before being able to show any of his ability, and by a man who was not even a warrior - somebody who, without his indirect connection to Mitsuhide - he would never have thought about attacking.

The adrenaline of the fight and the rage of the first attack had been enough to give him the energy for at least a surprise attack - one he knew he could not repeat at this rate, without more stimulation through fighting, but his last strike could well end the duel in his favour, despite his powerless position.

Not betraying another sign of indignation even after the shock of losing his beloved sword, he stretched out his arms left and right, while a sharp smile flashed over his dead expression. Energy manifesting in front of his palms took the shape of two thin swords before following the forward movement of his arms and shooting at his opponent. He only had to get one kill to decide this battle for himself, and it was not over yet.

One minute Harry thought for sure he was going to be hit by the guys sword and then the next minute... nothing. The sword was gone. The wizard risked a quick glance around to see if it was some sort of trap and the sword was going to boomerang back to him but it was nowhere in sight.

When Harry turned back around he didn't even have time to swear as he saw the swords of energy forming in his opponents hand a split second before they shot out of him. He didn't know Kojiro could do anything like that. The wizard hadn't been expecting projectile attacks at all and the circles were only designed to restrain physical objects.

Flinging up his left arm Harry activated his shield bracelet and a wall of shimmering energy appeared between him and the swords. When the weapons slammed into the shield Harry hoped that the swords wouldn't stay manifested for long; they were damn powerful attacks.

"You lost, Kojiro!" he shouted. "Give it up!"

It didn't last for long. Kojiro had not been able to build up enough energy through fighting, and so, the attack was soon over. Even he could understand that there was no way he could win without being able to move or attack, and when it was clear that not even this musou attack had any effect, the irritation faded and gave way to a serene interest, finally an amused smile.

"Very well, I surrender," he explained slowly, posture relaxing, while his eyes caught Waverly, who was now - again - in possession of his sword. But at least this time he knew where it was and had lost it in a fight. This circumstance prevented his anger to build up again.

He looked back at Harry and raised an eyebrow in amusement and appreciation. "You are an interesting man!" He chuckled, obviously in a very good mood again. "That was an amazing display of skill, even though not the skill I was looking for. How did you do it?"

Harry followed Kojiro's gaze up to where his sword was. In the hands of Waverly. Of course Waverly was here. And of course the sword was in her hands. Where else would it be rather than the most inconvenient place in the entire City for it to be. Well, perhaps the most inconvenient place would have been for it to end up inside someone, but beyond that...

"It's magic," Harry said, standing up to dust himself off. "And I want you to listen real close right now. You know what else I can do with magic?"

Holding out his hand, a small ball of light the size of an orange appeared above his hand.

"That's a miniature sun. Now you can keep on attacking me and maybe you'll eventually kill me... hell you can kill me six ways to Sunday but I'll always come back after a day. But you harm Waverly, Amanda, or myself again and I'm going to get your sword from you again and I'm going to stick it into a sun. Are you following me here? Because weapons don't come back after a day and I'll make sure yours is melting into nothing. Do we have an understanding?"

Kojiro did listen, and he listened with sincere interest, with a happy, almost boyish smile and eyes wide in attention. When Harry was done, he lowered his eyelids only enough to dispel the childlike expression that had shown in his features before.

"There is no point in threatening me," he explained calm and slow, although with an icy spike in his voice. The smile was still there, but it seemed dead now. "You defeated me. Do as you please. There is a difference between being defeated in fight and being robbed."

Not completely without a trace of spite, his gaze returned to Waverly briefly, and then to Amanda, whom he had not noticed before. Immediately, the cold of his voice and expression disappeared. "So, your name is Amanda?" he asked, almost friendly if there wasn't that certain instability in the slow motions of his features. "I believe we made a deal."

“My first name is Amanda, and my surname is Claire. I gave you my surname when we spoke over the network, just as legitimately my name as the other, but I thought surnames suited the situation more than given names,” she explained, feeling the need to clarify even though it was completely irrelevant.

Deep down, she was greatly relieved, and rather surprised that Harry had won so neatly, but there was no way she would let Kojiro see she felt either of those. Instead, Amanda took a few steps forward, and keeps her expression and voice completely calm.

“You said you wanted me to kill you, correct?” A rhetorical question, she remembered exactly what Kojiro had said when they made their deal. “But you’ve already admitted defeat so that would be either cruelty or needless bloodshed, depending on how much into account the restraints are taken. You’d come back to life in twenty-four hours, I would have violated my principles by drawing and using a weapon on someone when I had a choice, and no one would be farther from where they started. Therefore, it would be pointless as well. What I want is something actually useful- a full confession. I want the names, dates, and times as close as you remember of when you stole lives; I think you remember each murder perfectly, since people tend to remember what they enjoy.”

[OOC: Sorry about the wait! I forgot to check earlier. I offer a clash of ideologies or at least preaching to lol at as penitence.]

Ignoring the first explanation completely, Kojiro's only reaction was the same, calm smile, with the faintest raising of an eyebrow, giving Amanda a questioning look. "What do you mean, 'stole lives'? I never stole a life."

((OOC: No worries about that! I'm damn slow today, too. Busy day, etc. And soooo taken, that offer. <3))

Amanda crossed her arms, and half-stifled a sigh. “Stealing lives is the term used in polite company for murder that was committed for reasons other than declared war, self-defense, defense of another, completely inadvertently, or preventing a further illegal actions of the same severity by someone else once all other options have been exhausted. Do you mean to tell me that you’ve never killed anyone for reasons that I didn’t mention? That seems unlikely given the impression I got of you.”

She made a mental note not to use any more of the polite phrases from her era, instead of using the blunt terms. That form of politeness, it seemed, was going to create a something of a language barrier when speaking to Kojiro.

[OOC: Just need to move toward an opportunity. That shouldn’t take long.]

Edited 2008-01-06 02:31 (UTC)

"I see." Kojiro chuckled softly, genuinely amused. There was not much he could do in the magical restraint he was caught in, and for now, he had no choice but to answer.

"Are those the cases in which I am allowed to kill in your opinion?" he asked, not really unfriendly, but making it clear in his tone how absurd the idea appeared to him. "I've killed many men for other reasons. I slew dozens alone in Kyoto because Ieyasu asked me to, in order to incite a riot and give him an excuse to have Hideyori killed. I killed many men over an insult. I killed countless in duels. I don't remember all their names. Most didn't even tell me. And the time? The past twelve years."

When he had finished, the amusement in his expression faded and was replaced by a calm look of curiosity. "Is that what you wanted to know?"

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