01

His hair stood out in the crowd.

Why yes, of course it did, Shinji. For god's sake, how many people had real hair of this color? For that matter, how many people knew of hair dye?

His choice of clothing was not currently in fashion.

Why, thank you, Rose. I just happen to dislike those queer long fluffy things which you enjoy wearing. I cannot help it. Feminine is just not to my taste.

His mannerisms were completely different from theirs.

Yeah, they're all a bunch of sissies, Love. What's with all that posturing and bowing and scraping the floor with their forehead shit? I thought the times already moved on from there? If you remember correctly, we did that in Japan three centuries ago.

And so, he was perfect.

Lurking in the shadows, or at least attempting to, Muguruma Kensei was not at all pleased with his job assignment.

But at least he was the only one had no boss, so to speak. The others were all working under people, and on this job, he was the boss.

So, if nothing else, he liked that. But he did not like the job, not at all.

He harbored a deep loathing for these people. He just could not help it. It was the feel that they were emanating, the aloof aristocratic shit that he thought he would have left behind, back there.

But no. Even here, some place so far removed from that place, so far removed from anything and everything familiar to them, there were still all these ridiculous rules, ridiculous customs and ridiculous ways with which one was supposed to carry oneself.

Ha. As if he was going to conform to that. Muguruma Kensei was no conformist. He sure as hell wasn't going to take no shit from anybody. Which was why he was going to have to be very, very careful about how he went about doing this.

Eyes sweeping across the aristocratic crowd, he skipped right over the beggar children, away from the sweeping smokestacks spewing noxious fumes into the air, away from all that. He just focused on them.

There. That was something he could use.

Stepping out from between the narrow brick walls of adjacent buildings, he fancied those were factories of some sort, his booted feet met with cobblestones, uneven paving and the stench of something that was altogether human.

He hated it.

This was just like Rukongai.

It was as though he was back there again. He absolutely hated it. What right did they have to throw them out and yet still haunt their footsteps, still chase them, pursue them, and torment them? What right did those bastards have?

Swearing under his breath, he found himself being roughly pushed to a side by a child barely up to his waist, and promptly lost it. Grabbing the child by the scruff of the neck, he yanked the offender back, glaring fiercely at the little boy.

Expecting the boy to squirm about and beg for forgiveness, he was not expected when the brat glared furiously back, swinging fists out to beat at him. Startled, he dropped the boy, who rushed forward and slammed a foot onto his booted feet, before yelling something he did not understand and running away.

On hindsight, Kensei thanked his lucky stars that the brat had not had any stones with him. Being cut by a flint or something as small and insignificant as that would have severely bruised his ego.

He stood there, rooted to the ground and staring in shock at where the brat had run off to. What was that? What had that been? Why? He did not understand. He had only wanted to give the brat a good verbal lashing, and nothing else. Nothing much else, really. How was it that when faced with an opponent at least three times his size, and five times as strong, the brat still stood toe to toe with him, and even hit him first? What kind of society was this?

He found the answer right away. It was the same world, the same world where the weak stood no chance against the strong, where deceit and lies and manipulation ruled the world, where the rich were rich because they were rich, and the poor were poor because they were poor, and for no other reason than that.

It was then that he decided to get on with it, to start. To begin with his job. Strolling leisurely along with the flow, he noticed many sets of eyes on him, though after he glared fiercely back at them, their gazes were averted. Aha. A square. He could use that. And it had a rather interesting fountain as well. It even had drinking spouts.

Loitering around one of the drinking spouts, he looked over to the passing crowd, and to some of those aristocrats lounging in the shadows of buildings. It was still early, a light, light mist hanging in the air, so he presumed that those people were either taking a break on their way to work, or were just lazing around. No matter to him anyway, whatever it was that they were doing. Bending down for a quick drink, Kensei let the water flow past his lips while he kept an eye out for potential… customers, and was surprised to find the water potable, albeit a tad metallic.

But he had found someone, yes he had. And from the look of it, this was going to be good. Walking up towards the person, he looked around the crowd calmly, setting the foundation for this act, whilst seemingly muttering to himself. Yes, he was indeed muttering, but not to himself. Kido had never been his strong point, sure he was a whiz with those reiatsu blasts from Tashikaze, but that and kido were two very different things.

All in all, he supposed that he could pull this one off.

"Bakudo no yon. Hainawa."

The rope flew out and tugged at the man's ankle on the foot which had just stepped forward. As the top hat went flying, and so did the cane, Kensei raised an amused eyebrow as he sidestepped past the man, fingers brushing lightly past and grasping onto the something which he had been looking for.

Two blocks and a turn away, he flipped it in his hand, looking inside it.

What a good catch.

Dinner was assured for the next month.

And how the mighty have fallen.