Top of the World (Snyder Cut)
Feb 27, 2022 13:41:26 GMT -5
CJ Phoenix, Johnny Bacchus, and 2 more like this
Post by Downfall on Feb 27, 2022 13:41:26 GMT -5
<"It's a stupid name,"> Hinata had said, smiling genially despite the pain.
<"Wh-No... it's not, it sounds badass! It's like, I'm going to be your downfall!"> Daniel said, even though the pain in his hands was excruciating.
The two of them had been locked in plank position for hours. Heavy stones had been stacked on their backs. Shattered shards of glass littered the floor, and yet, the two of them had been charged by Master Shishio with holding muscles stock-still, unmoving. Not bowing or collapsing. After the first twenty minutes, the young blonde gaijin's arms had ceased their jelly-like quaking. Now, he held firm as a statue, although he feared the slightest shift would either cause his quads to tear from the bone, or unbalance the cairn-stack on his shoulder-blades, sending the whole works tumbling.
All of this, for the crime of him listening to Nirvana's Bleach - their most punkest album, the nineteen-year-old would proudly explicate to anyone - in the locker room. Shishio, his bulldog face furrowing, had stood at the foot of his bed, making him get up. "<You will not listen to this whiny drivel in this dojo.">
<"Easiest name in the world to twist into mocking patter. People call you Falldown, Danfehl, Dillweed...">
Danny scoffed, trying not to move his frozen body, like holding in a sneeze. <"I... don't care what some idiot thinks is clever, Downfall is the coolest name alive.">
Hinata Tsuuyuki, twenty years old and lean, powerful muscle, but still in black trunks yet. He was planking right alongside Danny, for the crime of not coming in before curfew. He bore this dojo's terrifying Young-Lion regimen easier than Danny was... with a smile and a spirit that didn't break.
He heard the footstep into Mondai-Bukken <House of Pain>, and, looking up, his neck creaked, but he overbalanced, feeling the stones slipping off his shoulders. <"Shitshitshitshiiit...."> and then, clattering stones fell to the pavement floor around his hands, which had been pushed into broken glass.
Shishio stared down at him pitilessly. Not saying a word.
Then he looked over at Hinata. <"You go.">
Hinata stayed locked in plank position exactly. Not answering, but staring defiantly.
Shishio stared for a long time, grunted. <"You stand in solidarity with this arrogant whelp. This is your error, Hinata."> But he turned to Danny.
"<I see the callous look in your eye, Daniel. The sullen rage hiding behind your weak, baby flesh. Then step forward. Let the stripling bare his teeth and imitate the action of the tiger.">
Danny, ashamed, looked at the floor.
"<I thought not.>"
Shishio left them, stepping out of the Mondai-Bukken room.
<"Hinata... why did you... why are you standing up for me,>" Danny said, eyebrows furrowed, looking lost.
Hinata just smiled. Even though they were both kneeling, currently, on broken glass, he looked as if he was at ease, serene. "<You wouldn't understand, I guess... it's just something you do when your companion has a weak moment... It's the right thing to do...">
Eschewing the stones, but Hinata dropped down into plank position again.
Danny, hands fumbling, found a flat, polished stone, and he lifted it, looking blankly into it. Hinata's words shot through him like bullets, companion, weak.
It was then, looking over at graceful, athletic Hinata's lithe body, that he came to an epiphany. It struck him like a spring dawn on the horizon... Hinata, golden prodigy of this dojo, Shishio's best student even despite this punishment... Shishio's hope of providing an heir, a legacy for the future. This whole training program was centered on Hinata as the star. Danny was seen as second-best. The outsider, the cocky young blonde boy, son of the old man on the tour.
He sighed, closing his eyes. But something dark in the pit of his soul spoke up, a gnawing rat that spoke No! You are not!
He bit down, bitterly on his lip. For just a second, he considered taking the stone in his hands to the back of Hinata's head.
"<Hey. Shonen Knife.>"
"What?" He blinked.
"<Shonen Knife. You like Nirvana, these girls are their big influence. Very punk. I'll play you Burning Farm in the dorm room, change your life, white boy."> He laughed breezily, despite the pain of the glass digging in his hands.
Danny's eyes narrowed, and his hands twisted on the polished stone.
It was long after all the other trainees had filed back into bed, that Daniel was still, by himself, in the House of Pain.
Blood ran down his forearms, but he stayed stock still, pushing through the excruciating agony. Sweat dripped off of his body, but he gritted his teeth. The whole time, repeating the mantra in his head, not weak, not second-best, not weak.
The two men stepped to the precipice, looking in. Shishio, arms folded, stared in at Daniel, his expression gauging.
<"Despite all of my harshest methods, your son will not give this up and go home, Donald-san.>"
"He's a stubborn boy," Donald replied, in English, frowning at the figure of his son struggling. "But he'll break soon."
"<Respectfully.... that may not be the case. If you really want him gone, you may need to push harder. But it would be a shame to lose him... there is a spark of something... something there, underneath his soft exterior.">
Danny was letting a growl build in his throat, as he pushed himself into a locked position and stayed strong.
Donald sighed, hanging his head. "Yeah. There is."