Otra cosa que escribi hace tiempo, en ingles...

[Kupuka]

Black kNight

Act 1: The Steppen Wolf

Late one winter night… through the streets of the quiet city suburbs strides a stranger, new to this hood, these streets. His long trench coat doesn’t let out much of him, but he’s tall… really tall. The smoke trail drifts away from him, and the red incandescence goes up and down regularly, while he scans the surroundings, printing them in his mind.
The streets are getting darker… closer to the city center, the filth piles, and the rats reign. Passing dark alleys, he gets bits of lives, of deaths, of survivals. Many of these people didn’t choose the way their lives turned out, but some did, and those are dangerous, cunning… the predators of the city. He turns back to the suburbs trough another street, to recon as much terrain as possible… once back in the well-lit streets, his nerves steady… he relaxes his hand and lights another cigarette.
Just as he is about to go in, a scream cuts the chilly air, followed by a deep laughter, brutal, animal… sickening laughter. He turns around, alert and ready… the sounds still linger in his mind and he runs towards them, ditching the rette in the way. One of the side streets is dark… pitch black. He can feel it… there are people in there. More sounds come out of the darkness. A distressed female voice, he recognizes it as the screaming one, and several male grunts…
Scuttling along the wall, he approaches the noises carefully. His right hand tenses again… then he sees them. There are three of them, bending over the girl… she’s terrorized, it seems, and paralyzed from it.
- Aw, come on, daalin- one of the jerks is teasing her –I thought you wanted to do it-
-Haw Haw HAW!!!- the two other jerks laugh like idiots
He then realizes the girl’s torn and ripped-off clothes… his right hand clutches into a fist, his eyes narrow.

-Please, I know its hard sweetie, but try to let it all out so you’ll feel better- her mother whispers, holding her shoulders tight.
She looks up to the ceiling, trying to get herself together, she’s shaking, has already vomited twice, can barely speak… nevertheless, she wants to give them some sign that she can hear and understand them, a nod, a ”yes” maybe. Finally, her hand clutches around the weird spiky necklace charm, and she comes back…

-I had gone dancing with Trixy like any other Friday, we got to The Headless Torso all right, but she realized she’d lost her dough, so I had to pay fer in- She looks up at her parents, who feel like if their parachutes have just opened after a plunge.
-But then we didn’t have nuff left fer a cab… She took a ride with some dude, but I preferred walking… I was almost out of Alleyhood when those goons came after me, yelling and howling n’ stuff-
-Could you tell us how they looked? - police guy asks.. trying to sound all friendly and parent-like
- Not really, t’was all kinda dark and blurry… just regular hobs… hoods, caps, hcore pants…-
She spaces out; looking to the cold distant stars through the window… they seem to laugh at her.
-They started running- she adds with a far away tone-. I ran too, they where faster, they caught up with me… I got cornered in Dark Alley. They started teasing me, calling me names, snatching at my clothes-.
Her mother lets out a gasp, then sobs and embraces her family tightly, but her daughter keeps on talking
-I hit one of ‘em in the crutch, but they hit back. I fell, and thought “this is it, I’m not gonna tell the tale” they touched me and said horrible things…
Then, I heard footsteps, and another voice, a cold, hard voice. Authority, I thought…

I looked up, and saw this tall guy standing there all alone, shouting at them. The punks got up and rounded him. They attacked, but he threw ‘em around like dolls, and they ran off.
Next thing I knew, he was crouching next to me, taking my hair away from my face, looking into my eyes. Are you unharmed? He asked. I nodded – she nods now, as to show them- Good, he said and smiled at me. Here, have this, you could use it, and gives me his coat. I found this – she raises her closed fist- in one of the pockets, and tried to give it back to him. Keep it, he whispered, to remember me by… he smiled again. - She looks into the air for a minute, then blushes and giggles- he has such a cute smile- she sighs
-Could I see what you found in the pocket? - asks detective guy
-Mmmm?- she looks at him, totally lost in her thoughts
-His pocket?-
She opens her hand, and lying there shining beautifully, a kudama shuriken is shown to everyone.

Somewhere in the sleeping suburbs, the lonely –now coatless- figure smiles at the moon and feels the smoothness of another shuriken… larger, sharper, deadlier… almost, dear lady, almost. Nevertheless, it was far from a good try. Your coworkers seem to be getting sloppier by the minute… he gets up, his head above all the roofs in the neighborhood, and jumps off the roof with the grace of a wildcat. He has made himself, without knowing it, the protector oh this city. But inside, his soul is tuned to that of the steppen wolf, lonely, rejected, and anonymous.
And that way it must stay…

Act 2: To find something means to loose another

Soon enough, the papers take over the investigation and cover every possible aspect of the “horrendous crime”, the psychological profile of the perpetrators, the probable consequences of the attack on “the poor defenseless victim” as well as the “social decadency” responsible for the “misled youth” that produces such “irrecoverable criminals”… reading this on the papers makes him laugh… nothing makes you a criminal more than will to be… or lack of will to oppose to being one.
Nevertheless, part of what the news spread out preoccupies more than amuse him… the parts about a “mysterious, heroic and anonymous savior” he has no wish of becoming neither publicly known, nor an urban legend… There is no immediate risk at least, as the “poor defenseless victim” has shown no desire to grant interviews, on the contrary, she has withdrawn from public life… maybe that’s not so good after all… she needs a life as anyone else.

Ishtari has shown her face over the rooftops, and the wolf roams once again, this time with a different mission: to find her rescuitee, and establish a diagnostic of the effects the attack has left on her. To see how she’s holding up, mostly.
He takes out an ID from his jean’s back pocket and looks at the address… this is the house. He checks the surroundings for passer-bys and then scouts the windows, trying to figure out which is the girl’s… the higher one is lit, and the light shines through stickers, and posters scotch-taped to the glass… must be that one.
He clings to the roof and silently brings himself to a crouch besides the window… he looks inside, and there she is, seated, drawing. He can hear the soft leftovers of music through the glass. He knocks, but she doesn’t notice it, concentrated on the paper before her… he waits, then knocks harder. She turns around this time, her eyes huge with surprise and fear… it takes her only a second to recognize him, get up and open the window.

-Hi – he says and jumps into the room, soundless
-You are him, aren’t you? - She sits on the bed, staring absorbed at him
-Yes, I am your “heroic and anonymous savior”- he smiles, she blushes –Mind if I sit?-
-No, please sit, sit-
-So, this is your room? - He glances at the drawing –He looks a lot like me- she blushes even harder.

Above the rooftops, the moon sails almost to the horizon before he comes out of the house… his mission complete.



After his nighttime visit, she goes back to school, completely recovered from her ordeal. Although she doesn’t talk about it to anyone, except for him… and a couple dozen “close” friends. Such is this scene:
-Then they cornered me in an alley and they were about to rape me…- her audience gasped horrified and amused –when suddenly, out of nowhere...- she pauses dramatically, and she’s about to go on when she feels a large hand on her shoulder, and turns around, mildly annoyed because of the interruption, and freezes.
-Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?- her rescuer is standing there, in broad daylight, looking as any other ordinary teen.
-S-sure…-
He leads her out behind the gym.
-You ok? You look like you were back at dark alley again…-
-Huh? Oh, no, it’s just that you startled me… I thought you were too old to attend school-
-Haha, well, thank you, but not yet, I’m still 18- he stares into her eyes, noticing that the sunlight makes them seem even bigger, and that they are of different colors…
-yes…?- she mutters, uncomfortable, and blushes violently
-Well, uhmmm, I overheard you talking about that night and, well, I’d rather you’d keep my existence a secret… please?-
-Sure, I mean, you saved my life! Anything you need…-
-Well, actually…-

…I wonder if they make this lessons boring on purpose. Maybe they’re trying to brainwash us all. She has been listening to the history teacher ramble on and on and on about some boring details from some meaningless detail about some change in a law about witch burning in Europe, and boredom is becoming brain death at an alarming rate. Her mind departs from her body and flies through the regions of nether. She finds herself thinking about Alex… strong Alex, self confident Alex, tall Alex, cute-smiled-Alex, naked Alex… she blushes so hard even the teacher notices it.
-Is everything all right, Ms. Kuwabashi?- ah yeah, in case I forgot to tell you, she’s the daughter of a Japanese immigrant couple… and a pretty cute one, too.
-Uhhh, yes, yes, I’m Ok-
-You don’t look Ok, girl. I think you should go see the nurse- she points towards the door.
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Mess with the best, die like the rest