And now you steal away, take him out today

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj had not gone back to the Palace.

The initial shock after he'd left had hit him late. Alone for the first time in a long, long time, he'd cried, and shook, and wondered if there'd been another way, one that hadn't put at risk as much as he had. There hadn't been. He could have told people, or he could have just run, like Tayuya had said, but there was no getting away from Khamja or the individuals that made it, and sooner or later it would have caught up to him and nothing would have been fixed. If he'd told Kuja, then what? Kuja wasn't infallible, and Kadaj couldn't spend his whole life hiding behind Kuja's skirts.

He had to hope that in his absence people were keeping their word. In the meantime, swallowing his emotions and plowing forwards because it was the only way there was to go, Kadaj used his time away from everyone to work with Souba on his Bankai. He'd need to be better than he had been when he'd left before he could go back. He met someone who helped him train, for a while, and it was a sharp learning curve for Kadaj. Kyuzo was the first person Kadaj had met from whom Kadaj gained something, but expected nothing of Kadaj in return. That alone had been a shock. He was stoic, and quiet, and extremely good at dual wielding. Kadaj wasn't anywhere near as good, even now, but he'd improved, and had the foundations to continue improving by the time they'd parted ways.

Kadaj had taken up mark hunting under Kyuzo's tutelage, and had continued it since they'd split. The money was usually good, and Kadaj felt a new kind of pride at being able to pay his own way with money he'd made himself. He specialised in Fiends because they were what Souba was designed for, and some hunters wouldn't touch them because they were a lot harder to kill with conventional weapons. It was a niche market which Kadaj was well placed to exploit.

His most recent hunt had taken him near Rabanastre. He doubted that taking on a Fiend hunt in Gin's back garden would go unnoticed by Gin, but the Gotei Divisions were always pushed hard, and Dalmasca was big, and the Fiend, in the end, wasn't worth a Captain's attention, but had succeeded in making enough of a nuisance of itself that someone was willing to pay for it to be made to go away for good in a hurry. It was getting late when he'd finished, and the desert got cold at night, and was no place for someone alone to try and stay, or travel through at night, even if they were Kadaj.

Rabanastre was dangerous territory, too. They knew that a number of Clans that Khamja preferred to avoid were active there, but if Kadaj kept his head down and avoided the known clan pubs, he'd probably be okay for a night. So he hoped. Besides, he could really do with someone to look at the bike. Yylfordt was good, and had designed and built every scrap of the bike himself, but recently the bike had developed a shudder in the front when Kadaj hit the brakes. It had taken some heavy riding, and Kadaj had come off more than once already, so it was probably worth getting an Al Bhed to check it out, since going back to Yylfordt was out of the equation right now.

Decision made, he rode in to Rabanastre as the sun was starting to set. Kusanagi was strapped to the bike; a change Kadaj had made himself since riding with a sword that cuts through anything strapped to yourself was a bad plan. Rabanastre was unfamiliar territory for Kadaj, so he stopped the bike and killed the engine. He didn't want to try riding around a busy city with brakes that weren't right; it was safer from here, to push. If he came off the bike here, or worse, hit someone, it could easily attract attention.

He checked Souba was at his side as he got off to push.

Comments

[gotitmemorised]

Axel had spent the majority of his day standing in the baking sun of Rabanstre's main square. Why? He had been selling flowers for Aerith. With really, but it felt like for with the way she ordered him about.

He didn't know why he did it. He didn't have anything to settle with her. He had once owed her a debt for saving his life after he escaped from the Shinra Laboratories, but that had since been paid in full. Now she was living in his apartment, eating his food, but still managed to get him to go out and help her sell flowers in order for her to pay her way. Axel had a feeling he was getting a bit of a raw deal. Strangely, he didn't much mind.

The day had been long, though. Long and hot, for all he didn't object at all to Rabanastre's desert climate. He didn't much want to head straight to the Sandsea and Aerith had packed up and taken her remaining flowers and containers home on her cart. He had time to kill, so he headed towards the outer streets, away from the hustle and bustle of both the market and people heading home after work.

The shops there tended to stay open later than the marketplace and inner-city shops, mostly to tempt in travellers weary from the road. It was on his way there that Axel spotted the most unusual sight of a boy dressed head to toe in leather -- in a desert -- pushing a motorbike.

"Now, that isn't something you see every day," he said to himself.