Kururugi No Longer

Hanzo Kururugi sat through his graduation with a dull look in his face. Over his usual attire he wore the ceremonious gown and hat, and he sighed softly as he awaited his group to go up and receive their Diplomas. When did life get so boring? Why couldn't he have been hit by a car and turned into a Spirit Detective, like Yusuke Urameshi? The world was full of spirits anyway these days, so it hardly seemed fair that he had no powers whatsoever. Why couldn't he be Superman?? Instead, he had to be the only loser at his High School who didn't seem to have a power?

The High School Prom King and Queens had the powers to create fire and ice respectively, the chess nerd had the power to make chess rules into reality, the star hitter of the Baseball team was able to literally hit a ball into space... and Hanzo had jack shit. Apparently he simply lacked the ability to have an ability, or it was so mundane it was impossible to tell, or less likely it just hadn't manifested yet. He sighed again as his group was called to stand up, and went about the routine of receiving his diploma, faking a smile for the photograph, and leaving the schoolgrounds for the last time.

He sat on his motorcycle, his diploma in his backpack and his helmet securely on his head, defeated. It was the end of High School, and nothing had happened; no powers, no tragic backstory, nothing. Both of his parents were alive and well, and loved him and took care of him, and he was rather well off enough to have a car AND a motorcycle at his disposal. Today he'd taken the Motorcycle simply because it was a cloudless day, and he wanted to feel the wind on his skin.

Turning it on, Hanzo drove out of the parking lot and into the street, driving home. There was no where else to go, nothing else to call his; he had no friends, he had no hobbies. Much like Tomoko Kuroki from WataMote, Hanzo was an otaku who did basically nothing outside of play video games, read manga, watch anime and shitpost. He had nothing outside of his home, and needed to get back to that very home so he could return to wasting his life away. At least his parents had said he didn't need to worry about a job until he was eighteen, which was still several months away.

Sitting at a red light, with no one else around him, Hanzo got briefly lost in thought. Some fantasy land where he had magical powers or a cool magical sword like in Soul Calibur. His next immediate thought was pain, and he opened his eyes only to realize he was now on the ground, and heard the tires skid and watched as the bike began to drive off with a long-blond haired man wearing a leather jacket and no helmet.

"M-my bike! Hey! Get back here!" Hanzo began to run after the bike as fast as he could, even though that wasn't very fast. Curse all those gym classes he'd feigned illness during. "S-Sir! You're in the process of STEALING my PROPERTY!" Hanzo chased after him even faster, though it was still pretty pathetic, and he was starting to lose sight of the bike. Finally, he shouted, "You stupid fucking American Tourist TRASH!!!"

The bike suddenly screeched to a startling stop. The man turned the bike around, and began driving back towards Hanzo Kururugi, who immediately regretted his choice of words and felt like a gazelle being chased by a lion as he ran away in a straight line, having apparently gone to the Prometheus School of Running Away from Things, in the middle of the street, against his own motorcycle.

Oh no.

Akiko Lisola was minding her own business. She was busy walking around, reading her book, not even trying to be noticed or start trouble for anyone.

Unfortunate that she was reading a book, while crossing what would be a normally safe moment for the street, except the man riding the motorcycle did a U-turn in order to chase down someone else. She did not know this, nor why, nor anything else beyond her reading her book. She was just crossing the street like any other average joe. She only looked up because everyone else around her screamed and bolted from the clearly illegal driving maneuver that put the vehicle on their path.

More unfortunate then that it was Akiko whom the bike slammed into because she immediately palm struck the front end out of defensive reflex before watching it breaking into millions of pieces around her hand while she casually grabbed to catch the flying driver in the other hand so he didn't turn into paste on the street.

Blinking a couple of times simply because she wasn't expecting to find herself surrounded by multitudes of motorcycle parts or holding a now angry male, who was hurling insults at her over wrecking his brand new acquisition. Looking over at Hanzo, though she didn't know him, since he had rushed over...albeit..pathetically and began to counter insult the guy in her grasp for stealing his bike and then wrecking it. Considering Hanzo had the bike helm on and the other guy didn't...She kinda got the picture painted for her.

Between the two of them arguing for another few seconds Akiko had decided she had garnered enough of the situational information to realize the grabbed man was a criminal. Thus prompting her to thusly slap his shit and knock him out in a single movement. Dropping him at that point she returned to reading her book, and began to walk once more in an attempt to cross the street.

At first, Hanzo was horrified that the bike had ran into a woman, because it was still registered in his name and was legally liable for anything that happened, not to mention not wanting to see a woman get hurt. But to watch as his bike splintered into millions of pieces around her as she casually caught the rider caused Hanzo to fall to his knees for a moment. There it went... his bike. And with it his ride home. He had a car still, sure, and the games 'n shit at home, right, he knew that, even now, but right at this second he felt like god had shit in his dinner once again and had taken away his one toy in life by breaking his bike.

Hanzo recovered quickly and began to run down the woman and the sneakthief, nearly tripping over his own two legs as he ran, still upset at the loss of his bike and honestly probably still a bit shaken up from the initial attack. Regardless, he began to counter insult the guy solely because Akiko was here and acting as a mediary, but when she slapped him and knocked him unconscious in a single move before dropping him where he was and continuing to cross the street.

Hanzo was torn. He wanted to pursue the woman and find out more about her, but she was clearly uninterested in him. He also wanted to grieve for the loss of his bike that jackass over here had stolen. Part of him wanted to kick jackass and leave him here in the road to get run over by a truck.... and that was exactly why he leaned over and began to drag the blond man out of the road and onto the side walk. It took a lot of effort, due to the man weighing like three hundred pounds and Hanzo weighing less than a buck fifty soaking wet... but he eventually managed to drag the poor man onto the side walk, where he rested for a moment before turning and looking for the woman.

Whether she had stopped to watch, helped him move the guy, or walked away, Hanzo would go about whatever means necessary to catch up to her, provided she didn't literally run away from him, and finally take off his motorcycle helmet, revealing his spiky blue hair. Still probably out of breath, either from running to catch up with her or from dragging the guy out of the street, Hanzo began talking to her through deep breaths.

"Thanks... That.... My bike... Forgive you.... Name... Hanzo... Kururugi." The general message was sent, even if the words themselves were broken up, he was sure. 'Thanks for that; that was my bike, but I forgive you. My name is Hanzo Kururugi, nice to meet you.' Whether she took it correctly or not, that was his intention.

She could hear him grunting behind her trying to move the heavy-set man on his own, and held back from trying to help since it was not really her problem and she was trying to get somewhere anyways so she kept walking, unaffected by his efforts. At some point after finishing his task he had hurried over to catch Akiko who glanced at the boy once more while he started taking his helmet off, and tried to explain the situation while out of breath. She merely gave a shrug and thought of pretending to not be from around here since she was darker skinned than what you'd typically expect in Japan. However he had gotten around to introducing himself and he seemed harmless enough. Besides it wasn't like she was in a rush she just wanted to go to the library nearby anyways. It could wait.

"Akiko." She didn't see a point in sharing her last name. It usually didn't matter to anyone anyways. Regardless she had at least stopped trying to walk away from him and just stood there as he attempted to catch his breath. She wasn't sure why so many people insisted on pestering her this time around, though she was more surprised that so many of them had special powers, this one didn't though, and that was more curious on it's own than anything else. He was essentially a speck of dirt and yet somehow had randomed into being in her presence. Getting her assistance even!

Fascinating.

The woman nonchalantly introduced herself as Akiko, with no last name, but at least stopped walking away. Hanzo finished catching his breath, taking one deep inhale, before sizing up Akiko once more. She was a woman, that much was sure, wearing thick black plate armor in the middle of Japan...? It was almost like she was straight isekai'd out of a manga or something; it didn't make sense. She had an old-ass book in her hand, but the armor was far more out of place.

"Sorry, I- ...why are you wearing armor in the middle of Japan? Are you... expecting a war to break out or something?" He eyed her over once more, not really eyeballing her so much as taking in her entire outfit. He was dumbfounded, and impressed. By comparison, he was just wearing casual clothes, even if they were considered 'extra' by his classmates.

Before Akiko could even reply, however, Hanzo saw something behind her that made his eyes widen. She was facing him, and couldn't see it, but there was a little girl chasing a puppy into the street; it seemed to have gotten off its leash, not that the approaching construction truck seemed to notice, as it didn't slam on the brakes or anything. Akiko was no more than an afterthought now, as Hanzo rushed past her without thinking.

Hanzo had always wanted to be a hero. It was the one thing he'd felt a true calling towards, despite never showing any inclinations towards it. He had average academics, average physicals, and nothing really going for him aside from coming from a "slightly" wealthy family, but he certainly wasn't Bruce Wayne rich. That didn't matter, though; that little girl, currently near the middle of the street, was about to be ran over by a construction truck that likely couldn't even see her due to being so small. Saving her, at any cost, was the only thing on Hanzo's mind.

He reached the girl and wrapped his body around her, attempting to use himself as a human shield to protect her; he knew it wasn't much and she was still likely to get hurt, but as long as she lived, he didn't care. He wasn't fast enough to even throw her to safety; he had barely enough time to wrap himself around her and try to keep her safe. Even if it meant the cost of his own life. Especially if it meant the cost of his own life.

What good was Hanzo going to unleash unto the world anyway? Saving one life, right here, was probably the best he'd ever manage, and he knew it deep in his heart. He was a loser, an inadequate dreamer who didn't have what it took to live up to his dreams. He knew this; he had come to terms with this. Akiko was a strong woman; even if she turned and watched, she'd probably be just fine. He did feel bad, leaving her with an unanswered question, but figured she was strong enough to get over it.

He didn't even know this girl. Even right now, he had no idea what her skin color was, even her hair color, what she was wearing; none of it. All he knew was that she was about to die, and he was not going to stand there and do nothing; he'd save her. No matter the cost.

He asked about her armor, figuring it was out of place considering where she was, but before she could bother giving any sort of reply the guy bolted off past her without a word. She just turned to watch him and noticed immediately that he was going for some kid who was in the street. Now paying attention to the outside world instead of focusing on her intruded bubble she heard the vehicle coming down the road that the guy had been so worried about since it was on a crash course for him and the kid who he was shielding with his own body,

"You know.." was all Hanzo would have heard shortly after a loud crashing noise occurred moments after his heroic attempt. He hadn't looked at her when he heard her voice behind him, probably because he hadn't even realized he wasn't dead yet, Akiko would have chuckled under normal circumstances.. but the boy had already garnered her attention and now had gained her interest, "People generally die when they do stuff like that.."

At this point Hanzo may have actually realized it wasn't "God" speaking to him but Akiko herself. At this point if he looked at her, likely releasing the scared little girl in the process who knows, he would see something he probably didn't think he would. The vehicle he was supposed to get hit by was "parked" further down the road and the front end looked like someone had pinched a chunk out of it. Akiko had flipped the vehicle a full circle backwards to ensure both the driver and the two behind her were okay while also forcing the vehicle to stop. As the driver immediately hit the brakes the instant he realized he had went airborne and was still in the process of freaking out over what had happened.

Ignoring that for a moment. Akiko, with her back to Hanzo still, spoke again mostly musing to herself as she finalized her own decision, but still loud enough for Hanzo to know what was said, "Pinocchio.. I offer you the chance to become a real boy.." She would glance back at him at this point but had not fully turned around, "you who would play hero.. I have decided." At this point she did turn to him, and extended her left hand out to help him rise to his feet, "You will accept responsibility of untold weight and must remain true to the ideal." her hand seemed so.. fragile..? Gentle? Yet in that moment, for Hanzo, it would look like the hand of either god itself or the devil. Offering him his deepest desire in exchange for something he might not even understand.

"I will open the path.. but you may not enjoy the walk down it. If death is not your conqueror then you will become legend untold."

It sounded so.. cryptic. If Hanzo was not the type of person Akiko currently believed him to be he'd call her a crazy lady and run away scared out of his mind.

Luckily Akiko was rarely wrong when judging the character of a person.

He heard the voice of an angel calling him to heaven in response to his sacrifice. Considering he was pretty sure he wasn't dead yet, that was weird, but what was weirder was the fact that he recognized the voice; or at least he thought he did considering it sounded like the woman he had just talked to. It was followed immediately by a loud crashing noise which sounded like it farther away than it should have been, since it apparently wasn't right on top of him anymore? What the hell was going on?

He wanted to look up, to see where the truck was, but he also frankly assumed it was still approaching. He'd read plenty of stories online about how in the moments before death everything feels like it's going in slow motion, and having his life flash before his eyes. He wasn't seeing anything right now though, just the blackness of his closed eyes pressed against the head of the little girl. The voice called out again, however, chastising him for acting in a manner that could have gotten himself killed, which was the point at which Hanzo realized it wasn't an angel at all.

He released the little girl, who said nothing as she ran off after her puppy. Glancing behind him, he realized the truck which was about to hit him was now way down the road and damaged but safe, and Akiko standing right next to him. Hanzo stayed crouched on the ground, trying to process what had just happened. Akiko mentioned Pinocchio, which at first confused Hanzo, but she continued and he understood. Or at least, he thought he did.

She commented on his playing hero, and stated she decided something before turning around and offering her hand to him. He was told about responsibility of untold weight and an unknown ideal, while he felt like that painting of Adam and God by Michelangelo as Hanzo hovered his hand right in front of hers, listening to Akiko talk. She would open a path, but if he reached the end of his journey he would come out on top. Her words were chosen carefully and Hanzo understood the intention behind them.

All his life, Hanzo had wanted to be a Hero. He'd never amounted to much, being bullied during most Schooldays, never had a job, never worked out or played sports, never had a girlfriend... but somehow, he knew that everything would be alright in the end, that somehow, there would be a light at the end of the tunnel and to just keep on keeping on; that the world would find a way to make his dreams come true if he just believed hard enough. There was a sparkle in his eyes that Akiko probably wasn't expecting to see as his hand firmly grasped hers, standing up with her assistance.

Akiko... all my life, being a Hero is all I've ever wanted. If you have a method of helping me achieve a fraction of your power, I would follow you to the ends of the Earth and back until I die without a single complaint." He spoke with unwavering fealty in his voice, grasping her hand even tighter. "I will do anything; I will do everything. I would nuke DETROIT to gain a MODICUM of power. Okay, not really, but you get me? I think? I- look, Akiko, what I'm trying to say is, I will walk any path you think is worth my time. I see how strong you are and I... I- I would do anything to achieve that level of power."

At this point, Hanzo began to tear up, remembering his schooldays and all the bullying from other students who knew damn well he had no powers of his own. He stared down, no longer able to maintain eye contact through the burning sensation of his tears as he sobbed in front of Akiko. Trying to wipe his eyes with his other arm, he tried to talk through his emotional state.

"I've always wanted to be a Hero. I have literally no powers whatsoever, but I WANT to be a Hero. If you think I can do it, Akiko, then I will follow you beyond the edges of the Universe. Please, please share with me whatever secrets you have!" He had mostly recovered by now, but there was still the occasional tear pouring out of his eye while he stared at Akiko, that same sparkle still in his eyes.

The boy finally grasped her hand as he listened to her and seemed to get the general idea of what was being said. Akiko didn't really mind letting him ramble on a bit about whatever reasons he may have for accepting, as ultimately it wasn't going to change her decision, but it did give her a better idea of "why" he had garnered her attention so easily in the first place.

Eventually she got her hand back. While he didn't seem to fully comprehend what she had meant, he got enough of the gist of it that she was satisfied with his resolve on the matter and simply nodded while he regained his composure. Besides.. any discrepancies between his current ideology and what she actually intended him to know would be cleared up after she was finished initiating him and giving him the power to be a Hero as he claimed to desire.

Akiko pulled out the same book from before, old and amazingly, and perfectly, intact considering it seemed like it really shouldn't exist in the modern day, stared at Hanzo and merely smiled at him before letting the book open in her one hand and holding it to the point where Hanzo could see the book, which to him, currently, looked blank. While this may confuse Hanzo, Akiko wouldn't bother giving him time to question it or even attempt to give him a reason it was "blank" since she knew why and knew it wouldn't be blank for much longer.

"Place your hand on the book." She commanded, politely and with a calm tone, but commanded nonetheless. To which Hanzo obeyed and placed his right hand on the book, nothing happened at first, but before Hanzo could even "think" to question why nothing was happening. Everything happened. Akiko's body was engulfed in a white aura of spiritual energy as her mere presence flooded the area around the two of them. Under normal circumstances a normal person like Hanzo, even with modern society having an increased spiritual awareness, would likely have buckled or passed out, or both, under the "weight" of her spiritual pressure.

Hanzo was not even remotely affected, and he was instantly aware because of the book that he "should" have been affected. He could not move his hand, his eyes no longer showed him Akiko's face, but an entire "movie" that seemed to "skip around" to the "important bits" concerning the Lisola Clan, Akiko herself, the book, what was happening to him, why it mattered, everything and anything Akiko would otherwise have needed to tell him in person was instead flooding his mind.

Under normal circumstances this would put a person in a coma. Hanzo was once again however unaffected. He was also, as before, made aware of why. It was the book and Akiko's power protecting him from what would otherwise kill any other normal being.

"Another begins the journey." Akiko stated without her eyes leaving Hanzo's face, despite the fact he could not currently see her, and he would hear her say such, before the book itself spoke, not in Akiko's voice, but in some deep "Sage sounding" male voice as if the book was god, "To the one who seeks the path we bear witness to your story as you join the unending Legacy."

As Hanzo's mind was properly reconfiguring itself to adjust to the shitload of information it had just received, protected from being damaged by the power of Akiko and her book mind you, more began to happen. Now that his mind had been properly informed of what was going on, now it was his bodies turn. To his eyes, which still couldn't see the reality around him at this moment, he would bear witness to his own transformation as his own skin would feel a tingle, then burning, before finally "peeling" away and revealing himself as he was "unmade". His bones disintegrated, his muscles vanished, his very blood was gone.

Before he could even comprehend what his own mind and eyes meant by him being "unmade" he was whole again. The bones reappeared, his muscles reformed, his skin resurfaced, everything "appeared" as it should have to begin with. his eyes returned to "reality" as he now was staring at Akiko who, while seeming a "tad" more sweaty than a moment ago, was still just standing there staring at him with the smile she wore earlier.

It had been 30 seconds since the book spoke. It had felt like three days to Hanzo. He could now move his body of his own power, Akiko was no longer engulfed in a white energy, the book was no longer blank, as it was covered in full pages of text from the two pages he "could" see, and would now be aware of why and how the book was and is. Though he wouldn't know how it was made, he knew it's function and why it was important.

Akiko snapped the book shut in her hand and put it away, seemingly into thin air since she didn't have a backpack on her, but other than Hanzo's possible nerdness associating what he just saw as "Game Character Storage Space" he would know that the book hadn't actually disappeared it just didn't exist until Akiko needed it again. At this point Hanzo would probably remember he had asked about her appearance earlier, and upon realizing she never got the chance to answer him, would immediately be told by his "new mind" that she didn't really have a good answer. It was "her" armor and she simply enjoyed it more than normal clothing.

His body would feel massively changed as he likely started to check on himself, any differences would be noticeable to his increased capabilities and he'd likely note them himself without much worry on the matter. He might even get excited like a kid at christmas, Who knows. Regardless Akiko would grab his attention with a short throat clearing noise after giving him the chance to come to terms with how drastically different he was.

"To be clear.. Since you wouldn't know already.." She said while turning and beginning to walk over to the sidewalk and motioning for him to follow so they could skedaddle before the police arrived to deal with the car wrecked driver and his vehicle, since they hadn't left the street for almost two full minutes, "I did not give you this blessing to serve.. Whether you do or not isn't a "me" problem. You desired to help people and I opened the path towards that goal. Nothing more."

Sure she made it sound so simple, but Hanzo wouldn't exactly be an idiot, while she wasn't lying to him, it was far from that simple. She had completely turned his world upside down in ways he wasn't even fully aware of just yet since he didn't know the full extent of himself at the moment, and while he would probably need time to figure everything out fully, she was just.. nonchalant about it. She wasn't "dismissing it" as just "another day in the life of Akiko" but she wasn't bragging about how great she was either. She was being entirely modest about the whole situation out of sheer goodness rather than any feeling of needing to or for any means of deception or selfishness.

"What you do with what you have is entirely up to you."

She left out the part where she could, at any time, cancel her blessing, not because she didn't want him to know, but because she didn't see a reason to. He wouldn't know already, but it wouldn't matter even if he did. She didn't see any reason to dangle it over him and even if she did it "could" alter how he behaved, ruining the whole point. At least that's how she felt about it anyways.

Akiko's current body was still mortal however, and giving over such a large amount of power to someone who was otherwise powerless wasn't exactly "free". She had been "slightly" almost "unnoticably" sweating when he had originally finished his transformation, but it was very evident that she was now very exhausted. She was sweating noticably, but not quite heavily, and she was slightly out of breath despite the fact she hadn't done enough actual activity to warrant that today.

She waited a moment to let him collect his thoughts and such, but then asked him the obvious question, "Any idea what you intend to do first "Hero"?"