A colorful AU!

[crab_rangoon]

The world is gray. Always gray. He had thought once, as a little boy, that the emergence of color would be a wonderful thing. He used to dream that finding that person, that getting to see everything in brilliant Wizard Of Oz technicolor would be something he would always cover until it happened.

But after Ishwari, after the betrayal and the loss, after Ajay and Lakshmana left to America after Mohan's failed assassination attempt, Pagan just gave up on that dream. Love, he decided, was just for those who have given up on themselves. Not worth the trouble.

Yuma became the face of Kyrat after that and Pagan stepped back, letting her handle the death threats and the rebels and all of the bullshit that he just didn't want to deal with. Pagan ruled from the back, tempering Yuma's impulsive bullshit with a cooler head, though no less ruthless. However, the arrangement left him free to roam the world, taking care of his business in Hong Kong and the mainland unmolested. His father might not have had the desire to rule the Triads, but Pagan sure as fuck does. Even if it means he has to go and do things himself.

It's this reason, chasing spineless Hong Kong assholes, that lands him in Japan. He has a small security detail that walks the crowd, but otherwise Pagan is by himself as he walks the streets, checking his phone for his victim's last location.

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[lone_horse]

He watches Pagan for a moment, watches him inspect his fingers, and he straightens his shoulders a little. Pagan is a king. Pagan... is a great big block of concrete in the little pond that he's managed. He can either be a centerpiece... or throw everything into disarray.

"I can do that.

"After you tell me what your intentions are."

You don't get to throw his arrangement into chaos and potentially endanger his children on a whim. This isn't a vacation. If they're going to make this known to anyone besides the two of them, he's going to need guarantees.

He knows his reputation: he's never doublecrossed anyone. He's never betrayed anyone.

He can't say he knows Pagan's on that score.

[crab_rangoon]

Oh he likes this. Pagan grins, a playful sort of expression, and steeples his fingers.

"My intentions are to figure you out, and I can't do it when you're on your home turf." He does know his reputation and he knows his own. Not as ruthless as he could have been, had Mohan accomplished what he set out to do, but Pagan's path to the crown is soaked in blood. There is no civil war under Pagan and Yuma, as Mohan's attempted infanticide effectively killed the Golden Path before it could take root, but there's no denying that Pagan and Yuma keep the country under strict guidance.

Besides all that, Pagan the Triad leader has his own reputation outside of King Min. Serving up his own father's head to the other bosses certainly made a point, after all. He's not the underhanded sort, preferring everything be upfront. Clean. He has his own motivations, but they're hardly secret.

So he doesn't have anything to hide when he answers. "And you have seen me...like this. But this is only one side. If we want to do something about this, you need to know me. And I need to know you. In whatever form that takes. Of course, there's always the quick and dirty way, if you don't believe my words."

He spreads his hands out. "You mentioned it earlier. A little old fashioned, but - well. Who am I to judge?"

He knows exactly where a fight will lead, but he's willing to put in the effort.

[lone_horse]

"If you can't do it here, you can't do it anywhere," he says back, "what you see is what you get."

Just to be clear: he is who he is. And he's always been that man, from the 20 year old who took on the whole Tojo Clan in his rage and his grief to the 'bodyguard' who defended Watase and his own adopted son while they dissolved everything he'd worked for for the last fifteen years. The world might change, but he doesn't.

He looks Pagan up and down.

"I won't hold back."

It's probably the most polite way he could say 'I'm going to beat the shit out of you' he possibly has.

[crab_rangoon]

But Pagan doesn't know that. And he's not taking chances with an unknown person. He knows the stories he's heard of this man, but they're exaggerated and hardly worth looking into.

He wants to see.

He takes a drink, unconcerned with the warning.

"Well, I sure as fuck hope you don't. It wouldn't mean anything otherwise."

[lone_horse]

He’ll see just how exaggerated (and not exaggerated) they really are soon enough.

Kiryu raises an eyebrow as if to say ‘your funeral’ but he’ll nod.

“Not here. But I know a place we can fight without being disturbed.”

[crab_rangoon]

"Obviously not here."

He finishes his drink and sets it down. "Besides, I need to change my clothes."

[lone_horse]

Kiryu drinks his own drink… and then he’s focused on eating his portion of the food. Like hell is he wasting good Kanrai.

Hopefully it’ll give Pagan time to consider what else he might want.

“We can meet up again at the entrance to the casino. It’s the same building.”

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan picks up his chopsticks again and chooses something else to try, finds it delightful (as he has everything else up to now) and pulls it close. "Is it now? What a very versatile building," he comments lightly.

He's not concerned about getting hurt. He's not concerned about Kiryu going all out. He knows how these things go, and god if he doesn't want to see him in his element.

"Don't forget your own little errand today," he says with a smile. "The one I so rudely interrupted with my presence."

[lone_horse]

"I'll go back for them later," he says honestly, "Kamiyama works all hours. And he knows I don't follow business hours. He'll have them when I go to get them."

He takes another box himself because he wants to have plenty of fuel if they're going to be fighting.

"My master, Komaki, kept a dojo in there for a time. As far as I know, it's still there while he's traveling."

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan can't help but be impressed by that. He knows this city, even better than Pagan knows Hong Kong. Well, now anyway.

"Fortunately for you," he points out. "What did you train in?"

[lone_horse]

"The Komaki arts cover a few areas," he says before putting aside the box. "Sword. Hand to hand. Even gun defense."

...the old man wanted martial arts you could use in an actual fight.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan's eyebrows raise and he sets aside his own chopsticks. "Well, well, well. Tall, dark, handsome, and dangerous. I like it."

It was never really a question.

[lone_horse]

He raises an eyebrow back; don’t patronize him, Pagan. You know his reputation at least well enough to assume that. He considers how to address it.

“The fight in Fukuoka. It was 100. Not 200. Not 1000. But it was 100.”

[crab_rangoon]

He chuckles. "I heard 500 and a tank," he points out. "But you know how stories go."

He clears his throat. "I'm sure you've heard enough about me."

[lone_horse]

“No tank. But they had two rocket launchers,” and his tone says the mistake makes sense in that context.

He leans in a little. And shakes his head.

“No. I haven’t been ‘in’ for a while. And I stayed out of the day to day when I was. Your triad group didn’t come here… I don’t know much about it.”

[crab_rangoon]

"Good," he says. "Because the stories are not flattering. I mean, I did kill my father to take over. That's not a lie. But you might, too. The man was an absolute dinosaur. Let's see. I double crossed people to get my throne, but hey. They deserved it for being gullible."

He rattles these off as facts. No bragging, no sense of shame. Just facts.

[lone_horse]

...well, they do say opposites attract. He's always thought that was insane. But maybe there's something to it.

"That's... surprising."

[crab_rangoon]

He raises a knee and rests his arm on his knee.

"Yes!" he laughs. "How is that surprising?"

[lone_horse]

He considers that for a moment, and after that moment, he has to nod.

"You need someone who is genuine. I guess it isn't surprising when I think of it like that."

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan wants to protest that, but he doesn't. In fact, he can see the wisdom in it completely. It's - almost comforting to think about it in those terms. He needs someone like this.

He hadn't been so poignant when he made his last statement, but he's continuing to learn that when this man speaks, it's always with a purpose.

What a novel concept that Pagan absolutely will not adhere to himself.

"I think you might be right," he says. "But you'll have plenty of time to learn the stories. I do like telling them."

[lone_horse]

Kiryu looks over Pagan.

"I don't. Most of my stories are about loss."

Just... putting that out there. He won't enjoy telling them, for the most part.

"But you deserve to know them."

[crab_rangoon]

"Careful with that word. Deserve. There are a lot of things I deserve. I'm not certain your kindness is one of them yet. But. I have a feeling that I won't be talking you out of that."

He looks away for a moment, then stands. "Shall we meet there in an hour?"

[lone_horse]

"It has nothing to do with kindness," is all he answers before he nods, agreeing to the plan.

[crab_rangoon]

Pagan, normally so precise, takes that as a bit of a curiosity.

"Oh? And what does it have to do with?" he wonders, content to talk to him on the way out. He could honestly hear him talk forever - probably because he simply doesn't. Something so rare must be cherished.

[lone_horse]

"You don't trust," he says, "and you're my soulmate. So you need them. And you deserve them. Our fates are entwined."

He keeps walking.

"People who deal in shadows and half-truths need to know what full truths they're working with. So I'll tell you."