Stories from a Wandering Tanuki Merchant: Rats in the Neon City

Prompt 81 - Opposite Timeline

Word Count: 2135

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She might have been described as human once, but that was well before all of the surgeries. She picked at teeth that weren’t her own with clawed nails forced to grow like how a canine’s would. She stared down at the neon city below her,  its dazzling lights beautiful but all serving the purpose to advertise some product or another. Some legitimately useful- like shoes from a well-known brand, other just some weird product solving a non-existent issue.

And she sneered at it. Disgusting city it was, when you looked closer. It could pretend to be flashy and beautiful all that it wants, but she knew the reality of the filth that scurried between the alleyways. In her reflection, Kyanoko could see that her new nose had recovered well- drawing with the rest of her rearranged muscles along her artificial snout. Distracted by her own form, she tried out a few expressions- happy to see how perfectly everything was coming together. Years ago- when she began, she crossed into the uncanny valley and now she was finally seeing herself come out the other side. 

Her self admiration came to an abrupt close when the doors to her office slid open, reacting with extra force as if it knew the drama that was required of the scene. She huffed, fogging the glass with her breath as she felt her tail flick. It was entirely robotic and attached to her spine, intercepting signals that were meant for a human’s useless tailbone. As a result, it followed a complicated set of rules and code- not her. 

The self-made tanuki’s lackeys had a man between them. There were two holding this man, pinning his arms behind his back. He thrashed and cursed at them, occasionally bringing his legs into the air kicking in horse-like fashion. It didn’t stop her men, but Kyanoko was certain it was less about the impact and more about making a statement. As Kyanoko approached, she kept the anger she felt towards this man and his actions down. 

She nonchalantly buffed her nails against her shirt and one of her guards grabbed the man’s hair in a fist, pulling his head back to force him to look at her. To say Kyanoko was caught off guard by what she saw would be an understatement. She expected some well funded police officer or some vigilante with too much dead-parent money to spare. Instead the guy was wearing ragged clothes, he was unshaven, and he smelled unwashed. Kyanoko could swear the grease in his hair would make the grip of her man slip if he wasn’t tangling his locks between his fingers.

“You sure this is him?”

“What? The person who almost fuckin’ killed you? I’m the bastard.” the man snarled at her and an expression far too coy for his situation. Kyanoko wasn’t sure if she should be angered or endeared toward the attitude.

Kyanoko squatted, just enough to bring herself down to eye level with her would-be assassin. She towered over most men, and the augmentations that made it so were the most painful she had to bear. She squinted at the face of the man and noticed scarring over one of his eyes, something the dim light of the room and his sweat hid from her initially. She grabbed his face, holding him by the jaw in one hand and forced him to look to his left. He refused to break eye contact with her, but that’s what she wanted.

His eye had a crosshair pattern in it. She turned his face to his right. This one looked to be his natural eye. The color between his eyes was almost perfect. Something you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. As she released him, she was almost certain he attempted to bite her hand. Almost. 

“Only one eye? Looked like a military augment.” Kyanoko walked a few paces away, turning her back to him. She looked over her shoulder after a dramatic pause. “Where’d you get your hands on that? Could only afford one? No- with the way the rest of you looked, I don’t even think you could save that money if you had a thousand years. Besides, seems a little old and worn. No- you stole that, didn’t you?”

The man released a noise she could only describe as a hiss. She felt a smile creep on her face. Even if she was wrong, something about the line of questioning was bothering him. Though she may have found herself a little too pleased as her tail responded to the rush of serotonin and wagged.

“You know, you got blood all over my favorite dress.” She scolded, turning on a heel to face him again.

She saw his eyes widen and his jaw tense before his eyebrows dropped and lips drew into a snarl. “I killed someone in front of you and what you’re mad about is a stupid outfit?”

“Sir, I am mad about several things that happened over a singular action that you took.” Kyanoko growled back, revealing her false dog-like teeth. Her tail flicked in irritation. “Most of which was the attempt on my life. And it’s somehow made all the worse by the fact that the most successful attempt was done by some-” she gestures at him disgustingly “-back alley rat!”

“Don’t act like you didn’t deserve it, Haru.” her name was spat out of his mouth like he somehow knew the wrath of speaking her personal name to her would bring.

“What’s your name?” she asked, forcing her voice to stay cool and level.

“Trigger.” He answered. There was a smirk on his face like he was satisfied with his answer. It was obvious that wasn’t his real name, and he seemed to revel in that fact at this moment. 

Kyanoko made a gesture to the men holding Trigger to release him. His hands behind his back and his body thrown forward, the sudden release made him stumble. It was subtle, most wouldn’t have caught it. But he didn’t fall on his face. Shame, that would have made it easier to punish him. Instead, she opted for a threat.

“Well, Trigger. Just so you know-” she gestured to herself “-I’m in clothes I don’t mind getting bloodied.”

She barely caught the expression changes on him. The way he flicked his eyes over her clothes. The fabric was laced with small LED screens, allowing her skirt to glow faintly, and more importantly- display a moving scene. This particular one had cherry blossom trees in bloom, blowing petals lightly in the wind. It was pretty, but tacky. She saw Trigger wince ever so slightly. Either had what she considered throwaway was leagues better than anything that had ever touched his skin, or he realized the threat that she had made.

Kyanoko turned to look out her windows once more. Another theatric she picked up over the years. But usually where she’d hear nothing but awkward shuffling, she heard a roar as Trigger lunged at her. She was caught with a foot off the ground and was notably off balance at the moment of impact. His arms were around her waist and he brought them both to the ground. 

And then all four of Kyanoko’s hired guards raised their firearms, aiming at her assailant. She felt herself in shock and Trigger used the opportunity to bring her underneath him. He swung his fist, striking against her muzzle. She felt pain in her gums flare and barely saw the red across his hand where he grazed and cut himself on her teeth. He landed a second punch with his other hand across her skull before a loud bang filled the room. 

Trigger was off of her, clutching his shoulder and screaming. All of the cocky composure he had was lost and tears streaked down his face. He scrambled to his feet and the firearms trained on him didn’t stop him from making another lunge at Kyanoko. Though she was prepared this time and managed to catch him, grabbing him by the throat as she used her more stable position to throw him to the ground.

He coughed, but it was strained against her grip. And then he struggled. There was something satisfying about the way hopelessness filled Trigger’s eyes as he realized how outclassed he was in a contest of strength against the animal-augmented woman. She was fat and soft. But where everyone assumed that her gut swelled from how overfilled her stomach was, Kyanoko knew the truth. Underneath her fat was well strengthened muscle, that held her fat and made her look much rounder. Trigger wasn’t the first to think she was weak, and he wouldn’t be the last.

“She’s dead! She’s fucking dead because of you!” he shrieked at her, resorting to clawing at her hand. It hurt, but Kyanoko didn’t release him- not fully anyways. He gasped for air as she loosened her grip on him and she swore she felt the blood rushing in his veins.

“You and your fucking drugs! I told her to not take them. I told her she’d get addicted. I told her she’d get killed! And now she’s gone!”

“Sounds like this was ‘her’ fault.” Kyanoko jeered.

“Don’t- don’t you dare! You don’t know what we’ve been through. What she had to do to just survive.” Trigger screamed. Kyanoko put her free hand to her head as she felt her ears throb. “And then those damned pigs killed her because she went on a rampage. She didn’t have any insurance and they knew it, so they killed her! She could have been helped, but we were ignored because we don’t have money. All while you’re sitting on a fortune built on our corpses!”

 “Don’t have anything to live for now? That’s what the secret is?” Kyanoko jeered.

“If you’re not killed, then this won’t ever be fixed. You’ll just keep selling to and exploiting the poor. You need to die.”

Kyanoko released her grip on him. He didn’t move. Not until she stood up and walked several paces away from him. Kyanoko heard him shuffling to get back on his feet and the odd clicks of firearms as they moved. She held a hand up, gesturing for her men to not shoot at her guest. 

“And so you think that I’m somehow the core of the system? That ending my life will fix all of-” she gestures out her window to the rat-infested city below “-this? No, no. There’s people in actual power, Trigger. Politicians, corporations. I’m a rat to them as you are a rat to me.”

“You being gone will still make this world better.” he snarled. She could hear him shaking. She released a sigh and turned to him again. She dropped her facade, at least a little. She felt bad for him, and she let herself show it.

“And then another drug rat will come along. And then you kill that one. And then another. And another. And another.” Kyanoko shakes her head. “While this grossly exploitative system exists- one that serves to keep the rich rich and the poor poor, there will always be drug dealers. One of the only ways to get some amount of comfort in the world if you were born without wealth.”

“How have you not been dealt with?”

“Legally? Blackmail.” Kyanoko shrugged. “Got dirt on every person who can actually do something to me.”

“Then why don’t you stop this?” Trigger demanded, his fists were clenched, but for now he wasn’t swinging them.

“Because people are just faces of corporations. The individual doesn’t want to lose their status, so they don’t come after me. But if they do, the corporation will just fire them so the corporation can continue.” Kyanoko explained. “To them it’s like… trimming an infected limb of a tree. Do you know what a tree is?”

Trigger sneered.

“Hm, beyond the point.” Kyanoko sighed. “Killing me won’t fix anything is my point.”

“What will fix this?”

“Trigger, I honestly think we’re beyond saving. You might be willing to kill me, but I don’t think you’re willing to do what actually needs to be done in order to force change.”

“There has to be somethin-”

“Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of innocents, Trigger? Do you want to kill kids just because they’re related to the people in power? Because sons will grow into their fathers?”

“I… I’ll find something.”

“I hope you do.” Kyanoko dipped her head to him. “Kill me, if it’ll make you feel better. I just request you wait. I want to run in the fields one last time. Do you know what grass is, Trigger? What flowers are? What fresh air smells like? I can show you. Then you can kill me.”