before the sky split [ninjago next generation]

i am not my father's son, part 2

Small fingers went swiftly in and out of unsuspecting pockets. The stench of cigarettes choked the alleyway and Ryuzo held the sleeve of his shirt over his mouth before his eyes watered too heavily to find his way in the low light. Red lantern light made pillars of illumination through the mire and fog. He took a last deep breath through his sleeve before he climbed back into his uncle's shop through the back window.

Laughter broke out as he fell to the floor. He looked up, but it wasn't for him. The occupants of the shop— his uncles and aunts, he had been told to call them— lounged around the room, sharing a smoke and updates about the world beyond Stiix. He found his father and nudged the back of his chair until he got his attention. The woman with the tall blonde hair and the skimpy black dress sighed as she swung her leg off his lap and went to lay with the aunt with the bright red mohawk. Ronin held out his hand without saying a word and Ryuzo emptied his pockets into them. Coins clattered against each other until Ronin's cupped hand was half full and no more money was coming. Ryuzo bit his lip as Ronin counted quickly, with practised ease.

"Good kid," Ronin said eventually. He ruffled his hair and one of the men across the hazy room filled the room with his laugh.

"Gods, Ronin, you'd think you stole a kid off the street!"

"Well, he's mine, Fujioka." Ronin held Ryuzo awkwardly against his leg as the son pushed overgrown black hair out of his eyes. "Just takes after Violeta."

"Vi!" Exclaimed the woman with the red hair. "Now that was a good woman! What-ever made her quit on us?"

"You can blame the kid for that," said the uncle called Fujioka gruffly with a gesture of his cigar.

"Violeta made her choice," mused Ronin as he let Ryuzo go back to the corner where he sat away from the noise and the stench of smoke. He laid down as the smoke rose and counted the spiders in the rafters as the conversation kicked up again.

"Boy!" Glass bottles clinked together. Ryuzo picked himself out of the dust and hurried back to his father's side. He cast his gaze down quickly as the blonde, who had since returned to Ronin's lap, slipped her breasts free from her dress. "Kid."

Ronin snapped his fingers under Ryuzo's nose.

"You're seven hundred short." Ronin ordered. Ryuzo stole a look up to the prostitute. The black satin pooled curiously around her waist. Her breasts spilled against his father's armour like soft clouds. "Oi!"

Ronin snapped his fingers under Ryuzo's nose as the uncles laughed.

"Ah?"

"You're short. You're back out. Scram."

"I... I thought you said it was enough."

"Needs change," Ronin said curtly. The pretty lady reclined herself and enticed Ronin's attention back to her breasts. "Shoo."

"Kid takes plenty after you, too, Ronin," the red-haired woman laughed as Ryuzo hurried back towards the window. His face burned as he slipped back out into the alley.

Ryuzo played with his fingers as he watched the foot traffic pass and waited for a chance to enter the stream of people unnoticed. He had already gone his usual routes, so he sat by the mouth of the port. A lady in a rich red blazer and skirt caught his eye as she stepped off a ferry and passed a generous handful of coins to the ferryman who helped her down. She stood out like the last blooming rose on a dying vine. Ryuzo scrambled from his perch and joined the stream; he was one of the thorns.

He followed her like a bodyguard, keeping any others who pursued her pearls from her pockets. She held a black purse close to her as she made her way through with polite implorations of a way through the crowds. Ryuzo second-guessed himself as he followed her around the corner. Somebody like her might be from the city. Still, she was a prize that Ryuko couldn't afford to let fall into somebody else's hands. Somebody else might be another friend of Ronin's, and Ryuzo would never be forgiven. He struggled to keep pace with her stride. When her shoulders relaxed, he pounced with swift and practised fingers. He palmed her wallet in the shadow of a bigger man who walked in front of him and vanished back into the steady stream of sweaty bodies.

"Stop! Thief!" The lady called. Ryuzo dared to look back and her copper eyes met his directly. His pounding heart broke him into a sprint back for familiar territory. "Stop him!"

Though the lady shouted after him, the crowd parted in front of the boy and people passed freely in front of her.

"Ninja-go!"

The crowd erupted into cries before a burst of energy struck Ryuzo from behind and sent his body flying into an alleyway. He gasped as he hit the ground and scrambled in the dirt to turn over to see what had struck him. Red and silver energy spun into the air as the lady spun one last time. In the street, people still stumbled away from the path cleared in her wake. He clutched her wallet and fumbled for the pocketknife in his shirt as she tucked her hair back behind her ears. She frowned and held her hand out.

"No," Ryuzo whispered. He brandished the dulled blade. The lady sighed and knelt in front of him as the crowd began to move again.

"That doesn't belong to you," said the woman gently, "give that back."

"No," he insisted. He looked between her and his prize. She wore some expression that he had never seen before. Slowly, he opened the wallet and took out the paper money he could find. Out of curiosity, he looked at the cards on the side. One was one of the city currencies Ronin had told him about. Useless in Stiix. One had a picture of the lady on it, then some things he couldn't make out.

"Is that all?" She asked patiently. Ryuzo's eyes widened as he counted his prize. He could give Ronin half of it and keep half for a stormy day. He could make this last for months if he got wise. The lady just watched as he took it, as if it were nothing to her.

"Your necklace," he demanded, "and I'll give this back."

The lady shook her head and undid the clasp of her pearl necklace. She handed it to Ryuzo as the pearls fell over each other to fill his cupped hands like milk.

"Bracelet," he insisted.

"Is this really what you want?" She mused, though she slipped the fine gold band off her wrist. The lady put her knees on the ground to sit closer to Ryuzo and clasped it around his thin wrist. She smelled like roses, too.

"Go," he demanded. "Go, miss."

"Miss?" The lady asked. Ryuzo blinked. "You know my name, now."

"Huh?"

"On the card," she pointed. She took her wallet back and showed him the card with the picture of her. He shook his head. "You can't read?"

"No, miss."

"Here."

The lady sat herself abreast of Ryuzo. He sat back on his heels. She pointed at the writing underneath the only part of the card Ryuzo could understand.

"A-ri-su," she read. "Alice."

"A-ri-su."

"Alice, saa-ru-n-da-su," continued the lady Alice, "Alice Saunders."

Ryuzo pointed to the letters after the name.

"PhD," she read. Ryuzo tilted his head.

"What's that say?"

"Philosophiae doctor, doctor of philosophy," she explained. "'Doctor' is a title like '-san'. It means I went to school and studied very hard."

"Oh."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Alice asked. Ryuzo's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"I don't know."

"You're still young. You have life in front of you." They watched the dirty crowds of Stiix slosh across their narrow view from the alley. Ryuzo shoved the money back into her wallet and pressed it with the pearls back into her hands. He moved to slip the bracelet from his hand, but she stopped him. "Keep it. A gift for you."

"Huh?"

"A gift. Something to have for yourself," Alice explained gently. She wore that same unknown expression as she put the rest of things back into her purse.

"Ok," Ryuzo said slowly. "Bye, Miss Alice."

He tucked the bracelet under his sleeve and held it close as she disappeared back into the street.