OT: Shin SHOGO - Stairway to Hell

[SaitoKojima]

Sequel to SHOGO, and the second installment to the Project SHOGO franchise. This continues Saito's life, and ultimately, to his supposed downfall...

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Shin SHOGO - Stairway to Hell

真 ショゴ - 地獄への階段

The worst day of my life was the day God told me I would die.
God... and everything around him, that is the universe, has abandoned me... Now, there is no hope for me, no hope for my future.... There is no point in continuing, as I know this is my end....

And I, Saito Kojima, cast myself from the highest mountain in all of Messetsu. After ten years of suffering, ten years of endless nightmares.... it will soon all come to an end..... As I fell, I could see my whole life, from beginning to end, flashing in my eyes....

I was not always like this, I once had a home, a family, and many great friends. Most of this was taken away from me at a young age. Some managed to stay with me, and I was glad for that. I can still remember the events that took place after Kiari Takanoshin, and I, achieved peace by defeating the ShinRod and their leader, who I don't need to mention. From that day, we thought that peace would finally come, and that we could ssttle down for a family. How wrong could we ever be....

We decided to stay at my apartment, until we could buy a much better house to live in. It was cleaned quite a lot from the last time we were both together here at the same time, I made sure it would look nicer than how I used to treat it, since it's not just me living here anymore. After two months from this momentary peace, Kiari Takanoshin told me a line that I would never forget....

She said it in a very clear tone, "Saito, honey.... I'm pregnant..." I can still remember the feeling of those tears of joy that never stopped flowing down my cheeks. This moment, was probably the happiest moment we ever witness together.

"Kiari... this... is the greatest blessing we have ever witnessed..." We knew that we had to have this child, there was no reason to avoid it.

When we discovered that she was pregnant, Kiari agreed not to take-part in any missions or intense physical activity. It seemed pretty simple, and it'd actually give us some time to properly test ourselves for house-life. But, what kept running in our heads, made us almost go insane from excitement. Will it be a boy, or a girl? What shall we name the child? What size shoes should we buy? Who's going to be landed with diaper duty? The wait, was fucking killing me.

But, fate chose to make our lives much harder, and brought us the very thing that ruined it.....

When we knew that Kiari was going to have a baby, and I still had to go to work, I finally decided to get a cell-phone, so that we could still talk to each other, and inform one another for anything that happens. While I was at work, Kiari was telling me about how she really hopes we have a son, and me hoping we have a daughter. This turned into a little conversation about giant trees and bold-faced signatures. Even now, I don't know how we got to that kind of subject. In the middle of the conversation, Kiari stopped talking, and was completely silent. The next second, I heard her scream, and there was a loud *thud* out of nowhere. Next thing I know, a total stranger's voice is talking to me.

"Heh heh heh, I got your girl here, and if you don't want anything bad to happen to her, you'd better tell me where you keep your cash!" Who the hell is this guy!? How'd he get the phone?

I snapped back at him, "You better tell me who you are!! If I get my hands on you, I'll close off your bloodflow!! What have you done to Kiari!?"

He didn't seem to care at all, "I just popped her on the head, and gave her a nice blow to the gut! HA HA HA HA HA!! Now she's on the ground, groaning and cryin' like a baby! Wait a sec... what're you doin, bitch!?" I had no idea on what was going on at the time, but I could hear lots of grunts and loud bangs. When it was finally over, I heard the stranger scream, and a gunshot was fired. What the hell....

As fast as a speeding bullet, or maybe even faster, I rushed my way back home, the insides of my body felt as though they were ready to burst from how tired it made me. When I ran inside, I could see a trail of blood, running a little line from the front-door, into the living room. When I stepped inside, I seen a wierd man lying on the ground, dead, with his head split open. In the left corner of my eye, I could see Kiari, beaten and bruised, lying on the corner of the wall.

"Kiari!!"

I ran to her, and held her in my arms, shaking her body to wake Kiari up, "Kiari, wake up! Pull yourself together! Please... please, you can't leave me now... Not again..." I began to start crying, outloud. I held her body more close to me, and tightly. Kiari....

"Sa~ Saito... is that you...?"

She's awake! Thank God!! "Thank goodness you're alright, Kiari, I thought I lost you... Dear, what happened?" My voice shoke in surprise.

I could feel her voice becoming weaker as she spoke, "Someone... I don't know who, but some guy came and busted through the door... wanting money. He did this while I was cleaning the kitchen, and talking to you... The guy ran right in and started beating me for no reason, and took the phone away... After he spoke to you, I tackled him to the ground, and we~~!! *cough*" she began to cough and spit blood.

"Kiari! Don't talk, just save your strength, I'm going to call the ambulance, and we're getting you to a hospital."

"Sai, I think my water broke! Please, call them now~~!!"

Oh my God!!

"Forget that, they won't come in time!" and I quickly picked her up, then began to run out of the apartment building, towards the Knighthood HQ Hospital....

My body was already pretty tired from running all the way to the apartment building, now I'm running back out and towards the hospital. It's even harder to keep running, while carrying Kiari, but I won't let that stop me! I can't just give up right now, her's and the child's, lives are on the line, and only I can save them! Kiari... hold on!! I kept running faster, I knew I was tired, but I could still keep going, as if I had taken fourteen hits of pure-raw energy. Maybe it was something to do with me and her, something about her makes me always keep going, even when I'm physically unable to.

Thinking back to all this, it makes me wonder how powerful love can truly be... There was no need for Sychro Watch, Knighthood Armors, learning ki, or using Satsui no Hadou, throughout my life. All I needed, was love....

"Saito... please, are we close..?"

I knew that I had to keep her at a good morale, "Yes, we're almost at the door." Almost as though I were daydreaming while running, I find out that I made it to the hospital. When I started to walk towards the door, somebody saw us, and opened the door for us. I thanked him, but noticed something familiar about the man. He had the same cold stare, that my older brother would give me, if I were to disappoint him.

As soon as I walked inside, two nurses, and a doctor, quickly asked me to hand Kiari over to them. I agreed, and the doctor helped me carry her to a stretcher. I took a second to look at her, one last time. She still had her beauty within, but I could see that it is starting to disappear. Her eyes were completely closed, was she asleep? I'm not sure. But, for some reason, she began to whisper something very quietly, even until now, I never understood what she said. As she whispered those misunderstood words, the nurses pushed her stretcher, into the hallways. I tried to follow them, but was stopped by the doctor.

"You have to let me come with her, she's my wife!"

The doctor pointed at a clipboard he was carrying, "Do you have a permit, to watch her give birth?" A permit? What the hell? I need a permit to watch my wife have a child!?

"Sir, why would I need a permit to watch my own wife, have a child?"

He replied back to me with a snide, "You could easily just be a rapist, who just wants to see your actions take it's course."

"If I were a rapist, why would I carry her here, by myself, in the cold rain? God damn it, why is it that everybody here thinks I'm some sort of fool, or pervert!?" I was shouting these words, I didn't care if people were staring at me. This isn't fair!

He glanced at me with no sympathy, "I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to attend the procedure, and don't you raise your voice to me."

I was furious, and had to have my true thoughts be heard, "You corporal bastard... if you fools cause any harm to her, I'll set this whole building ablaze!!" For the first time, I actually would go through with this threat.

I have never understood it when people say, "Time has become frozen solid," or anything like that. But, I'm pretty sure that this moment of waiting, was pretty damn close to it. I was forced to sit down in the usual Waiting Room they have for guests to a hospital. If you've been to a hospital before, chances are you know what I'm talking about, when I say it's fucking boring! The seat I was sitting on was made out of hard plastic, and very square-shaped. Yeah, extremely uncomfortable shit, the kinda stuff you only sit on for a total of fifteen seconds before jumping up and saying, "This chair, is a piece of shit!!" and pleading for the owner to allow you to break it. I had to sit on this kind of seat, with tons of other people around me, twiddling their thumbs and having hopeful expressions, thinking their friends or family members will make it out safely. All, but this one wierd old man who was sitting to my right. At first glance, he looks as though he is asleep, since his eyes are completely shut, and he's breathing quite loudly. Oh, but no no no, he's wide-fucking-awake, and he is ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey. Almost every few minutes, he'd inch his left hand closer to my right hand, as though he's trying to hold it like a couple would. He almost got his wrinkly old hand on mine, before I got up and remained standing for the remainder of the time.

You could say I stood up because I didn't want him to touch me, or it could be because the seats sucked. The verdict is, both. If you guessed anything else than those two, you, are a god damn idiot. No, I did not want to calm down as I was thinking these thoughts about everyone, anxiety and worry was taking over my whole body, and I could barely take it anymore.

Almost as though it were a break from my torment, the nurses and the stupid-permit-loving doctor, came back to tell me the news that'd screw up my life forever....

They came towards me with sad expressions, I knew something went wrong, but I didn't know what it was at the time. One of the nurses stepped closer to me than the others and patted me on the shoulder, very softly. What happened? Why was she patting me? Am I a dog now?

"I'm so sorry... this is probably the worst outcome to have happened..." He looked very sad.

I grabbed his white jacket tightly, "Doctor, what happened? Where's Kiari, is it a boy or a girl?" I thought they were playing a trick, so I didn't sound as sad as they were. Heck, I was slightly cheerful.

"Kiari... is... *sigh* Let me explain it to you in detail. Come with me, and sit down." he made me follow him to his office, meaning we had to walk around some more in the white and very bright hallways. When I stepped inside his office, it reminded me of eggs, for some strange reason. It was very cluttered with office supplies all over the place, the lights were even brighter here than the rest of the entire hospital, and the seats were way more comfortable. Cushions, and nice round shapes. "Sir, there is no boy or girl. Nor, is there Kiari anymore... You see, because of the wounds she had before, the pain from giving birth was too extreme for her to handle. I have never heard a woman scream as loud as she did, it was unbearable, but I had to do my job and save her. We tried to treat the wounds while helping her have the child, until we found a crucial flaw."

"What was the crucial flaw?"

"There were cuts, and bruises inside of her stomach where the baby was held. To put it short, not only her, but the baby was bleeding, too. What makes me wonder, is how this could have happened."

I had a shock in my eyes, and realized it, "I can explain that, to the best of my knowledge. I was away for a bit for work, but I made sure to keep in touch with Kiari, by using cell phones," I pulled out the cell phone from my left pocket for a second to show him. It was all sleek and blue, with the entire thing device operated via some sort of touching-screen or something, "and while we were talking, I heard her fall and collapse. Next thing I knew, someone seems to have broken into our home, and was trying to rob us for our money. The burglar and Kiari got into a brutal fight, and it seems to have ended with her shooting the man in the head. I cancelled work and ran as fast as I could back home, only to fight the dead man's body on the ground, bleeding, and Kiari was in another room, completely blacked out. I tried my best to wake her up, because at first I thought she had died, when she awoke, she told me what had happened, and said that her water broke. So I rushed to get her here, and thus, the story continues with what is happening now." As I said this, the doctor looked like he was taking notes, probably going to file a report on what happened, I bet.

"That's unfortunate... it would mean that the man's beating is what caused Kiari's water to break. This explains why the child was under-developed, and died shortly after..."

"What!? My baby's dead!?" What the hell....

I knew he was having sorrow, "It pains me to say this, but the baby is not the only one who's died. The bleeding happened much to rapidly for our staff to work with, and.... *gasps for air* she has died, too..."


"Please... tell me you're... j~joking!! You've gotta be kidding me, tell me it's just a big bullshit joke!!" I shot up from my seat, demanding him to tell me it's a joke. I don't think I needed to mention that I was flooding with tears. I could see that he was not joking, and I just fell to the ground, onto my knees and began to cry as hard as I could. The doctor came over to me, and held me close, trying to comfort me from this loss. I felt as though I were a little child at this time, and he was a grown-up trying to help out.

I'm pretty sure it was at least forty minutes before I left his office. I know for a fact I was still crying as I left, only this time, I had rage in my heart. Remember what I said I was going to do if something were to happen to Kiari...?

Well, let us just say, I actually went through with it.... and the surrounding area felt a lot warmer than before.... How did I do it? Well, I didn't have a lighter or anything like that. So I used the good ol' Sychro Watch to set the whole damn hospital ablaze. You take a guess on how I did it, and I'll provide you with a back of gum. Hell, I'll even teach you how to chew it.

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End of Part 1, this forum has a post limit.

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[SaitoKojima]

--Shin SHOGO - Stairway to Hell-- Part 2

As I left the burning building, I knew somebody was following me. Was it other Hunters who have been informed of this? I quickly turned around, and seen it was the same man who opened the door for me when I first stepped inside the hospital. He had medium-length hair, black colored too. His face was very familiar, I know for a fact that I know him somewhere. His clothes were very average looking, but kinda richy-ish at the same time. A white collar-shirt, with the collar "popped up" as some say, and tight black jeans. He was also carrying a small black case that'd usually have a laptop computer or something inside. When I stopped, he smirked at me, then changed to a more serious expression. His eyes pierced through me, and I felt stunned by his glare.

"Why... What was the reason for burning up a whole hospital, just because you lost Kiari, and your dead son? Explain to me now, Saito-chan." Holy shit, this guy has to be him! Only he calls me by that!

I turned my head to him, "I couldn't take it anymore, I hate how my life always goes. Everyone I care for, is always taken away from me!! So... I took their beloved ones, plus the idiots themselves!! It's my way of balancing out my anger! Also, don't come any closer to me, Sasuke-niisan, or I'll be forced to do the same to you." I hope these threats work, unlike how they didn't back when we were kids.

Sasuke crossed his arms, "Hmph, so you'd talk this way to your older brother? Have you any respect for anything in general!? What a fool you've become.... So, you've become dependent over the Sychro Watch, just like how you used to use Satsui no Hadou? Power can be used for anything, but you don't deserve it!!"

When he finished saying this, he threw his case at me, and at the same time he dashed towards me too! The case hit me in the head, causing me to reel back, and Sasuke punched me square in the stomach, grabbed my right hand, and bashed at it as hard as he could. My Sychro Watch deactivated, and I was back to my normal-self. Sasuke was still holding onto my hand, now gripping my wrist very tightly! I tried as best as I could to struggle out of his grasp, but he had me in a very tight spot, I can't get free! I could feel the Sychro Watch being taken off my wrist, and when he managed to take it off completely, he destroyed it!

"No!! How dare you~~~!!!!!"

Completely ignoring my pain, I lunged at him, trying to take him to the ground. Forgetting who I am dealing with, he stepped aside with little to no effort, and I stumbled to the cement ground. I can still remember how much the rocks hurt when my face landed on top of them, and how Sasuke kicked me in the ribs four times as I was still on the ground. Each time he kicked me, I could feel myself losing more and more the ability to breathe. He could probably sense that, and after the fourth kick, he left me there. Beaten, bruised, and bleeding my face off....

What a great way to reunite with your brother, eh? Oh yes, it was quite remarkable....

I don't know how long I laid there, but it was night-time when I finally got up. My body felt as though I were gang-raped from how busted and beat it was. I could barely move any part, but I knew I had to get home. Too bad, I destroyed the hospital, cause this would have been a great time to ask for help... Why did I have to go and do something so stupid...? Kiari, I bet you think I'm an idiot for doing that... I didn't even let you have a proper grave, or even a proper cremation... Somebody just kill me now.... But, I must get home... I have to rest!

"Aaacckk~~!!" I screamed in pain as I tried to stand up, my ribs must be broken! I never knew he could have gotten this strong. It's either his training is very good, or mine was ultra-shit... I can remember it taking me four hours to get home, and it was 3AM when I opened the door. My bed felt amazing when I fell onto it....

I was probably sleeping for more than a day and a half, cause my body sure felt like it. It didn't feel any better, and actually, I felt much worse. When I woke up from my sleep, I seen that my bruises, cuts, and wounds, were even worse in shape! The whole bed was covered in my own blood, and it looks like a fucking nightmare.... Obviously, Mr. Idiot, as in me, forgot to treat his own wounds before plopping himself down to sleep. Yeah, what else can I do that will prove my stupidity?

I tried getting out of my bed, for some reason, it was quite easy. Almost as though only my legs have healed themselves, and they are the only things that was worth using. I walked around my house to see if there was anything else that I left from before. When I looked around the place, I saw the trail of blood, leading to the dead burglar, once again. As soon as my eyes caught sight of his body, I became very angry, and hated him as much as it was humanly possible. I even began to shout things at the dead body, too!

"You're the one who's caused everything!! You know that!? You've ruined my life, you killed my wife and child!! You've brought me to the brink of insanity, and even made me kill over nine-thousand people, in my rage, because of you!!! I hate you... I HATE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART!!! If I one day meet with you in Hell, I hope to kill you in there! Yes, listen to that, even in your death, I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!" I never understood why I was shouting at that dead body, because it was obviously not going to answer. But, who cares, it was able to let off some of my steam, and it got it out of my system.

But out goes one thing, and in goes another, and that new feeling, was remorse. Almost as though all the people I killed in my life, mostly those who were in the hospital, even the creepy-hand-touching old man, flashed in my mind. I could see them all, burning and disappearing from existence, dying... Because of me... Why did I have to go and kill so many people, in my rage, all for the death of two individuals....? Sasuke is right about me... I am a fool, and now I'm a criminal, the one thing I tried as hard as I could for my whole entire life, to not become, was now my reality. Unless, someone was to catch up to me around this time, I only had approximately nine years to live. Just now, I remembered the Mechanical-Heart, and how it basically had a time limit on my life. A time limit.... until I can finally rest.... forever...

Without alerting too much attention to myself, I made my way out of the apartment building, down the flight of stairs, past the usual doube-doors, and into the streets. It must have been around 2PM, since there were many civilians bustling about the city, going about their regular lives, as if nothing was wrong. I tried to make myself fit in, and walked with them very casually. Ignoring the fact that I had cuts and bruises all over my body. If anyone asked, I could have just told them that I came out of a bar fight or something, whatever sounds believable. While I was walking around, I noticed one store that always has multiple television screens to show the latest news, or any sort of popular sports game going on at the current time. A lot of people were crowded around it, and it had a new report of something that made me have to run as fast as possible after it was done.

The woman who was reading out the news to everyone, had very long, dark brown hair, a very skinny face, and had bright-red lipstick on her lips. Her outfit was a tight, and somewhat revealing, black secretary-looking jacket, with a small bit of white showing, which was probably her bra being revealed. I bet it was something to get people to wanna watch her, or maybe just her being a whore. She spoke quite normally about the situation, and it was about me.

"Good afternoon everyone, we have just recently received valid information on the suspect who burned down a whole hospital just a few short days ago. The man sports a medium sized blue jeans jacket, with a white T-shirt underneath, long blue jeans, and red cloth wristbands on each hand. It is suggested that he might be wearing something different, or probably be in bad shape after only barely getting out of the fire alive." As she spoke of my description, a picture of me was shown on the top right corner of the screen. Out of all the pictures they could get, they chose one of me looking very pissed off, gritting my teeth as hard as I could. Yup yup, that'll get the citizens to want to find the criminal, a very angry picture of the suspect. "Oh, this just in!" she was just handed a sheet of paper with more information, "It seems the name of the criminal has been revealed. The suspect is named, Sai~~" as she said my name out to the whole city, I ran away from the scene as fast as I could. My whole upper body was aching so much, it was almost impossible to run, but I knew that if I stopped for even a moment, somebody would have noticed me, and reported where I was. Subconsciously, I ended up running to the one place that was very familiar to me, my old street address.

As soon as I arrived at this area, I knew where I was. I didn't know why I came to this dumped and destroyed little area, but I was glad to be here, too. Big chances are, nobody will be here to find me, and I can try to rest for a while, until the heat dies down. But, God doesn't like me, it seems, and there were people there to meet me. As if fate wanted to make sure that I suffered as much as possible, I saw three people who were once my friends, who now seem to have been waiting here to kill me: Sasuke Kojima, Commander Sakazaki, and Patsu Hiroshi.

"Oh great... just what I needed..."

I knew they could hear me as I walked towards them. They were all very disappointed in me, and their expressions clearly showed it.

Sasuke was the first to speak, "Saito-chan, we're not here to kill you. Well, I'm not here to kill you, I don't know about these two other peers of yours. But, I wanted to see you one last time, to look at what you've become. Just look at yourself, how far you've screwed up...." Yet another one of his little speeches, just shut it.

Patsu was next, "Saito, man... Why'd ya do it? What the fuck was the point of killing so many people? All this, just because your girl died from a beating too much to handle, and trying to give a kid at the same time? It was pretty fuckin' obvious that was goin' to happen, man. I can't believe you went this far, too man..."

Commander Sakazaki was the last, "You... you're a monster, and always will be. I almost regret letting you rise this far in the ranks, and very much regret allowing you to reunite with the girl. Now, we've lost two of some of our best Hunters in the business, you and Kiari... I hope you're proud of yourself."

"I'm sorry to have let you all down, I really am... I didn't know what I was thinking when I did that act of utter stupidity, and I do regret it, but I won't ask you all to forgive me. No, far from it, you can go ahead and hate me as much as it is possible, and if it will make the world a better place, kill me now..." I went down to my knees, and stretched my arms out, as though I were being crucified or something, waiting for them to kill me. They all looked at me for a while, walked towards me for a second, and left me there, still doing that same pose.... When they were completely gone, I muttered very quietly, "Thanks..... for everything....."

The rest of my life, was just bland and horrible. I would end up wander endlessly around the country, trying my best not to be seen by any sort of authority, and keeping myself well-hidden from society in general. It only took around four weeks for those old wounds to heal, but new ones would always come back, from stupid little things like tripping on my own feet, or saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, and at a very wrong time. For those nine years, I had no friends, no family, and no feelings. I was an empty shell, of nothing.... So, I chose to do what should be done, and at that point, I began to climb the highest mountain in all of Messetsu, to finally end this all....

Almost as though God intended and knows that I would have wanted to climb this mountain. He gave me a lot of power and energy to do this task, I didn't feel tired at all for the whole time, and I had no equipment to support me, just my body and that was it. From what I heard, this mountain was once called, Mount Fuji, about a few hundred years ago, but now had no name, because it wasn't needed anymore. When I finally made it to the top, I spoke to myself.

"God... and everything around him, that is the universe, has abandoned me... Now, there is no hope for me, no hope for my future.... There is no point in continuing, as I know this is my end...."

And I, Saito Kojima, cast myself from the highest mountain in all of Messetsu... After ten years of suffering, ten years of endless nightmares... it all soon come to an end... As I was falling, I could hear a voice, and a final flash in my memory showed me Kiari, as she was lying in the stretcher, the last time I ever seen her. I could hear her whispering something, I never knew what it was before at the time, but now I could hear it perfectly....

"Even if I don't make it, please don't let it burden you...."

I could hear this echo in my mind, and even as I fell, I began to cry, as the final words, "don't let it burden you..." kept replaying in my mind.... Closer and closer, I finally touched the ground.... I will never be able to understand, why I was able to stay alive for three more seconds. But, even at my last breath of life, I cried...


Pride, obsession, love, and greed. These are the following that have caused my demise, and it is my own damn fault. I will not point fingers, and I will not try to avoid it.


I am the cause of my own end, and there's nothing I can do about it.


But hey, it was either I did it myself, or I would have let some damn machine do it for me.


THE END