Nak 7.18: Be Like Water

[Derek]

Steve Austin looks around the locker room in disbelief. It appears as if a small cyclone had touched down indoors and tore the place apart. Fixtures are knocked loose, debris is scattered about, and furnishings are destroyed. Most astounding of all, in the center of this chaos sits the unnatural calm of Shinsuke Nakamura, who had assumed a lotus position in the middle of the floor.

Austin shakes his head. “What the hell happened here?”

Nakamura slowly opens his eyes. “I do not know, Steven. I was only meditating, attempting to calm myself after my match. After my loss. After being denied a chance to step up into the next tier that you say needs me so desperately but not as much as you need everyone else in your company to gain the equity of a win over Nakamura. I am merely meditating.”

Austin points at the destruction. “So you’re telling me someone ELSE trashed this room?”

Shinsuke nods at the backstage workers who congratulate him on another great main event performance, he really carried PJ to his best match all year, this company is so lucky to have a workhorse like him, Black vs Zayn is going to be even hotter now, all those words bouncing off his back as he walks past. He pushes open the door to his room, a private locker room, his stardom incongruous with his record. He looks around the ill-gotten gains, the fruit of his relationship with management more than anything else, and a twisting feeling begins in his chest before gnarling its way down his limbs and up his neck.

As if seized by a predatory instinct, his foot whips out against the trash bin with lightning speed. The bin dents on impact and is sent flying into the lockers, its contents spilling across the floor as it sails through the air. A locker door loosens from its hinges upon impact and starts to dangle. Next he is grabbing a fine wooden chair and chucking it against a wall to watch it explode into splinters. He overturns benches and rips posters off of the walls. He is their tool of destruction, and he does his job well.

Nakamura shrugs. “I do not notice these things when I am meditating.”

Steve leans against the doorway, muttering. “There goes our security deposit again. I finally get Orton to stop wrecking hotel rooms and now this bullshit.” He straightens himself up. “Look, I know I promised you a straight shot to the top, but I have my own masters to serve, goddammit, so I need you to stay on my page, alright? People already think they know how I use you to punish dumbasses, how do you think it’s going to look to the boys in the back when you skip all the way up over them. You’re already in the main event of the show, and that makes them grumble enough. I’d never hear the end of it if we slapped those rockets on you right now. You gotta trust me.

Now, this next idea I got, this could sneak you up the ranks a few spots if it works right. We’re doing a tag team tournament, random partner Lethal Lottery sort of thing, because Stone Cold loves some good old fashioned tag team wrestling. And we have this young guy here now, this Leo Kruger? We want to put him the tournament but I gotta be honest with you, he’s not all there. I really don’t think anyone else could keep tabs on him…except you.”

Nakamura scoffs. “So I go from executioner to babysitter?”

Steve puts up his hands in protest. “No, believe me, when you meet this cat, you’ll understand. Can I rely on you to get him through the next couple weeks without murdering someone?”

Nakamura brings a hand to his chin, Austin only now noticing the ripped t-shirt strip tied around the palm, red soaking through the white fabric. Nakamura looks into the mirror on the wall, seeing a man who appears to be stuck in limbo on the other side. His hand curls into a tight fist as he stares at the pathetic loser trapped inside the glass. He hears the shattering and watches cracks extend across the pane in a spiderweb pattern.

“Of course, Steven. You know me. I am your man.”

------------------

The interview spot is dark. One lonely beam of light hits the back wall, casting sinister shadows across the face of Leo Kruger. He smiles. “Let me tell you what happened in the savannah yesterday. I was out on the hunt, and I came across the carcass of a young lion. Sitting upon his head, pecking at his decaying ear, was a crooked black bird. Mangy feathers, caked in dirt and death. And that bird saw me, and instead of flying away, he flew to me, and landed…,” [he holds out his palms], “right here, in my hands. And I looked down at him, and I saw, and I knew, he was diseased, and there was no curing him. So I took his little wings, and I snapped them. I plucked out his feathers. And I pressed my thumb, right there against his tiny head, and I pressed until…” He makes a ‘pop’ sound with his lips and drops his hands. He lets out a low giggle as The King of Strong Style slowly leans into the frame, look of concern plastered across his face.

Nakamura shakes his head and turns to the camera. “I have been spending some time with this man, and let me tell you now, this is no act. This man is seriously unwell. I am amazed that he is allowed out in public, not to even mention a wrestling ring. This man scares even me, and I at least get to be on the same side as him. Our opponents are not so lucky. I have been lighting candles for your souls at every temple I can find.”

Kruger continues to smile and nod along with Shinsuke. “Raven and Jay Lethal. That is an interesting team, do you not agree? Raven, the battle-worn veteran, the old guard, and Jay Lethal, the young upstart, the blue chipper. It is like one of those…ehhh….buddy-cop movies, yes? Can you not see that, Leo?”

Kruger lets out a joyless laugh. “Yes! Gunfights and car chases.”

Nakamura rolls his eyes. “Of course. And would it not be so interesting to see the two of them learning from one another and growing to respect each other in spite of their generational gap and differing philosophies. The script, it rights itself.

But this, here, this is no movie pairing. We are not two sides of the same coin, or any other cliché pairing that you could come up with. We are not going to be becoming friends or gaining an understanding of one another. I do not think this creature is capable of those kinds of human interactions in the first place. We are not partners. He is an attack dog, and I am his handler. Right now, I have him on a short leash. At Warfare, I am letting him loose, and God forgive me for what happens when I do.”

Kruger smiles even wider at the thought of it. “Oh, we are going to have so much fun.”

Nakamura places his bandaged hand on his cheek. “The only thing I can promise our opponents is that I will not let them suffer. Whatever he does to them, I promise that I will put them out of their misery when he’s through.”

Leo laughs one last time and leans towards the camera. “Ta-ta.” He walks out of the frame.

Shinsuke watches him leave and shudders. He casts a sideways glance to the camera and mutters. “Yeaoh.”