Chapter Three: The Road to Peace
{Here we go... I knew this would happen...}
Ayane growled viciously under her cool breath. She knew this would be
no easy task but this had to be done. She had to motivate the Spring
Breeze Assassins into ending this fighting, and to act peacefully
during the peace talks with the Cross Blade Lancers. But it would
appear that getting the Spring Breeze Assassins to the talks would be
challenge enough. And as leader, Ayane could not lose her control about
it. If she did, it would not only condemn Tomeishuu High to war, but
also make her relationship with Rinako that much harder to maintain.
For the sake of herself and the school, she had to end this hatred.
Ayane was currently at the southern gates (the actual back exit to the
school, not the meeting place) with Izumi at her side, and all
twenty-six members of the Spring Breeze Assassins, in all their glory,
stood before the two. The girls were all huddled into a mass group
surrounding Ayane and Izumi. Ayane could only wait patiently as the SBA
girls continued to chat and mingle amongst themselves, until she
coughed into her fist to get their attention.
"If I may..." Ayane began sarcastically. "This meeting has begun."
Though she did not speak loudly, all the girls listened and stopped
speaking. Which gave Ayane the grounds to speak...
"Okay. You all know why I have called you here. I have called on all of
us... to talk about the situation with the Cross Blade Lancers."
Ayane ignored the chorus of addled murmurs and continued on. "We have
fought them for many years. Not just us, but our predecessors in past
years. We have shed blood, sweat and tears and what have we achieved?
Nothing. Nothing but an endless cycle of animosity and contempt. Not
only is it pointless, but also it has weakened us. This is the reason
we were so panicked by the threat posed by the Kyoto New Force
Strikers. If we were not so consumed with our own internal hatreds then
we could have easily repelled their coercion. Do you all see what my
feelings are? What I'm hoping for? I want to make a better future for
this school, and the Spring Breeze Assassins. And the only way to do
this, is..."
Ayane stopped herself, almost out of reflex. While Izumi was silently
wishing her support, one of the SBA girls caught onto Ayane's
hesitation.
"Is what, boss?" She said. "What are you hoping for...?"
The snow-white haired girl managed to speak. Her future with Rinako
might depend on how things went down here on this day. "I want... I
want the Spring Breeze Assassins... to sign a permanent peace treaty
with the Cross Blade Lancers."
That last sentence hung around in the air like the strongest of
stenches. All of the SBA gasped wildly in clear shock, then instantly
began to whisper invisible words to each other. Ayane searched the
crowds. There weren't a lot of happy faces. She was afraid of this. The
only reason the SBA were willing to work alongside with the CBL in the
first place was because they believed that Zanga, Ranji and Shizuku
were a threat to them. Now the KNFS were gone and all need for
unification or cooperation was gone. Which meant that bitterness and
fighting was business as usual, which had been 'the way' ever since the
first tangling between the CBL and SBA ten years ago. Could they just
up and change a decade worth of fighting like that? More importantly,
did they want to? That much hatred and fighting isn't something you can
just relinquish in the space of a few weeks.
But despite the blatant cloud of hesitation hovering over them, there
were still some girls in the Spring Breeze Assassin group that were not
surprised by Ayane's declaration. The KNFS attack was a wake up call to
them. It showed that the CBL-SBA war was blinding them to the real
truth behind the confederacy of the gang. Their duty, their truth was
not warfare; it was simply the protection of the school.
Their Tomeishuu High.
One of the senior members of the group (but below Ayane and Izumi in
rank) stepped up from the thickets of the crowds and positioned herself
before her leader.
It was Ayaka Yakazaki. "You want us to abandon our war with the Cross
Blade Lancers, is that it, boss?"
Ayane nodded. "Yes. I know this may come as a shock to you all, and
quite frankly I feel the need to agree with you that this is possibly
the unlikeliest idea I have ever had... but... we must give this a
chance. Not for us, but for Tomeishuu..."
Ayaka smiled at her leader, tossing her short blonde hair from her
bluish eyes. "Then I understand."
"You do?" Ayane asked curiously.
Ayaka nodded, then turned her head towards the bulk of the SBA gang,
and their unconvinced expressions. "My friends listen to want Ayane has
to say. I have not been here as long as any of you, but I know that
this school would be a much happier place if we buried this anger and
resentment once and for all. It won't be an easy thing to do, but if
this is our leader's wish, based on the collective interests of the
group, then we should have no choice but to follow her wishes with
believing hearts. Don't you all agree?"
The SBA girl looked around each other. Some did seem convinced. Then
more of such looks followed. Izumi peered at Ayane from the corner of
her eyes. She could tell that Ayane was happy that some of the girls
were coming around to the idea. But Ayane just had to know.
"I have organized talks to begin with the Cross Blade Lancers on
Sunday. But I will not take you there if you absolutely are opposed to
the idea of burying our rivalry. I will act in the manner that the
majority will approve of. So we shall vote on it. All those opposed to
these talks, raise your hands."
No hands went up. Not even Konoko's (Though she did have a deceptively
evil look in her bright eyes). Ayane took that as a good sign. But
still, one more vote had to be taken care of.
"...All those in favour...?"
Though it took a few seconds (delayed reaction) a solitary hand went up
in the back of the group. This hand was then replaced by a few at the
sides. Then a few seconds later, many of the Spring Breeze Assassin
girls stuck their hands into the air. Ayane's smile, (rare as a smile
from her was) brightened ten-fold. She knew her gang was as caring
about Tomeishuu's future as she was. Though, she tried to keep her
happiness as privately as she could. Happy or not, she had to command
some respect in this group.
"Okay." The Yosukube girl began. "As I have said, the peace talks will
begin on Sunday. We have secured the location, the gyms, and the time,
which will be 12.00, midnight. All of you will attend and none of you
are to be late. And in the time between this now and the peace talks,
nobody, and I mean nobody, is to start a battle with the CBL. Anyone
who breaks these orders with be dealt with be me. Do you all
understand?"
The gang nodded in unison, taking note of Ayane's seriousness. With all
that said and done, there was no need to continue this meeting.
"Alright then." Said Ayane. "You are all dismissed."
The group of young girls instantly disbanded and begun talking amongst
themselves about the current events as they left the area. The only
three remaining were Ayane, Izumi and Ayaka. Or so they thought. While
Izumi watched the others go, Ayane turned her attention to Ayaka.
"Thank you, Ayaka Yakazaki." Ayane said, and she meant that from the
deepest point of her heart. "I am hopeful that we can end this war once
and for all."
Ayaka nodded. "No need to thank me. After all, you're my leader. It's
the duty of a subordinate to follow the wishes of her leader. And I
admit, I also want to see some peace... I haven't been here long but I
know the kind of destruction that internal warfare can lead to."
"Then lets do all in our power to make sure we can avoid it."
"Understood. I must be on my way now." Ayaka commented. Ayane just
nodded and let Ayaka go. Classes would start again soon, this meeting
had to be quick. As soon as Ayaka left, Izumi walked up to Ayane to
talk.
"Hey, boss..." She started. "That went down pretty well, I'd say."
Ayane's eyes became distant. "Yes... but this was only the easy part.
The hard part will be the actual talks. If we do not watch ourselves,
this whole effort could end with nothing."
**********
Later on that day, around 9.53 to be exact, Ayaka plodded in short
steps through the Victorian-styled halls of Tomeishuu high's dorm
rooms. The young blonde struggled to wipe the sweat off her forehead
with shaking arms. The second she got out of school, she went straight
down to her gym to train for a little while. But some how that little
while developed into a few hours. And as you can imagine, Ayaka was
completely burnt out.
{I guess I overdid it.} She thought. {I should take it easier... much
easier...}
Slowly, the Yakazaki girl turned to face the door to the dorm room she
shared with Rei. Ayaka suddenly forgot her tiredness to think about the
girl. Where was Rei all day? Soon as classes ended, Rei just made her
excuses and went about her business. Ayaka had to wonder: was Rei
avoiding her? The black-haired girl did seem more distant since Ayaka
had refused to train her. Was that what it was all about? Not training
Rei? Ayaka didn't think something that meaningless would get in between
them. Was it that important to Rei? Being a martial artist in Tokyo was
no great thing. It was pretty harsh for fighters here.
{I don't want to upset Rei...} Ayaka thought. {But fighting is tough in
this city. I don't want to expose her to any of that. I... I have to
protect her. With everything I got.}
Affirming that to herself for a brief second, Ayaka turned the knob to
her door and went inside, shutting the door behind her. The tired girl
instantly chucked her book bag to one side of the room, and whipped off
her restraining school uniform (that she had forgotten to change out of
earlier on). Soon enough she was stripped down to her bra and panties,
but this did not last long as she threw a sweatshirt over her aching
body. Ayaka stared at her bed with greedy eyes. For the first time, the
blonde girl could safely say that she was looking forward to an early
night. Then she looked over at Rei's bed. She wasn't asleep, or even
there for that matter. Had she gone out?
Ayaka's need no longer think of that, Rei's voice answered the question
from inside the shower. "Ayaka? ... You're home?"
The blonde girl smiled with happiness. Just not knowing where Rei was
bothered her. "Yup... I'm here. How was your day? Did you do anything
fun...?"
Rei called out to Ayaka again from the shower. "N-Not really. I...
uh... I think there's something wrong with your bed..."
{Huh?!} Ayaka blinked. "My bed? No... please, not tonight..."
The Yakazaki girl walked over to her bed, to inspect Rei's queries
about her bed. And sure enough, Rei was right. Her bed's left leg was
broken, leaving the whole thing to become slanted. Today of all days,
her bed was broken. And there was no way she could call a janitor to
fix it; they leave the school at six.
Ayaka's shoulders slumped. "I must be cursed."
"In what way?" Rei said, stepping out of the bathroom.
"Well, I just-"
The sapphire-eyed girl cut herself off mid-sentence as Reikibu
Somenosuke Tsukuji stepped out of the bathroom attached to their dorm,
a damp blue towel wrapped around her small, beautiful frame. Ayaka
swallowed the breath she had just realized she was holding, and tried
VERY hard to keep herself from staring at some of Rei's more...
*suggestive* areas. Rei didn't notice the effect she placed on her
friend, so instinctively went to her bedside table to withdraw a brush.
Ayaka tried to shut her eyes as the girl skipped across the room, and
decided that the best thing to do was find a distraction.
Her book bag. Bingo.
{Dah... um... okay... left foot goes first right? Dammit! Rei, you have
no idea what you do to me...} Ayaka slowly walked over to her book bag
as best as she could, managing to distract herself from violet-eyed
girl to her left.
"Ayaka, are you feeling alright?"
Uh oh. "Uh... I... uh..." Ayaka struggled. "D-Don't I look it?"
"You're sweating a lot. Did you train that hard?" Rei asked
concernedly.
"Uh... not really..."
Rei undid the towel that was wrapped around her hair, and then placed
the brush at the back of her head, bringing it down through her damp
hair. Slowly she proceeded to brush her hair in a series of downwards
motions, giving an unusual on Ayaka. Then her purple eyes darted back
to Ayaka's bed. Where was she going to sleep for the night? She
couldn't sleep on that, could she?
"Where are you going to sleep, Ayaka?" Rei still ran the brush through
her hair.
Ayaka tried not to look back, still fumbling to pick up the book bag on
the ground. "Oh... right. I guess I'll have to crash on the floor or...
something."
Rei placed the hairbrush on her bedside table. "You can't sleep on the
floor. You'll hurt your back maybe. Why don't you sleep on my bed
tonight?"
Ayaka's eyebrow rose. "Really? Where would you sleep then?"
Rei patted the bed. "Right here."
Had the gulp going down Ayaka's throat been any louder, she would have
sworn that Rei could have heard it. Rei was such a sweet girl; she
didn't see how awkward that would be. All she cared about was Ayaka's
well being.
{She has such a big heart...} Ayaka thought. {I guess I can forgive her
naïve mind... god, how can I control myself around her?}
After thinking it through for a few more seconds, Ayaka turned around
to face Rei, staring into those shining amethyst eyes of her. So
inexplicably beautiful... "Okay... thank you, Rei."
**********
Downtown in Shinjuku.
To many people, Shinjuku was the highlight of the city of Tokyo. The
Japanese nightlife was summed up quite well by this lively little
section of the municipality. Three solitary figures stood before a
quite ramen shop just in the outskirts of this wild area. They fully
appreciated the great place they were currently occupying. Those three
men were Keitarou, Yuji and Danjuro. These three where the chief new
members of the renewed Tengoku Dream Rebels.
While Danjuro was across the road flirting with some girls that had
snuck out for the night, Keitarou and Yuji were leaning up against the
wall of the ramen shop, hunching over a respective bowl of ramen.
Keitarou slurped a portion into his mouth. "Mmmm! Sendou-rin ramen shop
has to have the greatest garlic ramen bowls ever! Dammit, I'm coming
back here tomorrow."
Yuji sighed. "Keitarou... you make too much of a fuss over these
things... but at least you accept the fact that there are foods out
there that taste just as good as-"
Keitarou cut Yuji off. "Don't say it... nothing tastes better than
western pizza. Screw Okonomiyaki, traditional pizza the second greatest
thing on earth."
"And the greatest thing is?" Yuji enquired.
Keitarou grinned deviously. "Well fighting, of course!"
Yuji gave off an even deeper sigh. "I'm sure of it now. There is
definitely something wrong with you, Keitarou Kusako. But I suppose
this is our moment of victory. We should savour it."
"Got that right." Keitarou said.
Yuji lowered his eyes a little. "I say *we* should celebrate, but its
really *you* who should do so. You were the one who defeated Takami,
and he was said to be the strongest man in Tengoku Aijin School. Well,
at least when Zanga left. You were the one that did that. I was no help
at all to you. Even Danjuro could have provided more help than I could
have."
Keitarou stopped eating when he heard Yuji's voice become downcast. The
young man placed his bowl of garlic ramen to the ground and wrapped his
arm around the shoulder of his best friend, Yuji.
"Hey..." Keitarou stared assuring. "Hey, it's okay, Yuji. I don't need
you by my side for fighting. I got Danjuro for that. You're my best
friend. We've known each other since we were kids. It wouldn't be right
for you not to be there when we restart the Tengoku Dream Rebels. Plus,
you've got brains up the yin-yang. I'm not gonna get very far without
you to amend my stupid decisions, right?"
Yuji smiled shyly at Keitarou. "...Thank you. You always know how to
cheer me up, Keitarou. That's one thing that's never changed since we
were children. I feel safe with you."
Keitarou grinned. "Hey, what are best friends for, right?"
"Yes..." Though Yuji was smiling, his voice carried the tiniest hint of
sadness. "... 'Friends'..."
Just then, the large body of Danjuro strolled up to Keitarou and Yuji.
"Hey! Guess who just scored a date with one of those fine looking girls
over there?"
Keitarou removed his arm from Yuji's shoulder and grinned at Danjuro.
"Well, well, well! I never knew you were so much of a chick magnet. I
need to be taking lessons from you then, eh?"
Danjuro grinned back, tossing his ponytail of green hair over his
shoulder. "You better bet your bottom dollar you need to learn from me!
Still... that girl reminds me of my beautiful Nagi... ooh... my sweet,
sweet Nagi..."
"Danjuro," Yuji began. "You do realize that Nagi Hojo is a fictional
character created to supplement a male roster in an ugly designed
fighting simulation, correct?"
"Aside from the word 'Nagi' all I heard was blah, blah, blah..."
Danjuro went on...
Yuji chuckled privately. "I see."
"Blah, blah, blah..."
Keitarou rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we got it, Danjuro..."
"Blah, blah, blah, the word formally known as blah, blah, blah..."
"WE GOT IT, DANJURO!!!" Keitarou yelled irritably.
The Minami-oh student laughed. "Sorry 'bout that. You know my love for
the sweetness that is Nagi goes beyond the orbit of this planet. She
could impale me on her Sai, anytime time..."
Yuji suddenly thought of something. "My word, Danjuro. You're only
going out with this girl because she looks like some woman from a
fighting game? Do you even know what the poor girl's name is?"
"Uh... sure I do..." Danjuro thought for a second. "I think her name
was... Konoko or something like that. But I do know that she goes to
that all-girl school, Tomeishuu High. I gotta admit, the girls are
pretty cute over there, too."
"Well don't be getting your hopes up to high." Keitarou said. "We've
got a score to settle with those guys. They were the ones that buried
the Tengoku Dream Rebels in the first place. We'll have to take them on
again if we want to let other schools know that Tengoku Aijin is back
in the game."
Yuji shuffled his feet. "It might not be that simple. I hear that
Tomeishuu High does have some pretty strong fighters within its halls.
Two of them are particularly noteworthy."
Danjuro entered. "You mean Ayane Yosukube and Rinako Ikatsuji? I think
I've heard of them. They lead the Spring Breeze Assassins and the Cross
Blade Lancers, am I right...?"
Yuji nodded. "Correct. These girls aren't run of the mill fighters,
either. Rinako Ikatsuji was the one who took down Zanga. And we all
know what *he* was like."
"She beat Zanga?!" Danjuro said surprised.
Again, Yuji just nodded. "Yes. And it wasn't a slight win either. He
sustained serious damage. I think we should watch our step around them
before we make any full blown advances."
{So Rinako Ikatsuji defeated Zanga.} Keitarou thought with a cocky
grin. {It'll make fighting her that much more exciting.}
Danjuro smiled, with a flustered expression. "So the cuties over there
are tough as well? Geez, it seems like everyone is trying to imitate my
lovely Nagi these days. But it'll make for a good fight. We should
check out the competition one day."
"I'll go you one better, Danjuro." Keitarou said, crossing his arms.
"We're gonna challenge the leader of one of those gangs to a fight.
Nothing heavy, just a friendly match. If those girls are as strong as
you say, Yuji, then I'll see for myself if taking them on is the right
thing."
While Yuji and Danjuro conversed about that Keitarou continued to think
privately to himself. {Plus... I have to make sure that Rei is safe at
that school... I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to her.}
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