Night had fallen on Tomeishuu High. All of the windows lined along its
walls had not a twinge of light in them. Being 2.30 in the morning, not
many people had let themselves stay awake all night. Of course, there
was always the odd straggler who had decided cram all night for the
upcoming mock examinations (people like Mishizu) but most had taken
themselves to bed and prepared for what the next day was going to bring
to them.
One of the many girls, who had done just that, was Minato. The young
girl twisted and writhed in her bed, her dorm room was quiet and
peaceful, mostly from the absence of her elder sister, whom had snuck
into Ayane’s room just a few moments earlier. While Minato snoozed, the
phone that she had been on slipped free from her hand, down onto the
carpeted ground. It was no surprise that she had been talking to
Natsumi, but both Rinako and Minato alike, feared what their phone
charges might look like. Minato had been calling Natsumi continuously
ever since the shrine keeper left back for her home in Osaka, and phone
calls weren’t free. Any money that was spent on them was put towards the
fees that the school extracted from the resident’s families. Which was
why few people had private phones in their room. The Ikatsuji sisters
were an exception, their father, Genzo, earned great deals of money by
training numerous fighters at the Ikatsuji Fighting Institution.
Luckily, some of this money passed down to Rinako and Minato, allowing
them to enjoy some of the greater benefits of Tomeishuu High.
Though talking to Natsumi had but her at ease for a couple hours, Minato
still felt restless. And this was reflected in her sleep. The young girl
tossed and turned as she slept, her locks of blonde hair falling and
tossing as her head rolled from side to side. As they had done from
nights before, dreams attacked Minato in her sleep. The girl was unaware
of the sweat that had built up around her forehead, her lips mumbling
small bouts of babble, seemingly meaningless, but in her mind, it made
the utmost sense. Deep inside the mind of the youngest Ikatsuji, a
battle, no, many battles were being fought. Not by her, not even at this
time, but in the past, years before even the Asuka-Nara period, in the
uncharted years that Japanese historians have had so much trouble in
discovering.
Minato’s mind pictured fire, and blood. All along a battered
countryside, were soldiers, large in number, all had fallen in combat.
Swords, primitive forms of naginata had been imbedded in their corpses.
The festering stink of death was thick and heavy in the night air. Old
horses that had been used to carry troops to the field of battle broke
off their reins and attacked each other, the sounds of their screams the
only sound gracing the war-torn countryside. But the darkness of this
bloodshed was not confined to simple battles between renegade lords and
their over-zealous soldiers. The extent of this horror stretched into to
small villages dotted up and down what would come to be the Kanto plain.
Or at least, what was left of these villages.
Happy, bouncing locals had been transformed into smoking piles of
blackened stone and charred wood, seared by ravaging poachers who razed
simple villages to the ground for the simple enjoyment of seeing them
burn, to watch the sparks of fire dance like a modern gaisha would, for
a crowd of cheerful business men of Shinjuku. But the cheerless people
of the villages would not leave their homes, far from it. Women, young
and old, cried out in horror as their husbands dominated them and abused
them in the worst way possible, corrupting female bodies with the fruits
of their unwanted seed. These scenes had not the power to last long, as
the chorus of male cries joined in with the rest. The wives took no
sadness in stabbing them to death with wooden hairpins, knifing flesh
with a bloodlust that you could scarcely find in any other part of the
world.
The un-attended children were no different than their parents, their
playing of games were now swapped for the undeniable call for violence,
as young boys scuffled like madmen along the dirty mud paths darting
between each of the ramshackle huts of the village. The girls tore into
each other, ripping out strands of hair and poking out eyes with uncut
nails, adding to the heartbreaking sound of a peace-loving people gone
mad.
Though this scene could be repeated up and down Japan, there were those
that had reached such a level of transcendence, that their minds could
resist whatever was affecting the lower half the populous. After months
of suffering this madness, some of those men gathered together in a
place that would someday be known as Edo, and later on, Tokyo. They
discussed the issue as best they could, avoiding those who had been
infected by this descending evil, then came to a conclusion. Whatever
was attacking Japan had to be supernatural. A being or force sent down
from the heavens by the gods, as chastisement for the years of mortal
self-indulgence. They knew it was their duty to stop this force and
appease the gods, by uniting their powers and destroying this demon.
They gave it a name, and worked for years to discover its true identity,
before more of Japan was destroyed. After much toil and effort, they
revealed the demon, but learned of its terrifying secret.
The demon was immortal.
No weapon, strong or weak, sharp or blunt, could eliminate the beast.
And when the covenant who had dedicated their lives to stopping the
beast knew that they could not win, they abandoned their efforts and
fled for their own safety. One by one, each family, clan, and
principality who had joined forces to stop the demon, all left and
sought out as peaceful a life as they could, ignoring the fate of their
beloved country.
But two families did not give up the fight. One family, members of a
fighting order and owners of a fighting style that predated any other
martial art known to man, and a religious order that had stayed true to
the spirits, did not submit or hide. They stood their ground and fought,
using all their resources against the seemingly unstoppable demon. The
fighting family created an all new art with which to combat the beast,
while the religious family developed a stone, a crystal, a weapon to
resist their enemy. The religious family passed the stone to one of the
sons of the elders of the fighting family, and alongside that boy’s
brother (the fighter who took on the beast) they successfully sealed the
demon away, inside a massive statue of a dragon. The fighting family
returned the stone to the religious family, the power to seal now
already in their souls.
The demon was defeated.
But while things can fall, things can also rise. Minato continued to
rattle in her bed, the sounds of a distant voice in her head, the voice
of a boy, calling, asking, pleading...
“Gah!”
Minato launched her upper torso from her bed, breathing so harshly. The
girl had to take a few moments to calm herself, and took the time to
wipe her head free of the beads of sweat that had piled up along her
forehead. As soon as her breath slowed, the girl eased and let her head
lull downwards.
“What are these dreams?” Minato asked herself. “What do they mean?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing.”
Minato blinked as she heard a voice speak to her from across the room.
It was Rinako, arms crossed, dressed in her school uniform, watching
Minato with extremely concerned eyes. The older girl eyed the younger
one over, as a sort of call for explanation, but Minato was more than
reluctant.
Rinako continued to prod. “Minato? Are you going to tell me what’s
bothering you?”
“I... I can’t say anything.”
“Why not?” Rinako asked.
Minato could hardly speak, her breath was so drawn. “You’ll... you’ll
think it’s weird.”
“Hey,” Rinako began. “This a schoolgirl martial artist gang leader
you’re talking to. It doesn’t get much weirder than that. So enlighten
me, yeah? I can handle it, whatever it is.”
Minato squirmed. “I... I’m having dreams.”
“... Well I think I can see that.”
“I’m not finished yet, Rinako. I’m having these dreams... about the
past. Way before you and I were born... there was all this fighting...
and killing... and people kept talk about some demon... I... I hate it.
So much violence, so much hatred...”
Rinako sweat dropped. “Sounds like a shounen manga. So, it’s these
dreams that are bothering you?”
Minato nodded. “Uh huh. I know it’s crazy, but... I hate seeing those
images. I can’t stand having to put up with them. And they seem to be
getting even more vivid now.”
“Now?” Rinako questioned. “How long have you been having these dreams,
Minato?”
Minato tried to recall. “I think... since that time you went nuts on
those Kyoto New Force Strikers... but that was such a while ago, and I
didn’t think much about them. But now, they’re all I can think about.
And they’ve been getting worse since Natsumi left.”
Rinako sighed, and then walked over to her sister’s bed. She couldn’t
believe that she had not known about this. Though Rinako wanted so much
to be Minato’s protection in life, she wasn’t very perceptive to when
something was troubling her little sister. The older girl plopped onto
the side of the bed, wrapping a protective arm around Minato’s shoulder.
“Little sis.” Rinako began. “I wish you’d have told me about this
before. You always do that. You bottle up your problems and think that
you can cope with them alone, even if you can’t. But I suppose it’s good
that you’ve at least told Natsumi about these dreams.”
Minato looked away. “Well... I haven’t exactly told her about...”
“You are kidding me, right?” Rinako asked blankly. “You mean to say that
not even Natsumi knows about this?”
“Well, I didn’t want to worry her.” Minato defended.
The older Ikatsuji just sighed again. “She’s your girlfriend, Minato.
She’s always gonna worry about you. Just like I do. You should trust
someone else to take care of you for once.”
“Still... I don’t want Natsumi told. Not yet at least...”
“Minato... um...” Rinako struggled to get this out. “These dreams are
re-occurring, right?”
Minato nodded. “Yes.”
“Well then... maybe you should speak to a doctor or something. They say
that reoccurring dreams usually mean something.”
“No way!” Minato said, grabbing her bed sheets together. “I am not
crazy, Rinako!”
Rinako waved her hands in defence. “I didn’t say you were crazy! I’m
just thinking that maybe you’re under a lot of stress right now. With
Natsumi gone, and all this tension with the peace talks and the mock
exams coming up, there is a lot to think about.”
“I’m not seeing a doctor.” Minato affirmed. “And I don’t want anyone
else to know about this, Rinako. Please, please don’t tell anyone.”
Rinako scratched her head. There was no way she could keep this to
herself was there? Least of all from Natsumi. She was coming back
eventually, could Rinako really keep this from her? In the end she had
no choice, it was Minato’s decision after all. Rinako could tell by the
determined look in the younger girl’s eyes that she was really serious
about this. Just goes to show you how well ingrained that obstinate
streak of the Ikatsuji family was.
“I won’t tell anyone.” Rinako said reluctantly.
Minato smiled sweetly, and then leaned into her sister’s embrace.
“Thanks, big sis.”
**********
“Damn that Keitarou Kusako! Making a fool of me like that! I tell you, I
won’t stand for it.”
Rinako smiled elegantly as her irate love strode back and forth across
her room, mumbling all kinds of bitterness toward the rookie leader of
the Tengoku Dream Rebels. It was morning, and Rinako had managed to get
Minato back to sleep, without suffering another one of those dreams of
hers. Rinako just about captured a few hours for herself, but then at
about 5.50, Ayane snuck in and woke Rinako up to speak with. She didn’t
mind at all, because in her opinion, Ayane always looked her cutest when
she was frustrated. Probably why Rinako took such pleasure in winding
Ayane up during their rival days.
“Tell me again.” Rinako said, wiping the tiredness from her eyes as she
listened on her bed. “What exactly did this guy say to you to get you so
mad?”
Ayane blushed. “He... he called me an ice queen.”
“Is that it?” Rinako blinked. “That’s what got you so riled up? C’mon
Ayane, I’ve called you much worse before. People throw around trash talk
all the time, you know that. Keitarou sounds kinda... funny to me.”
“Funny? He is anything but funny! God, I hate that boy! I don’t know
what it is about him, but something about his demeanour just drives me
nuts. Do you know that he had the nerve to challenge you to a match?”
“Of course.” Rinako confirmed. “Mishizu told me about it. I don’t think
it’s anything to worry about, they said it was a just friendly match.
There’s no harm in that, is there?”
Ayane blinked as Rinako had previously done. “You knew all along?”
“Yup.”
“And you said nothing to me regarding it?”
Rinako crossed her arms. “What am I hearing here? Sweetie, if you cast
your mind back three months, you’ll remember that you had a fight with
Zanga that you told me nothing about.”
Ayane looked away. “That was different.”
“In what way?”
Silence fell when Ayane realized that there really wasn’t a difference.
“...I just don’t want you fighting him. At least not until I can get a
crack at him myself.”
“Really?” Rinako said absently. “You wanna take a smack at him yourself?
Well, okay, but remember that the second peace talks have been organized
now. Izumi and me were talking yesterday, and she seems to think it’ll
be better if we start them next weekend. It seems like the gangs have
had time to cool off a bit, so there should be less of a bash-up next
time around. ”
Ayane nodded. “That sounds fine. I will fight Keitarou this Sunday.”
“That soon?” Rinako asked, surprised. “Don’t you wanna train or
something? We’ve both been getting kinda rusty since that thing with the
Kyoto New Force Strikers, mostly because there aren’t any good
challenges anymore. Plus, we haven’t fought a duel of control in a
while.”
“I cannot put this off.” Ayane said determined. “I need to put that
smug, overbearing motor-mouth in his place. It’s a matter of pride,
Rinako.”
Rinako giggled. “Pride, huh? Sure it’s not because of the fact that he’s
a guy? What is your deal with men, anyway?”
“I have no ill will towards men. I just can’t stand them.”
“Heh, heh, heh!” Rinako continued to laugh. “I guess that’s just like
you though. Okay, I guess you can fight the guy if you want. If it’s
what you want then I’m not gonna stand in the way. Just try not to kill
him, my little ‘ice queen’.”
Ayane’s blush returned to her. “Coming out of his mouth that sounded
like the greatest insult, but... from your mouth it sounds like heaven.”
Rinako beamed a fiendish grin. “If you’re trying to sweet talk me,
you’re succeeding...”
**********
“Yah! Ha! Ya! Yaa!”
Kick after kick was thrust in the air, at first awkwardly and misaimed,
but through time the kicks became more precise. Each one swept through
the air with magnificent bursts of speed, each one even more passionate
and careful than the last. The one throwing all of these attacks was
Rei. The young girl’s face was masked with the most serious of
expressions, as she aimed her kicks at the full body mirror of her dorm
room, each kick mere centimetres from cracking the sheet of fragile
glass.
It had taken a few hours, but Ayane had already reviewed some basic
techniques with her. In total, there were six attacks that Ayane had
taught her, the roundhouse kick, the right punch lead, the right hooks
cross, the open crescent kick, the full leg sweep and right hand
uppercut. There were much more technical names for all these moves but
Ayane had not chosen to baffle the fledgling Rei with such trifling
jargon.
Even though Rei had been taught these moves in haste, she was absorbing
the ideas passed to her with ease. Each time she practiced them; her
skills with the attacks had been getting all closer to perfection. Rei
did not see it this way though. To her, she had made no progress
whatsoever, even though she had actually done just that. It was slight
self-degrading, but it was the right mentality for Reikibu to have at
this point. As long as she kept trying, and kept striving to better
herself, she was sure that in time she would be ready to face and defeat
Keitarou.
At that moment, Ayaka just happened to awaken from her sleep, mostly due
to the brief yells that Rei cried as she practiced at the image in her
mirror. For a few seconds, Ayaka had to blink to see if she was seeing
what she thought she was actually seeing. Rei? Was Rei training?
“...Uh... Rei...?”
That focused look of ruthless determination faded from Rei’s face, and
after one final kick, Rei retracted her leg and smiled innocently at the
confused Ayaka Yakazaki.
“Good morning, Ayaka.” Rei said. “Did you sleep well?”
Ayaka gulped. “Eh... yeah. The caretaker fixed my bed pretty well...
so... what’s up with you and the mirror?”
Rei brought up her fists playfully, beaming a confident grin at her
friend. “I was just practicing some of the techniques that
Yosukube-sensei has been teaching me. If I keep up with the strength
training that Ikatsuji-sensei has given to me, I am sure I can...”
“You can what?” Ayaka asked.
Rei shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just a silly little ambition of
mine.”
“To what? To become the world’s most reserved martial artist?”
Rei looked at Ayaka confused. “Reserved? I’m not reserved.”
“Rei, you’re afraid of killing spiders.” Ayaka said simply. “And about
that time we went to Tokyo Burger up in Shinjuku. That guy gave you too
much change, and you wouldn’t eat until you gave the money back to him.”
Rei dropped her fist, and looked away from Ayaka. “Yes, well maybe
that’s part of the reason I want to be a martial artist.”
“Huh?”
“Everybody keeps treating me like I’m a baby!” Rei yelled annoyed. “You,
my father, Keitarou! I am not some weakling who’ll run from every
challenge given to her! I’m a woman, and I don’t need anyone to look out
for me! Not you or Keitarou!”
Ayaka was taken aback by Rei’s outburst. She had no idea that Rei felt
this way. But what bothered Ayaka most was Rei’s hang-up on this guy,
Keitarou. Who was that?
“I’m sorry, Rei... I didn’t mean to upset you...” Ayaka hoped that the
slight jealousy was un-detectable in her voice. “Um... w-who is
Keitarou?”
Rei crossed her arms. “He’s my cousin. But he acts like my brother.
Always treating me like a helpless maiden who can’t exist without
protection. I’ll show him... and my father, that I am no weakling. And
that I deserve to succeed Minami-oh style just as Keitarou does.”
Ayaka breathed a sigh of relief that this guy was a cousin not a
boyfriend, but re-focused herself on Rei’s last few comments. “You never
told me you had a cousin. Geez... I guess there is still a lot about
that I don’t know.”
“Yes.” Rei said, still slightly irritated. “There is.”
**********
Sunday morning, 9.15.
Izumi and Mishizu gabbed between themselves as they sat on the slight
uphill slope of the grassy Kushinada Matsume Park. It was very strange
for the Tomeishuu girls to be at this place to watch a fight, friendly
or not. Their usual arena for fights was Mizube Ai Park, but it seemed
that the Tengoku Boys wanted a home-field advantage for this one. This
park was very close to the Tengoku Aijin grounds, so the Tomeishuu girls
had a bit of a walk, but nothing too strenuous for them. The amount of
people coming to this fight had been kept to a bare minimum. Izumi and
Mishizu obviously came because they were the second in command of the
Spring Breeze Assassins and the Cross Blade Lancers respectively. Rei
had been brought along because Rinako wanted to watch a good fight, to
have her see a seasoned fighter like Ayane in action. Though Rei had her
own personal reasons for watching this fight, she wanted study
Keitarou’s technique for the fight she would have with him in the
future. Rinako had come to cheer on her girlfriend, just like any other
fight, and those were the chosen spectators from the Tomeishuu side.
While Izumi and Mishizu sat further back, by the trees on the slight
hill, Rei stood beside Rinako, with a determined look on her face.
Rinako could see clearly that the smaller girl wanted not only to
monitor Ayane’s performance, but also Keitarou’s. Which was fair. Ayane
herself was waiting impatiently for the arrival of Keitarou Kusako, whom
was late already.
“Where is he?” Ayane grumbled. “He’s already a quarter of an hour late.”
Rinako smiled. “Hey, maybe he chickened out. What do you think, Rei? Is
Keitarou the type?”
“No.” She said. “My cousin loves a good fight. Don’t worry,
Ikatsuji-sensei. He will be here.”
And true to Rei’s word, so he was. Keitarou, dressed in typical Tengoku
Aijin uniform, stepped through the bushes at the other side of the
chosen arena. Alongside him were his two usual compatriots, the bashful
Yuji and the festive Danjuro, both dressed in school uniform, even
though it was a Sunday. Both Yuji and Danjuro took a seat at the other
side of the grounds. This section of Kushinada Matsume Park was cut off
from view and hard to find unless you knew it well, fortunately for the
Tomeishuu crew, Izumi did. It was right at the back of the park, just
like the Mizube Ai Park arena. The only real difference was the grounds
themselves. It was made from tarmac, not stone, and had been used far
fewer times for this sort of thing. Over in Mizube Ai Park there were a
few craters in the ground from previous explosions by Chi-blasts. This
arena looked spotless.
Keitarou scanned over the Tomeishuu girls. First at Rei, who had an
annoyed look on her face, something he would enquire about after the
fight. He then looked over at Ayane, who had an equally annoyed look on
her face, but this annoyance was aimed at him more than anything else.
Which was understandable. He didn’t like Ayane much either. The two
girls at the back, Mishizu and Izumi, he didn’t know, neither looked
important to him. But the girl that stood out the most in Keitarou’s
eyes had to be Rinako Ikatsuji, and he knew upon looking at her that she
was the leader and the most powerful member of the group.
“Wow... Keiji was right.” Keitarou said cheerfully. “Rinako is pretty
hot!”
Danjuro grinned. “Slow yourself, boss. I think she’s spoken for.”
“Oh yeah?” Keitarou said just before walking down to the Tomeishuu
girls. “We’ll see.”
The confident Keitarou passed down the small hill-like up-growth down to
the tarmac grounds, then walked in Ayane’s direction. But instead of
stopping to properly greet her, Keitarou passed right by the SBA leader
mouthed only four words, ‘What’s up, Ice Queen?’. Ayane’s golden eyes
bugged out with anger, but nothing could prepare her for the shock she
got when he reached Rinako and Rei.
Keitarou quickly greeted his cousin. “Hey, Rei.”
Rei’s response was just as flash. “Hey.”
It was Rinako that the boy’s real focus was on. Keitarou smiled happily
as he met with the leader of the Cross Blade Lancers, the woman who took
down Zanga. Man, if ever there were a time for someone to say ‘strength
equals beauty’ it would be now, because Keitarou was certainly
appreciative of what he was seeing here.
“Hello...” Keitarou said, extending his hand for a shake. “The name’s
Keitarou Kusako.”
Rinako took the hand into her own and shook back. “Nice to meet you. I’m
Rinako Ikatsuji.”
“I guessed as much. No offence or anything but... I did not expect you
to be this...”
“Unbearably hot?” Rinako said jokingly. “Thanks. You’re not the first
guy to say something like that to me, but from the new leader of the
Tengoku Dream Rebels, that isn’t half bad.”
The look of jealousy on both Yuji and Ayane’s faces was classic. “Hey
you!” Ayane yelled indignantly. “Get down here now and stop clowning
about!”
“Ah, duty calls.” Keitarou winked at Rinako, just before walking back to
Ayane. “It was very nice to meet you, Miss Ikatsuji.”
As Keitarou walked back down to the tarmac pit, Rinako smiled amusedly
while Rei covered her face in shame. Rei always knew that her cousin
Keitarou was a flirt, but did he have to be so obvious with the woman
who was training her?
“Hey!” Rinako said between chuckles, nudging Rei. “I don’t know what
your problem is with your cousin, Rei. I think he’s sorta funny!”
Rei sighed. “Does he ever think about anything other than women?”
Keitarou descended back to the tarmac pit with that confident grin of
his, while an even more irate Ayane looked at him with sheer annoyance.
If there was one she couldn’t stand, it was people who flirted with her
Rinako! The Yosukube woman wasted no time, and adopted a fighting
stance, bring her fists up in reflex.
“Alright you.” Ayane said through gritted teeth. “Lets go, while I’m
still feeling generous enough for you to live.”
“Take it easy, Ice Queen.” Keitarou said. “I didn’t just come here to
kick your ass, I came here for simple reasons of my own. Rinako!” He
yelled.
Rinako looked down at him and Ayane. “Uh… yeah?”
“If I win this fight...” Keitarou began with charming eyes that would
put even Johnny (GG) to shame. “Will you agree to go out on a date with
me?”
Ayane was incredulous. “WHAT!?”
“It’s a bet.” Keitarou explained. “If I lose, I’ll do whatever you want
me to do, any request you think I can do for ya. But if I win... I want
a date with that hottie up there.”
Ayane’s fist was shaking she was so annoyed. Not only had this guy
insulted her, but now he was making a move on Rinako! There was no way
she could agree to that... could she? Ayane didn’t intend to lose, and
she liked the idea of being able to make Keitarou do anything she
wanted, at least that way she could pay him back by having the blonde
boy polish her shoes or something, but if she lost, then that hopeless
flirt would get his hands on a date with her Rinako.
Still, Ayane’s anger dictated her sense. “Deal!”
“What!?” Rinako’s eyes went wide with comical shock. “Ayane! Are you
insane!?”
Ayane tightened her stance. “I do not plan on losing!”
“Great!” Keitarou said, adopting a Minami-oh style stance. “As soon as I
win this fight, I’ll have beaten you and scored a date with a beautiful
woman! Alrighty then, Ice Queen, lets get started!”
As Ayane and Keitarou charged each other, Rinako slumped to the ground
with a sigh. Before, she had always thought that Ayane’s anger was cute,
but now, that anger could lead to her having to actually go out on a
date with Keitarou. What was this, gangland battles or a dating show?
“Oh man.” Rinako said in defeat. “Don’t I get a say in all this?”
**********
Natsumi studied at the enormous library of the Yakume Shrine for hours,
but still she had come up with nothing. Each book she withdrew only had
information pertaining to issues started after the defeat of Aerolust.
The only thing that seemed to hold information about Aerolust were the
family scrolls that documented its defeat. But work had to be done.
There were probably two hundred books in that library but if it meant
defeating Aerolust then she would have to search and read through them
all. Not even the pleas of Tomomi and Yuri could take her away from that
task.
“Man,” Natsumi complained as she carried a tall stack of books to her
reading table. “I wish Mishizu was here... she loves to read.”
The books clomped down onto the table, pushing up a brief wave of dust
as the old books finally saw the light of day. Natsumi heaved a sigh as
she took a seat, then grabbed one of the books and started reading. But
just as she opened the cover, her bright amethyst eyes caught sight of
something. Something that just didn’t fit. Over at the other side of the
room was a small indent in the wall, like a piece of wood that didn’t
match the colour of the rest of the wall. Natsumi was too curious by it
to keep reading those boring books, so she stood up and walked over to
it. For a while Natsumi just observed this strange sight, but then
pressed against it. Now, she had no idea of what was going on, but
things started to happen in the room. The sounds or gears and wires
being altered in the walls could be heard. This part of the shrine was
built in the 1800’s, the Yakume family was one of the few Shinto
shrine-keeping families that were willing to embrace the change brought
along by the Meiji Restoration. Soon the sound of switching gears began
to fade, and the indent of wood swung round from the outside in,
chucking out a small box.
Natsumi caught the box as best she could, and let curiosity take over as
she opened it. The Yakume-girl swung open the lid and looked inside,
seeing three articles, a necklace with an odd shaped crystal, a scrap of
a scroll, and more bizarrely, a rolled up piece of paper.
The rolled up paper took Natsumi’s interest first, so she took it out
and rolled it open. In the end, it was probably the most important thing
that Natsumi had done since coming back to her shrine. Natsumi began
reading out loud the writing on the piece of paper, unprepared for the
shock that was to follow this action.
“May 17th, 1943. It has been a bit of a struggle, but I have finally
done what I set out to do. My research into the back history of my
family has led me to the Yakume shrine, and I have been greatly accepted
by people here. But for such a religious and peaceful group, they are
very harsh when I speak of Aerolust. It seems that simply speaking its
name will bring doom to their family. Even though its attack was so many
years ago, centuries upon centuries, it seems that these people have not
taken the warnings of their ancestors lightly. But though they are so
fierce about Aerolust, I had finish my study and that I did. After
studying the scrolls that Kakumei and his grandson, Tetsuya...”
{Tetsuya?} Natsumi thought. {Does this guy mean my dad?}
Regardless, Natsumi kept reading. “… I continued my study and after
hours of great, great struggle, I managed to use my knowledge of archaic
Japanese to decipher the scrolls and there secrets. It seems that the
demon I have been studying, Aerolust, was defeated by the unification of
my family with the Yakume family. By use of our fighting style (which
the government is planning on banning) and the Yakume family’s
resources, the demon was stopped. The Yakume Family forged a crystal,
one that the scrolls called the Shunshibaru crystal. It was given to a
member of my family to use, and by doing so, its power merged with our
family forever. This boy, who used the crystal to seal Aerolust, became
known as the ‘Seal Child’. The Seal Child teamed up with his brother,
the most powerful fighter at that time, and together they brought down
the seal that imprisoned Aerolust. The crystal was returned to the
Yakume family and the power to seal demons was passed down my family’s
bloodline. Though not all members of the family have the power to use
it. This is the story that has been told to me as a child, and the story
that the Yakume elders have told me. But… there is more that they had
not uncovered about the tale. The final scroll I read was far more
specific. I now realize that the Seal Child himself wrote it. The scroll
is less of a tale... and more of a prophecy, which he called (in loose
translation) the ‘Prophecy of Aerolust’. He claims that two years before
the ‘second twilight’ Aerolust will rise from its prison and ravage the
world again, unless it can be stopped once more. He claims that the
‘key’ of the seal and the ‘sword’ of the seal must rise once more, and
in conjunction will defeat the beast. Though this seems so vague, I have
cracked it. The second twilight, means the second millennium. If this is
true, then I fear Aerolust will awaken in the year 1998, 61 years from
now. The key, is in fact the Seal Child, and the sword he speaks of,
must be the fighting style of my family, and someone who can wield it in
such a way to resist Aerolust. The key and the sword must work together
in defeating the second rise of Aerolust, before it infests Japan with
its evil again. I have tried in vain to warn the Yakume family of the
danger that will befall Japan in 1998, but they will not listen to me.
To keep from upsetting this gracious family anymore I have decided to
burn the scroll containing the prophecy. But I leave this note as
reminder to future generations of the Yakume family. If someone of you
manages to find this, I have left two other items to help you. One is a
necklace, which possesses a shard of the Shunshibaru crystal. The
crystal is in truth, a tool to track down Aerolust, not the Seal Child,
so use it well if you have lost the original crystal.”
Natsumi blinked. “So that’s why the crystal reacted to Rinako... she was
being possessed by Aerolust when she tried to get between Minato and
me... that was why she reacted so badly. And it must be why the crystal
stopped reacting to her when Aerolust was expelled from her body.”
Despite this new revelation, Natsumi kept reading. “Also, I have left a
small portion of the scroll that contained the Prophecy of Aerolust. On
it, is a sketch of what the Seal Child thought his future successor
would look like. Use it to help you find the Seal Child, as the
crystal’s true purpose is to track Aerolust, not the Seal Child itself.
I have left the task to you, children of the future. Please take the
strength of the Yakume Family and prevent something I could not stop in
my own time.”
Natsumi was stunned. This all came so fast. So her father was right. The
elders had misinterpreted the scrolls... now the focus had to be on
stopping Aerolust, by finding the Seal Child and the ‘sword’ what ever
that could be. Natsumi then looked down into the box, and at the
parchment left in it. That was a piece of the original Prophecy of
Aerolust. The shrine girl quickly picked up the battered bit of paper,
and looked at it.
The image of the person drawn there shocked Natsumi to the core. “It
can’t be! There’s no way it could be...”
Natsumi took up the other paper again. She looked to the top, she saw no
name of the writer, as with the bottom of the paper as well. She then
turned it over, and gasped as she finally found the name of the man who
had written that paper.
“Hayate...” She said. “Hayate... Ikatsuji...”
It all started to fit. The family that had joined with the Yakume’s had
been the Ikatsuji family. The ‘sword’ that Hayate and the original Seal
Child had spoken of, the fighting style, had to have been Rai shou en
ken. But if that were true, and the Ikatsuji’s were the fellow sealers,
then that meant that the drawing in the parchment was accurate... and
the drawing was of...
Natsumi felt her lips tremble. “... M-Minato...”
**********
END OF RIVAL RAGE 2
**********
Kaiser’s Afterthoughts
----------------------------
* Oh yeah! RR2 is finally complete. You’re probably wondering why it
ended so quickly, but to make a long story short, this series is more of
a prelude to Rival Rage 3: The Final Seal, which will be coming soon. A
lot of battles and seriousness takes place in RR3, so I wanted RR2 to be
a lighter hearted fiction.
* Sorry this took so long to come out, but sometimes things can pile up
and you have to break ‘um down to get them done, if you know what I
mean. Uh... so... yeah...
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