by Ash Masters
*
The elevator was nearly at the penthouse and the three rode it in silence.
‘Turn off your eyes, Kioshi.’
‘Sayuri?’ Kioshi turned to see that Sayuri had closed her eyes. ‘You’re in my head?’
‘Turn off your eyes. Optical abilities don’t work when other’s eyes are closed.’
‘I get it.’ Kioshi let his body relax which caused his eyes to lose their functionality. With the Xero Xone hidden away again, all the pain that it was numbing came to Kioshi in one huge wave, stealing his breath and causing him to fall against Sayuri while he silently cried. ‘It hurts...’ He whined softly.
‘Don’t worry, it will all be over soon. There is a future without Akira.’ Sayuri consoled.
‘What is the point in fighting? You say that the future you come from is horrible. You had to run away.’
‘When this is over we will have a talk. We will find a way to prevent my future from happening. But for us to get to that stage you mustn’t give up now.’
‘I can’t... I can’t let everyone down.’
The elevator slid smoothly to a stop, the doors opening to the penthouse. Kioshi already knew what to expect from the room, having already seen it when he witnessed the past.
‘Guys, I don’t think he’s here.’ Said Kouji, stepping out of the elevator. His feet clapped softly against the wooden flooring.
‘What do you mean? He has to be here.’ Kioshi said, frowning as he supported himself.
‘I’m telling you, Kioshi, Akira isn’t–’ Kouji was stopped, knocked off his feet by a flying kick to the face. He fell onto his back and Akira landed at his feet, arms behind his back.
‘Kouji, what happened!?’ Sayuri asked.
‘What do you mean what happened!?’ Kouji’s voice was muffled as he sat up, shielding his nose with his hands. ‘That bastard broke my nose! He came out of nowhere! Shit!’
Sayuri darted out of the elevator, jumping over Kouji to strike Akira with the tips of her fingers. Akira knocked her hand out of the way but Sayuri flipped over him though wasn’t in a hurry to turn around.
‘Keeping your eyes closed? Smart woman.’ Akira praised.
‘You’re agile for a man your age.’ Jumping across the spacious room, Sayuri finally turned, pointing the arm furthest from Akira at the ceiling and the one closest to him at the ground, extending a leg forward and leaning back. ‘What kind of monster are you?’
Dressed in a spectacular, navy-blue and black kimono, Akira chuckled. ‘You should thank your daughter for the incredible gifts that she gladly let me steal.’ He then dove in to attack, attacking with deliberate and well-placed strikes. Every strike he made was blocked by the blind Sayuri and every strike she made was blocked just as skilfully. Sayuri however, managed to get a hit in when she back-flipped, her robe arching dazzling in the air, kicking Akira in the chin.
Akira’s head was thrown up but the pain went away immediately and his wrinkled gaze returned to his opponent. He then charged in, ducking under an arm sweep by Sayuri to appear behind her and plant an elbow in her spine.
Sayuri staggered forward then was swept off her feet by a roundhouse kick, struck again by another elbow to the spine while she was still in the air, driven to the ground. The pain was intense even though her torso was armoured and she could feel a deep indent where his elbow had connected.
After taking as much time as she needed to stand up, Sayuri unclasped her armour, dropping it almost theatrically. The armour was so heavy that it cracked the wooden floor.
‘You walk around with heavy armour?’ Akira laughed.
‘It keeps my mind distracted.’ Sayuri returned.
The fight continued.
By now Kouji was on his feet and went to Kioshi who was standing at the edge of the elevator so that it wouldn’t close. ‘What do we do?’
‘I don’t know. Keep your eyes closed.’
Disregarding the advice, Kouji risked a back. ‘Sayuri is getting a beating; that guy can move, Kioshi! I thought he was supposed to be old!?’
‘He’s stolen some of Asuka’s abilities, she must have more than one. I have to get in there and beat him.’
‘Eyes closed?’
Kioshi nodded. ‘If I’m going to beat him then I have no choice,’ He looked at Kouji, powering-up his eyes. ‘I’m going have to unleash the full power of the Xero Xone.’
‘What will happen if you do that?’
Kioshi nervously swallowed. ‘I don’t know.’
Sayuri tried to attack Akira’s head but the attack was slow and so was easily stopped by Akira grabbing her arm where he then delivered a chop to the side of her head, smiling as he did so. Sayuri spun a full circle, her whole body limp and vulnerable to a powerful knee to her stomach that forced her eyes to snap open. ‘K-Kioshi!’ She breathed. The next thing she knew, Sayuri was being held up by her hair. ‘Kioshi!’
Kioshi then knew what to do when he saw his father’s rifle dropped a short way in the room. He ran, picked up the rifle then slid across the wood, his bandaged feet proving useful. He flipped the gun around so that the barrel was pointing behind him and when we was close he brought the butt of the riffle down hard on Sayuri’s head, knocking her out. Sorry Sayuri.
Kioshi’s attack surprised Akira, and with his guard down Kioshi threw as much power as he could into a punch. As his arm flew through the air, all of the muscles in his body swelled and his skin drained of its colour, turning grey. The fist connected, crushing the front of Akira’s skull and knocking out his last few teeth.
‘You brat!’ Akira cried, not concerned over the damage to his face, grabbing Kioshi’s grey, muscular arm and flipping him over onto the floor. He heard Kouji running and was able to catch him by the throat, lift him off his feet and toss him across the length of the room onto the flat-screen television hanging on the wall which crumpled then fell on top of him. Satisfied that Kouji wouldn’t be on his feet too soon, Akira returned to Kioshi, crouching to pin him down by digging a knee into his stomach and wrapping a hand around his throat.
Kioshi squirmed but couldn’t get free. The man on top of him possessed incredible strength. His teeth and nails sharpened as he struggled, and the blood that was seeping through the bandages were starting to turn black.
‘Look at you, monster! You’re turning into a Nightmare!’
‘GO TO HELL!’
Akira dragged Kioshi onto his feet where he grabbed his head and threw it into his raised knee. Kioshi was instantly dazed and he fell onto his back. Akira began to stamp hard on Kioshi’s torso that was starting to heal due to the power of the Xero Xone.
‘I know who you are really thanks to one of the girl’s abilities. You and your father have caused me quite a bit of grief over the years.’ He taunted as he bombarded Kioshi’s body with stomps.
‘G-Go to hell!’
‘Look at me, Kioshi.’ Akira’s words where like a physical presence that grabbed Kioshi’s skull and was forcing him to face the old man. ‘I said look at me, Kioshi! LOOK AT ME!’
‘ARGH!’ Kioshi could feel Akira in his brain; invisible fingers digging around. ‘NO!’
‘Maybe I should make you my servant? Or should I scramble your brain until all your lifeless body can do is drool?’ Akira’s eyes widened and Kioshi’s purple eyes opened wider too. Kioshi then screamed when he felt imaginary clawing within his skull.
‘No... I have a better idea. I’ll make you relive the most horrible parts of your life over and over again until it drives you mad!’ With the last word Akira stomped Kioshi so hard that Kioshi felt his ribs brake, filling the air with his piercing screams. ‘How about it then?’
Kioshi was drooling now as he panted. ‘N-Now... I see... Where... She gets it...’
The world went dark.
‘Kioshi... Kioshi...’
‘Where... Where am I?’
‘You’re home sweetie.’
Kioshi’s eyes snapped o
pen. He was back in his home, he could tell by the table, the chairs and the familiar, antique clock that ticked on the wall, an item his grandfather treasured according to his father.
‘Wait, where is the colour?’ He looked around, noticing that the world was back and white ‘Why is everything so big?’ Kioshi then looked down on himself and saw his smaller proportions. ‘And my voice...’
He was a child again.
‘Kioshi?’
Kioshi turned and saw his mother towering above him. Izumi sat down, placing a hand on top of his head and smiled. She was nothing like how Kioshi remembered her as the Izumi before him was tamed, healthy and beautiful; what she would have looked like is she didn’t have to fight the power of the Xero Xone and had lived on as a mother. Kioshi recognised her clothing as the same clothes he saw her mother in when she died: a pink cardigan over a simple, white dress. ‘You’re such a beautiful child.’ She gently and affectionately stroked Kioshi’s head.
‘Mother... This, isn’t a memory?’
Izumi gently shook her head. ‘Your mind has retreated into the Xero Xone.’
‘W-Why are you here, mother?’
‘My body was overcome again by the darkness, just like it did when my power removed Shibuya from the face of the Japan. Like many people, my soul was cast into the Xero Xone but, instead of becoming an Eclipsed, I died. My body was far too weak in the end. What you see before you is my soul.’
‘So... This is really you!?’ Kioshi’s eyes lit up.
Izumi nodded.
‘Mother...’ Kioshi began to cry. ‘Every since you died I’ve been scared that I would become like you, that I would go mad. Seeing you so sick as a child, it scared me. It scared me so much!’
‘I’m sorry, Kioshi.’ Izumi reached out to hug her son.
‘I’ve been seeing things like you did except I’ve been seeing life as you instead. Why?’ Kioshi didn’t know if he was imagining things but Izumi felt warm. He didn’t care if it was him imagining it or not, he was just going to enjoy it.
‘Our souls are connected. Isn’t that beautiful?’
‘We’re connected?’ Kioshi smiled, resting his head against his mother’s ample bosom.
Izumi nodded. ‘Whether your mind succumbs to the power of the Xero Xone depends solely on you. In the end, I simply wasn’t strong enough. I gave in too easily and though I thought I didn’t want the darkness, in my heart I did and so slowly this darkness ate me alive. You are strong, Kioshi, you will survive the darkness – I know you will.’
‘Everyone keeps saying that I’m strong!’ Kioshi pulled away, suddenly a teenager again. ‘Everyone keeps judging my strength! Only I should know how strong I am, but I don’t!’
‘Look at all that you’ve accomplished, Kioshi. Look how far you’ve come.’ Izumi held out her hands and Kioshi took them, staring confused into his mothers eyes. He wanted to cry. ‘Kioshi, when you started your journey you thought you were alone but now look at all the people in your life. You had a dream and you’ve gone through with it. That’s more than I can say.’
‘Don’t say that, mother!’ Kioshi shook his head, crying now.
Wiping away her son’s tear, Izumi continued. ‘All of my struggle has been to preserve my humanity – to retain what it meant to me to be Human: my sentience, my beliefs, my heart. Ultimately, I overdosed on the power of darkness. But not you Kioshi. You’re strong and brave, just like your father – bless his soul.’ She began to cry now. ‘You have to continue to fight – not for the sake of our deaths but the sake of your life! Live Kioshi!’
‘I... I don’t want to leave you mother, I love you! Really! I really love you! Mother!’ Kioshi hugged Izumi again, crying freely now.
‘And I love you too, Kioshi.’ She placed a hand on his head. ‘Remember, Kioshi, you’re never alone.’
Suddenly Izumi was gone, his home had vanished and Kioshi was sitting alone in white. ‘MOTHER!’ He cried.
Out of no-where his mother’s voice called:
‘You’re never alone. You have the blood of your father and mother inside you.’
Kioshi inhaled deeply when he awoke, eyes glowing violently and forcing Akira to look away.
‘Impossible! No-one has been able to pull themselves out of the world I’ve made for them!’ Akira stood, preparing for a fight.
Kioshi stood also. ‘You didn’t put me in your world! I put me in my own!’ His body was miraculously healed and when he stood he revealed wings on his back, filling the room with its wingspan and violet light. Instead of feathers the wings were made up of black keys that were hovering in the air.
Kioshi felt resolved, he felt strong.
Then he struck.
Akira’s face exploded with blood as Kioshi put his full force into a punch, shattering his nose. Then with a kick, Kioshi hooked Akira’s neck, driving him to the ground. Dropping down to wrap his legs around Akira’s arm, Kioshi then held Akira’s arm just above his thigh while another was placed at the wrist. Without hesitation, Kioshi broke Akira’s arm at the elbow.
The pain made Akira cry, trying to shake his head as he gasped. Enraged, he found his strength, knocking Kioshi off. Now with only one arm to attack with, Akira began his merciless assault, fury blinding him and making his moves lack any co-ordination or grace. He was out to kill while inflicting as much pain as possible.
Kioshi could feel his insides break every time Akira struck his body, attacking with enough force to maim him but not kill him. Every strike forced blood out of his mouth and white to flash over his eyes. By now Kioshi couldn’t breathe as blood filled his lungs and soon he lost the ability to think when Akira’s skull cracked his head open, driving him to the floor. Blood fell down his forehead and filled his eyes, changing the tint of his vision from purple to red.
Kioshi wasn’t ready to give up despite his body slowly shutting down. To his side was his father’s rifle and by simply extending his arm it was in his hand. This is for all the pain you’ve caused me you bastard! Kioshi stared hard into Akira’s bloodthirsty visage.
His hand went numb.
Kioshi’s heart didn’t feel right, each beat felt like an attempt to rip itself from his chest. Looking at his hand he saw it crushed, stepped on by Akira with no remorse. Akira twisted his foot, inflicting more damage while Kioshi was so distraught that he forgot how to scream. He was then dragged onto his feet. ‘It hurts...’ He managed weakly...
Kioshi was startled when Kouji jumped in, stabbing Akira in the neck with a long shard of broken plastic from the television, striking several times before Akira knocked them both away with ease.
‘Will you just die already old man!?’ Kouji cried desperately, searching around for a weapon to use and found the rifle, covered in Kioshi’s blood.
Akira held his neck as blood oozed between his fingers, his eyes wide with shock at the fact that he might lose. ‘No... I can’t die. I... I...’ He staggered around, not sure what to do with his body. ‘I... have to oversee my word...’ Tears came to his eyes. ‘My... My... Paradise...’
Kouji raised the rifle. ‘Enough of your bullshit!’
He squeezed the trigger.
The bullets missed as Kioshi dashed, grabbing Akira by the torso, screaming out his frustration as he forced him across the room and through the window. The floor left his feet, cool air greeted his bare flesh.
Kioshi was flying.
Akira was falling further away from Kioshi, still holding his neck and seemingly unaware that he was falling to his death. His mouth kept opening and closing, uttering the letter “p”.
Kioshi continued his descent.
What was all of this for? He thought as he plummet thirty stories. What was this all for? His eyes narrowed as he thought.
‘I don’t want anyone else to die.’
‘No-one does.’
That right. To stop the pain in our hearts.
‘No... I can’t accept that.’
I couldn’t s
tand my place in society. Call it strength or call it weakness, I couldn’t bare the thought of living in a world filled with so much pain.
‘I’m a coward! I started all this because I couldn’t stand my place in society! I couldn’t stand this pain in my heart! I’m weak! I have no friends! My father is distant! I have nothing in my life with meaning! All I know is this internal and eternal pain! All of this is to fill this hole inside my chest, the hole left here when my mother died. To end this loneliness and anger! I can’t take it! I’m only Human!’
Weakness...
‘Whether you win or lose comes down to you, Kioshi. You decide if that person will succeed or not by your will just as your will decides whether you will succeed. If you want to survive – if you want to succeed then you have to ask yourself, what are you prepared to do? What are you prepared to sacrifice?’
Sacrifice...
‘If I’m fighting then I have to give it my all. I have to put myself out there and fight with the resolve that I want to make a change. Looking towards darkness was cowardly but, I’ll do what I must so that I can carve out a future for not just myself but for everyone else in this world. I’ll take this darkness and turn it into strength!’
‘Look at all that you’ve accomplished, Kioshi. Look how far you’ve come. When you started your journey you thought you were alone but now look at all the people in your life. You had a dream and you’ve gone through with it. You’re strong and brave, just like your father. You have to continue to fight – not for the sake of our deaths but the sake of your life! Live Kioshi!’
Strength... But... What does it mean to live?
Kioshi’s clothes ruffled as wind took hold of him, the coolness soothed his skin and made him feel both calm and alive. He looked to his side and saw her, Hatsuo Seiya, falling with him. She turned to face him and smiled.
‘What is my purpose in this world? Or am I only here to die like Hatsuo Seiya and fade away as if I never existed in the first place?’
‘What was this all for?’
‘Freedom.’ Izumi said.
Freedom?
‘All of your pain, all of your struggle. It was all in the name of freedom.’
The freedom to choose, the freedom to fight. The freedom to live...
‘You finally, understand, Kioshi. This is the ultimate truth.’
Kioshi nodded. Yes. Life is forever in your hands, you just have to seize it. The freedom to fight your place in this world, the freedom to release yourself from your pain, the freedom to be... free. And death... Death isn’t the end, only the beginning.
Izumi fell past Kioshi, extending a hand out to he son, disappearing into the ground where Akira was lying motionless. A Xero Xone opened up, a net that would ensure Kioshi that he would live on to see the world that he struggled so hard for. Kioshi eyed the black hole that grew larger with every second that passed, holding out his hands to touch it, tears blurring his eyes.
EPILOGUE
Her body straightened, heart pounding in her chest and sweat drenching her face. It was night time now though, darkness was something she would forever see.
Hido woke up beside her, rubbing his eyes as they stung, longing for more sleep. ‘Miyako? What’s the matter?’
Miyako continued to stare towards the window, unaware that the clouds were dispersing allowing the full moon and stars to greet Japan for the first time in ten years. ‘Akira is dead.’
The news was like adrenaline to Hido, waking him up completely. ‘Really!?’ He exclaimed incredulously then saw the stars and the beautiful glow of the full moon, hanging outside the window as if the two of them were its private audience. ‘It’s beautiful...’ He wondered.
‘I can feel your heart racing.’ Miyako smiled. ‘It feels good.’
Hido got out of bed, moving towards the window, infatuated by the magical sight in the sky.
‘Hido?’
Still looking up, Hido responded dreamily. ‘Yeah?’
‘Kioshi is dead.’
Hido wheeled round, staring horrified at Miyako. ‘No way...’
Though she woke up in an alarmed state, Miyako was now calm and a warmth in heart was spreading throughout her entire body, reaching the tips of her fingers and toes. She smiled warmly, never having felt such pleasantness before.
‘How can you be smiling, Miyako!? Kioshi was our friend! He died for us!’
Miyako placed her hands over her heart. ‘I’m not smiling because he’s gone, I’m smiling because he was happy.’
‘You... felt him... Before he died?’ Hido sat beside her.
Miyako nodded, silently crying. ‘I heard his heart cry out. Mama, papa...’
‘Take me with you.’
TO BE CONTINUED
