by Brandon Chen
“In that case….” Z nodded to the assassins, who unsheathed their weapons, brandishing them at Keimaro. Glistening steel flashed in Keimaro’s eyes, and his heart pounded as he stared in shock at the opposition. “We cannot allow you to leave this establishment. Not to mention, you call me heartless, yet I don’t recall you ever caring about anyone here either. I can see it in your eyes. Your obsession with revenge is absolute. Even with today’s actions, it is confirmed that you cannot control yourself. You might go off and—”
“Old man,” Yuri snarled, stepping up beside Keimaro. He cracked his knuckles as he stood against the blades of the rebels. “I intend to go and save Lena as well. Don’t think that you’re stopping either of us.”
“I’m going, too,” Yata muttered, taking a step forward. “It’s my fault that Noah was captured. I need to make things right.”
Z raised an eyebrow at the rebellion before him. He scoffed, his eyes on Yuri. He grunted and slid his hands into his pockets. As if it were a signal, all of the rebels sheathed their weapons and stepped to the side. Z’s face was filled with frustration and annoyance that his own subordinates weren’t listening to him. “Why do you want to save these people, Keimaro? You have no connection to them. You’ve been with us only for a few days. There’s no way that—”
“I feel that I have made a connection, a rather small one,” Keimaro said with a sigh, scratching the back of his neck. “And I’ll admit, it definitely is a drag to go out there and risk my life in order to save someone while in enemy territory. However, something Lena said gave me a new insight on everyone here.” He closed his eyes, remembering the words that she had spoken to him right before they had performed the assassination. Her words echoed in his head, and a small smile crossed his lips. “She treated me as a friend, a comrade. She accepted me. If I were the one captured, she would go out there and save me. And if I were sitting in the dark solitude of a jail cell,” his eyes came up to meet Z’s, which widened as the boy spoke, “I would want to grasp at the hope that maybe one day someone would come and rescue me.”
Yata smiled at Keimaro’s words and nodded as Aladdin came behind the Hayashi boy and patted his shoulder, stepping in line with Yuri, Yata, and Keimaro. Without a doubt, Keimaro was beginning to see friendship in all of these people around him. Maybe communication with people after all of these years had finally changed his insight on humanity. Maybe not everyone was as cruel as he and Yata had thought after the Bakaara massacre.
“I’m going to be the one to save Lena and your son,” Keimaro declared, “and if you really want to spend your time fighting me for trying to do you a favor, go on. I’m pretty sure you’d be wasting your efforts when there’s an army of millions of soldiers out there that we categorize as the enemy. Our plans for overthrowing this government and assassinating the king aren’t over yet. Fight me, kill me, take this damn key from my unmoving corpse then! See where that gets you. Because even if you fight me,” his irises morphed from pitch-black to bright red, “I’ll take down as many as I can with me.”
Z stood there for a moment, at a loss for words. Then a smile spread across his face, a silly grin that grew from ear to ear. He began to clap his hands and chuckle. “Very good. You have changed quite a bit from the first moment I saw you. Though you are still consumed by revenge, you have at least grasped the essence of friendship. Go on. Go save Lena and my son. If you are captured or killed in the process, though, it is the end of the world. I hope that you realize that.”
Keimaro smirked at the old man’s remarks. “I won’t be captured. Don’t worry. And here’s the best part: I’ve got an idea for saving them both.”
***
“Kei,” Yata’s voice froze Keimaro in place as everyone began to disperse from the scene. Keimaro watched the back of Yuri’s cloak as the werewolf walked away and then turned to face his friend. “You mean what you said, right? That you’re becoming attached to this place.”
Keimaro nodded. “Yeah. I think I am.”
“Then it would make sense to leave the key here, wouldn’t it? I am beginning to trust these people as well and—”
“No.”
“No?” Yata said with a frown. “Why not? If we can trust them, then—”
“I trust no one more than I trust myself. I’ll keep it safe. There’s no reason to risk leaving it here and have it possibly fall into the wrong hands,” Keimaro said. “I am becoming attached to everyone here, but that doesn’t give me a reason to trust anyone. Anyone but myself.”
“Not even me, Kei?” Yata asked with a rock-solid stare that caused Keimaro’s eyes to widen. “Hand me the key. I’m staying here in Zylon’s mansion while you’re off in enemy territory. There’s no reason that—”
“No, I—” Keimaro interrupted, but Yata’s hands curled into tight fists at his side.
“Listen to me!” Yata yelled, his arms transforming into their gleaming metal. Keimaro jumped, shocked. “If you can’t trust me, then who can you trust? I’ve been here for you for four years. I’ve been there since the time your mother died, and I was there when your father, our master, passed. I was there when you had a fever that almost killed you. Don’t you remember that I took care of you when you were weak?
“I was the one you complained to every day about how rigorous our training was. I was there when we first journeyed into the darkness of the Forbidden Forest when we both reached sixteen years. We were almost eaten, but we had each other’s backs. You put your life in my hands as I put mine in yours. How can you not trust me with that key when you have already entrusted me with your life? Tell me, Keimaro,” he snapped, grinding his teeth. “Do you not consider me your friend? Don’t you trust me?”
Keimaro’s eyes widened. It had been a while since Yata had yelled at him like this. Just give him the key. “I trust no one other than myself, Yata. That’s all there is to it,” he murmured and avoided eye-contact with Yata. You idiot.
Yata watched his old friend with widened eyes, but the look that came after was that of pity that made Keimaro’s heart sink. “So be it,” he said simply and walked past Keimaro without so much as a single glance.
Keimaro remembered the time that he had placed his life in Yata’s hands. It was more than just once. The first time the two of them had entered the darkness of the Forbidden Forest as a team was when they were sixteen, two years after the Bakaara massacre. It had been the second time they had walked on such unholy soil. Alone, separated from their master, they were to survive one night in the dark woods. As night approached, the two had felt the blackness of the forest closing in on them. The fire they had created could not fight back the shadows that crept from all sides, ready to close them in an everlasting darkness. At sixteen, Keimaro had believed that he was ready for anything. After two long years of training with his father to master the way of the sword, he believed that he could best anyone. He was wrong.
A beast of the night had leapt from the shadows and smothered their fire in a single instant, locking the two companions in blackness. At the time, Keimaro had been confident that he could conquer the beast, but the darkness of the forest was too dense; even his Shokugan had trouble penetrating the thick, black fog that blinded him. Igniting his flames, Keimaro realized that the beast that leapt from the shadows was the same black tiger that they had seen two years before. With widened eyes, the teenager had begun to step backwards with fear beginning to course through his veins. The beast leapt outward at him, and Keimaro tripped over a thick root of a tree and landed on his back as the black tiger landed upon him. Keimaro raised his sword forcefully and brought it between the tiger’s sharp fangs and his throat. His heart pounded and he began to gasp heavily as he applied pressure, trying to stop the tiger from biting open his throat.
A crack resounded through the night, and the tiger suddenly was sent flying off of Keimaro and into the thick trunk of a tree. The beast whimpered for a moment as it slid to the ground and Keimaro turned to find that Yata had swatted the tiger away wit
h a powerful swing of his bat. The boy extended his hand to Keimaro with a smile. “What’s wrong, Kei? There’s nothing to be scared about. After all, I’m here.”
Keimaro had stared at Yata with shaky eyes and then shook his head, snapping his mind back to reality. He reached out and accepted his friend’s hand as he was pulled to his feet. “Thanks for the save. I messed up,” he murmured, whipping his sword through the silent air as he turned to face the recovering tiger. He held out his hand, allowing a flame to spark in his palm. “It’s our turn.”
Now, Keimaro watched as Yata walked away from him, guilt already beginning to build up in his chest. His breath was heavy as tears began to form in his eyes. That was the first time the two of them had fought in a long time. There were so many times when Yata had been there for him. Go after him, you idiot. But Keimaro didn’t move. Instead, he kept his head lowered and watched his friend’s back from a distance. There was no reason for Keimaro not to trust Yata, the person who deserved his trust the most. Yata always had his back, no matter what it was. Keimaro ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. On that night they had entered the Forbidden Forest, Yata had saved his life countless times. I should be grateful—grateful that I have someone who is willing to put his life on the line just for my sake. What’s wrong with me? He put his face in his hands and groaned. Only an idiot would push away a friend like that.
***
Aika darted through the hallways of the castle, her heart racing. Keimaro was so different than she had remembered. So dark. His eyes were unlike anything she had ever seen before. They were filled with even more hatred than the day four years ago when he had been told the truth about the Hayashi clan. His eyes lacked any type of compassion, and when they locked onto her, everything seemed to freeze. She could see the flames of the burning village in the pools of his eyes. The entire past was represented by him; the flames of his hatred were his power that he used to express his frustration. And now he wanted revenge.
She had heard that her father was in his bedroom being tended by multiple doctors. That meant that Keimaro had done something to him. She had received no news on whether her father was okay.
The Royal Guards that had been escorting her opened a large wooden door that led into her father’s room. Inside were at least ten doctors, all dressed in white coats. They were scrambling around the king’s bed. The decorative red and blue silks hanging from the ceiling had been thrust out of the way, allowing them to work. Everyone was in a rush, but Aika just wanted to see her father.
The princess pushed past some of the doctors and finally made her way to her father’s side, only to find that he was completely fine. His head was a bit bruised, and maybe he had a broken bone or two, but overall he seemed okay.
“Father, are you all right?” she asked, just to make sure.
The king nodded with a long, exasperated sigh. “I’m growing too old for that sort of thing, being dropped from a balcony into a group of people,” he muttered, leaning back against the dozens of pillows that propped him up. “Keimaro Hayashi is much more dangerous than I could’ve imagined. That was magic that he used today—and it wasn’t any ordinary magic. Artificial magic, which is already extremely rare, requires body movements in order to perform, and it exhausts the caster. But when Keimaro used his magic tonight, he didn’t use any movements. It was as if the fire were a part of him that acted to protect and fight for him. It truly was something else, and he, as the Bounts have said, is extremely dangerous. We need to take the proper precautions.”
“Milord,” General Mundo said, walking through the open door with several Royal Guards behind him. “If I may, perhaps we might see benefits in calling in Junko and the Bount organization. They forewarned us about tonight’s occurrence and—”
“I refuse to create a partnership and give terrorists as much power as an advisor!” the king bellowed but was quickly restrained by the doctors to make sure that he didn’t move too much. “Send a message to my son. He will take care of this matter swiftly. Take him off of the Spartan front. We have internal affairs to deal with before we worry about foreign conflicts. Inform him about today’s events, and increase the amount of security that we have. And you,” the king said, looking at a Royal Guard by the name of Judal, who stood tall and saluted his lord upon being recognized.
“Yes, milord?”
“Find me Riku Hikari. We are going to need his skill in order to protect against this new uprising. It seems that there isn’t just one enemy that we have to deal with. There are many of them,” the king said, leaning back into the softness of his pillow. “Riku will have to protect my daughter in case there are any assaults by this rebellion. We have to crush them. Mundo, I heard that you have captured one of the members?”
“Yes, milord,” General Mundo said with a proud grin. “We have yet to make her talk, but we do have our ways to forcing one to speak.”
“Good, use whatever measures necessary to get her to talk. Then have her executed in public to send a message to these rebels,” the king muttered. “Dismissed. Allow me to rest.”
Aika blinked a few times as the doctors and guards began to file out of the room, most of the soldiers standing right outside of the door. She turned to her father. “Father, are you sure that you want to bring Darius all the way into this conflict? I mean—”
“Darius is the most skilled warrior in the entire world when it comes to swordplay. He can easily defeat opponents with or without magic. It doesn’t matter who they are. However, if it is Keimaro Hayashi that we are dealing with, perhaps his honor will allow him to duel Darius fairly. In that case, Keimaro will be slain; there is no doubt in my heart. He is good, but there is no way that he is good enough to face my son, the heir to the throne.”
***
The wind howled against Tobimaru’s cloak as he sat upon the rooftop of the bell tower from where the assassination had occurred. So, they had utilized a zip line in order to catch the politicians by surprise and create quite the scene today. Why in hell’s name was Keimaro giving himself away so quickly? And why hadn’t he just assassinated the king when he had the chance?
Don’t tell me that he actually stopped midway in the assassination just because his “friends” were in trouble. How pathetic.
He sat down on the edge of the bell tower, his legs dangling into the open air. “To think that I’m related to a coward like him, tch.” He scowled, picking up a small blue chip off of the floor and tossing it into the open air. That was a part of the teleportation mechanism that Zylon had. So, they had used teleportation in order to reach the top of the bell tower without any sort of suspicion, and the event began quickly after. It was a pity this chip had been damaged in the scuffle. A means of teleporting into the mansion would’ve meant a quick end to this little uprising.
“They must have quite the tactician,” Hidan said, the wind blowing as he gusted into the area behind Tobimaru with Mai on his back. The young girl was asleep, snoring soundlessly against Hidan’s shoulder. “And an engineer to develop a plan like this with all these gnome inventions. Then again, it seems that everyone has gnome inventions. I heard that the Faar government even got their hands on the recipe for creating rifles. They’ve been mass producing them.”
“That’s what I heard, too,” Tobimaru said with a bored tone. “When is the king going to realize that he’s fighting a pointless battle and that he should come to us for help already?”
“When the king loses his pride,” Hidan said. “He’s probably going to call in his son Darius from the Spartan front in order to eliminate Keimaro. I’ve heard rumors that the battle-prince is capable of matching a Bount with his blade. An ordinary human without any magic, able to defeat a Bount. Can you imagine that? He’s quite the legend.”
Tobimaru looked out at the twinkling bright stars that lingered in the blackened skies. “Yeah? Well, we can only hope that Keimaro kills off that legend. I can already tell that the Shokugan is growing stronger in him, but he hasn’t obtained full c
ontrol over it.” He sighed. “In tonight’s event, it looked like he almost completely lost control to his Shokugan.”
“I still don’t understand this whole Shokugan thing,” Hidan muttered, “to be honest.”
“These eyes aren’t just a representation of a demon. By being a member of the Hayashi clan, we are half-demon. We are not fully human. That is, unfortunately, something that all of the people are right about. We aren’t like them. When a member of the Hayashi clan activates the Shokugan in order to benefit from its all-seeing prowess, the demonic side threatens to take control. In tonight’s case, the revenge and hatred that dwell within Keimaro’s demon side took control when the king spoke about the Bakaara massacre. This means that he still hasn’t come to recognize the demon part of himself and rule it. He’s still weaker than I would’ve predicted at this point, though his training with his newer father did him well in controlling his flames. That fire truly has become like a part of him,” Tobimaru admitted.
“Was that a compliment I heard?” Tobimaru’s partner sneered.
“Shut up,” the Hayashi clansman muttered. “And what about you? Why are you always carrying Mai around and treating her like she’s your own daughter? It’s annoying.”
“How is it annoying? It shouldn’t affect you if I bring her around or not!” Hidan exclaimed. “And for the record, I told you! She reminds me of my own daughter that I had before I joined the Bount organization,” he said, gently putting Mai on the ground and walking over to sit beside Tobimaru.
“Yeah? You never told me about your daughter.”
“So you want to know about her?”
“Not particularly.”
“I’ll tell you anyway,” Hidan muttered and smiled when Tobimaru rolled his eyes. “It’s important for partners to understand each other, anyway. After all, you should know why I decided to join the Bounts.
