Rhythm of the Stars
By Pnumoman
Chapter one
***
In a lot of households, the morning period is one filled with
tranquil bliss, as the cobwebs of sleep are slowly shaken off in the
light of a bright new dawn. Sleepy greetings are exchanged, bathroom
business taken care of, clothes changed, and breakfast consumed in
leisurely anticipation of a day filled with new opportunities.
I don't know where this fantasy takes place, but I wanna go
there.
The Li household's mornings are of the _normal_ sort: a quiet
early morning, with snooze buttons hit four times, then frantic
hurrying as the late sleepers finally realize what time it is. Running,
stumbling, frantic shouting - the normal sounds of two late teenagers
fill the household until they both burst out the front door, in a mad
dash to get to school on time. Their father shouts for them to take
their lunches, they shout out that there's no time, said father lobs
the lunches, said teenagers catch them and continue running off. And
father stands in the doorway, seeing them off, with a smile on his
face.
Yep, pretty normal.
***
Syaoran walked back into the kitchen, to clean up the disaster
zone called his dining room. Two rushed teenagers don't necessarily
care where the butter lands, as long as it's somewhere near the toast
and not on their uniforms. Still, it wasn't as if they did it on
purpose, and to be frank, Syaoran found cleaning up to be quite
relaxing. Plus, it let him be near his wife.
"Good morning, Sakura. It's a great day today, isn't it?"
After clearing the dishes, Syaoran opened the window above the
sink, and breathed in the clean, fresh air. It was a bright and sunny
day; his favorite kind. As he started to wash the dishes, he kept a
running conversation with his wife.
"You know, Sakura, I still can't believe the kids are almost all
grown up now. It only seemed like yesterday they were in your arms, all
round and cute, barely able to open their eyes. Now look at them:
seventeen years old, tall, strong broad shoulders in Kaneda's case,
lithe and graceful in Ayumi's case, both of them so beautiful. You
know, they take after us not only in looks, but in height, too."
He paused, the sound of running water and scrubbing dishes taking
over for a second.
"Heh, remember when you were short for your age? You told me
about it during our honeymoon. All the times your brother teased you
about your height, all the times you wished you were as tall as your
father and mother... Heh, you really made up for it in high school, no?
Although I must admit I didn't know why you were so concerned... I
mean, look at your brother and father when we were in fourth grade.
Tall as posts, they were, and you weren't even short that for our age."
By this time, Syaoran was done with the dishes, and was wiping
down the dining room table.
"Do you remember our first day in high school together? It was
right after summer break, and when we walked into the classroom, all
the boys quite literally didn't know who you were. They didn't care,
though, and were all over you."
Syaoran chuckled at the memory, as he put away his dishcloths and
prepared his morning coffee.
"I was jealous at the time, but could you blame me? I mean, you
grew about four inches that summer, and filled out too. No one mistook
you for a monster after that summer, I can tell you that."
He sat down at the table, a steaming mug of coffee next to him,
his wife in front.
"But I wasn't jealous long, and it was totally gone after you
showed me your most beautiful side; no one else got to see you seven
years later on that cruise ship, when you were wearing that cream-
colored dress under the moonlight. Remember? It was after we danced all
night in the ballroom, and I took you up to our room's balcony
afterwards to give you a gift. When I looked at you then, I fell in
love with you all over again; how couldn't I, when you were glowing
under the moon, the pearls I gave you kissing the nape of your neck,
your hair shimmering in the light, your face full of love..."
His eyes unfocused, as he remembered that day, and the emotions
that came along with it. Minutes passed in silence, his hands wrapped
around the warm mug, with his eyes and mouth smiling in remembrance.
Then the phone rang, jolting him out of his thoughts.
"Ah, well I guess that starts my day. I'll see you later, honey."
Leaning over to the picture on the table, Syaoran gently kissed
the picture, then went to work.
***
Skidding down the hall, feet barely in their indoor slippers,
Ayumi and Kaneda both ran out of breath, trying to get to class on
time. Slamming open the door to their classroom, they both entered out
of breath, barely able to talk, but speaking in unison.
"Is the teach-,"
"Yes," said a voice from the front.
They ended up holding buckets in the hall for all of first
period.
...
School ended soon enough, although the amount of homework made
many students wish it hadn't. In any case, they started to shuffle out
towards their respective destinations, while Ayumi and Kaneda started
to pack up.
"Oi, Ayumi, you comin' to the park? Michikaze is bringing the
boxes this time. Hey Kaneda. You gonna come too?"
In the doorway of the classroom, clad in baggy pants and an
untucked school uniform dress shirt, was a typical hiphop boy, dressed
for dancing right after school. His name was Yasutaka Shiomori - he
answered to only Yas after school time - and he was a dancing friend of
Ayumi and Kaneda's for a couple of years now. Most days after school,
he would appear in the doorway, ask both Ayumi and Kaneda if they were
going to dance, and left with whomever said yes. Today, Ayumi gave her
affirmative as she put on baggy pants of her own beneath her school
uniform's skirt; Kaneda gave a negative as he had kenjutsu practice
today after school. He soon walked out of the classroom, waving to his
twin sister and Yas, while Ayumi finished getting ready. She took off
her skirt after putting her pants on, folded and put her uniform jacket
in her backpack along with her skirt, untucked her dress shirt, and put
her hair up so it wouldn't get in her way. Finally, she stuffed her tie
into her backpack and shouldered it.
"Ok, let's go Yas."
...
Michikaze set up the floor a little away from the king penguin
slide; most people don't bother them here, although they do get a
curious second grader now and then. Still, it was a nice and open
place, and Ayumi didn't have to beat anyone up for being obnoxious
while they practiced. 'They' were a group of six or so high schoolers,
all of them into break dancing for different reasons. Most of them just
did it because it was cool to them, but some of them came just to see
Ayumi. She was undoubtedly the best among them; most of them knew some
basic breaking moves and a bit of electric boogie, but they were all
here mostly to hang out and dance, or hang out and stare.
Ayumi got there a little late with Yas, the others already
starting to do some moves. When she finally arrived, Michikaze was
finishing a hi-rise set, something he'd been practicing for a while
now.
"Hey, great job! I only saw the tail end of that, but it looked
good."
"Heh, thanks Ayumi. Damn thing finally worked."
Walking up to the makeshift stage, she took off her backpack, and
started to warm up. The only thing they could get for a stage were
flattened cardboard boxes taped together with duct tape, but it
cushioned the ground well enough, and it gave the right amount of
friction, too. In any case, she went through a couple of simple waves
and stretches, then stopped. By this time, everyone had cleared off the
boxes and were gathered around in silence.
"Ok, first, let's get this local crap off," she smiled, as she
took out the current cd from the boombox on the bench. Digging into her
backpack, she pulled out a cd, slotted it, and then got ready.
"Hey, what's she play-," Michikaze got out before he was cut off
by a funky drum beat that blasted from the speakers.
Ayumi stood there for a second, eyes closed, head down, feet
tapping to the beat. Then, after a few seconds, she snapped her head
up, and popped her eyes open.
And she _danced_.
***
Kaneda walked into the dojo proper in full kendogu, his
men(helmet) under his arm; his sensei had always emphasized sparring
over katas, and today was no exception. Still, he was being made to
spar more and more of late, with, oddly enough, an iaitou instead of a
shinai. Kaneda didn't mind though, since he was improving by leaps and
bounds with this method; everything he practiced up to this point
started to make perfect sense now. The timings, the drills, the katas
all started to blend into one whole, allowing him to understand
kenjutsu all the better. Plus, if he made a mistake, he felt it; the
cold steel maybe didn't cut him, but it made much more of an impact
than a shinai.
He knelt in the middle of the dojo floor, his iaitou next to him
and his men placed in front of him. Just coming from the hustle and
bustle of the outside world, Kaneda knew he had to calm himself, and
focus. He closed his eyes and started a set of breathing exercises,
trying to calm down, and find his center. He needed to remove the
layers of emotion, of feelings, of anything that hampered his thought.
To have clarity of mind, clarity of body. To react. To move. To be.
His sensei's attack took him completely off guard. The whistle of
his sensei's iaitou gave him just enough time to roll, in the opposite
direction of his iaitou, as he snapped his eyes open and cursed.
Getting up in a Capoeira defensive position, he saw his master chuckle
and smile.
"So I finally get to see your unarmed style, eh, student?"
"Huh?! Sensei, you just attacked me!"
"Well, yeah, Kaneda. I guess that means today's your final test."
"What?!?"
"You heard me. You've basically learned all you can from me.
Defeat me, and you'll be the second ever graduate of my school. Lose,
and... well... Just don't lose, ok?" his sensei was beaming at this
point, grinning like a jackal, as they circled each other warily.
Kaneda knew at this point that he had to get his iaitou back; his
sister might be able to take his crazy master unarmed, but he certainly
couldn't. But to even try to get past this suddenly insane martial
artist, he needed a damn beat...
...
Master Takayama was one of the few kenjutsu masters left in the
world who taught with a real emphasis on fighting. Because of this, he
was on a de facto blacklist, disavowed by the kendo and kenjutsu
community as a whole; they regarded him as an insane, dangerous, but
highly skillful Master of the art. They blacklisted him because the
first two qualities; he would probably, in the long run, place a huge
stain upon the image of Kendo as a whole, and that was something that
they desperately avoided. Still, that didn't stop him from setting up a
school in the middle of Tokyo, on the second floor of a commercial
building, where a Chinese restaurant used to be. Underneath him was a
hobby shop run by an old couple; at least, that what it used to be.
About two years ago the wife passed away, and the husband decided to
rent out the space, planning to retire. He rented it out to a young man
who obtained this prime space by his willingness to pay a decent rent.
And it was this man that saved Kaneda at this moment.
You see, this man was something of a game enthusiast, and he
happened to be a rich man. A hint here and there, a few trades, and a
couple of lucky stock market breaks later, this former broke otaku was
suddenly in the money, so to speak and quickly decided to spend it. He
rented out the space beneath the dojo, bought a lot of machines, set up
a snack bar, and opened his first arcade. Filled with all the latest
goodies, the arcade was soon the hangout place of the local teens, and
gained fame quickly. Soon, numerous organizations started to ask him to
host a number of competitions, and the owner changed arcade machines
quickly enough to accommodate most of them.
Up to this point, the noise level hadn't been high enough to
really penetrate the floor of the dojo, but the competitions changed
all that. The sheer concentration of noise started to filter upwards,
and the Master was understandably annoyed. Still, he could live with
it, and just rescheduled his larger classes so they ended up on the
loudest periods. The shouting and clack of bamboo on bamboo drowned out
the noise well enough. But on that day, the arcade happened to be
hosting a Bust a Move competition; more specifically, they were having
the last match of the tourney. Due to the fact that it was the finals,
and the defending champion was a jackass, the owner decided to stop all
game play in the house, and make it silent. Cranking up the volume dial
for the one machine, he told the competitors they would be the only
ones playing, and then sat back to referee.
The music started just as Master Takayama finished talking to his
student.
...
As Kaneda started to panic about his lack of options, a beat
started to filter through the floor, picking up in volume. Sighing with
relief, Kaneda started to sway with the rhythm that got progressively
louder, as Master Takayama looked on with rapt attention.
/*"Capoeira3", Bust a Groove 2 Soundtrack */
When he struck, it was with a combination leg sweep into a
spinning roundhouse fist that sent his master swerving to his left,
trying a high-low slash as he went. Using his momentum, Kaneda curved
to avoid the slash, going into a handstand leg spin for a rotation and
a half, then hopping back into a backflip immediately after. He almost
made it to the iaitou, but not quite. His master was too much on guard;
he was gonna have to actually punch through his defenses, which was
going to get harder each time he tried, as his master was already
starting to learn a lot about his style.
Takayama, on the other hand, was starting to enjoy this more and
more as time went on. He truly had never seen anything like this, and
if the boy's words were true, his twin sister was even better at this
style than him. The lad almost grazed him on that last handstand spin;
he felt the wind on his arm, and knew he had to start going all out. If
the boy got that iaitou in his hands, it was all over for one of them;
it was all up to the boy, though. If the kid had enough sense to
combine the two forms, he'd win in a heartbeat, but if he didn't, he'd
lose spectacularly.
Still swaying to the music, Kaneda suddenly placed his wrists
together, and started to advance. His steps were stuttered, as he
advanced then stopped according to the beat, and his natural groove.
Takayama just stood there stolidly, iaitou in a ready position at his
side, grinning at Kaneda. When Kaneda got within sword's reach of
Takayama, he started to circle him, swaying and grooving, without going
within his master's reach. Takayama followed him with his eyes, not
moving his body, until Kaneda got in front of him once more; he lashed
out with a blinding side draw, aiming for his mid-torso. At that
moment, however, Kaneda did a stationary side flip, making his axis of
rotation the iaitou that passed by where his body used to be. Pushing
out his arms in mid-air, he pushed on the blade, making his master
compensate for the loss of balance. Takayama made the most of it,
though, over-compensating to immediately go into a spinning low-hi
slash. By that time, however, Kaneda had already vaulted over him; he
then landed on his hands and pushed off, twisting while he did so,
giving Takayama a handspring corkscrew kick in the back. He tumbled his
master forward for about six feet, giving him enough time to pick up
his iaitou and unsheathe it.
Standing there with his iaitou unsheathed, Kaneda stopped
swaying, and set the sword in a classic mid-defensive position.
Takayama, seeing this, shook his head.
"You idiot, do you think you can beat me like that? You
disappoint me."
Kaneda stood still regardless, taking this to be something the
master would do to keep him off balance.
"Heh, obviously, you don't believe me. Watch, then."
Takayama bolted forward with his iaitou trailing, as he made
another horizontal slash. Kaneda took a step back and prepared to
deflect the blow, when his master suddenly stopped and twisted around,
to give a diagonal hi-low slash from the opposite direction. Kaneda had
barely enough time to get out of the way, when Takayama followed it up
with a rising pear-splitter, nearly grazing Kaneda. As it was, Kaneda
fell back trying to avoid it, making a backwards roll to get up on his
feet. Takayama didn't pursue.
"Do you see, boy? You can't possibly beat me the way you are. You
just don't have the inner sense you need in that state."
Kaneda wasn't stupid; he knew his master was talking about
combining Capoeira and Kenjutsu. The problem was that he had no idea
how to. How do you combine a bare-handed style devoted to complex
rhythms and a rigid blade style?
"When you find out how you can beat me, come back. I'll be
waiting until then."
And with that, Kaneda found himself alone on the dojo floor.
***
"Tadaima!"
As Ayumi entered the house, pretty much the only thing she could
think of was getting some food. She was famished; she only ate a little
during lunch and was dancing after school for about an hour. Gliding
into the airy kitchen, she immediately drained a glass of water, then
opened the refrigerator to pull out something to eat. Peering inside of
its cool and clammy depths, Ayumi spied her target: a huge, velvety
tiramisu, just waiting to be scooped and devoured. Taped to the bowl's
side, however, was a note written by her dad. It told her to not eat
it, and wait, because he was picking up some food for dinner tonight,
and the tiramisu was going to be dessert. Tearing off the note, Ayumi
sighed, and then decided to take a bath instead. Food would just have
to wait.
...
Emerging from the furoba amidst a cloud of steam, Ayumi
vigorously rubbed her waist length, brown hair with a fluffy towel.
Straight, but with lots of volume, she knew she got her hair from her
mother, but, she thought with a sigh, never found out for herself. She
only had pictures and other people to tell her about her mother, the
goddess she was. Her jade green eyes that Kaneda got, her beautiful and
glossy brown hair that she got, her grace and stature they both got,
all of it they heard from others and saw in pictures. Which only served
to heighten their curiosity, of course, and not help at all. Even to
this day, she knew she'd give up everything she had to meet her mother,
even for a moment. She knew that wasn't going to happen, and told that
to herself everyday, but every day the hope was still there, and it was
something she could never get rid of. To be honest, she wasn't sure she
really wanted to get rid of it.
In any case, her main goal right now was to get some food. Or,
rather, wait it out. Having cleansed herself, clothed herself, and done
her homework already (in school), Ayumi really had nothing much to do
tonight, but wait for her dad to get back with the food. Really, he's
been gone for at least an hour; couldn't he figure out that his little
girl was starving? She was so hungry her stomach was making these
really loud noises... wait.
Hold up.
Noises?
Not from her stomach... so from where?
...
Searching the house turned up little, other than to make her more
and more curious as she searched. She wasn't really afraid, because if
it was some kind of intruder, she was more than capable of handling it.
No, she was more curious than anything, and a bit grateful too, because
it took her mind off her hunger. In any case, she quickly searched the
house, turning up nothing, until she went in front of the basement
door. Putting her ear on the door, she soon heard the deep rumble from
below, and quickly went downstairs.
It was dark downstairs, and a bit dusty besides; her dad used
this basement mainly for storage. As such, it was filled with boxes and
shelves of dusty junk, lots of photo albums, and lots of tapes, mainly
from her Aunt Tomoyo. But the sound didn't come from that stuff; it
sounded like it came from her grandpa's section. Her grandpa donated
and gave away most of his books when he moved to England to retire; he
left a bookcase or two of stuff, though, stuff he probably meant to
give to family members sometime.
As she got nearer to the bookcases, the sound got louder, until
she was standing in front of the bookcase, looking at rows and rows of
old books. The sound had stopped by then, leaving her without a clue as
to what was causing this noise. Standing there, she was starting to
feel a bit silly, until her eyes happened to fall on a book bound in a
pink cover.
Intrigued, she slipped it out of the bookshelf, and turned it
around in her hands. It was pretty much pink all over, with some weird
symbols on the cover, and a lock-type thing on the side. She really
didn't know what the book was, or what it was doing here, but she was
about to put it back, when something clicked.
The lock on the side of the book suddenly unlocked and popped
open, and Ayumi at that moment _felt_ something. It was as if a breeze
flickered the candle within her soul; which was kinda silly because she
knew she had water for her soul. In any case, not one to kick a gift
horse in the mouth, Ayumi opened up the book and looked inside.
To her surprise, it wasn't any kind of book, but actually a
hollowed out one with a deck of cards inside. They sort of looked like
tarot cards, but were pink and had a large star on the back, in the
middle of a lot of symbols and circles. She picked one up, and was
about to look at the front of it, when she heard the front door open.
"Oi! Ayumi, you home?"
It was her brother.
"Yeah, down here! Come here, I gotta show you something!"
At this point, Ayumi was at the bottom of the steps leading to
the basement, shouting up into the house. As a result, she didn't get
to see the odd glow from the book she left on the shelf, nor did she
see anything amiss when she started to walk back. When she got in view
of the shelf, however, it was a different story.
"Konnya-," the furry thing got out before he was cut off.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
***
/*End Chapter 1*/
***
/* Kinda confusing, eh? Well, that's to be expected. This fic's set
in the future, you know, and things aren't what you know. The anime
happened all right, everything including the two movies et all. But
stuff happened afterwards that made things the way they are, and you're
just gonna have to wait to see what they are. In any case, things won't
(hopefully) be as confusing in the next few chapters, when I'm gonna
explain some things (again, hopefully). To be quite honest, I didn't
really expect this chapter to go the way it did, but I'm pretty pleased
with the results. I really wanna thank Hikaru-chan for helping me
decide on some plot points, and for helping me out of writer's block,
even though she may not know all the times she did so. ^^ (I tend to
ramble a bit, sorry.) Oh, and before I go, why in hell is it so hard to
find a pic of the book of Sakura cards?!?! I literally spent about two
hours trying to find one damn pic that had it in it, and nothing. I
mean, I have some eps on my desktop I could use, but that's in my
sister's room, and it's midnight right now. Damnit, people, is it too
f#%$ing hard to put up one pic of the stupid book?!? *Sigh*
Martial Arts in the fic:
Shinai are the sparring swords that are made by bundling bamboo
slats together... you've seen them in movies and such, right? And
iaitou _are_ dull katanas... but there're primarily used for
practitioners of iaido, and are really never, ever used for anything
but katas and drill work (Master Takayama is quite nuts ^^). Iaido is
the art of sword-fighting by drawing; that is, the art of killing by
drawing the sword. All of their katas start with unsheathing the sword,
and end with sheathing it. Very elegant, and they don't spar or
anything with human opponents. Iaitou are actually only for beginners;
more experienced students use real, sharp katanas. As all katas require
drawing and sheathing after a complex set of movements, you can see why
they use dull iaitou for the beginners. Capoeira is a fairly modern
martial art with roots in Africa. The old form, which really isn't used
today, is a relatively standard unarmed combat form developed by
African tribes over several generations. The modern form stems from
slavery in the North Americas; the slaves modified the traditional
combat form to involve rhythmic motions which made it look like
dancing. They did this so as to avoid detection from their slave-owners
who would, obviously, stop any teaching of a combat form. It eventually
was refined into a very dance-like form that used rhythmic music; the
musicians (playing a drum-based tribal music) traditionally played
around a circle, in which the practitioner would practice in.
Distinguishing features of this style involve swinging and sweeping
kicks and punches, emphasis on rhythm and beat, and many moves which
involve the hands being together at the wrists. This last one comes
from the environment the style was developed in; the slaves didn't know
when they would have to fend for their lives, and as such, developed
moves they could use even when their hands were manacled together.
Watching real Capoeira is a delight; it is very graceful and powerful
at the same time, in a way totally different from Asian martial arts.
Anyway, standard disclamers apply, Ayumi and Kaneda are actually
mine, so no touching. ;P
Oh, and if you didn't get it yet, this fic takes place years
after _Stargazing_. Read it, if you think Syaoran is OOC in this fic. ^^
'night y'all... */
-Pnumoman
"In the stillness of the moon we find peace, but in the light of the
stars do we find love."
By Pnumoman
Chapter one
***
In a lot of households, the morning period is one filled with
tranquil bliss, as the cobwebs of sleep are slowly shaken off in the
light of a bright new dawn. Sleepy greetings are exchanged, bathroom
business taken care of, clothes changed, and breakfast consumed in
leisurely anticipation of a day filled with new opportunities.
I don't know where this fantasy takes place, but I wanna go
there.
The Li household's mornings are of the _normal_ sort: a quiet
early morning, with snooze buttons hit four times, then frantic
hurrying as the late sleepers finally realize what time it is. Running,
stumbling, frantic shouting - the normal sounds of two late teenagers
fill the household until they both burst out the front door, in a mad
dash to get to school on time. Their father shouts for them to take
their lunches, they shout out that there's no time, said father lobs
the lunches, said teenagers catch them and continue running off. And
father stands in the doorway, seeing them off, with a smile on his
face.
Yep, pretty normal.
***
Syaoran walked back into the kitchen, to clean up the disaster
zone called his dining room. Two rushed teenagers don't necessarily
care where the butter lands, as long as it's somewhere near the toast
and not on their uniforms. Still, it wasn't as if they did it on
purpose, and to be frank, Syaoran found cleaning up to be quite
relaxing. Plus, it let him be near his wife.
"Good morning, Sakura. It's a great day today, isn't it?"
After clearing the dishes, Syaoran opened the window above the
sink, and breathed in the clean, fresh air. It was a bright and sunny
day; his favorite kind. As he started to wash the dishes, he kept a
running conversation with his wife.
"You know, Sakura, I still can't believe the kids are almost all
grown up now. It only seemed like yesterday they were in your arms, all
round and cute, barely able to open their eyes. Now look at them:
seventeen years old, tall, strong broad shoulders in Kaneda's case,
lithe and graceful in Ayumi's case, both of them so beautiful. You
know, they take after us not only in looks, but in height, too."
He paused, the sound of running water and scrubbing dishes taking
over for a second.
"Heh, remember when you were short for your age? You told me
about it during our honeymoon. All the times your brother teased you
about your height, all the times you wished you were as tall as your
father and mother... Heh, you really made up for it in high school, no?
Although I must admit I didn't know why you were so concerned... I
mean, look at your brother and father when we were in fourth grade.
Tall as posts, they were, and you weren't even short that for our age."
By this time, Syaoran was done with the dishes, and was wiping
down the dining room table.
"Do you remember our first day in high school together? It was
right after summer break, and when we walked into the classroom, all
the boys quite literally didn't know who you were. They didn't care,
though, and were all over you."
Syaoran chuckled at the memory, as he put away his dishcloths and
prepared his morning coffee.
"I was jealous at the time, but could you blame me? I mean, you
grew about four inches that summer, and filled out too. No one mistook
you for a monster after that summer, I can tell you that."
He sat down at the table, a steaming mug of coffee next to him,
his wife in front.
"But I wasn't jealous long, and it was totally gone after you
showed me your most beautiful side; no one else got to see you seven
years later on that cruise ship, when you were wearing that cream-
colored dress under the moonlight. Remember? It was after we danced all
night in the ballroom, and I took you up to our room's balcony
afterwards to give you a gift. When I looked at you then, I fell in
love with you all over again; how couldn't I, when you were glowing
under the moon, the pearls I gave you kissing the nape of your neck,
your hair shimmering in the light, your face full of love..."
His eyes unfocused, as he remembered that day, and the emotions
that came along with it. Minutes passed in silence, his hands wrapped
around the warm mug, with his eyes and mouth smiling in remembrance.
Then the phone rang, jolting him out of his thoughts.
"Ah, well I guess that starts my day. I'll see you later, honey."
Leaning over to the picture on the table, Syaoran gently kissed
the picture, then went to work.
***
Skidding down the hall, feet barely in their indoor slippers,
Ayumi and Kaneda both ran out of breath, trying to get to class on
time. Slamming open the door to their classroom, they both entered out
of breath, barely able to talk, but speaking in unison.
"Is the teach-,"
"Yes," said a voice from the front.
They ended up holding buckets in the hall for all of first
period.
...
School ended soon enough, although the amount of homework made
many students wish it hadn't. In any case, they started to shuffle out
towards their respective destinations, while Ayumi and Kaneda started
to pack up.
"Oi, Ayumi, you comin' to the park? Michikaze is bringing the
boxes this time. Hey Kaneda. You gonna come too?"
In the doorway of the classroom, clad in baggy pants and an
untucked school uniform dress shirt, was a typical hiphop boy, dressed
for dancing right after school. His name was Yasutaka Shiomori - he
answered to only Yas after school time - and he was a dancing friend of
Ayumi and Kaneda's for a couple of years now. Most days after school,
he would appear in the doorway, ask both Ayumi and Kaneda if they were
going to dance, and left with whomever said yes. Today, Ayumi gave her
affirmative as she put on baggy pants of her own beneath her school
uniform's skirt; Kaneda gave a negative as he had kenjutsu practice
today after school. He soon walked out of the classroom, waving to his
twin sister and Yas, while Ayumi finished getting ready. She took off
her skirt after putting her pants on, folded and put her uniform jacket
in her backpack along with her skirt, untucked her dress shirt, and put
her hair up so it wouldn't get in her way. Finally, she stuffed her tie
into her backpack and shouldered it.
"Ok, let's go Yas."
...
Michikaze set up the floor a little away from the king penguin
slide; most people don't bother them here, although they do get a
curious second grader now and then. Still, it was a nice and open
place, and Ayumi didn't have to beat anyone up for being obnoxious
while they practiced. 'They' were a group of six or so high schoolers,
all of them into break dancing for different reasons. Most of them just
did it because it was cool to them, but some of them came just to see
Ayumi. She was undoubtedly the best among them; most of them knew some
basic breaking moves and a bit of electric boogie, but they were all
here mostly to hang out and dance, or hang out and stare.
Ayumi got there a little late with Yas, the others already
starting to do some moves. When she finally arrived, Michikaze was
finishing a hi-rise set, something he'd been practicing for a while
now.
"Hey, great job! I only saw the tail end of that, but it looked
good."
"Heh, thanks Ayumi. Damn thing finally worked."
Walking up to the makeshift stage, she took off her backpack, and
started to warm up. The only thing they could get for a stage were
flattened cardboard boxes taped together with duct tape, but it
cushioned the ground well enough, and it gave the right amount of
friction, too. In any case, she went through a couple of simple waves
and stretches, then stopped. By this time, everyone had cleared off the
boxes and were gathered around in silence.
"Ok, first, let's get this local crap off," she smiled, as she
took out the current cd from the boombox on the bench. Digging into her
backpack, she pulled out a cd, slotted it, and then got ready.
"Hey, what's she play-," Michikaze got out before he was cut off
by a funky drum beat that blasted from the speakers.
Ayumi stood there for a second, eyes closed, head down, feet
tapping to the beat. Then, after a few seconds, she snapped her head
up, and popped her eyes open.
And she _danced_.
***
Kaneda walked into the dojo proper in full kendogu, his
men(helmet) under his arm; his sensei had always emphasized sparring
over katas, and today was no exception. Still, he was being made to
spar more and more of late, with, oddly enough, an iaitou instead of a
shinai. Kaneda didn't mind though, since he was improving by leaps and
bounds with this method; everything he practiced up to this point
started to make perfect sense now. The timings, the drills, the katas
all started to blend into one whole, allowing him to understand
kenjutsu all the better. Plus, if he made a mistake, he felt it; the
cold steel maybe didn't cut him, but it made much more of an impact
than a shinai.
He knelt in the middle of the dojo floor, his iaitou next to him
and his men placed in front of him. Just coming from the hustle and
bustle of the outside world, Kaneda knew he had to calm himself, and
focus. He closed his eyes and started a set of breathing exercises,
trying to calm down, and find his center. He needed to remove the
layers of emotion, of feelings, of anything that hampered his thought.
To have clarity of mind, clarity of body. To react. To move. To be.
His sensei's attack took him completely off guard. The whistle of
his sensei's iaitou gave him just enough time to roll, in the opposite
direction of his iaitou, as he snapped his eyes open and cursed.
Getting up in a Capoeira defensive position, he saw his master chuckle
and smile.
"So I finally get to see your unarmed style, eh, student?"
"Huh?! Sensei, you just attacked me!"
"Well, yeah, Kaneda. I guess that means today's your final test."
"What?!?"
"You heard me. You've basically learned all you can from me.
Defeat me, and you'll be the second ever graduate of my school. Lose,
and... well... Just don't lose, ok?" his sensei was beaming at this
point, grinning like a jackal, as they circled each other warily.
Kaneda knew at this point that he had to get his iaitou back; his
sister might be able to take his crazy master unarmed, but he certainly
couldn't. But to even try to get past this suddenly insane martial
artist, he needed a damn beat...
...
Master Takayama was one of the few kenjutsu masters left in the
world who taught with a real emphasis on fighting. Because of this, he
was on a de facto blacklist, disavowed by the kendo and kenjutsu
community as a whole; they regarded him as an insane, dangerous, but
highly skillful Master of the art. They blacklisted him because the
first two qualities; he would probably, in the long run, place a huge
stain upon the image of Kendo as a whole, and that was something that
they desperately avoided. Still, that didn't stop him from setting up a
school in the middle of Tokyo, on the second floor of a commercial
building, where a Chinese restaurant used to be. Underneath him was a
hobby shop run by an old couple; at least, that what it used to be.
About two years ago the wife passed away, and the husband decided to
rent out the space, planning to retire. He rented it out to a young man
who obtained this prime space by his willingness to pay a decent rent.
And it was this man that saved Kaneda at this moment.
You see, this man was something of a game enthusiast, and he
happened to be a rich man. A hint here and there, a few trades, and a
couple of lucky stock market breaks later, this former broke otaku was
suddenly in the money, so to speak and quickly decided to spend it. He
rented out the space beneath the dojo, bought a lot of machines, set up
a snack bar, and opened his first arcade. Filled with all the latest
goodies, the arcade was soon the hangout place of the local teens, and
gained fame quickly. Soon, numerous organizations started to ask him to
host a number of competitions, and the owner changed arcade machines
quickly enough to accommodate most of them.
Up to this point, the noise level hadn't been high enough to
really penetrate the floor of the dojo, but the competitions changed
all that. The sheer concentration of noise started to filter upwards,
and the Master was understandably annoyed. Still, he could live with
it, and just rescheduled his larger classes so they ended up on the
loudest periods. The shouting and clack of bamboo on bamboo drowned out
the noise well enough. But on that day, the arcade happened to be
hosting a Bust a Move competition; more specifically, they were having
the last match of the tourney. Due to the fact that it was the finals,
and the defending champion was a jackass, the owner decided to stop all
game play in the house, and make it silent. Cranking up the volume dial
for the one machine, he told the competitors they would be the only
ones playing, and then sat back to referee.
The music started just as Master Takayama finished talking to his
student.
...
As Kaneda started to panic about his lack of options, a beat
started to filter through the floor, picking up in volume. Sighing with
relief, Kaneda started to sway with the rhythm that got progressively
louder, as Master Takayama looked on with rapt attention.
/*"Capoeira3", Bust a Groove 2 Soundtrack */
When he struck, it was with a combination leg sweep into a
spinning roundhouse fist that sent his master swerving to his left,
trying a high-low slash as he went. Using his momentum, Kaneda curved
to avoid the slash, going into a handstand leg spin for a rotation and
a half, then hopping back into a backflip immediately after. He almost
made it to the iaitou, but not quite. His master was too much on guard;
he was gonna have to actually punch through his defenses, which was
going to get harder each time he tried, as his master was already
starting to learn a lot about his style.
Takayama, on the other hand, was starting to enjoy this more and
more as time went on. He truly had never seen anything like this, and
if the boy's words were true, his twin sister was even better at this
style than him. The lad almost grazed him on that last handstand spin;
he felt the wind on his arm, and knew he had to start going all out. If
the boy got that iaitou in his hands, it was all over for one of them;
it was all up to the boy, though. If the kid had enough sense to
combine the two forms, he'd win in a heartbeat, but if he didn't, he'd
lose spectacularly.
Still swaying to the music, Kaneda suddenly placed his wrists
together, and started to advance. His steps were stuttered, as he
advanced then stopped according to the beat, and his natural groove.
Takayama just stood there stolidly, iaitou in a ready position at his
side, grinning at Kaneda. When Kaneda got within sword's reach of
Takayama, he started to circle him, swaying and grooving, without going
within his master's reach. Takayama followed him with his eyes, not
moving his body, until Kaneda got in front of him once more; he lashed
out with a blinding side draw, aiming for his mid-torso. At that
moment, however, Kaneda did a stationary side flip, making his axis of
rotation the iaitou that passed by where his body used to be. Pushing
out his arms in mid-air, he pushed on the blade, making his master
compensate for the loss of balance. Takayama made the most of it,
though, over-compensating to immediately go into a spinning low-hi
slash. By that time, however, Kaneda had already vaulted over him; he
then landed on his hands and pushed off, twisting while he did so,
giving Takayama a handspring corkscrew kick in the back. He tumbled his
master forward for about six feet, giving him enough time to pick up
his iaitou and unsheathe it.
Standing there with his iaitou unsheathed, Kaneda stopped
swaying, and set the sword in a classic mid-defensive position.
Takayama, seeing this, shook his head.
"You idiot, do you think you can beat me like that? You
disappoint me."
Kaneda stood still regardless, taking this to be something the
master would do to keep him off balance.
"Heh, obviously, you don't believe me. Watch, then."
Takayama bolted forward with his iaitou trailing, as he made
another horizontal slash. Kaneda took a step back and prepared to
deflect the blow, when his master suddenly stopped and twisted around,
to give a diagonal hi-low slash from the opposite direction. Kaneda had
barely enough time to get out of the way, when Takayama followed it up
with a rising pear-splitter, nearly grazing Kaneda. As it was, Kaneda
fell back trying to avoid it, making a backwards roll to get up on his
feet. Takayama didn't pursue.
"Do you see, boy? You can't possibly beat me the way you are. You
just don't have the inner sense you need in that state."
Kaneda wasn't stupid; he knew his master was talking about
combining Capoeira and Kenjutsu. The problem was that he had no idea
how to. How do you combine a bare-handed style devoted to complex
rhythms and a rigid blade style?
"When you find out how you can beat me, come back. I'll be
waiting until then."
And with that, Kaneda found himself alone on the dojo floor.
***
"Tadaima!"
As Ayumi entered the house, pretty much the only thing she could
think of was getting some food. She was famished; she only ate a little
during lunch and was dancing after school for about an hour. Gliding
into the airy kitchen, she immediately drained a glass of water, then
opened the refrigerator to pull out something to eat. Peering inside of
its cool and clammy depths, Ayumi spied her target: a huge, velvety
tiramisu, just waiting to be scooped and devoured. Taped to the bowl's
side, however, was a note written by her dad. It told her to not eat
it, and wait, because he was picking up some food for dinner tonight,
and the tiramisu was going to be dessert. Tearing off the note, Ayumi
sighed, and then decided to take a bath instead. Food would just have
to wait.
...
Emerging from the furoba amidst a cloud of steam, Ayumi
vigorously rubbed her waist length, brown hair with a fluffy towel.
Straight, but with lots of volume, she knew she got her hair from her
mother, but, she thought with a sigh, never found out for herself. She
only had pictures and other people to tell her about her mother, the
goddess she was. Her jade green eyes that Kaneda got, her beautiful and
glossy brown hair that she got, her grace and stature they both got,
all of it they heard from others and saw in pictures. Which only served
to heighten their curiosity, of course, and not help at all. Even to
this day, she knew she'd give up everything she had to meet her mother,
even for a moment. She knew that wasn't going to happen, and told that
to herself everyday, but every day the hope was still there, and it was
something she could never get rid of. To be honest, she wasn't sure she
really wanted to get rid of it.
In any case, her main goal right now was to get some food. Or,
rather, wait it out. Having cleansed herself, clothed herself, and done
her homework already (in school), Ayumi really had nothing much to do
tonight, but wait for her dad to get back with the food. Really, he's
been gone for at least an hour; couldn't he figure out that his little
girl was starving? She was so hungry her stomach was making these
really loud noises... wait.
Hold up.
Noises?
Not from her stomach... so from where?
...
Searching the house turned up little, other than to make her more
and more curious as she searched. She wasn't really afraid, because if
it was some kind of intruder, she was more than capable of handling it.
No, she was more curious than anything, and a bit grateful too, because
it took her mind off her hunger. In any case, she quickly searched the
house, turning up nothing, until she went in front of the basement
door. Putting her ear on the door, she soon heard the deep rumble from
below, and quickly went downstairs.
It was dark downstairs, and a bit dusty besides; her dad used
this basement mainly for storage. As such, it was filled with boxes and
shelves of dusty junk, lots of photo albums, and lots of tapes, mainly
from her Aunt Tomoyo. But the sound didn't come from that stuff; it
sounded like it came from her grandpa's section. Her grandpa donated
and gave away most of his books when he moved to England to retire; he
left a bookcase or two of stuff, though, stuff he probably meant to
give to family members sometime.
As she got nearer to the bookcases, the sound got louder, until
she was standing in front of the bookcase, looking at rows and rows of
old books. The sound had stopped by then, leaving her without a clue as
to what was causing this noise. Standing there, she was starting to
feel a bit silly, until her eyes happened to fall on a book bound in a
pink cover.
Intrigued, she slipped it out of the bookshelf, and turned it
around in her hands. It was pretty much pink all over, with some weird
symbols on the cover, and a lock-type thing on the side. She really
didn't know what the book was, or what it was doing here, but she was
about to put it back, when something clicked.
The lock on the side of the book suddenly unlocked and popped
open, and Ayumi at that moment _felt_ something. It was as if a breeze
flickered the candle within her soul; which was kinda silly because she
knew she had water for her soul. In any case, not one to kick a gift
horse in the mouth, Ayumi opened up the book and looked inside.
To her surprise, it wasn't any kind of book, but actually a
hollowed out one with a deck of cards inside. They sort of looked like
tarot cards, but were pink and had a large star on the back, in the
middle of a lot of symbols and circles. She picked one up, and was
about to look at the front of it, when she heard the front door open.
"Oi! Ayumi, you home?"
It was her brother.
"Yeah, down here! Come here, I gotta show you something!"
At this point, Ayumi was at the bottom of the steps leading to
the basement, shouting up into the house. As a result, she didn't get
to see the odd glow from the book she left on the shelf, nor did she
see anything amiss when she started to walk back. When she got in view
of the shelf, however, it was a different story.
"Konnya-," the furry thing got out before he was cut off.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
***
/*End Chapter 1*/
***
/* Kinda confusing, eh? Well, that's to be expected. This fic's set
in the future, you know, and things aren't what you know. The anime
happened all right, everything including the two movies et all. But
stuff happened afterwards that made things the way they are, and you're
just gonna have to wait to see what they are. In any case, things won't
(hopefully) be as confusing in the next few chapters, when I'm gonna
explain some things (again, hopefully). To be quite honest, I didn't
really expect this chapter to go the way it did, but I'm pretty pleased
with the results. I really wanna thank Hikaru-chan for helping me
decide on some plot points, and for helping me out of writer's block,
even though she may not know all the times she did so. ^^ (I tend to
ramble a bit, sorry.) Oh, and before I go, why in hell is it so hard to
find a pic of the book of Sakura cards?!?! I literally spent about two
hours trying to find one damn pic that had it in it, and nothing. I
mean, I have some eps on my desktop I could use, but that's in my
sister's room, and it's midnight right now. Damnit, people, is it too
f#%$ing hard to put up one pic of the stupid book?!? *Sigh*
Martial Arts in the fic:
Shinai are the sparring swords that are made by bundling bamboo
slats together... you've seen them in movies and such, right? And
iaitou _are_ dull katanas... but there're primarily used for
practitioners of iaido, and are really never, ever used for anything
but katas and drill work (Master Takayama is quite nuts ^^). Iaido is
the art of sword-fighting by drawing; that is, the art of killing by
drawing the sword. All of their katas start with unsheathing the sword,
and end with sheathing it. Very elegant, and they don't spar or
anything with human opponents. Iaitou are actually only for beginners;
more experienced students use real, sharp katanas. As all katas require
drawing and sheathing after a complex set of movements, you can see why
they use dull iaitou for the beginners. Capoeira is a fairly modern
martial art with roots in Africa. The old form, which really isn't used
today, is a relatively standard unarmed combat form developed by
African tribes over several generations. The modern form stems from
slavery in the North Americas; the slaves modified the traditional
combat form to involve rhythmic motions which made it look like
dancing. They did this so as to avoid detection from their slave-owners
who would, obviously, stop any teaching of a combat form. It eventually
was refined into a very dance-like form that used rhythmic music; the
musicians (playing a drum-based tribal music) traditionally played
around a circle, in which the practitioner would practice in.
Distinguishing features of this style involve swinging and sweeping
kicks and punches, emphasis on rhythm and beat, and many moves which
involve the hands being together at the wrists. This last one comes
from the environment the style was developed in; the slaves didn't know
when they would have to fend for their lives, and as such, developed
moves they could use even when their hands were manacled together.
Watching real Capoeira is a delight; it is very graceful and powerful
at the same time, in a way totally different from Asian martial arts.
Anyway, standard disclamers apply, Ayumi and Kaneda are actually
mine, so no touching. ;P
Oh, and if you didn't get it yet, this fic takes place years
after _Stargazing_. Read it, if you think Syaoran is OOC in this fic. ^^
'night y'all... */
-Pnumoman
"In the stillness of the moon we find peace, but in the light of the
stars do we find love."