Time for the story jumps all the way to 1,500 years ago, when the first bloodline submerged in the world.
Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and situations to my head. Anything else to Japanese History.
The day moved as boring as the one before. Not much happened while on duty and patrolling the area near the shinto. There was a time when bandits and mercenaries rode the place looking for easy money and weak women, mostly because the district was townsfolk and priestesses.
On the road, two very strong looking guards made sure peace ruled among the people. Saotome Tatsuo and Hibiki Ryota were the first samurai knight assigned at the local temple. Such saint shrine belonged to the Saotome Family thanks to a bratty young girl.
The flaming redhead was one of the most powerful in the bloodline, but her devotion moved to the protection and well-being of her comrades and family, her name? Saotome Toshiko.
Tatsuo, Toshiko's brother requested his place at the temple as a way to protect the only non military Saotome member, and at his side, his friend honored the same decision to go with him there, but his motives concerned not only friendship.
"Say Tatsuo, when are you going to let me date your sister?" The strong samurai distinguished only by a yellow bandanna had his eye on Toshiko since the first time they met.
"Damn it Ryo, she is a priestess, and can't leave her post to "date" you or anyone else." The over protective feeling of the Saotome heir and the love the bandanna boy displayed made their "patrol" interesting to say the least. sparks flew between the two, while teeth bared one another on a feral manner. Never to give away his place, never to back off. Some even said this rivalry would endure time for ages.
Fists bombarded the area. The horses ran scared at the old scene where two misfit samurai tangled for supremacy. The slender boy was fast and his strikes like sharp needles against the more resilient and well endowed boy. Ryota versed on the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, a samurai specialty on defeating his opponents swiftly and aimed at disarming them and not killing them.
Saotome Tatsuo followed the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu specialized on the katana and bo staff, while using fast empty hand combat as well.
The fight reached far and wide the district and usually nothing could stop it once it began. Old people smiled and discussed the different stances and special moves they were able to identify, while the women would run and hide street ornaments and children that might be caught in the crossfire.
With the pass of the day, there was only one solution for the quarrel to end. A small girl run into the shinto and brought the only person capable to stop such mess. That person lifted a big pot most women use to cook on the outside of houses for festivities mostly and threw it at the slender boy, hitting him so hard and loud, that the boy flew away from his opponent.
"Tatsuo-kun. How many times do I have to take you boys apart? . .keep this up and dad will find out, and got us all in trouble. All over again." The fuming redhead turned to the other boy, hoping to give him a piece of her mind as well, but when she looked around, no one was there.
She started to walk to the shrine, when the bandanna boy popped in front of her, making her skip back in surprise, while hitting the boy with a frying pan set nearby. "Eep. . .don't you ever scare me like that . . ." The boy stood with his hands crossed and playing with his thumbs, while showing a nervous stance. "Hi . . .Miss Toshiko . . ."
The boy was as strong as a bull, but shy like anything the girl's ever seen. She giggled at the stricken and bloated face, thanks to her punch, but he kept there making her company.
"Ryota-kun, please don't encourage my brother. You know how he gets all excited when a brawl comes his way. By the way, what were you fighting about?"
The boy began to tremble, and his sight hit the floor expecting to find something interesting. This was his chance to ask her out. All he needed was guts to tell her.
"Toshiko-san, I. . .I was wondering if you . . .if you . . ." The shaking movements made his voice falter and began to loose control of the situation. If nothing was done, this could turn into a very embarrassing conversation.
The girl kept looking at him and smiled when she attempted a trick of her own. "Well Ryota-kun, I know my brother can be annoying, but I know he is stronger than you and even though you are very skilled maybe you might not stand a chance against him. . . ." The girl expected to hit in the right chord.
Ryota reacted hurt and mad, so mad he began to blubber away without thinking. "No ! . . .That's not it, I can beat that moron any day. I wanted to ask you out on a date, but he didn't want me to . . . . ." Too late he realized what was said. Even when the girl smiled and blushed, completely staring at him in an adoring way.
The boy staggered back and held against the railing of a close building, he tried to articulate words fast enough to apologize for what he said, but the girl stopped him before he could say anything else.
"Of course Ryota-kun, it will be a pleasure to go out with you. If I may be honest, I asked my brother what did he think about you. He seem to appreciate you and has you in high esteem."
Ryota turn to see a laughing boy down on the floor and pointing at him. His face redden and he was about to lunge at him, but the girl beat him up to it. The same frying pan shot from her hands, landing on the boy's head and sending him back to dreamland. The new couple laughed at the sleeping boy.
Hours later, the bandanna boy rode his horse while guiding another one on his side and an unconscious boy on his back. By the time they arrived to the stockades, Tatsuo woke up and was rubbing his head. "Jeez man, I don't get why she hits so hard. She could be a powerful addition to out samurai family."
"Leave her alone Tatsuo, she tries to live her own life and not be an onna-bugeisha destined to fight alongside a man on a bloody way. some women can defend their homes without a blade you know."
The slender boy blinked at the idea. He never heard of such coward way to live, his mother fought, blade in hand, and so did his grandmother. The sight of his sibling rejecting a family style sadden him, and made him strive on convincing her otherwise.
The bandanna boy understood the girls ideal. He followed a more defensive style where death didn't count on the equation. All he wants is to protect the innocent and his loved ones.
With time Ryota and Toshiko became very close and shared their relationship to no one except Tatsuo. The trio became like a family, that is until a new face invaded the temple.
The new priestess was an orphan found in the street of a thorn down village ravaged by bandits. With no one protecting her, the survivors fled to the temple for refuge, and left her on the care of the Oracle. She was a raven haired girl by the name of Tendou Setsuko.
Tatsuo's eyes glued at the girl, and his face turned red. In retrospect Ryota knew that reaction and braced himself for the worst. "Uh Oh, I guess this is the part where I help you get your girl."
The thin boy smiled back at his brother-in-law. "You know it. I'm giving you the chance to become a Saotome so you better be there for me."
Ryota slouched down his shoulders admitting defeat and walked to where the new girl stood, confused of her surroundings. " . . .Hi . . .my name's Ryota."
The girl promptly ran at him and held her by his arm like using him as a shield from an impending attack. A few seconds later she let go of him and looked down, while fixing her bangs behind her ear. "I'm sorry, this is so new and sudden. I haven't met anyone from my village and you are the first talking to me."
The boy smiled at her, and kept laughing in a nervous manner. He was stuck trying to talk back or to run away. That's when Tatsuo entered the scene and smacked the boy on the head.
"You are scaring her. . . .here let me. . ." Said while dislodging the boy's arm still stuck by the girl. The priestess looked at the struggle and when the boys began to argue nervously, she began to giggle at their fight.
"Well this is better. I feel safer now that I see people my age horsing around." The expression on the girl made Tatsuo smile at her and bow in respect. "Miss Setsuko. My name is Saotome Tatsuo and I'm in charge of the Shinto's protection.
Once the girl felt at home, the rest of her worries vanished. Whatever end her old village had, was of no consequence anymore. At least not to the young ones.
Deep in the temple's chamber, the oracle decided the best course of action. She knew the brunette belonged to the powerful Tendo family, but her sudden leave from royalty meant she had been kidnaped. The oracle too measures to make sure the girl was safe, and her family would not hear from it. They all thought of her dead.
The green haired oracle prepared for her initiation into a next step. The leadership and service in the protection of this world. Priestesses approached her in a respectful way to inform her of the orphan girl.
"Oracle, Tendo Setsuko has joined the Saotome guard and they are becoming very close. So is the guard's sister with the other guard." The green eyed woman nodded, pleased at the report. For some time she was chosen as the next "Gaia" title and all the perks the position came with it.
"Good, everything is taking form. Soon, I will be appointed earth's protector and my real mission will begin. Make sure they are supervised, I don't want any mishaps during this phase."
Tatsuo was a brave boy with the notion and education as a leader. The Saotomes were the main branch in the new Nerima district. The Hibikis preferred a more subtle place, they were as important as the main branch, but their samurai convictions sided for the protection and welfare of the land. Including the Saotome line.
Tatsuo and Ryota were the most advanced of their families and had no equal among the military forces of the time. Even at their young age of 16, they fought against hordes of bandits and demons. The only reason they were never recognized as such were the code a samurai would live for.
This renown fame went all the way to the leader of the land. The emperor Kotoku ready his imperial court for incursions into the Chinese territories with the goal to study their character-based writing system among other things, and the need for warriors capable to obey orders and show discipline demonstrated him these two had what he was looking for.
Even better, when the emperor found out about the courtship the boys had with two priestesses from the local temple, they became part of the mission as the platoon's healers. Word was sent to their respective families
Meanwhile, the two couples began to solidify their relationships by the ways young people do.
Still shaking like a leaf, the Saotome guard closed his distance to the priestess, hoping to engage in a smooth conversation, but the name Saotome seemed synonymous of chaos or disaster. Every step meant a fall, slip or hit to the head with every kind of accessory hanged at a wall or from a roof. The more intents the slender boy tried, the louder the incident became
Setsuko admired the boy's insistence and when something would happen to him, a giggle would decorate her face.
"Tatsu-kun, I'm glad you've come by. There are so many things I want to talk to you about." The girl took his hand and led him out of harms way and outside the temple. She admired him from a distance, and knew he felt just the same about her. When the rest of the priestesses passed by the brunette, they understood her feelings and gossip filled the shinto, so she found a secluded place for the couple to hide from the rest.
" I know I mentioned my rescue from one of the burned down villages, but what I didn't say was my kidnapping by the same bandits. At first they took me there for ransom, but the emperor's guards reach at them in time before anything else could have happened."
"In the confusion I was able to run and one of the guards took me out of the fight. He came straight here and left me in the care of the Oracle. After that, I chose not to say anything that could jeopardize this place and its occupants."
The girl began to sob, while holding herself as if shivering in cold. The boy felt her pain and embraced her in a comforting way. The girl closed at his touch and the embrace was about to turn into a romantic set up. That is until a hand grasped the boy's keikÅ ( old samurai mounted armor) and pulled him, forcing him out of the amorous lock.
When the Saotome boy looked for the culprit, Ryota traded looks of disappointment when both met face to face. " What do you think your doing? I'm about to seal the deal!"
His sister looked at him, dismayed at his lack of tact. She knew the position and reputation the temple could suffer at the hands of gossip and disdain coming from lazy onlookers, would deteriorate the family's names themselves.
"Tatsuo-kun, you think it's funny being caught by us, while the rest of the priestesses take a walk around this area?"
A blushed couple dropped their sights looking for a place to hide the shame, but Ryota and Toshiko understood their desire, after all they were teenagers too.
"Tatsuo, I know you and I know Setsu-chan well enough to explain your behavior, but this is not the time for that, believe me, I know what you feel." The stronger looking boy looked at his own problem. A beautiful redhead who tried just as hard for private sessions with him. Toshiko looked back at him, while smiling and hiding her eyes behind her bangs.
"Saotome, we have been called on the emperor's service, and this time is an official request." The slender boy felt a pang when he heard the news. He crossed his sights with "his" girl, while raising from the floor and start to walk to headquarters.
Ryota held his arm and nodded on the girls direction. "Good news pal. We are all requested at once, Toshiko and Setsuko as well."