*This story takes place after the Battle of Red Cliffs, but before any of the characters from Great Guardians, Extravaganza Epoch, Xtreme Xecutor, Western Wolves, the Shin Ikki Tōsen manga or any of the video games show up. Also, while Hidden Dragons will appear to mostly follow the manga's timeline instead of the anime's, it won't be completely congruent with either, so if something happens that makes you go "That doesn't make sense..." my advice is to just not think too hard about it.
Just some things to keep in mind.
Chapter I - Homecoming
His mother had told him how Tokyo had become a fair bit rowdier than it was before. Gifū thought she was just exaggerating, as concerned mother occasionally tended to do. The night he got to Tokyo, he found that she hadn't inflated a single detail.
In fact, she may have been downplaying some things.
"...Did I just enter a war zone?" Gifū said while looking at the wanton violence happening before him.
Dozens of young men were knocking what little sense that had out of each other. Eyes were being blackened, bones were being broken and blood was sent flying with every blow. Every few moments, Gifū saw another head connect with the concrete. Was this just how young Tokyokko celebrated the final days of summer vacation?
He hadn't seen anyone suffer a fatal injury yet, but the local hospital was going to have its hands full regardless.
How he came upon this small war was pure coincidence. Or more aptly, just plain bad luck. He followed the directions the GPS on his phone gave, and it lead him straight to this backstreet. There yet to exist a GPS capable of calibrating the probability of thuggery into its navigation system, tragically.
Gifū considered whether to simply walk around the brawl and continue along his way. Considering how preoccupied they all were with cracking each other's skulls, he doubted that they would care enough to bother with him. It wasn't like he was wearing one of those magatama beads. Gifū was no Warrior*; he was just a young man trying to find his way to his mother's home. [*1]
And yet…
"Sup, glasses. You in the wrong neighborhood or what?" a stranger asked from behind him.
Their towering figure alone cast a shadow that enveloped Gifū entirely. Even if not for the shadow, the skittish expressions worn by nearby Warriors was enough to tell the boy all he needed to know.
He sighed. "So much for getting away unbothered…"
He turned to face the Warrior. As he thought, he was extremely tall. He was also a bit lanky, but from the way he carried himself it was obvious he wielded more power than a passing glance would imply. And if that wasn't enough of the clue, the white magatama bead hanging of his ear was.
That's different than the colors of the others here, Gifū thought. Theirs were all jade green.
Gifū recalled his mother mentioning something about the varying colors of the beads once, but he couldn't recall exactly what it was about. His thought process was interrupted by abrupt shout of angry Warrior.
"Your back's wide open, shithead!" he exclaimed while lunging at the white-magatama wearer.
Not even humoring his ambusher with a glance, the tall Warrior casually swung his arm back. He swatted his attacker away like a fly. He was sent crashing through the window of some closed restaurant and then through several more chairs and tables. The sound of his painful journey was so loud it put the entire backstreet brawl on hold.
It was then that Gifū remembered what his mother had told him: The color of a magatama bead roughly correlated with its wearer's fighting capability*. He couldn't remember the orders of the colors exactly, but he knew that green was the lowest, and white was above it. [*2]
At least he knew for certain now.
The tall Warrior blew on the fist he had just pulverized somebody with. "Like I was saying… You lost, glasses?"
Gifū made a face. He honestly confused about this guy's intentions. Despite there still being dozens of other fighters about, this guy had decided to focus solely on him for some reason. If that wasn't bad enough, because of that flashy one-hit KO of his, everyone else was focusing on him too.
Gifū wondered if he should have just listened to his mother and taken a cab.
"I don't want any trouble," he said to the Warrior outright.
"Weird place to end up if you just wanted a peaceful night."
"I got lost. My phone's GPS gave me poor directions."
The Warrior shook his head. "It's all-out war in this part of town. You seriously expect me to believe you just got loss and waltz into the middle of all this?"
"Yes. Yes, I do. You see, I just flew in from Hong Kong. I've haven't been to Tokyo in a long time so-"
"Oh, so you're an out-of-towner? Should have guessed from all that crap you're carrying. Alrighty then…" The Warrior cracked his knuckles. "Lemme give ya a brief lesson 'bout how the streets of Tokyo operate these days."
And just like that, this guy's intentions became abundantly clear to Gifū – he was a bully. He was just a stereotypical, run-of-the-mill harasser who wanted to pick a fight with someone he perceived as an easy mark. It should have been obvious to Gifū from the get-go, but he had hoped that the term 'Warrior' had greater connotations for this types of people than just socking others in the face.
It was more his mistake than anything else, really.
"This is very pathetic..."
"Whatchu say?"
"Don't worry about it," Gifū said while removing his glasses. "Let's just get this over with."
"What? You ain't even gonna fight back? Not even gonna run? Man, this ain't gonna be half as fun otherwise."
Gifū said nothing more. With a jaded expression on his face, he sat his bags down stood silently and waited. The Warrior, realizing that Gifū had no intention of defending himself, shrugged.
"Your funeral I guess."
He blew on his fist again, and then threw it at Gifū's head so fast it made the wind sigh.
Gifū didn't avoid it. He didn't parry it. He did not even attempt to block. He kept still as a statue when the fist slammed dead center in the middle of his face. His nose had not cracked and he had not blinked. His assailant's expression, however, looked like an absolute mess of confusion.
The Warrior reeled his arm back as if he was afraid Gifū might bite it.
After inspecting it briefly he came back at the out-of-towner with a high kick. The Warrior's leg struck against Gifū's neck with the force the snap a tree trunk like a twig.
The boy did not so much as flinch.
"So, how long exactly do you plan to keep going? I really have to be somewhere soon," he said.
The Warrior clenched in teeth. "You little piece of-"
An absolute onslaught of attacks was unleashed upon the boy: Kidney shots, neck chops, jabs to the gut and heel-kicks to the face. Even Gifū's groin was struck twice. The Warrior's hands and feet moved so fast the thugs behind Gifū could barely keep up. And still, none of it so much as fazed him.
By the end of this barrage of blows, it was the Warrior who was left looking tired and haggard. He could belt a random thug through a restaurant without breaking a sweat, but the effort of trying to leave even a single bruise on Gifū had left him wheezing.
"What... What the hell... Why... aren't you... bleedin'!"
"Because you're not that strong."
The Warrior blinked. "…Wha?"
"Look, against below average fighters like the guy you knocked out earlier you may come off like a monster, but really anyone with a decent martial arts backgrounds could get the better of you. I'm guessing you rely almost entirely on that thing hanging from your ear when you fight, right? Kind of like a cage fighter who only as good as the steroids he's taking . Without it, you're just another mediocre street fighter.
"Sorry for being so blunt, but I'm sure these are things you already knew anyway. Let's be honest: If I was wearing a magatama of a higher rank than your own, you wouldn't have picked a fight with me in the first place."
The Warrior's tired hands started shaking, almost burning, with pure fury. The shakes became jumps when he heard some of the fighters behind Gifū snickering. Snickering…
Just a moment ago they were all in awe of power as a fighter, but in a few minutes he had suddenly become a joke?
"Fuck that!" he snapped. "'ll kill you first, you little shit!"
With anger giving him a second wind, the Warrior wound back his arm to throw the fiercest haymaker he was capable of. Gifū, who was thoroughly tired of all this, inhaled deeply. When the Warrior swung at him, he exhaled right before the moment of contact.
A transparent force surged from every pore on his body. Without even getting in a final hit, the Warrior had been blown away and sent rolling across the concrete. When he stopped, he looked back at Gifū in awe.
The Warrior wasn't seriously injured. He had a new bruise or two from barreling across the ground, but aside from that he was physically fine. It was only his resolve was that had been shattered to pieces.
"You… You friggin' monster!" he exclaimed while scrambling to his feet and running off.
Everyone else on that backstreet took measure of Gifū once and then did the same. They still didn't know who he was, but after what they had just witnessed, none of them were eager to find out.
Gifu shook his head while putting back on his glasses. "All that time wasted for nothing. I hope this city isn't always like this."
He dusted himself off, picked up his bags and then started back in the direction his GPS had told him to go. He hoped the rest of his trek would be less eventful.
"Hakufu*, slow down!" Kōkin cried while chasing after her. [*3]
Unfortunately for her cousin, Hakufu racing heartbeat was already louder than Kōkin was. Probably faster too.
The way the girl sprinted down alleyways and rounded corners one would think there was a finish line and a trophy waiting for her at the end of the neck block. But what Hakufu was actually rushing towards was something way precious to her: a fight.
"There's supposed to be some super big brawl at the park near here tonight, right?" she asked slowing her pace.
"Yeah, but that's no reason for us to be such a big rush."
"'course it is! I can't remember the last time I got to fight a whole mob at once! Tonight's the perfect chance!"
His cousin's battle obsession honestly scared Kōkin sometimes. It was on the final day of school before summer vacation started that a comparable event transpired. Approximately twenty-five guys from a rival school had camped up just outside school grounds that afternoon looking to ambush Nanyō students for a cheap victory. How tragic it was that Hakufu was the first (and last) person they ran into.
The fight went as well as they could have hoped it would.
"C'mon, Kōkin*! We're gonna miss all the action at rate!" [*4]
Kōkin was amazed when she someone got faster. It was like the idea of a fight by itself was enough to boost her physical performance.
Her excitement only swelled as they got closer to the park, but once they actually arrived, Kōkin could almost feel her enthusiasm deflating. It still would have been in better shape than the guys they found at the park.
The unconscious were lying about everywhere. If they weren't flat on the ground they were crashed into benches or dangling from trees. It looked more like a battlefield than usual, and that was saying quite a bit.
"Did we get here too late? No way…" Hakufu groaned.
She fell to her knees in depression. Meanwhile, Kōkin struggled to hold back a snicker.
He didn't share Hakufu's passion for battle enough to care that they had missed out on tonight's brawl. There was never any shortage of fights in Tokyo, or in Kantō region in general these days. If they just waited long enough a fight would find them on its own – it was simply how things were for those who wore the magatama beads.
"Wait, now that I think about it…"
Kōkin inspected the Warriors around them again. He noticed something incredibly strange – all of their magatama beads were broken. Some were in fewer pieces than others, but every single one that Kōkin could spot had been shattered to some degree.
"I didn't even know it possible to break the beads like this…" he murmured. "Hey Hakufu, have you noticed… Hakufu?"
Hakufu appeared mentally checked out at that moment. All of her attention was focused on something she noticed coming from east side of the park.
"Kōkin, did you hear that?" she eventually asked.
"Hear what?"
She pointed. "There's a noise coming from over there."
Kōkin got a bit closer and focused, trying to make out this alleged noise himself. After a moment, he heard it as well.
"What is that?" he asked.
"Dunno." She then hopped to her feet. "Let's go and see."
"Huh? Hakufu, we can't just run after something when we don't know what it is."
She was already gone.
Curiosity had completely taken place of Hakufu's lust for combat. Kōkin could only groan and hurry after her trail.
As they got closer, the sound became crisper. They were soon able to distinguish what it was – music. Obnoxiously loud music; with a bass so heavy it could make a tank rattle. And yet, when Hakufu and Kōkin arrived at a playground on the east side of the park, they found that this thunderous bass came from a single pair of headphones.
"Wait, Kōkin. Come over here," Hakufu whispered, dragging her cousin along with her into a nearby bush.
Inside it, Kōkin found himself stuck between a stick and soft place. His left was assaulted by thorns, leaves he hoped weren't poisonous and a twig that kept trying to jab into her arm pit. Meanwhile, his right was pressed snugly against Hakufu's breast. He blushed, unsure of which way to move. To make things more disorienting for him, because of the loud music Hakufu to completely break down Kōkin's already small bubble of personal space just so he could hear her.
He felt the warmth of her breath she asked "Can you see them?"
"Y-yeah, I see it-I mean, them."
Kōkin got ahold of himself and restrained his eyes. He then focused solely on the owner of the headphones. She kept their face hidden under her jacket's hood, but her figure told her gender regardless.
Though she sat on a swing, the only thing rocking was her along to the ear-splitting rhythm of the bass. She definitely an odd sight, but odder still was the company she kept.
Standing around the swing set, almost like some hoodlum royal guard, were approximately a dozen young men. Unlike the girl, they stayed steady and vigilant. Kōkin couldn't understand why though. There were already around thirty bloody and beaten Warriors laying around them; and just like the ones' earlier, their magatama beads were all shattered.
Kōkin then realized by far the oddest thing about those thugs.
"Hakufu, these guys – you noticed the weird thing about them too, right?"
Hakufu nodded. "Yeah. They all… really like the color yellow."
"Uh… Yeah, I noticed that too, but that's not—"
"I mean, look at 'em! They all have yellow on at least one thing they're wearing. You think they all shop together?"
Kōkin sighed. "I meant their magatama beads, Hakufu."
"Oh. So, what about them? They're just…" Hakufu took another look and noticed immediately what Kōkin meant. "Not wearing any?"
Kōkin nodded. "All those Warriors they beat, some of whom are even D and C Rank judging by their beads – but not a single one of those guys in yellow have a bead of their own. How's that even possible?"
It shouldn't have been. Once a Warrior rose above E-rank, the average thug couldn't even pray of beating him if not ganged up upon. Here, the polar opposite had somehow transpired. Just the implication of such an irregularity put Kōkin even higher on guard.
Hakufu on the other hand...
"Hey, you guys! Any of you up for a match?" she asked, running out from under the bush.
"Hakufu!"
The yellow hoodlums standing around the human boom box honed in on Hakufu and Kōkin immediately. Though they likely couldn't hear what either of them over the music, they all took quick note of the white bead hanging off Hakufu's left ear.
One of them approached the hooded one on the swing and pushed the pause button on her headphones. She abruptly stopped bobbing her head. Then she sighed.
"What did I tell you guys about killing my vibe? It's the only rule I expected you dipshits to be able to follow."
"Sorry, captain, but it's kinda urgent. Looks like we missed one or two."
"Mhm?" The captain looked over at Hakufu and noticed the bead on her ear. "Oh. Shit…"
"Need us take care of it? She's only a D Rank."
"Nah. Just leave it to me," she said while standing. "Late as it already is, I'd rather not waste any more time on this shit than we have to."
She dropped her hood. Unlike her posse, the girl actually wore a magatama bead. It was scarlet red, the color of a C Rank Warrior. The bigger surprise was the girl's hair, however.
It was white as snow, devoid any pigmentation.
Hakufu was a little mesmerized by it until the girl called out her.
"Yo, are you still in orbit?" she asked.
Hakufu nodded awkwardly. "S-sorry. Your hair's really… unique."
"Eh. Been called worse, I guess. So, I gotta assume you go to one of the school's around here, right? Which one do you rep?"
"I'm a 2nd Year at Nanyō Academy."
The girl whistled. "One of the Big Three, huh? You must be neck-deep in fights every day."
"Yeah, I wish. It was like that when I first transferred to Nanyō, but recently guys just run off scared once they recognize me."
The snowtop's yellow posse chuckled among themselves. They wondered who this D Rank thought she was fooling, trying to portray herself as some elite fighter. Even in the middle of the night, they could see the color of her bead clearly.
"Yeah, I get how it is," the captain said, going along with it. "So, what's your name?"
"Oh, it's Haku—"
The girl vanished before she could finish; almost as if the air itself had ate her up.
"Huh? Where did she—"
Hakufu realized too late that the white-haired girl had reemerged right beside her, with a haymaker already in mid-swing.
"Hakufu, look out!" Kōkin cried while shoving his cousin aside.
Hakufu landed roughly onto the ground while a C Ranked fist landed square against Kōkin's forehead and sent him flying like a rag doll. He barreled across the grass until colliding with a girthful tree's trunk. It was an instant knockout.
"Kōkin!" Hakufu exclaimed.
Her cousin's assailant gave another whistle.
"Damn, that dude's reflexes are insane… He knew where I was gonna be and got there before I could throw a punch. Guess Tokyo Warriors ain't all full of it."
The girl then looked down at Hakufu, still looking distressed on the grass.
"Yo, Titty-tan. Nobody else needs to have their lights put out tonight. Just give up that bead on your ear, and I'll let you and your boyfriend go right on your—"
"You…!"
The girl felt the air around her suddenly heat up. Instinctively, she jumped back, narrowly avoiding Hakufu's blisteringly fast uppercut. It was close enough that she had a few strands of her white hair stolen, as well as had the front of her jacket ripped open; a jacket she apparently was wearing nothing under.
"Shit! I just got this this thing, dammit!"
Almost on reflex, her posse (mostly) covered their eyes. "C-captain, what the hell! You didn't even wear a sports bra or anything?"
"It's friggin' hot out tonight, so I only wore what I needed to! And stop covering their eyes, dipshit! What're you, three?"
He and the others shook their heads. "What kinda excuse…?"
The captain ignored her gang and honed in on Hakufu.
"Just so ya know, those cheap shots ain't gonna save you when I start knocking some reimbursement out of you, Titty-tan."
"I don't wanna hear about 'cheap shots' from a sucker puncher!"
The girl snorted. "Only a sucker would get knocked out by one in the first place. Your boyfriend oughta invest in a helmet if he's gonna play hero. Might keep regretting it otherwise."
"The only one who's gonna regret anything is you!"
A fountain of debris shot up when Hakufu kicked off the ground and launched herself after the yellow gang's captain with a fiercesome right hook. It was speed the latter wasn't prepared. Dodging wasn't even an option. The captain took the blunt of the blow and was amazed her arms were not shattered upon impact. It sent her skidding across the grass for yards until a tree caught her back.
It didn't protect her from the oppressive opposition Hakufu continued to deliver.
She was already on the captain again before she could move. Her speed was unprecedented.
And the surprises continued when Hakufu threw a combination of lightning-quick punches at her, not a single one which could be distinguished by the grunts standing over at the playground. They looked like flickers of light in the dark from where they stood. Even the captain, who was dodging each by barely an inch, could barely make them out.
From the sidelines, her punches looked like flickers of light in the dark. But flickers of light wouldn't have been able to chisel the bark of a tree with every hit.
Gotcha! Hakufu thought while throwing her fiercest punch yet.
But that was just a feint. At the last moment, she reeled back, spun her whole body and jousted at the yellow's captain with a roundhouse kick.
Her target, however, was already gone.
Hakufu's kick pierced straight through the tree, which then refused to let it go. As Hakufu struggled to quickly yank her leg free, an unfriendly face showed back up.
"Gotcha~" the captain sang, popping up from the other side of the tree.
Hakufu stared at her blankly. She had done it again – disappeared without a trace then reappeared out of nowhere. How did she keep doing that? Was she really just that much faster?
"Ooh, those are cute panties, Titty-tan," she said while lifting up Hakufu's skirt. "I hope you brought extra pair, though… 'Cause you're gonna pissin' these!"
The captain then took Hakufu's caught and raised her elbow above it. She was about to do to it what it had done to the tree. Hakufu was panicked, but she still acted quickly. There was no clever out of this for her. Thus, she settled for the most straightforward approach.
"Ngh…!" Hakufu clenched her teeth.
At that moment she drew on every inch of raw power her leg and thigh could muster. With the captain still holding on, Hakufu swung her still trapped, tearing the tree that held it from its roots in the process.
The captain blinked. "Are… Are you for real right now?"
Hakufu swung her leg again. The tree flew from her leg like a loose sandal off a foot, and the captain along with it.
The tree landed square in the center of the playground. It was a miracle it nobody – either the guys in yellow or the Warriors on the ground – were hit. The captain was equally lucky to have not gotten crushed.
"Captain! Captain, are you alright?" one of the posse asked as they scrambled over to her.
"Ugh… Keep your panties on, dipshit. I'm fin—" She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her shoulder when she tried to use it to pick herself up. "Well… I've felt worse."
"Ya need backup?"
"Against this girl, you'd honestly just be getting in the way. Just wait here, alright?"
She shrugged her injury off the best she could and walked back towards where Hakufu was pulling splinters. From her leg.
"Ow, ow, ow… Tree's are a lot tougher than they look…"
"Shit… I don't know if colors are just reversed in Tokyo, but D Ranks ain't like this where I'm from," the captain said. "Are you sure you're not borrowing someone else's magatama, Titty-tan?"
"Why are you so obsessed with beads anyway? A fighter's strength is decided by the outcome of a fight itself, not some dumb rank."
"What, so you don't even care your bead's color?"
"My mama told me that the only colors that matter in a fight are black and blue." Hakufu blew once last time on her leg, then took a stance. "Now come and get it! It's time for round two!"
A high-pitched melody caught Hakufu completely off-guard. It turned out to be her opponent's cellphone. She pulled it out, looked at the ID and then scowled.
"Shit. It's her." She looked at Hakufu."Hold up for a second."
"What? But we were just about to-"
"I said hold up. It'll only take a minute, geez."
Hakufu stood still as the girl demanded. She even kept her stance.
"Yeah, it's me. Whaddya want? …Yea, so? I told you I'd… Wait, what? As in right now? I'm in the middle of something, ya know!" After a small pause, the captain sighed. "Fine... I'm coming, alright?"
As soon as she hung up, she snapped. "Shit! She's so damn annoying!" She looked back at her grunts. "Alright boys, we're headin' out."
"What?!" Hakufu's exclamation nearly rivaled the bass of opponent's headphones. "After everything that just happened, you're just gonna run away?!"
The captain shot her look. "Hey, I don't leaving business half-finished as much as you do, but orders are orders. Park's been properly pacified and that's all me and my boys were supposed to do tonight. You wanna have another go Titty-tan, you're just gonna have to catch me another day." She put her headphones back on. "Keep your bead safe 'till then, cause that baby's gonna be mine."
Hakufu still couldn't believe it. "You can't just walk off after—"
She did.
Her headphones were already blaring at their usual volume, to the point where Hakufu couldn't hear herself finish her own sentence. The captain, whoever she was, had already checked out of the conversation. She and her yellow-threaded followers headed off without sparing Hakufu so much as a parting glance.
If Hakufu's enthusiasm wasn't already deflated when she first entered the park, it was positively punctured at every inch now.
She fell to her knees for the second time that night. "Man… my luck just sucks tonight."
"Think I might've had a slightly worse evening, Hakufu."
The sound of Kōkin's voice almost made his cousin jump. He had finally picked himself off the ground, though with a new nasty bruise to decorate his forehead.
"K-Kōkin! Are you okay?!"
"Well… Yeah, actually. I was only out for a bit, and it doesn't look like that girl did any serious damage. The bruise hurts… a lot, but that will take care of itself in a few days."
"She still sucker punched you. She even said only a sucker would get knocked out like that! Aren't you mad?"
"Well, she's not wrong. I did jump right in front of her fist."
"But you only did that to protect… me. Wait, if you wouldn't have pushed me out of the way, I would have gotten hit. So… I'm the sucker!"
Kōkin blinked. "That's not what I…"
"Aw... I can't believe this! I'm a sucker! That girl made me a sucker and then just ran off without finishing what she started! This sucks!"
Kōkin felt extremely tired all of the sudden. More so even then his injury already made him feel.
"Hakufu?"
"Eh?"
"Let's go home."
After a bit more of pouting, she nodded. Kōkin sighed in relief, and the pair left the park in the opposite direction that Hakufu's newest foe and her lackeys went.
Their trip back was thankfully an uneventful one.
"We're back," Kōkin announced when he and Hakufu arrived.
Hakufu, eager to ask her mother about something, peeled off her shoes and went off to find her before a maid could arrive at the door.
Kōkin stayed near the entrance, gazing at his unpleasant bruise through a mirror. He didn't notice when a maid arrived.
"Good evening, Master Kōkin. I trust that tonight was…"
She broke off mid-sentence when she noticed the blotch of purple on her young master's forehead. Kōkin chuckled, knowing exactly how she felt.
"You don't need to make that type of face. This isn't nearly as bad as it looks. I just need a bit of ice."
'A bit of ice' was an understatement if she had ever heard one. The maid wanted to press Kōkin for more serious treatment, but she knew by now how stubborn her young master could be when it came to treating fight-related injuries. He would was sooner go the doctor over an upset stomach than a blackened eye.
It was a habit that had only grown in severity since his cousin and aunt moved in. They were rubbing off on Kōkin more than he realized, though none of the staff ever mentioned this to him.
"So, did anything happen while we were out?"
The maid nodded. "A guest arrived just a few moments before you and Hakufu-san did."
"Did they leave already?"
"No, sir. They're still here."
"Ah. Well, I'll just go and meet them before I do anything else."
"But what about…" The maid tapped her forehead.
"I'll just say I fell."
"Of course, Master Kōkin."
"So, where are they waiting? The living room?"
"The kitchen, sir."
"Why would they… Never mind. I'll find out when I get there, I guess."
Kōkin thanked his maid and started for his kitchen. He moved at a brisk pace, eager to uncover whoever would welcome themselves into another's kitchen while they were away.
When he got there, he was surprised to it in its usual immaculate condition. Even more suprising was the amazing smell that filled it. For some reason, it also smelled nostalgic. However, the chef behind the smell was someone Kōkin did not recognize at all – a bespectacled young man singing softly to himself in Chinese.
He looked about Kōkin's age, but that's where their similarities ended. Who he much more resembled was his cousin Hakufu. Their resemblance was downright uncanny in several areas, the most distinguishing of which being the strawberry blonde hair they seemed to share.
All Kōkin did was take a few steps. Before he could even reach the 'He-' in 'Hey', the boy had already turned to face him.
"Oh, Kō-nii. Good timing. Do you have any sake lying around? I asked the maids and none of them could find any."
Kōkin blinked. "Uh, who are you exactly?"
The stranger made a disappointed face. "So you really don't recognize me, huh? Well, I guess five years will do that. Anyway, my name is—"
"Kōkin, what's that smell coming from? It's amazing!"
Like a bloodhound, Hakufu barged into the kitchen lead by her nose.
"I thought you went looking for aunt Goei*, Hakufu?" Kōkin asked. [*5]
"I did. But one of the maids told me mama had left on an errand. So I just… Just…" Hakufu locked eyes with the stranger in Kōkin's kitchen, and her entire demeanor changed. "F… F… F…"
It was the most shaken Kōkin had ever seen Hakufu, and that included their childhood years. Just the simple act of speaking had become a challenge.
"H-Hakufu… Are you okay?" he asked, heavily concerned. "Do you know who this guy—"
"Fū-chan?!" Hakufu abruptly shouted.
A short silence swept through the kitchen, with only the stew being the only exception. The boy eventually cracked through the silence with a soft chuckle.
"I'm glad to see you too, nee-san. Could you keep the volume down, though? And Kō-nii, you still haven't answered my question by the way. Do you have any sake or not?"
Kōkin rubbed his still sore head trying to make sense of all this. When he finally put together the pieces – "Kō-nii", "Fū-chan", "Nee-chan" and a boy that looked like Hakufu – the obvious became transparently clear.
"…Gifū? You're Gifū. Hakufu's little brother, Gifū?"
Gifū adjusted his glasses. "Maybe I should be more upset at how long it took for it to sink in, but it has been over five years. Also, I didn't have these glasses back then, so…"
He shrugged.
Gifū took a moment to sample the stew he was cooking. He found the taste 'adequate', but the lack of the ingredient he was looking for certainly held it back. Kōkin and Hakufu were both still stuck in shock. They couldn't find any words to describe Gifū's sudden presence in his cousin's kitchen.
There were only two people who could, however. One of them walked into the kitchen almost as if she had been waiting for the perfect timing.
"So this is where you all were. Do really need this many cooks in the kitchen?" Goei said upon entering.
"Mama," Hakufu and Gifū said in unison.
She giggled. "Wow… And how long has it been since that happened?"
As usual, Goei wore a kimono which gave off the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese wife. The large bottle of sake she hugged was also quite traditional, though in a slightly different way.
"Ah! You brought sake," Gifū said excitedly.
"Of course. I knew you'd be in the kitchen as soon as you got here, so why I had to go and get us restocked. That special Son Son Sake Stew wouldn't be complete with its most important ingredient, would it?"
"Very perceptive." Gifū then gave his mama a look. "…That alcohol isn't going to be used justfor making stew though, is it?"
"Very perceptive~"
He shook his head. Some things apparently had not changed much in the time he had been overseas.
"Wait a minute, mama!" a still confused Hakufu exclaimed. "Fū-chan is supposed to be going to school in Hong Kong, isn't he? Why is he in Kōkin's kitchen then?"
Goei smiled broadly.
"Well… Kōkin's father and I have been keeping this a secret for a while, Hakufu. Since before you and I moved here, in fact." Goei smiled broadly. "Starting next week, your little brother is going to staying with us here while he attends school in Tokyo!"
Hakufu's expression exploded. She looked like more of a sucker than that white-haired girl at the park could have ever hoped of making her. She couldn't think of a single word to say in response.
Kōkin could however think of one thing to say.
"Dad… Why don't ever tell me these things beforehand?"
::~:: Afternotes ::~::
1. A Warrior is a fighter who wears a magatama bead and takes the power of the ancient warrior spirit within as their own.
2. A magatama bead is a sacred jewel which contains the spirit of warriors from China's tumultuous Three Kingdoms era. The strength of the warrior who wears it changes its color. The correlating power level of each color, from weakest to strongest, goes as follows: E Rank = Jade green, D Rank = White, C Rank = Vermilion red, B Rank = Silver, A Rank = Gold, Special A Rank = Transparent, S Rank = Multi-color.
3. Hakufu Sonsaku is the Japanese name for Sun Ce. Known infamously as the "Little Conqueror" for rapidly taking territory, he laid down the foundation for Wu before being assassinated at the young age of twenty-five. History as it is known may have changed drastically had he lived only a few years more.
4. Kōkin Shūyu is the Japanese name for Zhou Yu, a general and strategist who served under Sun Ce and later his younger brother Sun Quan. When Sun Jian moved his family to Zhou Yu's hometown, Zhou Yu developed a close friendship with Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce. He would later go on to become an invaluable general to Sun Ce, becoming the shield at the back of Little Conqueror's army.
5. Goei is the Japanese name for Lady Wu, the wife of the warlord Sun Jian. She bore him several children, the two most famous being Sun Ce and Sun Quan.