Part 2
As the day went on Kairi and Yakumo help out where ever they could. Kairi helped Megumi take care for Sora while running errands. Yakumo helped Kaoru train Yahiko during which there was a lot of yelling. As Kenshin cleans in front of the dojo, he sees Sanosuke and Riku walk in with Riku using Sanosuke for support. Jumping to the wrong conclusion he drops everything and goes over to them.
Kenshin asked, "What happened to him?"
Sanosuke was silent for a moment, "He's ummm…..He's just wiped out."
"I'm Fine!" Riku protested weakly.
Just then Yakumo and Megumi walked out to see what was going on. They both went over to them.
"What happened?" Yakumo asked Riku.
"What did you do!" Megumi asked Sanosuke.
"Why do you think it was me?" Sanosuke asked.
"You're always in the middle of something." Megumi answered.
Riku sighed and said weakly, "I asked him to train me."
"WHY DID YOU ASK HIM TO TRAIN YOU? OF ALL PEOPLE?" Yakumo and Megumi yelled.
Kenshin looked confused at this.
"Ummmm Sanosuke why don't you take Riku inside for some rest?" Kenshin asked still confused.
Sanosuke sighed and said, "I guess that's enough for today."
Yakumo helped Riku inside not very happy about Riku's state. Later Yakumo was standing watch outside of the dojo door. Yakumo sighed to herself before lying down.
"I'm bored." She said to herself.
"Maybe a fight will do you some good." Sanosuke said coming into view.
Yakumo stood up quickly and was ready to fight.
Yakumo smirked and asked, "Why are you offering?"
Sanosuke smiled and said, "Of Course!"
Both get into battle position.
"What now pinhead?" Yakumo asked.
Sanosuke snarled and charged at Yakumo. She dodged before trying to punch him. Sanosuke side steps and throws a right punch; it connecting with her left shoulder. Yakumo was thrown back but easily regained her balance.
Sanosuke points at Yakumo scowling, "Don't you dare hold back!"
Sanosuke charged again throwing another punch. Yakumo sent up a wall of fire to block the punch. Jerking his hand back, as his hand connects with the flame; Yakumo makes an arch in the fire, walking through, a smirk on her face.
"You said I should not hold back pinhead. Now you're in my element." Yakumo said with her fist flaming.
Sanosuke smiled, "So your right. So let's get this started."
Yakumo threw a punch missing Sanosuke only by a few inches. As Sanosuke punches toward her shoulder again, Yakumo turns just barely dodging and lands a flaming punch in Sanosuke's face. Staggering back some Sanosuke wipes the back of his hand over his face.
"Your pretty good, girl." Sanosuke said smiling, "This might just be worth the effort."
Yakumo sighed, "Well you're definitely not worth my time, pinhead."
Sanosuke chuckled, "we'll see about that pimp squeak."
They both charge at each other with grim determination written on their faces. They both throw a punch, each landing a punch to the others face. Sliding back from the force they stand slowly, both ready to face off again. Sanosuke wiped sweat from his brow noticing that Yakumo's wound had opened once more.
"Not invincible I see." Sanosuke said.
Yakumo snarled, "Are we here to fight or comment on each other's appearance?"
Sanosuke shrugged, "Right, well it's your funeral when Megumi gets a hold of you."
Yakumo charges rage in her eyes. She throws another punch aiming for Sanosuke's face again. Sanosuke dodges and throws a punch connecting with Yakumo's jaw, sending her flying back. The sun starts to rise as they both breathe heavily.
"I only have enough energy for maybe one more punch…" Sanosuke said standing slightly off balance.
"Same here…" Yakumo said also a little off balance. "So let's see who wins this pinhead."
They both charge at each other once more, both ready to throw their last punch. Just then the dojo doors open and Kenshin, Kaoru, Riku, and Kairi watched in stunned silence. Their punches connect and they both fly back landing on their backs, unable to move.
"We'll call it a draw this time…" Sanosuke said looking at his bleeding and broken hand.
"Yeah…this time…" Yakumo said holding her wounded side.
"Well that was unexpected…..It usually Sora that gets into the fights or me." Riku said.
Kairi said, "Well yeah but we need to help them."
Kaoru sighed and said, "I wish I could the same about Sano but it usually is."
Kenshin sighed and said, "This one'll get Megumi-dono."
Kenshin went to get Megumi and the others help them into the dojo. When Megumi gets there, anger is written on her face.
"SANOSUKE you idiot. What did you do this time?" Megumi asked.
"It wasn't just me." Sanosuke said pointing at Yakumo.
Megumi looked at Yakumo and said, "You too?"
Yakumo smiled weakly and said, "….Sorry?"
Megumi sighed frowning and got to work. She wacked Sanosuke when she walked over to him. Megumi grumbled as she got to work on them especially when she had to re-stitch Yakumo's side wound. Riku wasn't happy that Sanosuke couldn't train him for awhile.
"Well I taught you the basics so train yourself." Sanosuke said.
Once again everyone went around doing their usual thing with Riku going to train under Sanosuke's watchful eye. It was about dinner time when they found a note from Kaoru. It said:
Gone out for dinner. Meet us at Beef-Pot House.
Kaoru
So Riku and Sanosuke went and saw that Kairi, Yakumo, Kaoru, Kenshin, and Yahiko were there. They all went inside and sat down.
Kaoru asked, "So what do you plan to do when your friend wakes up?"
"Well since there hasn't been any Heartless since Mist's attack….then we'll have to track her down and fight her again." Riku explained.
"So what's up this Mist person?" Yahiko asked.
Riku and Kairi looked at Yakumo who sighed. Then Yakumo explained everything they needed to know about Mist minus the part about her being a princess.
"Do you understand now?" Yakumo asked when she finished explaining.
They all nodded and Sanosuke said, "Well I really don't care unless I'm in on the fight."
Kenshin thought for a moment and asked, "Where do you think Mist will be hiding?"
Yakumo thought and answered, "Probably somewhere that is full of darkness. Where the light can't reach. Why?"
"Then this one will lead you his assistance." Kenshin said.
"No you guy can't come." Riku said.
"Why not?" Yahiko asked.
"Because Mist is too strong for you guys and if something happened then you could—" Yakumo started to say but was cut off.
"HEY YOU BRING MORE SAKE!" someone yelled.
They turned to see four guys standing at the front of the shop. Two of them went into the shop and the other two started to harass the waiters one of them being a little girl.
"That's Tsubame. Hey get your hand off of her." Yahiko said starting to get up.
But before Yahiko could do anything else, Yakumo grabbed her fire sword and went after the guy. Sanosuke and Kenshin went after the other two to take care of them.
"Hey you! Leave them alone!" Yakumo shouted.
They guys looked up and one said, "Why don't you make me?"
"It would be my pleasure." Yakumo said before disappearing.
The guy looked around only to be hit from behind with Yakumo's sword. As that happened more guys came into the shop. The guy stood up and Yahiko went over and joined Yakumo. He took out his wooden sword and got ready to fight. Riku joined Sanosuke and Kenshin; Kairi joined Yakumo and Yahiko. The thugs where the first to charge but they were out of their league. There were sounds of a fight happening then Yakumo kicked one of the thugs out the door. Some people looked inside only to see the group of thugs was lying in a pile.
"Well that was easy." Riku said.
Everyone inside the shop started to cheer and the waiters were thanking them for their help. They decided to go back to the dojo for a little bit only to find out that Sora had woken up. Of course Kairi went over and hugged him.
"Good to see you up and about Sora." Yakumo said walking over to him.
"Yeah so what did I miss?" Sora asked.
Everyone just looked at each other before they started laughing.
Sora was confused and Kairi said, "Don't worry we'll tell you."
They started to explain what had just happened to them. Sora looked surprised when they explained that Yakumo had gotten into a fight with Sanosuke.
After Sora sighed and said, "Man why did I have to be asleep when all of the good stuff happened?"
"Yeah but for once I'd like to go to a world where we only have to worry about Heartless." Yakumo said.
Sora, Kairi, and Riku agreed with her and Kenshin said, "That must get tiring after sometime."
"Yeah but you get use to it." Riku said lying down.
"And this one believes that Yakumo-dono was explaining why we couldn't come with them."
"Ok look the thing is Heartless go for the darkness in people's hearts no matter who they are. We're already in enough danger so we can't let you guys risk your hearts too." Yakumo said.
Sanosuke said, "So what if they come after us then we'll just have to knock them back."
Sora shook his head, "You don't understand….The only thing that can destroy a Heartless is our weapons. Everything else is useless against them."
"And the Heartless that aren't destroyed will just come back as ten more Heartless making it even harder to stop them." Kairi explained.
"And it doesn't matter how strong your heart is either. The Heartless will continue to come after you to pull you into darkness." Riku explained closing his eyes.
"Do you understand now? That no matter how you fight or what you use, you'll never destroy the Heartless. You have to leave this to us so we can free this world from darkness." Yakumo said.
"Hey No Way Are We Letting—" Sanosuke started.
"Sano!" Kenshin said cutting him off.
Sanosuke stopped and looked at Kenshin. Then he sighed and crossed his arms.
"Fine! We'll stay here!" Sanosuke said defeated.
Suddenly an arrow stuck in the ground not too far away from them. Yakumo looked around but didn't see anything. Yakumo stood up and went over to the arrow. Her friends followed her as Yakumo pulled the arrow from the ground. There was a note attached to it. Yakumo took it off and read it. It read:
Yakumo I know you've been looking for me but I'm starting to get bored. Soon you'll see a heartless that will lead you to me. Then we'll see who will rule this world. In seven days we fight.
Yakumo looked at the note again and said, "Seven days, huh? Fine by me Mist…..that means seven days to get stronger."
Yakumo ripped up the note and looked at the sky. The sun was still pretty high so that meant she still had time to train. Her friends caught her drift and they went off to train. While they did that Sanosuke meet up with Kenshin.
"Kenshin are you sure about this?" Sanosuke asked.
"Yes Sano this one thinks so. For now continue to train Riku and be ready to go." Kenshin replied.
Sanosuke humped and said, "You don't have to tell me twice."
Sanosuke walked off and Kenshin smiled. Yakumo and her friends came back when the sun started to set. They saw that Kaoru and the others were waiting for them so they could eat. When it was time for bed, Sora decided to stand watch for Heartless. The rest weren't too sure he was strong enough yet so Kenshin decided to stay with him.
The next few days went in the same pattern. Yakumo would train for the whole day while Riku went to train with Sanosuke. Sora and Kairi would train and help Kaoru out with training Yahiko. At night one of them would take the watch for Heartless while being joined by one of Kenshin's friends. The days came and went very fast and soon only one day was left before their fight.
"The last day….." Yakumo said quietly before she splashed her face with water.
Yakumo sighed and let the water drip from her face. She begins to wonder if she was strong enough to beat Mist. Riku saw her and sighed. Riku walked over to her and handed her a towel. Yakumo looked up and gracefully took it.
"You ok?" Riku asked.
"Yeah I was just thinking." Yakumo said as she wiped her face.
"About Mist?" Riku questioned.
"Yeah today is the last day after all so let's hope we're ready." Yakumo answered.
Riku nodded and Yakumo asked, "So have has your training with Sanosuke been going?"
Riku smiled slightly and said, "Well let's just say you guys will be surprised when you see what he taught me."
"Really?" Yakumo said with smile.
Riku nodded and Yakumo turned walking away to train. She trained as hard as she could without wiping herself out. After a long day of training Yakumo said that she would take the watch that night without any help. Her friends tried to change her mind but she had already decided. They went to bed and Yakumo started her watch. In the middle of the night Riku woke up and sighed. He quietly got up and went to check on Yakumo.
When he opened the dojo door, he saw that Yakumo was lying on her side. Riku went to take a closer look but was stopped.
"Don't wake her up." Said a voice.
Riku looked to see Kenshin sitting not too far away. Riku quietly walked over to him and sat next to him.
"Hey Kenshin how long have you been out here?" Riku whispered.
"Since the watch started. At first Yakumo-dono didn't want this one here but soon she fell asleep." Kenshin whispered.
"You know she's going to be mad that you didn't wake her up." Riku whispered.
"This one figured that but this one thought it would be better to let her rest."
"Yeah that's true."
"And you should get some more sleep too Riku-dono." Kenshin whispered with a smile.
"Sure you can handle the watch?" Riku asked.
Kenshin nodded and said, "No worries now go get some sleep."
"Alright." Riku said before he stood up.
Riku walked back into the dojo and went back to sleep. Kenshin sighed and looked around. Yakumo woke up when the light of the sun hit her face. She groaned slightly and rubbed her eyes.
It took her a moment before she asked, "Wait a minute I fell asleep?"
Kenshin smiled and answered, "Yes you did."
"Kenshin why did you wake me up?"
"This one thought it would be best to let you sleep. After all today is the today you guys go after Mist." Kenshin said as he stood up.
Yakumo sighed, stood up, and stretched. Soon everyone else got up and waited for the Heartless to show up. No one talk as they waited and Kaoru canceled training for the day. Suddenly the darkness appeared and a Heartless appeared. It had a fairly muscular, humanoid body. Its crooked antennae were quite long and fell back behind the Heartless. It seems to be rather muscular, and its hands were very large, each one sporting four clawed fingers. Its feet were long and lacked digits. Its body was mostly a dark brown color, and was also lined by several faint, red veins of color.
"A Novashadow?" Sora asked.
"Well I guess that's what Mist sent to lead us." Yakumo said standing up.
They got up and Riku said, "We'll be back as soon as we came."
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Yakumo walked up to the Novashadow. The Novashadow turned, went under the door, and walked away.
Yakumo opened the door and said, "Ok I don't care how many times I see that, it's still weird."
They closed the door behind them and followed the Novashadow. As they followed the Heartless, they sensed something or someone was following them. But every time they looked back they didn't see anything.
"They must be hiding." Kairi said.
The rest of them stopped and looked around. Yakumo looked around and saw a tree was nearby. Yakumo looked surprised for a moment and then smiled.
"Kairi how good is your aim?" Yakumo asked as she turned to look at Kairi.
"It's pretty good. Why?" Kairi said looking around.
Yakumo walked over to her and whispered, "Do you think you can hit that tree branch?"
Yakumo pointed to the tree branch and Kairi looked at it.
Then Kairi smiled and said, "Of course that will be easy."
Kairi summoned her Keyblade and took aim. Then she threw it and it hit the branch. Kairi grabbed her Keyblade as it came back and then the branch broke. Two figures dropped down with the branch and landed with a thud. It was Kenshin and Sanosuke.
The two sat up and Yakumo asked, "I thought we told you guys not to come?"
Sanosuke answered, "Come on did you really think we would just let you go be yourselves?"
"Well Yeah! I mean after everything we told you, we thought you'd get the hint. Man you really are a pinhead." Yakumo said.
Riku sighed and said, "But at the moment, it would be a waste to send you back to the dojo. Not that you would go anyways."
"That's true but I hope that Yahiko can protect the dojo if anything happens." Kairi said worried.
Yakumo sigh slightly, "He'll be able to. The kid has talent in the way of the sword and, if he puts his mind to it, he should be able to stop almost anything that goes to the dojo."
Kenshin smiled, "You think highly of Yahiko."
"What can I say; I know talent when I see it. Now come on we need to—" Yakumo started.
She was cut off when they heard a shriek. They turned to see the Novashadow backing away into the shadows.
"What was that?" Sanosuke asked.
"The sun light must have scared the Novashadow." Sora stated.
Sanosuke and Kenshin looked confused.
Sora saw the look and explained, "The Heartless hate the light because that's their one weakness. That's why our weapons work well against them. The Keyblades were forged with light even Riku's Keyblade was."
"And my weapon was fused with the power of light by its last owner." Yakumo explained.
Kenshin and Sanosuke looked like they understand and they went over to the Novashadow. It looked hurt and weak.
"Great now what? That Heartless probably doesn't have enough power to guide us anymore." Sanosuke asked frustrated.
"Well then we'll just have to get another Guide." Sora said looking at Yakumo.
Yakumo caught his drift and looked at her wrist. On her wrist was a bracelet but it didn't look normal. It had a head of a fox in the center and the sides were fox tails that wrapped around Yakumo's wrist.
Yakumo looked at Sora and asked, "Are you sure this will work?"
"Come on Yakumo. You should know how strong Rukia senses are."
"Good point." Yakumo said holding out her wrist.
"Guardian Fox Rukia!" Yakumo shouted.
The bracelet started to glow and turned into a ball of light. It moved away from her wrist to the ground and started to change shape. It turned into a white fox with two tails. The light disappeared and the fox looked at Yakumo.
"Hey Rukia we were hoping you would help us find Mist." Yakumo told the fox.
Rukia smiled and said, "Of course."
Yakumo smiled and Sora got rid of the Novashadow. Rukia smelled the air and then went off. They followed her close behind.
"So that's Rukia huh?" Kenshin asked catching up to Yakumo.
Yakumo nodded and asked, "But why weren't you guys surprised when she started talking?"
"Don't you remember you told us that she could. To tell the truth I didn't believe you until now." Sanosuke said.
"Well there's a shock." Riku said scarcely.
With Rukia leading them, it didn't take that long to get to a building. This was dripping with darkness and Yakumo sighed.
"Yeah that figures."
Yakumo called Rukia back and she turned back into the bracelet. Sora walked up and tried to open the door. Soon he found out that he couldn't so the other went to help. The door wouldn't open.
"Well that's weird. Maybe there's a lock on the door." Kairi said.
Sora looked around and said, "No I don't see one. There has to be a way inside."
"Stand back!" Sanosuke shouted.
They looked to see Sanosuke and Kenshin, with his sword drawn, in a fighting stance. They moved away from the door. Then Sanosuke and Kenshin attacked the door which broke into pieces. Sora let out a low whistle and they went inside.
