Shiba on the Surface, Takeru from within

Takeru sat on his bed, thinking about what just happened. A distant memory came back to him.

"Why was I so shy to tell Mako about my feelings? After all, it's not the first time I've been so close to her. In fact, she was the one who..." Takeru chuckled as he spoke to himself. His sentence was cut short by the memory which enveloped him without him even using the Memory Character. Sighing, he fell back onto the bed and leaned on his pillow and shut his eyes.

It happened a year ago. An Ayakashi with a strong mastery of fire attacked the city. The six Shinkengers arrived at the scene. Quickly disposing of the Nanashi, the team charged at the beast. Dodging the multiple flaming projectiles, the samurais slashed it repeatedly. This opponent had a special move: he could heat the ground and catch the Shinkengers off guard. He attacked successfully, knocking them all, except Mako, to the ground, undoing their transformation. He charged a fireball and hurled it at them, mainly targeting Takeru.

Mako threw herself in front of Takeru and took the brunt of the blow, losing her consciousness in the process. Scrambling to their feet, the others surrounded Mako as the monster fled due to a lack of the Sanzu River's water. Ryuunosuke deduced that she had to be taken to a hospital, and so they rushed her to the nearby general hospital, where doctors rushed in and out of the ward. Jii had learnt of the unfortunate event, but Takeru told him to manage the home in case of another attack.

A while later, they were allowed to enter the ward, where Mako lay, injured badly.

"She'll be okay, right?" asked Genta.

The doctor nodded, but looked worried and grave. He left without another word.

"Mako, how valiant. Protecting Tono like that..." began Ryuunosuke, but his voice trailed away.

"Nee-san, why did you do something so reckless? It's completely unlike you..." mumbled Chiaki.

Kotoha could only cry softly, glancing at Mako. Takeru remained silent, leaning against the wall. He did not look at any of his retainers, but kept staring at Mako. Chiaki was blaming Takeru for Mako's plight. Silencing him, Kotoha placed her hand on her Lord's arm, but Takeru shifted away uncomfortably. The doctor peeped in and asked them to leave, and they promptly did, but Takeru trudged behind. When they all were out of the ward, he turned to look at Mako's face.

She stirred and called weakly, "Takeru... please stay."

Inexplicably, the young lord found himself retracing his steps. Mako tried to sit up, but was visibly exhausted.

"Mako, lie down. You mustn't push yourself too hard," he said compassionately but sternly, pushing her gently back onto the bed and properly adjusted her head on the pillow.

Tucking her under the blanket covers, he sat on the bed by her side and held her hand, stroking her hair for a few minutes, which she seemed to like, until she drifted back to sleep. He promised to save her in his mind. Peering in by the window, the others had seen this little episode. Takeru could sense it and got up to leave. He walked past the others but stopped, his back facing them when Chiaki called him.

"What are you..." he stated to say but was cut off by Takeru, who seemed to have read his mind.

"Just for today. I just wanted to make sure she was feeling alright." he said sternly, shutting his eyes, still not looking at any of them.

After a few seconds, he opened them and walked down to the ground floor and out of the hospital. The four were speechless.

Takeru walked far enough until the remaining Shinkengers could not see him from the fourth floor window. Drawing the horse character, Takeru mounted his with horse and rode to the place where he could sense the Ayakashi. This one had a concealing spell, and the Gap Sensor would only be able to detect the second life. Being proficient at Mojikara, Takeru could sense this and thus headed to battle.

"So, how did you find me, ShinkenRed?" questioned the monster, puzzled.

Takeru did not reply. He drew the Fire character and transformed into ShinkenRed. Using the Kyoryuu Disc to become Hyper ShinkenRed, he destroyed the Nanashi and faced the Ayakashi one on one, defeating it swiftly by whipping it repeatedly with the extendable KyoryuuMaru. He called upon the InRouMaru to form Samurai Ha-Oh on his own and used the Mojikara Dai Dai En to finish it off. He jumped off the titan and undid his transformation, just as his team arrived. They were hurling questions at Takeru.

"How did you know about the attack without the Sensor going off, Take-chan?" questioned Genta.

"Is the Sensor faulty? Why didn't it ring upon detecting the first life?" added Ryuunosuke.

"Tono-sama, what's going on?" asked Kotoha.

"How dare you leave us out of battle?" yelled Chiaki.

Still not looking at anyone, Takeru patiently and clearly explained to the puzzled team,

"The Ayakashi had a concealing spell. The spell reduces the negative energy it carries, and therefore the Sensor will not ring. The appearance of the second life, however, releases enough energy to activate the Sensor. I was able to sense it because of my intense training in Mojikara over twenty years. The spell takes a lot of negative energy to be used, and that amount can only be gathered over 10,000 years. So the good news is that the next few hundred generations of Shinkengers would not need to face this problem. And I needed you guys on standby in case I got hurt in battle. The wounds from taking the attack are not treatable by the traditional medicine the Kuroko are trained in. I did not want any of you to face Mako's plight. That's why I fought alone. It's my duty as a Samurai to protect the world from the Gedoushuu, but I'm also responsible for your lives as a lord."

Leaving his team stunned, Takeru quickly walked away. He actually went to the hospital, where Mako was able to sit up. Looking at her in the eye like he had never done before, he said,

"Get well soon," flashing a small smile before leaving. He saw Mako return a smile through a corner of his eye, but continued without speaking any more.

By the time the others arrived, they saw could only see a familiar figure disappearing into the distance through the fourth floor window outside the ward.

"I don't understand that guy at all! Mou!" complained Chiaki.

Remembering why they were at the hospital, the four dashed into the ward, where Mako was upright, looking at them. She looked happy, as if she could understand what Takeru was thinking when he acted the way he did and Chiaki questioned her about it.

Mako merely smiled, and looking out of the window, replied,

"Well, I heard you complaining, Chiaki. All I can say is that he's not just Shiba Takeru. He's Shiba on the surface, but is Takeru from within," leaving the others puzzled, especially Chiaki, but all of them silently decided not to bring it up again, at least until Mako recovered.

Then Takeru opened his eyes and sat up on his bed.

"Right! So Mako did like me! Why was I shy at all?" he asked himself.

The he made a decision: he would think about it until Mako returned, so that he could ask her with at least some ideas in mind.

"That'll keep me occupied for a month!" he thought gleefully, before allowing his head to hit the pillow again and falling asleep from a tiring afternoon.