UnLimited

Vengeance, the Motive

"Come on Kazuya! You have to be faster than that if you want to beat me!" the young girl said with a giggle as they ran around the track near their home.

"I'm trying my best, Kazuha!" he exclaimed, his little legs moving as fast as he could make them, but it seemed no matter how fast he ran he could never catch up to her.

When they were finished, Kazuya crumpled to the ground from the exertion. Kazuha rushed to his side, worry written all over her face.

"Are you okay, Kazuya?" She held him gently in her arms as muscles were wracked with spasms from overexertion.

He managed to nod, still feeling dizzy and weak. She smiled ever so slightly and didn't let go of him.

After a few moments his breathing slowed to normal and he was able to speak.

"I'm sorry sis," he apologized, "I promise I'll be stronger next time."

Kazuha giggled again and gently ran a hand over his hair, "I know you will. But try not to go too overboard again, okay?"

"Okay," replied Kazuya, smiling weakly.

His eyes fluttered open.

Sunlight glowed from behind the curtains of his window, bright enough that it still illuminated the room pretty well even though it was only leaking through the sides of the curtain. He moved his arms up and above his head and stretched. Rubbing his eyes, he pushed the blankets off of him and moved to the side of the bed, his feet going over the edge and pressing firmly onto the carpeted floor.

He cast a glance around his room.

It was quite plain, with only a handful of posters and one framed picture adorning the walls. The posters were of action heroes and heroines in movies and TV shows as well as a poster of the famed Chevalier First Brigade, the one his sister would have been a part of had she...

His hands gripped the covers tightly, his gaze drifting over to the lone framed picture that hung over his bed.

It was a picture of him and his older sister playing on some far away beach. He was only five at the time and his sister was eleven. They were in the middle of building a sizable sandcastle when the photo was taken, and the smiles on their faces were of genuine happiness. That seemed like such a long time ago.

He closed his eyes.

"Don't forget that if you mix some wet sand with dry sand, the mixture turns out to be strong enough to form into whatever shapes you want. Great for making sandcastles!" she reminded him as she molded one section of the castle walls into shape with a delicate, sure touch.

He smiled, blue pail in hand. "Right! I'll go get some more wet sand then, sis!"

He stood and ran towards the water like he had done dozens of times over that day, but this time he failed to notice the shard of glass that jutted out from beneath the sand and he stepped on it. He stumbled from the sudden searing pain that shot up from his foot and cried out as he fell with a sandy thud, eyes already soaked with tears that began to stream down his face. He ended up on his side, whimpering as his hands clutched at his bleeding foot.

Kazuha was there at his side a heartbeat later, sandcastle all but forgotten, comforting him as usual. She looked over the wound, vocally thanking no one in particular that it wasn't very deep.

Their father arrived momentarily afterwards with a bandage, antiseptic, and some wraps, and as he attended to the boy, Kazuha herself removed the offending piece of glass and threw it out properly where no one else could step on it. She returned to his side, grabbing hold of his hand and squeezing it reassuringly while he sobbed and their father worked on his foot.

"Hey, shhh... shhh... You'll be fine, Kazuya. Remember what you told me? Remember that you said you would be stron? So be strong little one. Be strong for me."

"Uh-huh," he replied softly, willing himself to stop crying and ignore the pain. He had to be strong. He had promised.

He opened his eyes again.

Why were all these memories flooding his mind once more, called forth unbidden by his subconscious?

He sighed heavily, lifting his right foot and looking at the bottom of it. He ran a finger along the calloused skin where the wound used to be. There was no evidence at all of the nasty wound he had gotten that day at the beach all those years ago. Almost as if it never happened.

He stood up and walked to the bathroom, splashing cold water onto his face to help him wake up some more and clear his mind. He had a long day ahead of him.

As if on cue, a woman's voice called to him from somewhere downstairs, loud enough to be heard, "Kazuya! Are you up?"

"Yes, Onya. I'll be right down!" he replied back equally as loud so that she could hear him. Onya was the family maid, and she had practically raised both Kazuha and Kazuya in the absence of their father, who was nearly always away at work. She and Rudolphe were basically part of the Aoi family in his eyes.

The thought of his training master made him tense up and look around out of habit.

Rudolphe was always talking about being ready to fight at a moment's notice. Stay ready so that you don't have to get ready.

He was alone, however, and at home. There was no fighting to be done here, except maybe with his hair. Using the mirror and some more water, he managed to mostly get rid of his bedhead hair.

He returned to his room to get dressed, putting on a simple gray polo shirt and loose-fitting pants to give him flexibility in movement in case he needed it.

Once satisfied with his state of dress, he walked downstairs. The aroma of breakfast wafting up his nostrils as he descended the stairs made him hungry almost instantly.

"Good morning, Onya," he greeted the old lady as he stepped into the dining room.

She smiled warmly in return, the many wrinkles on her face creasing from the expression. She was slightly hunched over, showing her age today.

"A good morning to you too, young master Kazuya. Now dig in! I know you must be hungry, and with what's going on today, I made you a little extra."

He didn't have to be told twice as he wolfed down two whole servings of food like a starved man before finally stopping, content with a belly full of food. His table manners could probably use some work, but there was no one to show good manners to these days.

Onya didn't care so much about such things as table manners so long as he wasn't too wild, and more importantly so long as he ate her food. Of that, he had no trouble with, because her home-cooked meals were always very good.

By the time he was through, his plate was devoid of any food. And were it not something that even Onya would frown upon, he likely would have literally licked the plate clean too.

Kazuya put his utensils down, not feeling hungry at the moment even though he had barely eaten anything all day. His body felt very sore and banged up from the training session with Rudolphe and that was messing somewhat with his appetite.

"Kazuya," his sister said his name, causing him to turn to her questioningly. "You need to eat!"

He shrugged. "But I'm not feeling hungry."

"Even so, don't waste the food you already have on your plate. If you can't eat a lot, then don't put a lot on your plate," she reprimanded him, "But if you put food on your plate you better eat it, okay? Besides," her look softened, "It's good for you. You need food to nourish your body and mind if you want to get stronger."

He looked at her plate. Sure enough, it was practically spotless.

"You do still want to get stronger, right Kazuya?"

"Of course!" he replied quickly. After a few seconds of pouting and mulling it over, he nodded. "You're right, big sis. I want to be strong, just like you! So I'll eat all my food from now on. I promise."

Her smile at his comment made him happy with his decision as he finished the remaining food on his plate.

"You have a lot on your mind, Kazuya?" asked Onya as she began to clear away the food, bringing him back to the present.

He hadn't realized he had zoned out like that. "Uh... yeah. You could say that..."

She studied him briefly out of the corner of her eye as she worked. "Rudolphe will be arriving soon. You should get ready for your final day of training with him."

He gave her a nod and stood up. "Right! Thanks for the delicious food as always, Onya."

The old maid watched as he left the room, a sadness she had been keeping hidden finally showing in her eyes.

Kazuya walked towards the front of the house and waited in the living room for his sensei to arrive. He was feeling a bit restless as he waited so he started to pace around the room. He wondered what Rudolphe had planned for the final day of training.

They had been training together since as far back as Kazuya could remember. There was no combat training in his earlier years, of course. He was too small for that, but they did calisthenics and initial studying of some martial arts, along with actual academic studies too.

Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang, causing him to stop in his tracks. He walked purposefully to the front door. Unlocking the door, he swung it open to reveal his sensei standing there with a small smile on his face.

"Sensei," greeted the young boy, bowing respectfully at the waist and then stepping aside to let the man through.

His trainer returned the bow. "Good morning, Kazuya." His German accent was not as heavy as when he first started training Kazuya.

Rudolphe was tall, around six foot three, and built tough with a dense, muscled body. He had a chiseled jaw and very short blonde hair, cut military style. Several scars ran this way and that all over his exposed skin, evidence of the many battles he had been a part of in his past. His gray eyes often reminded Kazuya of hard steel, cold and unyielding. Eyes that had seen hell and survived.

And yet even with all that outward toughness, after so many years training under the man, Kazuya knew that Rudolphe was really kind at heart.

Rudolphe's smile widened a little, "Ready for our last day, kid?"

"I am always ready," Kazuya replied as he shut the door and walked over to him. The words left his mouth and he heard himself say it, but in truth he did not really feel that way today.

"Good." The smile inched a little wider. "Let's head out back then."

They passed through the kitchen since it was the quickest route out to the backyard, Rudolphe saying a quick hello to Onya who, like many times before, asked him to take it easy on Kazuya.

As they walked outside into the vast yard, the bright sunlight finally hit Kazuya for the first time in full force. He was momentarily blinded as he squinted while his eyes adjusted, but even momentarily without his sight he could sense the attack from behind him. Launching himself to the side out of pure instinct and reaction, he rolled across the ground and was back on his feet.

Sure enough, Rudolphe's fist was extended into the air that he had previously been occupying.

The German nodded his approval, then shifted into a fighting stance. His eyes locked with Kazuya's. No words were exchanged as the combatants circled each other for a few tense seconds.

This time, it was Kazuya who attacked. Concentrating hard on his next moves, he rushed towards Rudolphe, who stepped to the side to change the angle of attack. Kazuya had been expecting that, however, and taking that into consideration he jumped up and spun in the air, extending a leg out to kick. While the move seemed to surprise Rudolphe, the big man still moved fast enough to block the attack that was aimed for his head.

The German countered immediately, barely giving Kazuya time to settle himself. His pupil was fast, and yet Rudolphe knew that Kazuya could be even faster if he tapped into the power that dwelt within him. But that would not be a fair fight, and both of them knew it.

Rudolphe was there to impart knowledge, tactics, and techniques. All things that Kazuya needed to help fully utilize and harness the power of his raw abilities. Abilities that not even Rudolphe knew all about, though he could hazard a guess given what he knew of their father.

Gengo Aoi was a good friend from Rudolphe's past, but even his old friend had told him little of the situation. As a former soldier, that was fine with Rudolphe of course, though he could not help but be curious.

He had been training the kid for years now and from what Rudolphe gleaned from his talks with Kazuya's father, he had a rough picture of the bare minimum power the young boy possessed. And it heartened him to know that he was helping to train someone who he knew would likely help turn the tide against the dreaded Nova.

Again and again they attacked and counter-attacked on the field, neither really gaining any ground. This was significant of course, considering that a fifteen year old boy was going toe-to-toe with a nearly fifty-year old, still in shape hardened combat veteran. Again, the boy's physical abilities impressed him and he wondered how much of it Kazuya was actually using.

It had become evident to Rudolphe two years ago that the young boy had been holding something back, perhaps fearing the extent of his own strength.

"Come on, kid! Stop trying to hit me and just hit me already! I thought you'd be strong enough by now," he mocked the little boy, trying to get into his head. He noticed the kid grit his teeth ever so slightly at the comment, but otherwise the taunt appeared to have little effect.

Rudolphe had been wanting to know how strong Kazuya truly was. He thought that he must be some prodigy of some kind, otherwise, Gengo would not have personally requested that he train the boy privately. Especially starting at such a young age. Feeling a bit reckless that day, he decided to push Kazuya further than he ever had before and hoped in the back of his mind that he wouldn't regret it and die from doing so.

His training of the kid had been going excellent, however. Kazuya was a quick learner. Dedicated. Strong. Agile. Disciplined. Tough. Kazuya was by far the greatest pupil Rudolphe had ever trained, and that was saying something coming from one of the most talented and skilled fighters in the world. After all these years of training, pushing his buttons and making him lose control was getting a lot tougher.

But he knew what he had to do. The one thing he had to talk about to get Kazuya to unleash his power, to give in to emotion that clouded judgment and thought. The one weakness in Kazuya's otherwise mental fortress.

"What would your sister say right now, huh?" he began to taunt. He knew it would hurt him, that it would hit the sorest of spots, but he needed to know. No, he wanted to know. To see and feel the power that he could sense lurking within the kid for himself. Much like a master wants to see his pupil reach his true potential, to break from of their own limitations.

He noticed the slight almost imperceptible twitch of Kazuya's facial muscles. The tightening of the jaw even further than it had when they had begun this bout. The stiffening around the eyes as they narrowed marginally from hearing the short but loaded remark.

Then it started. The boy began to really move. Each move seemingly faster than the other by a fraction of a second, to the point where Rudolphe was actually starting to back up a lot more, barely able to stave off the young boy's strikes. The hits were getting harder too, and the German winced mentally from the hits that he blocked. Some grown men he had sparred with before couldn't hit this hard.

"Not bad, kid. But still not strong enough. If only Kazuha could see you now," he taunted, though mentally wincing at some of the blows, "How disappointed would she be in how weak you are?"

"Shut! UP!" Kazuya practically roared, and Rudolphe could have sworn the ground shook a little. This was only the second time he had ever yelled at Rudolphe in training.

The old trainer jumped away from a particularly nasty combination of blows, but Kazuya gave him no respite as he responded swifter than he was moving mere moments ago. There was a gleam in Kazuya's eyes that was not there before either. In fact, it seemed almost as if his pupils were glowing. With rage. With power.

Rudolphe was already using every trick in the book, pushed to his own limits in fending off the increasingly ferocious attacks from the angry little boy whose eyes he confirmed were indeed glowing. And even then he could tell that Kazuya still had more to give, but he didn't dare push any further lest he leave this battle as a spirit, his physical body broken and battered.

A blow snuck past his defense, landing on his side and causing him to hiss in pain and stumble backwards.

But as he gathered himself for the next assault, he realized that Kazuya had somehow ended up behind him. There was no time to figure out how that even happened as he was halfway turning around when Kazuya launched his attack. The big German was sent sprawling several dozen feet away, bruises and scrapes all over his body. He got up with a lot of effort, breathing faster than he had breathed in a long time from all the exertion in this one fight with a thirteen year old boy.

Kazuya stood before him, eyes glowing and body in a fighting stance. He was completely calm, breathing a little faster than normal but it was clear that he had not been strained from the exertion during the fighting as Rudolphe had been. Letting out a low growl, he sped towards the German. Years of training the kid also made him accustomed to certain attack patterns that Kazuya liked, and in this particular instance that knowledge saved him from severe injury.

He recognized not a second too late this particular attack pattern and moved accordingly, even though he couldn't quite see Kazuya execute the attack. It still resulted in him flying across the lawn into a crumpled heap, blood filing his mouth and a massive ache all along the left side of his body, but the attack could have done much more damage than that.

"Enough, Kazuya. That is enough," he said sternly, his voice loud, almost yelling in case his words might not get through to the boy.

The thirteen year old stopped in his tracks, as if contemplating what to do. Then he visibly relaxed, his eyes losing their glow almost immediately. His arms fell to his sides and he walked over to his sensei quickly, a look of apology and horror replacing the rage that was there but a moment ago.

"I'm sorry, sensei, I..." he said hastily.

Rudolphe smiled. Kazuya Aoi was truly the best pupil he ever trained. "No need to apologize, Kazuya. I pushed and you responded. You did well today. Better than I expected. I'm proud of you," he paused, "And I'm certain that your sister would be proud of you too."

Without tapping into his power, Kazuya was already nearly on par with Rudolphe in terms of technique. His raw ability was tremendous and his desire to learn and execute was impressive to say the least. In strength and speed, he knew that Kazuya already surpassed him, some of it thanks to the boy's own youth while some was the result from all the training he had been doing.

The rest was simply because of his power, the stigma tissue that Rudolphe now knew resided in the young boy.

Kazuya noticed that his sensei seemed a little distracted today, and that was something he knew he could take advantage of to gain the upper hand. Feinting an attack from the right, he actually attacked from the left. Spinning after being barely blocked on the first attack, his follow-up roundhouse spin kick was also blocked. But as that happened, he launched himself into the air and used his plant foot to attack.

The move surprised the sensei thanks to being not totally as focused on the fight as he normally was. Kazuya's foot connected with the man's chin, lifting him up off the ground a few inches from the impact and causing the German's head to snap back. He let out a growl of pain, tasting blood as his teeth had clamped down on his tongue enough to draw blood.

He grinned at his student and held out a hand to stop him. "Good enough. Now, we fight with weapons." Drawing a sword from the sheath that had been strapped across his back, he waited for Kazuya to draw his own.

The fifteen year old concentrated, his eyes glowing briefly as he stretched out his right arm with an open palm.

"Volt weapon Nova Vengeance, activate," he said with a firm tone.

Blue energy engulfed his outstretched hand and then stretched out into a long blade. The blue energy shifted into steel as Kazuya expertly handled the sword that had materialized in his hands.

It was long and curved, with a thicker than usual body for a sword. A hybrid between a regular sword and the one that his sister had used, which was much larger than this one. At first, Rudolphe had always brought an extra weapon with him so that Kazuya could use it, but ever since that day when he saw Kazuya's true power two years ago he told Gengo that he needed to be able to train him as much as he could to utilize his powers effectively.

That included weapons training. Since getting approval from the boy's father, and a bare-minimum explanation of the power the boy had, they had trained everyday with weapons. It just so happened that Kazuya's Nova weapon was a sword and Rudolphe was a master swordsman, though Gengo probably knew things would work out that way. The old scientist was a bonafide genius after all.

Swords up and at the ready, they ran at each other and clashed. Steel meeting steel rang out across the yard.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Onya looked on with both pride and worry. Pride because of how well Kazuya was doing and worry because fighting with such weapons was extremely dangerous. In her right hand was a wireless phone in case she might need it. Even though she never had to use it over the years, she wasn't about to let down her guard now.

Sparks flew as they attacked each other with increasing ferocity, but again after a while it became evident that Kazuya could actually beat his sensei. Sure enough, several minutes into their duel the panting master swordsman received a cut along the jaw that signaled the end of the fight.

Reaching into one of his pockets, Rudolphe withdrew a small first aid kit encased in a slightly banged up steel box. After taking care of his wound he looked back at Kazuya, who had already released his weapon.

The young boy's face showed no emotion, though the German could see the emotions swirling in his eyes.

"Excellent job today, Kazuya," he complimented the young boy honestly, "Come now, let's go inside. We're finished out here."

They sat down in the dining room, sitting perpendicular to each other on one end of the dining table. They sat in silence for a while, each absorbed in their own thoughts.

It was Rudolphe who broke the silence first with his hard, low voice.

"It has been a long time coming, but I've finally taught you everything I can, Kazuya. You have been an excellent student, one of the best I've ever trained, I hope that you will continue to make me proud as you move on from my tutelage," he began earnestly. "There are few things as joyful as seeing a promising student complete their training, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't also sad to see you go."

Kazuya was about to say something but Rudolphe held up a hand to stop him.

"There are two things I want to impart upon you before I officially conclude your training. The first is a little knowledge:

You've been in training to fight for many years now, I know that. But know that there's more to this life than training and fighting. You only have one life, Kazuya, and I hope you learn to live it. I know that part of your destiny is to fight the Nova and protect humanity, that is clear from the abilities and talents you have, but I want you to understand that life isn't all about fighting.

It isn't all about war. Learn to live a little. You should leave room to have fun, fall in love, go on adventures, and maybe make some stupid teenage mistakes along the way. Learn about the many, many things outside of fighting and war. Learn about what it is exactly you're fighting for. Do you hear me?"

Kazuya nodded, though he was not sure how exactly to 'live life' as his sensei was apparently trying to get him to do. Like Rudolphe had said, he knew of only training and fighting. He had little time for games, television, movies, or even friends. And the few moments he had watched TV and movies, those were about some sort of fighting as well.

He had a duty to fulfill. A responsibility that came with his power. His father and his sister had taught him that. Had shown him that. Yet the gravity with which Rudolphe spoke made him consider trying to do as his sensei asked.

Not too satisfied with that response, but knowing that it wasn't going to help to try to impress the point further, Rudolphe continued his little parting speech.

"The second thing, is this." He reached into a pocket and pulled out yet another small box, this one was made of wood and looked to be ornately crafted.

Rudolphe placed it gently on the table and slid it over to Kazuya, who looked at it with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

"What is it?" asked the young boy, his hands moving cautiously towards the box.

"Open it."

Kazuya did as instructed, the lid of the box smoothly opening to reveal a necklace inside. A necklace he knew all too well.

"It's from your sister," explained Rudolphe, though Kazuya already knew that.

"How...?" Kazuya was at a loss for words, the emotions he was holding in check bubbling to the surface.

"I happened to be near the area at the time the Nova type-S appeared outside of Tokyo, so I was deployed with an emergency armored response team to assist the engaging Pandoras by providing some extra firepower. Though it was more to distract the Nova than it was to actually damage it. Anyway, Kazuha... she found out I was there and passed by my command tent on the way to fight the S-type. That was when she gave me this." He gestured towards the necklace.

"She said to give it to you when you head off to West Genetics..." Rudolphe paused, "I think... I think that when she got there, she knew that she might not return from this particular fight. And she was thinking of you."

Kazuya wiped some fresh tears from his eyes with his free hand as his other held the silver necklace gently between his fingers. It was a simple butterfly made of yellowish gems mixed in with olive green stones.

"Daddy," the small boy said in an even smaller voice.

Gengo knelt down next to him. "What is it, Kazuya?"

"I want to get something for sis' birthday! Could you... could you help me get something for her?"

His father smiled. "I see, and what do you want to get her?"

"Well, last time I went with Onya to the market I saw... I saw this necklace..." he trailed off. He had his hands behind his back and was looking downward, unsure if his request would be granted.

"A necklace?" Gengo eyed the boy. "Is this really what you want to give to your big sister?"

There was no hesitation. "Uh-huh!"

Gengo chuckled and reached out to ruffle his son's dark hair, "Alright then. How about we go to the market together tomorrow and get it?"

Kazuya looked up at him with the biggest smile, eyes alight with pure joy.

They did just that, and when Kazuha's birthday came around a few days later little Kazuya was so excited to give her the present that he burst into her room while she was still asleep. At first she woke up a bit grumpy and maybe even a little angry since it was so early, but upon seeing that it was Kazuya her expression changed completely with her features softening and demeanor relaxing.

"Good morning, big sis! Happy birthday!" he greeted her, raising the small rectangular box up to her. It was tied up nicely with a pink ribbon.

"Oh, thank you Kazuya! What's this? Did you get this for me?" she asked, surprised and touched at the gift.

He nodded vigorously. "Open it! Open it!"

Laughing, she untied the ribbon and carefully opened the box.

Kazuya was nervously watching for her reaction. "Do you like it, sis?"

There was a moment of silence as Kazuha held the necklace up in front of her.

"I love it!" she cried, immediately putting it on. "How does it look?"

"It looks great! Really great! So you really like it? Honestly?"

"I do. Thank you so much, Kazuya. You're the best little brother a big sister could ask for," she said, pulling him into a tight hug and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

He hugged her back with equal enthusiasm. "No, big sis. You're the best. The bestest sister ever."

"Bestest isn't a word, you know," she corrected him, amused.

"Well it should be!"

They held each other for a few more seconds before separating.

Stlll smiling, Kazuha looked straight into his eyes. "Tell you what, Kazuya, I promise I'll never take this necklace off."

He was surprised at that. "W-What? Really? Why?" Surely she could not like the necklace THAT much.

She ruffled his hair, "Because I love you, silly."

He fought back another wave of tears as his hand closed into a fist over the necklace.

"Since you're going to the Genetics Academy tomorrow, I thought this was an appropriate time to finally give it to you." The old German could tell how much this meant to Kazuya, and could only imagine how he must be feeling at the moment.

The two siblings had been very close, and without a mother in their lives Kazuha had essentially been both big sister and mother to little Kazuya.

"Thank you, sensei," managed Kazuya, his voice barely a whisper.

The German stood up then and walked around the table, placing a big hand on the boy's shoulder. "Live your life, Kazuya. But when the time comes, remember your training and believe in your strength, because I certainly believe in it. I know you'll make us all proud. Especially your sister." He paused and then withdrew his hand. "I need to go now. I wish you all the best, Kazuya. I'll be sure to check in on you at West Genetics sometime."

With that said, he left Kazuya alone still clutching the necklace, staring at it like it would disappear if he turned away or let it go.

Finally, after a long while, he unclenched his fist and stared at the necklace that rested on his palm. It was a reminder of his past. A reminder of what was expected of him. A reminder of his sister. A reminder of his promise to be strong. A reminder... of what the Nova had taken from him.

"Kazuha," he said resolutely. "I will avenge you."

Author's notes: I've been thinking about writing this story for quite a while now. I hope that you will like it. As with all my stories, please don't hesitate to review. Constructive comments are welcome.