Besarki: Guess what, Munchies? I just realized how quarked up this storyline is! As in, characters who died in the original storyline (Takei's storyline, which we'll call the ULTIMATE STORYLINE OF DOOM, DEATH, AND DISASTER! ((and rotten non-Hana's Epoch-continuing grunt-growl-hiss. That Jumbor thing was a MAJOR letdown))) aren't dead in this storyline! WOOT!

So, I have to go a little nuts, though I will do my absolute best to not take too many liberties, cause I can totally understand hating authors who do that (I personally go berserk...over anything, BUT ESPECIALLY OVER MORONS WHO HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT!!!) Anyway, I'm going to have to do some resurrecting in a few places (like with a select few Patch, though didn't Yoh say he was going to bring them back anyway?), though I'll be keeping mostly to Takei's story.

Ah, well, anyway, this is sort of a short chapter. However, this is the finale for introductions. The route is established here and next chapter we'll finally have direction and length! YAY!

Before I begin, I want to extend a congrats to -CoinJager- who is currently leading the scoreboards for my picture game with 1 point! Doesn't seem like much now, but that's all it takes to win first place! WATCH OUT OR HE'LL KICK YOUR BUTTS, MUNCHIES! I'm going to be setting up challenge number 2 within the next few hours! Give it a try!

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All the pain I thought I knew
All the thoughts lead back to you
Back to what was never said
Back and forth inside my head
I can't handle this confusion
I'm unable, come and take me away

~Take Me Away, Avril Lavigne

Sitting alone in a large room, a tiny child laughed as he placed yet another block above his alphabet block tower. He wasn't very old, a year or two maybe, three being the limit.

The child was happy, healthy, and smart, though he wasn't exactly growing up in a positive learning environment. Truthfully, to say he was growing up in a warzone would be being nice, though, at his young age, he didn't know just how dangerous his neighborhood, his country was. He didn't know just how hard his parents worked to keep him safe and sheltered and oblivious to the horrors of the outside world. He didn't know, and they hoped he never would.

It was better that way.

The little boy, blond in hair and gold in eyes, wasn't like other boys his age. Physically, he was completely normal. A stranger would notice no difference between him and another little boy in he same age group. However, while his looks were very much the same, his mind had a single extra attribute, one that led a similar being to start this whole genocide. The little Japanese boy was a ghost-seer, a shaman, and that fact alone made it all the more dangerous for him to be there.

The little one frowned in concentration as he reached forward to place one more block on his structure. It wobbled a bit so he pushed it forward and held his hand there until he was sure it was steady. When he was sure that it was on and wasn't going anywhere, he withdrew his chubby baby hand and leaned back to admire his work.

Had he been older, he would have known that the last thing his work looked like was a tower, his initial plan and idea, but, in his youth, it looked exactly like he wanted it to. A job well done.

Wrapped up in his incoherent thoughts, the infant didn't notice the small woman standing in the threshold, watching him like a hawk watched a lone mouse scampering about the ground, ocher eyes never leaving lest something happen and she be helpless to stop it.

"Hana?" The woman asked after a moment.

The small boy paused in his activities to glance up toward the source of the just spoken words. He smiled when he found it.

Leaning against the door frame while she hung around watching him was nothing new for Hana's young mother, Anna. In fact, this was something she did daily, sometimes hourly! Hana assumed that this was normal behavior for a child's mother. He had no other guide to go off of, but even if he had, he would always assume that his mother was the norm. What Hana didn't know was that Anna wasn't checking on him because she liked watching him play with his awesome as anything building blocks, but was instead checking up on him...just to make sure he was still there. To ensure that he was still breathing...

Hana had no idea just how much stress his family was under. He didn't know that, only yesterday, his father had been ambushed by a bunch of soldiers who valued the price on his head more than his company. He had gotten away, of course, and had returned to home with nothing more than a bleeding arm which his wife quickly wrapped before Hana could see it. But then, it was an off day when something didn't happen, even in their area--the safest around.

Hana didn't know any of that. To his knowledge, everything was right and normal in the world. He wasn't living an exactly normal life, but the sky above him was still blue and there were still normal people outside...sometimes.

"Kaa-cha!" Hana giggled, pushing himself up and away from his tower and then happily waddling over to his mother and falling into her welcoming embrace.

She lifted him off the ground and pulled him close to her, mumbling quiet promises and oaths that she knew she couldn't keep. Her heart broke more and more with each utterance of every empty vow...

Hana didn't know, and she prayed he never would.

Anna quickly whipped around to the sound of the opening door. Her right hand left her son and she moved it to grip her rosary, prepared to yank it off and use it if the need arose.

Her son felt no alarm as they went through this same thing every time she was with him when the door opened. This was just the usual for him. No need to be upset, to worry, to be scared. Nothing to fear...

Twenty seconds later, Anna relaxed as the door closed and a single man stepped away from it.

Hana beamed and cried out the man's name, reaching for him with great dedication.

Seeing his worthless, though still dedicated struggle, the man grinned and stepped toward them.

The three met half way across the room, exchanging relieved words and caring gestures. For a moment, there was peace. For a moment, everyone was happy.

There were a lot of things Hana didn't know. This wasn't one of them.
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Hana

I scratched the back of my head as I stepped carefully over the fallen tree trunk. I really wasn't cut out for this kind of work.

I repressed a sigh. But, then again, I really wasn't cut out for any kind of work, was I?

I shook my head, knowing that that was absolutely not true. All this negativity was just getting to me, that was all.

Not that it was all that easy to be positive when the whole damn world was...but I wasn't going to get into that again.

I clenched my teeth. Stupid Anna, sending me on this stupid mission to check the stupid path for stupid guards who will kill me if their stupid eyes catch me.

And stupid Hao for making the stupid world STUPID! DAMMIT!

My teeth gritted and I didn't even bother trying to stop them. This should have been Men's job. He was a good snooper. He snooped into my belongings all the time. AND I NEVER MANAGED TO CATCH HIM! NEVER! He was like some kind of phantom!

"Hana-dono..."

"SHUT UP, AMIDAMARU!" I shrieked, my voice far louder than it was safely permitted to be.

And, go figure, someone heard me.

"Over there!" A soldier dressed in red and wielding a foreign-made gun shouted as he pointed over in my direction.

I cursed under my breath and turned to my spirit ally. He was sobbing. My samurai ghost was sobbing. For being yelled at! What kind of wimp had my father left me?!

"Amidamaru!" I hissed.

He looked over at me with teary eyes. I smacked my face before continuing.

"Look, I'm sorry I yelled at you, but we're going to get nailed if I can't get you to oversoul. So, if you could, just for a little bit, put your crying fit on hold and help me with this, that would be really great..."

He sniveled for a moment and offered a shaky nod. "O-Okay..."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you!" I replied, throwing him a relieved smile. That cheered him up the slightest bit. "Okay, ready?"

A sniffle. "Yes."

"Good." I pulled futsu no mitama out of my bag and held it in front of me.

The rushing man seemed to notice what was going on just a moment too late. "Kid's doing something weird!" The soldier shouted, urging more of his men to follow him for back up. Unfortunately for them, they were all human. They didn't stand a chance against me, not even with their raised and ready rifles.

"Amidamaru! OVERSOUL!" I roared, bonding my spirit ally with my ancient stone sword.

Instantly, the sword in my hand took on a new shape. It's blade extended outward and began to glow with a extreme brilliance while its hilt molded and shaped into a bizarre oni-like design. Seconds later, my signature weapon gleamed in my hands.

While it was true that I royally sucked at nearly everything, there was absolutely no contest when it came to the best fighter out of the three of us.

I flashed my enemies a challenging smile. It ran in the family.

I rushed forward, stabbing the red soldier in the thigh and sending him falling to the ground, blood gushing from his open wound. Five years ago, I would have stopped to help him, but not now. This was war. There was no looking back.

Three more soldiers ran toward me, swinging their swords or firing their guns.

They didn't stand a chance--not before, not now.

I swung at them, destroying the one man's gun and knocking the two with swords over. The now unarmed soldier rushed towards me, swinging his arms wildly. I threw my entire body at him, knocking him over with his three cohorts.

Out of nowhere, five more burst forward, each bearing small daggers and a small shot gun. I could tell from their stance that all but one of them favored their dagger. The one that didn't was the most dangerous had to be taken out first.

The gun-soldier aimed his weapon at me and fired--in two places. I couldn't dodge so I did the next best thing.

Because these guys were just human soldiers, I didn't have to worry much about using mana. I had no reason to save it when I didn't need it to protect me from other spiritual entities. With that mindset, I quickly threw up a shield and deflected the oncoming bullets. He fired a quick round, but they all had the same effect.

When he went to reload, I took my chance, dropping the shield and throwing a spiritual burst at him. I didn't think it would would since he wasn't a shaman, but, to my pleasant surprise, it impacted just as it would normally and he tumbled backwards. Hao was probably infusing some of his soldiers with spiritual abilities, though I seriously doubt that it would be anything more powerful than the ability to simply see ghosts, lest they suddenly decided that he wasn't worth following and rebelled. Then again, maybe it wasn't Hao. Maybe I just got lucky and this guy a touch of spiritual ability naturally. That was probably it. Hao hated humans, and I don't think he'd do anything to help them in any way.

My internal monologue was interrupted when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my upper body.

Distraction was another thing that ran in my family.

I shrieked in pain and threw myself in the direction opposite that of the soldier. I didn't have to look to know that I'd been stabbed, and that blood was probably waterfalling down my arm now.

"Hana-dono!" Amidamaru yelped in fright.

"I'm fine," I gasped, horrendous pain sapping the air from my lungs.

Without me even thinking it, Amidamaru used up some of my mana to create a small bandage and brace which covered the wound and held my arm in place.

"Thanks," I said quietly. Amidamaru said nothing in response.

Though my arm still throbbed, I knew I had to return my attention to the battle.

The soldier that had stabbed me, a somewhat short man with a long black beard, was running toward me again, his bloodied weapon brandished in front of him.

I was about to throw myself at him, but something in my stomach told me to pause for a second to survey my situation.

My gut instinct proved correct as I turned and noticed the second man of the four heading toward me. He was significantly closer than the man who had stabbed me, and if I ignored him now, I'd surely pay for it in about fifteen seconds.

I backed up, turned toward the second man and thrust the spiritual sword at him. It hit him hard--not enough to kill him, as killing was something I was absolutely against in all instances except for one--and he collapsed from the shock of it all. Collapsed, but alive. I wouldn't hit him again. I would let him live. This was war, but even in war there had to be someone to say no.

The bearded man was closer to me now, though the two remaining men were also within striking range. If I did a roundabout sweep, I could hit them all, but if even one of the men on the ground lifted at all, I risked beheading him, and that was a sight that would surely make me puke.

Regrettably, I didn't have time to weigh my options. I lifted my sword so that it wouldn't reach the men on the ground. The hit would be more critical, but no one was at risk of dying, and that was something I was willing to live with.

I waited, but no more soldiers came at me. The minute battalion was defeated.

"Devil boy!" The red soldier spat at me.

I stared back at him as I absently disengaged my fighting oversoul. My eyes were calm and empty. "It takes one to know one," I replied with an utterly emotionless-sounding tone.

The man glared hatefully at me, but I said no more. Neither did he. Neither did anyone else.

My eyes averted and I stepped forward and over him, heading back to the meeting place where I would be reunited with my friends. My job was done.

I'd found our route.

Besarki: I. Suck. At. Battle. Scenes. Bah!

This story will eventually have a Living For The Moment set-up. However, unlike in LFTM, where they traveled across the world, this story only ventures to parts Japan--maybe parts of western America, so it will be significantly shorter. Maybe 15, 20 chapters or so, but I only have about half on the story figured out thus far so it may end up rolling out to be longer than LFTM, though I sincerely doubt it.

Threw a little battle scene in there with Hana. I am perfectly capable of translating the name of Hana's oversoul (Oni something) but I left my Mentalite at home (haha. Frenchies will probably be like, "...You left your mentality at home?" since that's apparently the translation) so I can't look up the hiragana and I'm too lazy to copy the kanji off my video or my individual slides (the hiragana is too small to see). So, I'll probably update this chapter as soon as I find out what the second part of his oversoul name is.

I also originally had a prisoner in here, but I took that out because a flashback, Hana's POV, and a ??? POV seemed a little much. It'll be in the next chapter. Also, Men and Anna III return in chapter 5, and, possibly, someone else...

Right, so, short chapter, next will be longer. REVIEW OR NO UPDATE!!!