The train bound for Kyoto trampled loudly across the Japanese countryside, its thunderous beat mufled only by the air-tight walls of its own cabins. Neither Keitaro nor Motoko found the compulsion to speak.

URASHIMA UNLIMITED

Episode IV: Revelations! The Secret is Revealed!

Begin Chapter.

"Aren't you going to touch your soup?"

"Not until you tell me what's going on."

"Soup. Then we talk."

"Seta—"

It's been an awkward evening for Haruka and goodness knows she was never one to admit awkwardness. Nevertheless, there she was in the second fanciest restaurant in Tokyo's third fanciest district, sipping from a bowl of their most expensive soup while waiting for the fifth most expensive dish in the menu to arrive. The taste of the ground beef sent a slight shiver down her perfectly-postured spine. She used to take lunch-money from this guy back in high school.

"C'mon Haruka-chan. Do you really need to make that kind of face while enjoying your soup?" Seta said with a warm grin on his stubbly-shaven face.

"Watch it, Noriyasu or I'll send these noodles down your pants."

Seta replied with a hearty chuckle, amused at Haruka's little freudian slip.

"Thinking about my pants, are we?" Haruka felt the shiver explode into a full-blown fireworks display, blushing profusely. Had they been eating steak, she could have passed for gagging on the rib. "Regression isn't a very healthy defense mechanism, Haruka-chan."

Trying to regain her composture, Haruka insisted it upon herself that she didn't hear Seta's last two statements properly. She wasn't going to ask him to repeat them either.

xxx

"Let me get this straight. You're worried because Keitaro didn't fly off when you punched him."

"H…Hai."

"I'm afraid I didn't get any of that, Naru." Mutsumi replied, slightly confused.

"Look, I didn't say I was worried about not being able to punch him away. It just felt so weird that I could punch him… away, you know?"

"I have to side with Mutsumi on this one, Naru. That last bit just flew right past me."

Naru sat tiredly on a bench, Kitsune and Mutsumi standing beside her still slightly dumbstruck.

xxx

"He was so Kawaii!"

"I told you Nii-sama was a little twerp when he was a kid!"

Seashells. Shark teeth. Pottery. Photographs. Rummaging through Kaolla's memento box felt like pawing through an anthropological sample crate, only without the obsessive-compulsive labeling or the constant fear of breaking something.

"How do you do it, though?"

"Do what, Shinobu?"

"Grow up into the Adult Su. Just like that. Y'know, when the red moon comes out or when Ranba comes?"

"Oh! That's a special Mol-molian genetic trait. We don't call it anything and we don't know a lot about it though—but we have folk back at home that's been studying about it."

"Does… does it feel weird?"

xxx

"Its wonderful that you arrive safely Motoko-chan. You too, Urashima-san."

"It's… it's a pleasure Tsuruko-san".

There was a light snow early that evening. The wintering sun had set sleepily through the red torii that stood nobly just outside the Shin Mei Ryu dojo and was replaced by the icy November moon.

"I hope Motoko already told you why we asked you to come here."

"I'm sorry but we didn't have the chance to—"

"Gomen Nee-sama! I did not know what to tell him" Motoko interjected.

"I suppose it is all right." Tusuruko sighed. The smell of served tea rose calmingly in the damp air of the receiving hall. It was dark, the hall was wide and it was empty.

"The tea smells really great, Tsuruko-san. This must be really rare tea. It's very, very—"

"Urashima!" Motoko spat under her breath. Tsuruko grinned at the short conflict as if she was watching over little children.

"Motoko, do you think it is appropriate to scold our guest when he is merely appreciating our hospitality?"

"Gomen nasai, Nee-sama"

Tsuruko then looked at Keitaro who seemed even more tense than usual. He has learned very well that the elder Aoyama's amiability was hardly a good indicator of her intentions. "Are you feeling well, Keitaro-san?"

"N…Never better." Keitaro replied nervously.

"It's funny you should say that." Tsuroko said, her eyes peering deep into him, as if baiting him. "Do you really?"

"'Really' what, Tsuruko-san?"

"Do you really feel that way, Keitaro-san? Better than you have ever felt before?"

Keitaro thought for a second. Did he? He tried to recall the last couple of days and it did seem that way to him, didn't it? He felt a lot more energetic lately. Stronger too. Even homework had a strange ease to them recently. And there was something about being around as tall as Haitani than made him feel better about himself. Kentaro seemed to have noticed the change, anyway.

xxx

"Would you get on with it, Seta?"

"With what?"

"The explanation. The ear surgery. Everything!"

"You haven't touched the rice yet."

"Look, 'Yasu!" Haruka growled, referring to Seta by his childhood nickname. "If you don't start telling your stupid story, I swear I'm leaving you to pay for all this!"

"But Haruka-chan" Seta replied, his demeanor unchanged. "I am paying for all of this."

"Oh…"

Haruka stared at Seta for a second, watching him as he just smiled there like he always used to whenever he gets the best of her, back when they were children. Seta, on the other hand, was pleased to see Haruka break her disaffected coolness. She hasn't been this annoyed with him in years.

"Okay then, if you really want to hear the story that badly."

xxx

"I do." Keitaro answered meekly.

Tsuruko sat back slightly, looking as if she had extracted a hefty block of pure gold from Keitaro's face. "May I also comment that you have never looked better as well."

"Nee-sama!" Motoko exclaimed, shocked at her sister's last comment.

"Now, now Motoko. You have noticed it too, have you not?"

Motoko turned away, trying to hide the tinge of crimson in her smooth, pale cheeks.

"Keitaro-san, I suppose you have felt a lot of pleasant changes in your body as well."

"H…Hai." It was Keitaro's turn to turn pink.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Keitaro." Tsuruko responded, her words rolling down her subtly mischievous smile. I hope you understand that an attractive personality can only get you so far."

Motoko was stunned. Was her sister hitting on Keitaro?

"And these changes… they started roughly the same time you had your ear surgery, yes?"

"That's true… but how did you—"

xxx

Seta mouthed a piece of shrimp before he resumed talking. "Do you remember Keiichi and Kasumi's wedding back in 78?"

"Well, of course I do. He 'Ichi's my brother after all."

"Do you remember meeting a Mrs. Kusanagi in the ceremony."

"Yeah, I think so. She was my sister-in-law's cousin or aunt or something. Why?"

"Well, that Mrs. Kusanagi happens to be my aunt Kono. She was my mother's sister. She was Kasumi's grandmother's sister too."

"You mean to say you and Kasumi are related?"

"She's technically my neice. I think it's because her grandmother and my mother were born generations apart. My mother married a bit late too."

"That makes you Keitaro's grand-uncle, doesn't it?" Haruka taunted.

"I know. I found it funny myself." Seta replied, mouthing another piece of shrimp.

"But tell me, Seta. What the heck does that have to do with the ear surgery?"

Seta smiled behind the glass of water he was drinking from.

xxx

"How did I know about it? That will not be an important matter to discuss at this moment. Perhaps you will be more interested, however, in hearing that your case is of great interest with the Shin Mei Ryu."

"My case?"

Tsuruko nodded. "Tell me, Keitaro. Is it normal for a man to resume maturing physically after his allotted age of puberty?"

Keitaro shook his head.

"Do you find your recent developments as something resembling that kind of abnormal behavior?"

Keitaro nodded.

"Do you happen to know why?"

Keitaro tensed up once again. "I… I thought I might be going through it again."

"Come on, now. Not even you could be that lucky and you're a straight guy forced to become a manager of an all-girls dormitory. No Keitaro, I must affirm the obvious and say that the ear-surgery had everything to do with it?"

"But that was just for my balance, right? My mother used to tell me the reason I was so clumsy was because I had a delicate inner-ear condition. She told me our family doctors were looking for a way to treat it."

"Whose family was it that had those doctors, Keitaro?"

"Well, it wasn't my dad's family. None of the family doctors I've met were Urashimas. I guess they must have been mother's relatives."

xxx

"Remember that time they pulled me out of school for a week?"

Haruka fell silent. She had wanted to talk to him about that for years. Did he have to pick that evening? She only nodded, trying hard not to catch his eyes.

"Well, Keitaro just went through the exact same separation as I did."

"He what?"

"Well, maybe not the exact same one. It's become a bit better now—"

"Hold it, Seta. So you're trying to tell me that you and Keitaro—"

"—Had the exact same ear defect. It's true. It's genetic."

"Genetic? You're not exactly an Urashima, Seta." Haruka tried to dispel Seta with all the bits of logic she could possibly scrounge up.

"You surprise me, Haruka-chan. Genetics isn't purely paternal, right?"

Haruka hated her lapses. She could never keep herself together as well as she usually did when she stuck around with Seta for too long.

"Then what is it, Seta?"

"Mothers."

"What?"

"It's passed on by mothers to their sons. Sons pass the defect on to their daughters and so on. Apparently, fathers can't pass it on to their sons and daughters can't pass it on to their daughters. And daughters don't seem to be affected by the defect themselves so its generally a guy condition."

Haruka bit her lower lip. "And what exactly does this defect do?"

xxx

"It's a suppression seal, Keitaro-san."

"It's a what?"

"Your ear condition is, in actuality, a powerful chi-binding seal called the Enryo-no-Hanko. I would suppose that it was passed down to you by your mother from the maternal line that carried the seal with them."

"I don't understand. I tought it was some sort of lump or tumor in my ear canal or something."

"Actually, it was—but that was just how the seal manifested itself." Tsuruko then unravelled a scroll that she had hidden behind her. "According to the oldest records we have in the library, the Enryo-no-Hanko or Seal of Suppression has the ability to cut the chi-flow in a person's body just enough to keep the body alive without allowing it to exhibit its full potential. It is a very powerful seal and it cannot be performed during combat due to the elaborate ritual needed to cast it."

Keitaro paused for a second and asked "In that case, how could anyone have cast it on any of my ancestors?"

"Well…" Tsuruko drawled as she pulled out another scroll from behind her. "If our records of family lineages are correct, this brings us to the issue of a distant ancestor of yours. You are a student of Pacific Archeology, are you not?"

"I am."

"Then I suppose you would be familiar with the Mol-molian migrant clan that came to Japan sometime during the legendary Kage era."

"I…I've heard of the clan. Back at Mol-mol with Seta-san. They were supposed to be priests of the Mol-molian healing-deity Yakan Sese. They say that they evacuated Mol-mol because of the constant fighting – something about them punishing the other Mol-molians by not being there to heal them anymore."

"That is correct. The Yakan Sese clan belonged to the aristocratic Pure-haired Mol-molians while the current regent Ranba belongs to the once-enslaved Black-haired Mol-molians. Your friend Su must be the result of later inter-breeding. When they came to Japan, they adopted the name of the local healing deity – Yakushi the healing buddha."

"I guess the legendary ancestor you're talking about is Yakushi Kabuto – the white haired rogue medical ninja, am I right?"

"That is correct. You may have noticed that his first name, "Kabuto" is probably a namesake of his race. Kabuto helmets look a lot like turtles after all."

Keitaro nodded once again.

"Legend has it that he survived the legendary Wars of the Kages and was able to raise a family as a doctor here in Kyoto. How he was able to escape detection and persecution after what he had done during the wars is a mystery although the bigger mystery lies in the fact that none of his children were ever recorded to have inherited his bloodline ability."

"And this would be what exactly?"

"He has the ability to reconfigure the quality of his cells. With his chakra fully focused, he can make it so that all his cells are in perfect condition, optimizing his health and his appearance. He he had the potential to physically become a perfect person, so to speak."

Keitaro was starting to look flustered. He had no idea what do with the information that was being handed to him.

"Keitaro-san. We believe that he sealed himself. We do not know why he did but this is the only possible explaination. You may try searching for the answers yourself but that is the best help we can give you."

xxx

"So Keitaro will be like you then, Seta. Taller. Stronger. Better looking."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"What good has it brought any of us?"

"Did my changes have to benefit you too, Haruka-chan?"

Damn, she slipped again.

xxx

"Thank you, Tsuruko-san."

"Oh, do not thank me, Keitaro."

Keitaro only replied with a blank pause.

"The power the lies in your veins, recreating you as we speak, is part of a battle that is far older than your heritage. Will you take this—" With that, Tsuruko handed Keitaro a familiar black-sheathed sword.

"Nee-sama! That's the Hinata Sword!"

"Yes Motoko. This is the Demon Sword of Hinata Sou. Urashima will have to take it now."

"Why Tsuruko-san?"

"That sword is your birthright, Keitaro-san. From now on, I expect you to train very hard in wielding that cursed sword. Of course, I will give you time to reach your full physical potential, perhaps I would even let you enjoy being the Absolute Masculine for a while. But do be wary Keitaro-san. I am afraid I will have to kill you."

"Nee-sama!"

"Motoko-chan, I place Urashima's training under your charge. I have nothing more to tell you so I will leave you now. I have a variety show to watch."

Keitaro and Motoko were left sitting in the room, utterly confused with what had just transpired. A cold wind blew between them.

From another room, Tsuruko sighed. "This will certainly not be easy for anybody. Not for myself nor for Keitaro-san nor for Motoko and her friends. Until the day I have to face him, then, I will have to pray that my assumptions have been incorrect… or that the ancestors themselves have made a grave mistake."

Author's note: Hew! That was my longest chapter yet, I think. Please keep reviewing. It's good for the blood. Ask questions if you like – they sometimes hold sway over unaffixed plot lines.

To the Lost Hibiki: No, I got Nodoka and Setsuna from another Ken Akamatsu manga: "Negima!"

To White Angel Wings: I suppose the chronology is a bit screwed up. It occurs after the Kanako incident but deviates from the manga after that.

To SouryuofHeaven: Sorry for the mispelled Tsurukos. I'll get to fixing them on the earlier chapters soon.