Chapter Nine:
The Passion of the Chief (Part Three of Five)
Author's Notes: If you haven't seen the Boukenger finale, I suggest you stop what you're doing and go watch it. Why? Because during the finale, we learn the true identity of mister voice and his true identity is going to make an appearance in this chapter. You've been warned.
Kei lay in the hospital bed, so drugged up that she could not move very much and she would mumble incoherent words and names, mostly about Rin and Yami no Yaiba. Kando, ever the dedicated younger sibling, sat by her bedside, hoping to see her wake up.
She was like that for two days and on the evening of the second day, Kei's eyes opened slightly and she murmured, "Kando…"
"I'm right here, nee-chan." Kando clutched her hand. "What is it?"
"Ouga…"Kei murmured. "Beware of…Ouga!"
"Ouga?" Kando asked.
"Yes…beware of Ouga!" Her strength seemed to have given out then and she fell back against the pillows, the drugs taking over.
Ouga… Where had Kando heard that name before? He searched his memory and then remembered his father's tale of the fall of the Quester.
Ouga was the Ashu who almost murdered his father by trapping him in an illusion and nearly killing him there. The Ashu who knew their grandmother…
The Ashu whose presence he and Kei had sensed in the tomb of the Ashu of the North!
In two seconds, everything clicked in Kando's brain. Ouga had pushed Eiji into the wormhole, and then activated the Precious so the Boukengers would come to the tomb and fall into the wormhole. He'd followed them here! To kill them!
Well, Kando thought as he sank into the chair.If Ouga doesn't kill us, then Rin-san will as Yami no Shizuka. He sighed. How in the world are we going to fix this mess and bring Rin-san back to her senses?"
One Month Later….
Yaiba's training had made Rin more powerful than ever and she moved through her exercises skillfully as though she'd been a Shinobi for years. Clashing with him came easier now and their sparring moved fluidly as she wielded a naginata similar to his own.
"Beautiful." Yaiba remarked as Rin clashed with him. "Yami no Shizuka, you've come a long way in just a month."
"I've gotten a lot off my chest in just a month, Yaiba." Rin said as she blocked him. "I feel stronger now that nothing's holding me back."
Yaiba was pleased. The combination of the Precious' power, her own resentment and his brainwashing sutras had given him a very devoted disciple…and the only thing in the world that he could think of that made him want to be human again.
Suddenly, she performed a fake out and pinned Yaiba down to the floor with her weapon, a dark joy glittering in her eyes. "And when I say nothing, I mean nothing."
"Very good, Yami no Shizuka." He said as she let him up. "Do the unexpected."
"Unleash the darkness within." She purred, "For the darkness will give you power beyond anything you might experience."
"You've been paying attention." Yaiba murmured. "That is good. My teaching will help you defeat the Boukenger."
"I've already defeated Kei emotionally." Rin boasted. "Killing her will be a snap as will killing the rest of those SGS dogs. They are all dead to me all dead to me so killing them will be no trouble!" She stuck the naginata into the floor and smiled. "Even my parents…they are dead to me."
"That's right…. they are all dead to you." Yaiba said. "Your existence with them was empty and pointless. Once I bring darkness to the world, your existence with me will be anything but empty." His embrace was hot and he caressed her bare arms.
Rin chuckled as she turned to face him. "I know…I can hardly wait."
He opened his faceplate again and kissed her deeply, pressing their bodies together as he pulled the beautiful young Shinobi in training to him. "Your power impresses me." He purred. "Show me more of it."
Rin giggled and pulled away, slowly making her way to the bedroom. "I will…Yami no Yaiba." She purred. "Are you coming?"
Yaiba chuckled as he followed her. She was high on her own power and he loved it.
Kei's eyes opened slowly and they widened with pain and she groaned. "Rin…"
"Nee-chan!" Kando took her hand and squeezed it. "Nee-chan, are you all right?"
"Kando…" Kei coughed. "...water, please…"
Kando wasted no time in getting his older sister some water. "Here…"
She took the water, and drank it, struggling to sit up. "How long…"
"A month. " Kando replied. "Yami no Shizuka and Yami no Yaiba did a number on you. How are you feeling?"
"Sore." Kei moaned. "Where's Rin? Have you found her?"
Kando sighed and pointed to the bed next to Kei, which held the injured Hikari. "Yami no Shizuka, as she prefers to be called, decided that we are all dead to her and took her anger out on Hika-chan."
Kei raised an eyebrow. "Hika-chan? Kando…are you in love with Hikari?"
"Yes." He exhaled. "I think I am. Anyway, in the last month, Yami no Shizuka has received a lot of ninja training and she's become very powerful and so…"
"She's been kicking some ass?"
"Yeah." Kando sighed. "What did 'Beware of Ouga' mean, nee-chan?"
Kei gasped and coughed and then she said. "That's what Dad said."
"Dad? You saw DAD?!"
Kei nodded. "He's here. Ouga must be after him. We must get to Ouga before Ouga gets to Dad!"
"Nee-chan, you're in no shape to go fight." Kando said. "You need rest."
"I've been resting for a month! I need to get out of this bed!"
"And into Akashi-sama's?" Kando teased.
Kei laughed and her eyes widened as suddenly, a huge bouquet of red roses came into her room. "Wow…"
"It's good to see you awake, Kei." Satoru's voice warm and soft floated to Kei
"Satoru-san!" Kei murmured.
Satoru looked genuinely pleased to see Kei awake. "You look well. How are you feeling?"
Kei sighed, wondering if things would have been different if she'd stayed and spent the morning wrapped in Satoru's arms instead of going to see Rin and nearly getting killed. She wondered what had gone through Satoru's head when he woke up and found her gone and then found her next to GouGou Dump, badly injured. "Sore and betrayed. Rin was my best friend. We have been friends since we were BABIES! How could she do this to me, to us? When you asked me to be a Boukenger, you told me that her voice was the loudest when you said that the others wouldn't be Boukenger unless I was Chief. And now, she turns around and just…leaves. What lies did Yaiba feed her?!"
"Nee-chan, it's not worth getting upset over. We'll break this brainwashing thing." Kando asked. "We'll bring Rin-san home. For now, you need to rest."
"And how could she turn on her own little sister?" Kei's hands became fists. "When we first started, she was always worried about Hikari's safety. Always. And now, for her to do this? Hikari's really small and she's not a very good fighter. It must not have taken her much to knock her out."
"It didn't." Kando muttered. "One good whack to the head…. from behind."
"Kei." Satoru said. "Please stop doing this to yourself. You didn't drive Rin to this point. She made a choice."
"To try and save her family." Kei said. "But Yaiba got to her." She sighed. "I don't believe this." She then looked at Kando. "Kando…how did you get a black eye?"
Kando looked at her funny and then remembered that he was sporting a relatively fresh black eye. "Oh this? A fight with Satoshi."
"Again?" Satoru asked.
"What do you mean again?" Kei fixed her brother with a hard look. "Kando Takaoka, how many times have I told you not to fight with Satoshi Akashi?"
"He started it." Kando muttered. "He's been riding me about taking up the Chief mantle since the Sub-Chief defected and the real Chief was falling apart. He says I'm too young to lead and so I tell him that that was the exact same reason why his father didn't make him BoukenRed. So, he decked me."
Kei groaned.
"And Tsubasa's no better!" Kando added. "Those two are trying to drive me crazy when I'm trying to hold it together despite the fact that my nee-chan's in the hospital and my girlfriend's in the next bed over!"
"You guys are falling apart." Satoru commented.
"You don't know the half of it." Kei muttered. "Remind me to deck Tsubasa when I see him next."
"I hear our daughter's awake." Eiji said. "Would you like to go see her?"
Sakura blushed at the mention of Kei as "their daughter". "I hear she's in a bad way. Maybe we should wait to see her. Besides, Kando is with her." She moaned as Eiji hit a particularly tense muscle in her foot, pausing in her paperwork. "I'm sure no one knows her as well as he does."
Eiji sighed as he massaged Sakura's feet. "I'm worried."
"About what?"
"The warning Kei told Kando. 'Beware of Ouga'. If it means what I think it means, then I have to find the Precious that revived him and destroy it and then destroy him…again. All while avoiding myself at 50. A real walk in the park."
"I'll help you find that Precious." Sakura said. "I'm sure that Chief won't mind. After all…" She held up the ring on her left hand. "…I'm going to be your wife."
Eiji smiled and leaned towards his beautiful bride to be. "I would like that." He paused. "Have you told him yet?"
Sakura sighed. Satoru had been so busy running around taking care of Kei and making sure the next gen Boukengers, now down to Tsubasa Mogami, Satoshi Akashi & Kando Takaoka, could handle themselves (the constant infighting, fueled by the apparent resentment between the three, proved otherwise) that she hadn't had five minutes alone with him to tell him the news. "No."
"Sakura…"
"He's been busy. You KNOW he's been busy."
"Sakura, I won't wait forever."
Rin awoke to the sounds of movement outside her bedroom and almost instinctively, she picked up the naginata that she kept next to her bed and swung it. Surprisingly, it hit something…the other Shizuka.
"Kaze no Shizuka." Rin crowed. "I wondered when you'd show up."
"Where's Yaiba?" Kaze no Shizuka asked.
"Like I'm going to tell you." Rin twirled the naginata and moved to strike her with it.
The two Shizukas clashed in the darkness, Yami no Shizuka clearly winning out over Kaze no Shizuka, until Kaze faked out and Yami was pinned on her back.
"All that awaits traitors is death!" Kaze no Shizuka announced.
"Oh, go to hell, you little whore." Yami no Shizuka snapped, shoving the smaller girl backwards She jumped up, her body responding to the training and managed to knock Kaze out with the naginata and dragged her outside. Coldly, Yami no Shizuka dumped Kaze no Shizuka near a river and hoped for rain.
Souta couldn't sleep. He could hear Kando and Tsubasa having another fight down the hall and he hurt from fighting Yami no Shizuka the other day. For him, it was like fighting a loved one, but she'd shown him no mercy.
Rin had become vicious and violent and declared the Boukenger as dead to her as her grandparents. She'd nearly killed Natsuki to prove her point before making off with the Precious of the day and Yaiba in tow.
Masumi had gone after his daughter in a rage, but she'd slashed him across the chest with her naginata and shoved him backwards. Souta was willing to be that Masumi was happy to have his AccellSuit.
Natsuki had been in tears when she came out of it and Masumi vowed revenge. But, Kando had wisely said that revenge wouldn't work.
So, both generations of Boukengers had been forced to pool their resources to defeat this new faction of the Negative Syndicate. They hadn't even given themselves a name and already they were proving to be a really big threat
Souta turned over in bed again and tried to shut out the sound of Rin taunting him and then, he sighed. He did care for Rin in the short time they'd spent with one another. And now, she'd turned to darkness. What was he going to do?
Natsuki lay awake in Masumi's arms, her body still sore from fighting Yami no Shizuka and nearly getting killed. She liked the warmth that Masumi provided, the feeling of safety. She felt safe and at home when she was with him.
"Masumi?" Natsuki whispered, hoping he was awake.
There was a moan and a groan and then Masumi mumbled, "What is it Natsuki?"
"Do you think we can save our Belle?" She asked, worriedly.
Masumi wasn't sure if they could save Rin from Yaiba's dark embrace, but he wasn't going to say such a thing to Natsuki. She was clinging to hope.
"I'm not sure." He said, finally. "I certainly hope we can."
Natsuki cuddled deeper into his embrace, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "What did we do wrong?"
"We didn't do anything wrong. She just went down the wrong path." Masumi said, deciding not to voice the fact that as Rin's father, he felt responsible because he'd passed the darkness within him on to his daughter and she had fallen victim to the desires of Yami no Yaiba. This was his fault. He had suppressed the darkness inside for so long that it had been born in the heart of his own child and she'd used it to become one of the Boukenger's most dangerous enemies.
Natsuki wept into Masumi's chest and inside, Masumi cried with her.
"Was there a problem, Yami no Shizuka?" Yaiba's voice sounded slightly worried as Rin came back into the house, tossing the naginata aside.
"Kaze no Shizuka was here. I quickly disposed of her. She's not dead, but she's going to wish she was." Rin stretched. "Don't worry."
"It's not Kaze no Shizuka I'm worried about." Yaiba said as Rin got back into bed. "It's Gekkou."
"The bird?"
"Yes, the bird. He's more powerful than she is and is the one who poses a very real threat."
"You should have thought about that before you tried to kill him."
"Yami no Shizuka…it's not your place to say such things."
"I'm serious Yaiba. If you didn't want to get on his bad side you shouldn't have tried to kill him or at least made sure he wouldn't survive."
"You seem unafraid."
"I'm not. I've got nothing to fear. The Boukengers can't touch me, I kicked Shizuka's ass, and if you think for two seconds that a bird is going to scare me…"
Yaiba was proud of her bravado and her lack of fear, especially since she'd already disregarded the Boukengers as threats. He'd trained her to fear nothing, but he should have told her to be cautious of his former boss. Gekkou was not a being you upset unless you wanted vengeance (which was why Yaiba had hoped that the demon bird would destroy that part of him. He wasn't pleased when he found that both Gekkou and Kaze had survived).
"If only Kaze no Shizuka had been more like you…"
Rin smirked. "She'll never be like me…I'm better."
Yaiba's arms slowly slid around her waist and yanked her to him. "I know."
The next morning, Kei had actually gotten out of her hospital bed and was walking around a little, only to encounter Tsubasa.
"I see you're up." Tsubasa said curtly.
"Tsubasa Mogami, if we weren't stuck 25 years in the past, I'd kill you." Kei was trying to keep herself from going fully angry on him. "How dare you taunt my brother!"
"He's 19 years old!" Tsubasa said. "What's he doing acting as second in command when I'm your right hand man?"
"I put him there because he knows how to best carry out what I want because he's one of the few people I tell such things! And he can lead!" Kei was infuriated by Tsubasa's arrogance, a trait she'd never known before. "And I can trust him with this sort of thing."
"And you can't trust me, Kei-san?"
"Judging by the way you've been treating my brother while I lie in a bed, fighting for my life, I can't. Not anymore. Tsubasa, are you so angry that I found someone to love that it clouds your ability to make good judgments? Kando could have used your support. My brother needed back up and I was counting on you to do that. You failed me, Tsubasa and I don't know if I can ever trust you again."
"Kei-san…"
Kei held up her hand. "Don't Tsubasa, just don't." With that, she limped away slowly, not bothering to look back. She paused, and then said, softly. "I thought you cared for me, Tsubasa Mogami. I thought that if you cared about me, you'd treat my brother well and be happy for me when I am happy. Instead you and Satoshi, with your resentment and your anger, disappointed me and took everything out on Kando and Hikari. That makes me unhappy and angry. If I didn't need you so much right now, I'd fire you." She affixed Tsubasa with a glare. "Now that I'm on my feet, I don't want to hear about any more infighting and if I find out that you three are giving each other black eyes, I'm going to give you all black eyes. Kando, too. Got it?"
"Yes, Chief." Tsubasa murmured, feeling embarrassed.
"Don't call me Chief." Kei muttered.
Hikari awoke alone in her hospital bed, her head throbbing. She curled on her side and wept tears for her lost nee-chan, who'd become so consumed by the darkness that she was very much gone. Her beloved Rin was gone to her now. What was she to do without her nee-chan to guide her?
She hadn't cried so much since Mama told her a sad bedtime story once when she was a little girl.
"What would Mama and Papa say when they see me like this? What would they say if they saw nee-chan like that?" Hikari whimpered in the darkness to no one. "How am I going to bring home my nee-chan?" She felt helpless and alone, left to drift away. Her hope was dead in her heart. "I should just think that nee-chan is dead and this Yami no Shizuka person took her place." But that was hard for Yami No Shizuka wore Rin's face.
Suddenly, the door slid open and Hikari turned over, hoping to see Kando. Instead there was a young girl in black and purple standing there. "Hello, Inou Aurora. How are you?"
Hikari was a little confused at first at the presence of the young woman and she looked at her oddly. "Who are you?"
"Sakurako." The girl replied. "But the Boukengers know me as…"
"Mr. Voice." Hikari finished. "I remember you, now! We met when I became a Boukenger in 2029.
I didn't know you had a real name. We called you Little Miss Voice."
Sakurako smiled. "Now, I know you must be from the future. How are you feeling today, Aurora-chan?"
"Hurt." The pain was clear in her voice. "What am I going to do, Sakurako-san? I can't fight my own sister, but she's so far gone that hope seems pointless."
"Hope is never pointless." Sakurako said. "It's always good to have that."
"But, my nee-chan, who's been looking out for me since the day I was born, suddenly, she decided that killing me was something she wanted to do. Kando thinks it's brainwashing, but I'm convinced that Yami no Yaiba did nothing to nee-chan, except be there when she got that Precious."
Sakurako sat on the end of Hikari's hospital bed and affixed the young Deep Adventure with a pointed stare. "Pay attention to what Kando's saying. He has a point. I believe that the Takaoka family often picks up on things that others miss. Kando is no exception…at least from what I've seen." She smiled. "Don't let this get you down. Everything will turn out right."
"You really think so, Little Miss Voice?"
"Oh, I know so."
Kei's body was incredibly weak from her walking and from waking up drugged and confused and soon, she could no longer force herself to walk, so she slid to the floor in the hallway, and curled into a ball. She wept softly, tears staining the floor, her body unable to do much else. Suddenly, the vibrations that signal footsteps came walking towards her.
"Kei!" It was Satoru and he ran to her side. "Oh, my god, what happened!?"
"My body's weak, even with the Ashu blood, and I can't go any further." Kei wiped her face, to make sure he didn't see her tears. "I got up just so I could walk and Tsubasa and I had a fight and that just took it all out of me." She threw up her hands. "Tsubasa Mogami is NOTHING like his father! You'd think he'd have had good manners knocked into him by Souta-sensei, but NO! He proved to me that I couldn't trust him!"
Satoru's heart ached. Kei was struggling to hold onto her sanity, to some part of her control, but failing. Rin's betrayal was taking a massive toll on the younger Chief.
"It's all right." He murmured, scooping her up and carrying her to his bedroom. "You can share my room for right now." Midway there, Kei began crying again, like she'd done so much these last few days and Satoru pulled her close, trying to get her to stop.
He murmured comforting words to her and rocked her gently, pushing the door to his room open and laying her down on for a moment. By then, she'd fallen sleep and he quickly pulled out a blanked and spread it over her body.
She was like that for hours until she awoke, slowly lifting her head to find Satoru asleep in a chair, a book in his lap. "Satoru-san?"
He opened one eye to look at her. "Kei, are you all right?"
"No…I am not okay." Her voice sounded ready to crack. "I'm not even sure if I can do this anymore." Her voice sounded soft and uncertain. "I should…. maybe I should just quit being a Boukenger…. this Chiefu thing is proving to be more than I thought it would be and I can't handle that."
"Kei…"
"No…" Kei was tightly clutching the Accellular that had belonged to Rin. "…this was only bearable because my best friend was my sub-chief and I don't even have THAT any more."
"No one ever said that being Chief was easy, Kei." He sat on the bed, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her. "I've had it rough since I began. But, even then…Masumi has yet to warm up to me. Your Boukengers seem to like you."
Kei didn't say anything, she just sighed.
"Your team needs you to hold it together." Satoru reminded her, coming to lie beside her. "They needed you desperately in the time you were out. But your brother did an admirable job keeping his head on. If he was my son, I'd be ridiculously proud of him. I wish I could say the same for my own son…"
"Just wait until I get my hands on Satoshi." Kei muttered. "I can't believe how he can be sometimes!" She looked into his eyes. "You really think I can do this?"
"Would I have picked you for BoukenRed if I didn't believe it?"
For the first time in what felt like forever, she smiled at him. "No, you wouldn't."
He smiles. "That's my Kei." He wiped away her tears. "Let's ask Mr. Voice and Makino-sensei if they will help us find out what happened to Kei. The effects of a Precious can't explain all her defection away. I think your brother was onto something when he said that he thought that Rin was brainwashed."
"When Dad was training us to be Ashu Watchers, he taught us to be very observant of things around us. Kando was usually better at it than I was. This explains why he would notice something I wouldn't." Kei's voice was trying to find its footing. "If I knew where to find Kando, I'd ask him, but I haven't seen him at all today."
"You know what…I think he's with Hikari."
"What? Again?"
"They like each other."
"I know they like each other, but do they have to spend every waking moment with…" Her words ended when Satoru decided to put his lips on hers and roll them over so he was on top.
"Well, I'm with you all the time, so that has to count for something, hmmm?"
Kando was a little surprised to walk into Hikari's hospital room and see Sakurako talking to Hikari. Not that he knew her name, but he knew who she was.
"Little Miss Voice?" Kando asked.
"Ah, Kando Takaoka." Sakurako said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."
"We've met…but that was in 2029." Kando said. "Hikari, are you all right?"
"Yes, I feel much better than I did when I woke up." Hikari smiled and waved her boyfriend over. "Come and meet Sakurako."
"You have a name, Little Miss Voice?" Kando ventured over, curious.
"Yes, Sakurako." Sakurako was pleasant and sweet and it was hard to believe that this little girl was actually Mr. Voice. "I take it you have information, I might need to hear to help you solve your problems."
"You mean about how I think it's brainwashing?"
"Yes, now please…tell me."
Tsubasa wondered how in the world he was going to fix things with Kei. He loved her, he really did, but learning that she'd spent time in Satoru's arms just made him crazy and he lashed out at Kando because he felt bad for being angry at someone in a coma. He didn't realize that by extension, he was hurting Kei.
He shouldn't have acted like that towards Kando. He should have thought before her spoke. He'd ruined any chance he'd had of winning her heart.
What have I done? Tsubasa thought as he wandered through Tokyo.
Suddenly, a loud scream alerted Tsubasa to something going on in an alley and he poked his head around, only to have his father clamp his hand around his mouth.
"Dad, what are you do-"
"Following Shizuka-chan" Souta whispered, pointing to a rooftop and indicated for his son to follow him. The two scaled the building easily and they hid in the shadows watching Yami no Yaiba and Yami no Shizuka face off with Kaze no Shizuka and Maborshi no Gekkou.
They were having some sort of argument and then suddenly Yami no Shizuka pulled out her naginata, swung and there was a horse cry from Gekkou and blood and bird feathers went flying.
Kaze no Shizuka screamed in terror.
Tsubasa's jaw dropped open. "Oh, my god…did she just…"
"I think she did..." Souta's eyes were wide. Was this what had become of his beloved Rin?