Sorry it took so long to get this next chapter up. I had no idea what to do next, I was really confused. But in the end I decided to follow the actual HSDK storyline. Also, hopefully some relationship development will occur between Jack and Shigure soon. But I really don't want to rush that at the same time, so we will see what happens. He has only been at the Dojo a day, after all.
With their disciple gone, the masters were rather board, and were doing their best to waste time until Kenichi and Jack returned. Apachai was playing Othello with Honoka who had arrived a few minutes after her brother had left. Akisame was chiseling another stone statue, Ma was reading a dirty novel, and Sakaki was drunk in the corner. The only one who was not actively doing something, was Shigure. After letting her search the Dojo for a few minutes, Akisame stopped her when she looked under his writing-table, which was barely tall enough for her mouse, Tochimaru, to stand under. "Which one are you looking for?" He asked calmly.
"I thought they would be back by now." She answered neutrally. And she was right, it had been several hours since Jack and Kenichi left.
"I am sure they are fine." Kensei spoke up, "After all, you said he was at least as good as you."
"But… so long." She emphasized.
"Kenichi is always gone, though!" Apachai exclaimed, "You have not worried about him in a long time!" he said clueless as always.
"Wait a second!" Honoka interrupted, "If all of you are here, who is my big brother with?"
"It took you long enough, I'm surprised you didn't ask as soon as you got here." Kensei muttered.
"He is with a new master." Akisame answered, ignoring the Chinese man's remark.
"What! Who is this new guy!? Why wasn't I notified!? What if he isn't good enough to train my big brother!? Why didn't you guys wait to get my approval!?" She jumped up, and waved her arms around dramatically as she lamented over her discovery.
"Don't worry. It looks like you get to approve him now." Akisame interrupted her, noticing that the Samurai and their disciple had returned.
"Kenichi!" Honoka screamed happily, "Where have you been!? I've been waiting all day!" her attitude changed instantly, when she noticed the condition her beloved brother was in.
"Woah! Looks like you had some fun without me!" Sakaki laughed drunkenly. "What'd you do to him, Jack? Get him in a bar fight?"
"More like ten." Kenichi answered tiredly. But there was no getting around it. He was covered in food, beer, sake, blood, dirt, and other unidentifiable substances. He reeked horribly, and felt infinitely worse than he looked. "I am never training with him again." He continued tightly. "He is crazy! He just threw me inside every bar, and strip club we walked past!"
"My apologies, but the strip club was an accident. I had no idea what that place was." Jack interjected, sincerely.
"And that is supposed make it better!?"
Jack paused for a few seconds before answering, confusedly, "Doesn't it?"
"I thought you told Miu that you were not going to make him fight." Akisame asked.
"What's this about throwing my big brother in bars!? How horrible of a person are you!? Don't you care for my big brother's safety at all!?" she carried on and on as she pounded away at the samurai with her toy hammer she always had on hand.
"He was not supposed to." Jack answered.
"That's no excuse! You could have gotten him killed!" Honoka continued swinging her hammer wildly as Apachai picked her up and carried her away.
"I think I get it." Kensei spoke up, ignoring the young girl, "He was supposed to get out of the fight by diffusing the situation. Is that right?"
"What's the point of that?" Sakaki yelled, still wasted, "Half the reason to go into a bar is to get into a fight! Otherwise, why bother? HAHAHAHA!" finishing off his beer, he threw it into the other room, landing it perfectly into a trash can. "Come on, Kenichi, get cleaned up, and let's train. It's my turn now." He got up and walked to his room to get another beer.
"SAKAKI! Stop drinking already!" Miu yelled from the room he threw the bottle into. "You have had too much already!"
"Oh dear." Akisame muttered. "I hope you do not mind him, Jack. He seems to have forgotten that you are still training Kenichi."
"It is quite alright." Jack smiled. "I am sure that the boy is anxious to get away from me." And he was right, when he looked to Kenichi, to give his permission, he was already gone. "It seems he has changed his opinion of your training." He chuckled.
"Haha, yes. We very rarely do situational training, and focus on physical training. So he probably thought he was going to get a break."
Jack was about to say something, but was distracted by the feeling of his sword moving against his thigh. Looking down, he saw a small grey mouse climbing up the ridge of his scabbard. It stopped at the tsuba and looked up at him for a moment before raising a paw. "Hello, little one." Jack smiled at it as he offered his hand. The mouse sniffed it, and huffed in disappointment that Jack was not offering it any food.
"Tochimaru seems to like you." Akisame spoke. "It normally takes him some time to get used to strangers." At this point, Tochimaru was reclining on the handle of Jack's sword, while leaning against the tsuba. It let out a relaxed sigh and fell asleep.
"How…Odd." Jack muttered to himself looking at the sleeping mouse.
"He is very comfortable around weapons. Normally, he helps Shigure clean hers. He must recognize the quality of yours. I am not surprised, he is extremely intelligent."
Jack smiled, and stroked the mouse's head affectionately. He had seen many things during his lifetime, and a mouse who cleaned weapons was hardly the strangest of them. "Perhaps he would like to clean mine sometime." He joked. "By the way, who was that little girl?" he asked, he had not seen her since Apachai carried her away. As upset as she was, the samurai noticed that she clung to him like he was a big dog who was protecting her.
"That was Honoka, Kenichi's younger sister. she often comes here to play games with Apachai and Shigure. it does not seem like you made a very good impression on her, but I would not worry. She did not like seeing Kenichi's regular training schedule to begin with. Apachai probably took her home to cool down, she will be back again soon.
Feeling someone tap his shoulder, he looked behind him, seeing no one, he realized who it was, and looked up and met Shigure's face. "The Elder wants to see you." She said flatly. He nodded, and started to walk off, but stopped, and looked at Tochimaru, worried that the sleeping mouse would fall if he started walking. However, Shigure put his worries to rest. "He will be fine. You will not bother him." She said flipping over to land lightly on her feet she glanced over her shoulder and beckoned to him to follow.
In the next building, Hyato was seated in the main room with Kensei and Appachai on either side of him, facing each other. Shigure and Akisame both took their places next in line, also facing each other, so it appeared that they were sitting around an invisible table. "Hello, Jack." The Elder smiled warmly, "We were just about to have a master's meeting while Sakaki keeps Ken-chan occupied. I will fill him in later, and since this is the first meeting we are having since you have arrived, we all wanted you to join in. Also, the subject of the meeting I think you will be interested in."
Jack bowed, answering, "It is a great honor to be allowed to sit in on your meeting."
The masters all laughed as him for a moment, before the Elder spoke, "You are not sitting in, Jack. You are a master just as we are, and are expected to participate and contribute in our meetings!"
Jack smiled and sat next to Akisame "Then it is an even greater honor."
Once they had all settled down, the elder clapped his hands on his knees, signifying the start of the meeting. "Now then, down to business. Sakaki recently came into some information via his underground contacts, that there is a major Yami base here in Japan. In fact, it is hidden inside the American military base located in Okinawa."
"Now that is troublesome." Akisame stroked his mustache, thinking.
"I am sorry, but what is an 'American Military Base?'" Jack asked, a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, yes. I 'm sorry, Jack." Elder apologized, "America is another country that (as far as their military goes) is far more powerful than Japan, It is in fact considered to be the world's leading superpower. Fortunately America and Japan are allies, so they placed a friendly naval base on our coast in Okinawa."
"They must be an evil country, if Yami is hidden inside one of their own bases." Jack frowned.
"Don't jump to conclusions. Yami is hidden in virtually every country, all over the world. Even great Japan. It is an unfortunate realty, and says nothing of the country itself. This is why when we go destroy the Yami base, we must be careful not to harm any of the Soldiers, Seamen, Airmen, or Marines there. We are there only for Yami members, and once they are disposed of, we will withdraw."
Jack nodded in understanding, before realizing the leap in conversation that took place. "Again, I apologize, but We are going to invade the base of this country's allies? And what will we do with the Yami members we capture?" He understood that the Yami organization needed to be brought to an end, probably more than anyone else did. However, he did not see the logic behind this plan, if one could even call it such. It seemed to consist of finding out where a Yami base was, and destroying it, regardless of what else was there. It did not seem very wise, but the samurai was beginning to feel that it was necessary. If Yami was as powerful as the masters around him, and himself were, then only true masters of Katsujinken could ever have a hope of taking them down. The idea still made him extremely uncomfortable.
"There is a special prison we have had built specifically designed to hold the leaders of Yami." Akisame answered, "It is called the Big Lock. Once we detain the leaders, they will be sent there. And yes. We will be invading the American base, but not as Japanese citizens. We do not want to cause a political upheaval, so we will go in as faceless terrorists." Jack stared at the man in nothing less than shock. He spoke of acts of terrorism as if they were an everyday activity, these people were crazier than he thought!
"He is joking." Shigure said quietly. "He means that is how the government will explain it. We won't hurt anyone." She paused then looked straight at him, "I promise."
Jack was stunned at her sincerity for a few seconds, but soon, he nodded and consented to the plan. He hated to be viewed as the, "bad guy" but in this case, it seemed that he did not have any choice.
"Good." Hyato smiled. "I am glad for your help, Jack. I understand how you feel. But it will not be in vain." He chuckled a bit before finishing, "Now one last thing. Apachai," He looked at the giant bronze man next to him.
"Apa!"
"Sakaki also said that there is a member of the nine fists guarding the base there as well. He is a Muay-Thai user named Agaard Jum Sai. Is this going to be a problem?"
"A…pa…" The word coming from the kindly man's mouth had lost all of the joy and happiness that it had once held, and was now a dead, emotionless pair of syllables.
"Apachai?" the Elder asked again.
"No. This will not be a problem for Apachai."
Someone noted that Aku was a very skilled fighter, even without his powers because Ikra was. However I would like to point out that the only people Ikra fought against were Aku's minions. so technically Ikra was never really fighting. Also, In Season 4 Episode 9: Jack Vs. Aku, Jack and Aku do fight, only Jack without his sword, and Aku in human shape not using any superhuman ability. As a Martial artist myself, I would say that Aku's fighting is better than average, however he would certainly not win against anyone who does it for a living. That being said, he could probably beat me. I'm better than average, but not quite at that level, haha. Needless to say, he gets his ass beat, and resorts to cheating before the fight is even half over. So yeah. In comparison to Jack, (Let alone any master) he sucks.
