(NOTE): I know, I know: "Where THE HELL have you BEEN!!!!" One word: Busy. School plays, exams, competitions, auditions, holidays, family reunions, and then there's the lovely 'after event is done' cleaning up that everyone loves :P. Not to mention we had to put our beloved dog down (tears). I miss her, but at least she's with my cat now, they were good friends :).
NE way, lemme give you another chapter before I'm forced back into captivity (coughschoolcough):
As usual, Jakotsu groggily awoke to the sound of a lound Clang! and groaned as he pushed off the thin blanket and sat up. But it wasn't until he actually noticed more than one Clang! was being rung out that his eyes snapped open.
He could also hear men shouting from all directions and feet quickly scurrying around outside. He looked toward the curtain at the tiny hut's threshold and could see shadows surrounded by what looked like firelight dancing across the dirt ground.
Now wide awake, he didn't even bother to stand as he swiftly pulled the folds of the curtain back and gazed outside.
He had literally woken up in the middle of a brawl.
It wasn't even morning yet, but it hardly mattered since the fires burning from many of the huts illuminated the entire camp. A chorus of battle cries and clashing swords could be heard from every corner of the camp as he stared wide-eyed as the other trainees, many still wearing only their fundoshi/shorts, fought in hand-to-hand combats with men in full uniform.
Their fighting the guards!! Jakotsu realized It's a revolt!!
Indeed, it was just that. Fury was written on each man's face as he intensely fought his opponent. Anguished cries broke out as men fell in pools of glowing crimson. Poorly-made swords were smashed against those more expertly made, many of them breaking on contact and sealing their masters' fate.
The unexperienced students fought desperately against the skilled soldiers, but the gaurds could sense their fear and knocked them down almost too easily. Many of the gaurds laughed as they grabbed burning wood from one of the huts and lit another one of fire. In a battle between novice and master, it isn't hard to figure out that the master would win.
Jakotsu didn't care.
Excitement that demanded to be released boiled in his gut and he grinned as he practically lunged out toward a fallen body and grabbed the corpse's sword from his clenched hand. He stood and with a quick, nearly graceful move and a great laugh, he decapitated the first guard he saw.
Some of the gaurds and trainees ceased their fighting and buring as they heard the feminine roar of laughter sound out again as the most expert second year student fought against another guard and sliced him up as well.
This seemed to boost the other students' spirit as they fought back more passionately than ever, letting out their own laughs and jeers at their shocked opponents. The trainees also started setting fire their own huts, leering at the guards' bewildered faces.
Insanity consumed the whole area as more of the soldiers' and trainee's blood was shed. It was clear that Jakotsu had assumed leadership when he led the others out of the second year area and into more territority.
It was full-fleged battle now.
Jakotsu couldn't remember having so much fun since the day he and his mother had conquered the other daimyo's home. And now, this was his chance!! If he could just reach the palace, then he could finally kill Takehiko, end his mission, return to his mother, and achieve his beloved Jakotsutou back!
All he had to do was fight his way to the laundry hut, enter through a passage that Taro had shown him, and...
Oh gods!! Brother!!!
Thrill transfigured into concern. He no longer even bothered trying to fight the guards as he pushed his way through the chaos, cutting down only those who got in his way. He knew that Taro was perfectly capable of handling himself, but still, Taro was his brother and he couldn't help but be sure.
He soon reached the huts wear they would receive clothes and food, noticing that the now confident trainees were breaking into the clothes hut and throwing out outfits to the others still only in their nightwear. Jakotsu quickly caught an outfit and slipped it on as he burst into the laundry hut.
After dropping his sword onto the ground, he immediately made his way to a gigantic washing cauldron near the wall, reached inside, and lifted out the bottom. Throwing the metal bottom to the side, he quickly retrieved his sword and grabbed one of the torches off the wall. He then climbed inside the large pot and dropped down into the underground passage he had uncovered, not even bothering to use the steps.
This had been one of the first 'escape passages' Taro had shown him. This underground tunnel really was supposed to lead from the palace kitchens to the trainee camps laundry hut as an emergency escape route for the diamyo, but Taro and Jakotsu found it useful for just sneaking into the castle to grab some more decent food.
Before long, Jakotsu hit the steps that led to his destination. Throwing the torch on the ground, he raced up the steps and pushed up on a round piece of metal on the ceiling and threw it to the side, almost wincing as he heard it bang to the ground. He climbed out of the cauldron he had just removed the bottom from and raced out of the kitchens(1).
He wasn't sure were he was going, but he didn't care. He knew it was ridiculus to attempt but he would nonetheless visit every room in the castle until he found his brother!
But, suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
Gaurds should have been swarming the place, and yet he didn't see a single one. What he saw were traces and trails of blood pasted on the walls of the hallway he had just entered.
And not only blood, but bodies.
Some were servants but most were guards. They looked as if they had been easily cut down, as they only had one or two fatal wounds, and some were holding tightly onto women they had tried to protect.
Pfft. Pathetic.
Jakotsu kicked a body over and examined his cuts.
Whoever did this doesn't like stabbing, there're no punctures. He also not very tall, the cut is a little no, and nearly none have cut throats. Wait a minute!
Jakotsu lifted up the carcass's pant leg and saw a large, fresh bruise on his knee. He then uncovered his own kneecap and notice a bruise in nearly the exact same place. He mind went back to a sparring lesson with Taro. His brother had given him a swift kick to the knee that had made Jakotsu nearly fall back onto the ground. If he hadn't 'snake flipped' (as Raidon called it) out of the way, Taro could have easily won that match. All he would need was a swift slit to the gut.
That was exactly how this man was killed.
This is Taro's doing! Jakotsu realized So he must have been able to get away from that wench!
Jakotsu stood, proud that his brother was able to handle himself after all. An open door then caught his eye. Well, what was left of it anyway, it was closed but it looked like someone had burst, or sliced, through the paper screen.
Jakotsu firgured it was the room Taro must have emerged from or ran off to.
He stepped over the dead gaurd in front (noticing his sword was missing) and tore his way into the room, as the slit was big enough to only fit Taro. He knew instantly that this was the room Taro had first been brought to.
The corpse of a lovely young woman made that obvious.
She was lying face down on a richly furnished futon that was soaked in her own blood. She was clad in a pale blue (now crimson), nearly transparent robe and her raven locks were held up in a twisted bun. The air in the room was filled with soothing scents and candles were lit all around the well furnished room.
He walked over to bed to see if the blankets and pillows were tousled or out of place in excessive any way. They weren't. The sheets were only slightly disheveled from her form falling on them and the pillows were still placed neatly at the head, except for one that had been knocked off from the force of her dead body hitting the mattress.
Jakotsu beamed. It served her right for thinking that his brother would succum to her.
He was turning to leave as he noticed something glint through the woman's dark tresses. He reached over and shifted some of her locks out of the way. What he discovered made him gasp!
My pin!
He snatched the colored metal out of her hair and held it up to see if it was really his. It was! It was the same blue pin with butterfly designs that had belong to one of the first people he had seen killed! That bastard Raidon must have given it to her when he had first arrived.
A little gift for the Lady? he had sneered.
And this wench has had it the entire time! Jakotsu thought, outraged Well, if she thinks she can take my things...!
After tucking the pin into a pants' pocket, he thrust the girl onto her back, her hair flying out due to the loss of the pin, and raised the sword above his head! He wanted to cut her up into a thousand shreds and see pain and fear spark in her cold, lifeless eyes! Those dark, blue-rimmed orbs that still seemed to have a faint glimmer of hunger in them.
Lust for my brother! Damn her!
But as he was about to strike, he stopped. What good would that do? She was already dead, sliced at the belly, there was no way she could ever express any emotion again. Besides, this was Taro's victory. It wasn't his place to mess with his brother's first kill.
Well, since she stole something of mine...I'll just take something of hers!
He brought the sword down and searched around the room for something to take. He saw her vanity next to a large wardrobe rushed over to it, searching throught her belongings. He became excited at seing so many beautiful trinkets and jewelry! There were ropes of pearls and diamonds, clusters of earrings and rings, and even one or five gold and silver combs encrusted with jewels!
And there was also make-up!
There were boxes full of different colors. Rouges, azures, verdants, violets, rusts, golds, creams...everything both light and dark. But there were two in particular that caught his eye. One was a blue shadow, the same color that he had seen on her eyelids...almost the same color as Taro's eyes. The other one was a purple shadow that reminded him of the snakeskin amor his mother wore. He picked up the small scallop shells with the chosen colors and shoved them into his pocket with the pin. He decided that he would give them to his mother. He knew he couldn't bring the jewelry, they would be too much of a hassle.
Mother will like the colors he concluded and maybe even...
He looked at the wardrobe and opened a door.
Something to wear.
He found the perfect thing. There was a lavender scarf hanging on the door that would go perfectly with the violet make-up and armor. Plus it would be easy to carry. He snatched it from the hook and tied it around his waist. Satisfied, he walked back toward the slain female and smirked in her face.
"Thanks for the gifts. I sure my mother will love them." he sneered.
He turned and strode out of the room, having a hunch of where he would find Taro. Yet as he left, the woman's eyes didn't leave his mind. He couldn't help but feel that her ebony, lust-filled eyes were strangely familiar.
He shrugged.
Perhaps that's just what I look like when I fight...
After leaving the dead girl's room, he had made a beeline back to the kitchens and traveled back to the training camps. The battle and fires around the food and clothes huts had died down and the sun was just starting to rise, but there was still traces of fighting going on a little farther down. Ignoring the biting temptation to join in the fun, he raced to the back of the kitchens, passing some of the servants in brown outfits attending wounded trainees (I guess they should really be considered soldiers now) and followed the back wall to the small group of huts Taro had shone him. Sure enough, there were bodies of soldiers, some clad in what looked like outfits for some kind of barbaric ritual, lying dead on the ground.
But only a few were actually cut up.
There were some that looked like they had been burned to death. The ground itself even looked like it had caught on fire. The charred forms fell in a circle around a a blue and white figure.
A person.
A male.
Someone with tan hands and black hair that fell to his shoulder blades...
"Brother?" Jakotsu breathed as stepped over the burnt bodies and walked closer to the shorter male. It must have been a loud breath as the figure turned toward him, hearing the sound. Jakotsu stopped just a few feet away from him, bringing his sword against his shoulder.
His mouth dropped open as he realized that it was, indeed Taro, dressed in an ashen outfit with a thick patch of blue near his neck. he was wearing black-lined, gray pieces of armor that had blue fern-like designs in places. One shoulder guard was on his left shoulder; it was attached to the breastplate by a red ribbon on the front and a metal strap on the back. The breastplate itself wrapped around Taro's chest and fell in a fundoshi style down his white hakama pants. The wide sleeves and legs were stuffed into black material that ran around the ankles and forearms, like shoes and gauntlets. There was also a crimson obi around his waist that was tied into a bow in the front.
As Jakotsu stared at his brother standing there in that magnificent outfit, with the charred bodies lying at his feet, he thought that Taro looked worthy of a shogun.
He was broken out of his thoughts as he saw Taro shoot him a small, smug smile.
"Hey, Jakotsu" he said "Took you long enough. If you hadn't shown up in one second I was just gonna go kill Takehiko myself."
"You mean, he isn't dead?" Jakotsu asked. He had thought, with some despair, that perhaps Takehiko was one of the scorched bodies on the ground.
But Taro shook his head.
"Unfortunately. I burst into the hut just as he was finishing the incantation. I was just able to grab it before Takehiko could get to it." Taro lifted up his right arm. Jakotsu was absolutely stunned when he saw the large sword, the enormous halberd, in Taro's hand!
In his one hand!
Taro smirked again and looked lovingly at his new weapon.
"Banryuu is mine at last." he gloated, more to himself than Jakotsu...
After Taro escaped from the palace and rallied the other trainees to fight, he hastened quickly to the ritual site, where he knew Tahiko would be trying to perform the spell on his Banryuu. He burst into the area, cutting down any men that got in his way with the sword he had snatched from one of the guards back in the palace. Since it was still fairly dark, he could see bight glowing flashes come from a small hut.
The hut that contained Banryuu!
He quickly raced towards the light and practically tore the flap of the hut off as he enter. The fires from the oil candles surrounding the great halberd were giving off sparks that flew straight into the glowing weapon. He saw Takehiko muttering something under his breath as he inched closer and closer to his prize, his hand outstretched, ready to grasp his prize.
Taro was just able to dash in front of the daimyo and close his hand around the hilt.
As soon as he touched the giant sword, the flames of the candles grew bigger and swirled around around taro and the halberd. But Taro felt no heat or pain. He could see Takehiko's shocked, enraged face through the flames and he smirked.
Banryuu belonged to him.
The flames grew larger and larger, and the sparks increased and mulitplied. The other soldiers, the fools dressed in their ritual garb, peeked into the hut to see what was happening, but Takehiko, the smart, rushed out as quickly as he could.
Then, not ten seconds later, the whole hut burst into flames!
Taro could hear the men scream over the roaring fire as tongues of flames and heat consumed them. Bits and pieces of the hut flew apart and the ground around him was burnt black.
And eventually, the flames died down. He was left there, surrounded by charred, black bodies, and holding his beloved Banryuu at last...
"But Brother!" Jakotsu said, releasing Taro from his memories "You're injured!"
Jakotsu couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before! How could he have possibly missed the blood that was streaming out of a large gash in Taro's forehead. Taro seemed to finally notice, too, as he felt his forehead and stared at the blood he had smeared off. Bringing his hand down, he shrugged and looked at Jakotsu's arms.
"So are you." he said "We'll take care of that later. Right now," he gave a wicked grin and stared at the cave entrance off to the side "we have a daimyo to kill." He then dashed off into the direction of the cave.
Jakotsu blinked and looked at his arms. There was indeed blood running down from cuts in each of his upper arms that he hadn't noticed before.
Huh. Well wouldn't you know it.
"Hey Jakotsu!" he heard Taro shout back "You comming or not?"
Jakotsu grinned with excitement and followed Taro, his brother...his brother with the magnificent halberd, his big brother, towards the cave.
(NOTE): I was going to stop here, but I'll put a little more as a "Sorry for taking so long" gift :).
"How do you know he's in the cave, Brother?" Jakotsu questioned, catching up with Taro.
"It's obvious." Taro answered "He's probably worried that we'll free Jiro and make him an ally. Well he's definitely right about that."
Oh yeah! That giant!
"That's smart thinking, Big Brother." Jakotsu commented as he and Taro enter the cave. Taro paused at the threshold and stared at Jakotsu, who stopped right beside him.
"Big Brother?" Taro said, looking confused for the first time since Jakotsu had seen him.
Jakotsu grinned and nodded.
"I originally was sent here to train enough so that I could eventually kill the daimyo. I was either to band together my own group of fighters or else join a worthy leader. Well...I don't feel fit to be a leader, at least not of a large group of men, when I have a brother that is younger than who, yet matches me in skill and strength. So" he knelt and placed his sword at Taro's feet "I promise with all of my being," he swore "that I will serve you as my leader and follow you even into hell."
Jakotsu knew that to his mother, this would look ridiculous and shameful. A tall man of seventeen bowing and pledging himself to a thirteen-year-old boy? It was laughable to anyone, but Jakotsu didn't care.
Taro was strong, especially now since he had Banryuu. He was also smart and quick. He loved fighting, and he walked with power. And he was stubborn to the end. In his heart, Jakotsu knew that the student had become the master, and that Taro would make a better leader than him any day.
Taro was flabbergasted, yet at the same time, proud. Here was teacher, a trainee who was supposed to be above his servant position, and he was bowing at his feet and swearing his allegiance to him. taro knew just what to say.
"Fine." he said "Then get up off the ground and follow me...Brother."
With that, Taro continued running into the cave. Jakotsu smiled as he pick himself and his sword up from the ground and followed his Big Brother, his leader, inside.
(NOTE)/Squeal/ I'm getting excited!!! Next up is the final battle between Takehiko and the founders of the future Band of Seven!!!!
P.S. I'm sure that most of you guys can pick up on certain special stuff ;) BTW, here's a picture of a scene from this chapter that I drew: http:// www. deviantart. com/ deviation/49185297/ (undo the spaces).
It's kinda incomplete, but I'm still proud of it:). See ya l8ter!!