Another month, another chapter, and this one will showcase not just one, but two sigil powers. Before I get started, though, there are thanks to give, starting with reviews.
Arlownay1991: After rereading the AN from the last chapter, I can see how that could get confusing. ^^; I mentioned Kaito getting knocked out because of how he came into the story in Chapter Four ("Numbers Hunter") involved Yuma and Shark finding Kaito right after he'd lost a duel. He wasn't out for long, though, and he's going to be playing a rather big part in the coming chapters. Shark is the one in the hospital, thanks to being hit by a car (and yes, he will live). Glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one just as much!
Zeladious: Glad to see that you're enjoying the chapter! ^^ And you can put your suspicions to rest; the "hikari" has nothing to do with my username. The hikari is to do with something that will begin to play a part in the coming chapters…
Sword of Ragnarok: It would be interesting, wouldn't it? (laughs) That's kind of the point of this story—I took a point in the anime, and wanted to see what might happen if that duel between Yuma and III (Michael) had gone differently. I'm glad you like the chapter, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you react to this one!
Bookworm210: Thanks for the review and hello back!
And to digimonfanatic4ever for adding this to his/her Alerts and Favorites; and Sword of Ragnarok for adding this story to his/her Alerts.
On to the chapter!
Chapter 12
Hikari
"Guugh…I didn't sleep well last night." Yuma's head plopped onto his desk the next morning.
"Did you stay up playing video games? Again?" Kotori asked, straightening her books. She'd been given a permanent seat—right next to Yuma.
Yuma shook his head. "Bad dream." He said, voice muffled from his head being on the desk. "Well, not bad…just weird. Bad and weird." He groaned, plunking his chin on his arms, folded on the desk. "I don't know. It just made me have a rough night."
Kaito snorted from two seats ahead. "What gives me a rough night is knowing that I have to act like I'm related to you."
"Stop it." Kotori said, cutting Kaito off before he and Yuma could go at it. Again. "None of us want a rerun of you two in Biology."
Yuma's spirits weren't cheered. He was still sitting there with a dumb look on his face when Zei sauntered in, all smiles and whirlwind, talking about something loudly. Tōya entered just behind, looking mellow as usual, and towering over Zei.
Zei slammed his hands down on Yuma's desk. Yuma winced. "Yuma, I need your opinion on something."
Yuma peered up at Zei, scowling. "What?" He asked, surly.
Zei pointed to Tōya. "Tōya's been saying that dueling isn't as important as studying."
"It isn't." Tōya said. "I cite the fact that you're failing almost all of your classes. Miserably, too."
Zei scoffed. "Is too." He snorted. "Convince him, Yuma! Pleeeeeasssse?"
Yuma groaned. "Zei…I really don't care right now. Really."
Zei frowned. "What's got your wetsuit in a knot?"
"He didn't sleep well last night," Kotori said, sparing Yuma. "He was about to explain when you came charging in here."
"Explain? Night duels? Mattress lumpy? Did you eat the clams at lunch yesterday?"
Yuma glared up at Zei. "None of the above. Bad dream. Weird bad dream."
"How weird?" Zei asked, taking a seat, indignation forgotten.
Yuma shrugged. "I…I dunno. Just…weird." He looked around at the blank faces around. "What? I don't remember anything specific, just an overall 'this is weird' feeling."
"You're no stranger to weird, that's for sure." Kotori said, nodding to where Yuma's Key was underneath his shirt.
Yuma nodded, agreeing. "This just seemed…weirder. It almost felt like…" Like it was connected to Astral.
Once again, he was itching that spot over his heart. Kaito saw this, as well as something else. "Tsukumo, what's that on your chest?"
"Hm?" Yuma blinked, then looked to where he was itching.
There, over his heart, was a gold kanji. It read… "'Hikari'?"
Zei and Tōya leaned in to take a closer look. "It says 'hikari' all right." Tōya said. "You never told us you got a tattoo."
"I didn't." Yuma said. "And it's no birthmark, either…"
"Where did it come from?" Kotori asked as Yuma rebuttoned his shirt. "You think it might have something to do with that dream?"
"Maybe," Zei said, in the rare thoughtful mode. "Dude, you are weird as hell."
Yuma looked to Kaito and Kotori, and their faces said the same thing he was thinking: You guys have no idea.
000
As usual, Kaito wasn't paying attention in class.
Okay, saying that he wasn't paying attention wasn't entirely accurate. Sure, he was jotting down an overall outline, making sure he got dates down, but apart from that he let his mind wander. Normally, he drifted off into his memories of Heartland, and of his little brother.
Today, however, his mind wasn't on Haruto. It was on that strange sigil on Tsukumo's chest.
As the teacher droned on about something in the feudal era, Kaito absently tapped the end of his pen to a spot on his shirt, over his own heart. Like Tsukumo, he'd had dreams last night that, while he couldn't remember them exactly, had an overarching feeling of 'weird'.
And, also like Tsukumo, he'd woken up that morning with a kanji sigil on his chest, over his heart. His read kasai. Fire.
And he knew it wasn't there before.
The bell rang. The teacher gave them some kind of homework assignment—meh, he'd just look it up online and then do it half-assed, as usual—and set off for his next class. It was the same routine for each class; act like he was paying attention, jot down a few notes to make sure he didn't fall asleep, and spend the rest of the time zoned out.
Sure, he'd managed to piss off that big, blonde guy, Tōya, but he really didn't care. Okay, he did…he just didn't care enough to bother getting anything above a C.
But today he was more zonked than normal. Those sigils, kasai and hikari….
He was yanked out of those thoughts when something set the hairs on the back of his neck on end.
Numbers.
On campus.
Shit. This can't be good. The only Numbers he sensed lately were the ones he carried, the ones that Chris and his brother had given Tsukumo, and the one Kamishiro had.
But this one was active, and within school grounds. It also had a different…flavor than the other Numbers. Almost as if it were from another world, apart from Astral World….
He heard a light hiss behind him. Tsukumo, no doubt feeling the same thing he was through his Key. Kaito's classmates didn't hear it, but his own hearing was augmented by the Varian abilities implanted in him.
It was those same abilities that were weakening his body.
Carefully, to make sure that the teacher didn't see, Kaito slipped out his D-Gazer—a relic of his dueling life before his father made him a Numbers Hunter—and sent a text to Tsukumo:
Numbers?
A few seconds later, the reply: Yeah. Feels diff tho, like Numbers on acid.
Kaito suppressed a snicker. Numbers on acid indeed. Visit the nurse?
Gladly. Making Key burn, and stomach doing backflips.
Just don't puke on me. Kaito had already had that happen. Once. He'd discovered the hard way that Tsukumo had motion sickness…the result had been all over his shoes. And the hem of his coat. And up his nostrils, gods had that stunk.
In any case, this was one of the few times that Tsukumo's stomach turned out to be useful. The crazy-haired, hyper weirdo raised his hand, making the teacher pause in the lesson. "Yes, Tsukumo-kun?"
"I'm not feeling too good, Misaki-sensei." Yuma said, making a convincing act of it. "I think I might've eaten something bad at lunch earlier."
"You'd better get to the nurse, then." Misaki-sensei said, sighing. "This is the third time this week you'll be missing class, Tsukumo-kun."
"I'll escort him to the nurse's, sensei." Kaito said, volunteering. His classmates next to him gave him weird looks; surely, he wouldn't miss a class to escort the class clown to the nurse? "I've got a bit of a headache myself…might be coming down with something." Like total insanity.
"Fine, then; if you two aren't back by the time class ends, the notes and assignments will be online by the end of the day." Misaki-sensei said. "Now get going, before you get worse."
Kaito nodded, and beat it out of the room, followed closely by Tsukumo. Once they were out of earshot of the classroom, he fell into Numbers Hunter mode. "The Numbers I felt was near the dorms."
Tsukumo nodded. He took out his Key and clutched it in his fist briefly. "It's warm." He said, confirming the Numbers on campus. "It'll get hotter as we get closer."
Yeah, as if I didn't already know. Kaito thought, leading the way out of the school. Tsukumo paused to change shoes, giving Kaito a pointed look. Kaito rolled his eyes and did the same. Oy vey…there's a Numbers on campus, and this idiot is concerned about his outdoor shoes.
Once outside, Kaito set off at a sprint. Tsukumo called out, but he ignored it; if the idiot couldn't keep up, then he could deal with it.
Closer and closer, and the weird feeling from the Numbers got stronger. I've never felt a Numbers like this before, he thought. It's different from mine, or even Tsukumo's. Like they're a different…breed.
It sounded weird, even to him, but Kaito couldn't find a better word for them. They felt like a Numbers, yet at the same time…not.
He was caught in this musing as he ran headlong into a solid wall of air.
"Bwagh!" He landed on his rump, massaging his nose.
Tsukumo came up short, nearly running over Kaito and into the 'wall'. "You all right?"
Kaito grumbled. "I'm intact, and everything's in the right place. I'm pretty sure I'm all right."
"What was that?"
Kaito glared at him as he picked himself up off the ground. "If I knew what it was, Tsukumo, do you think I would have run into it? Anyway…" he placed his hand on the invisible wall, which was warm to the touch. "We need to find out whatever is making this wall, because if my sense is right, it's nothing good."
"That's nothing new," Tsukumo sighed. Kaito ignored the comment; it was simply the crazy-haired teenagers way of venting, and thus not relevant.
Kaito stepped back from the wall of air. "We need to figure out how much this wall blocks." He said. He pointed to the left. "You walk around that way, testing the barrier as you come to an open spot like an alley or between buildings. I'll go around from the right and do the same thing."
Tsukumo opened his mouth like he wanted to protest, but then closed his mouth and nodded. The two boys set off in opposing directions, keeping in close to the wall of air as they did so.
Kaito's feeling of unease didn't subside. It held steady. That presence is definitely causing this block, he thought, studying the wall and the feeling he was getting from the Numbers—if, in fact, that's what it was. Whatever it is.
000
The sigil on Yuma's chest itched like crazy.
The Key was heating up, too. It wasn't in response to a Numbers, though; despite the long years he'd been separated from the Emperor's Key, he still knew the feeling it got when there was a Numbers was nearby, and this wasn't it. It was more like a general danger sense.
He didn't tell Kaito that, though. He knew full well that if he'd told Kaito the feeling he was getting from the Key wasn't that of a Numbers, the Numbers Hunter would probe and probe and probe, until finally Yuma just wanted to punch him. So, he kept the uncertainty to himself.
And, of course, while he was reflecting upon all of this he nearly got cut in half by a…whatever-it-was.
He jumped back with a yell, but the thing was gone. He looked around, but didn't see anything. Whatever it was, though, was still close, because right before the thing that attacked him struck the Key burned red-hot. It was still smoldering under his shirt, and he was wondering when he'd get blistered from the heat.
This time, he had more warning before the thing struck again, from above this time. He rolled to the side, into the invisible wall, and the claws struck the earth. Or at least, he saw the gouges in the dirt the claws made, as the claws and whatever they were attached to were invisible.
That is weird. Creepy weird. And bad news for me.
No other attack came. Yuma didn't even know if the thing was nearby; he couldn't see or hear it. If only I had a way to guess at where it was, he thought, keeping his guard up and feeling for even the slightest change in the Key.
Another burning warning, followed moments later by an attack. Yuma dodged, but was still sliced on the arm. He cried out and grabbed the wounded upper arm as he landed, and ended up stumbling. A burn let him know the thing was going to attack again, and Yuma rolled out of the way, this time getting nicked in the knee.
He took a look at his slashed arm. There were two gashes, one above the other. The one on top was a deep gash, bleeding a lot. The lower gash was smaller, but still bleeding profusely. At the sight of all the blood pouring down his arm, Yuma about fainted.
Don't pass out. If you pass out that thing will eat you. He thought, looking to the nick on his knee. It wasn't bad; about the same level of a scrape.
Still doesn't nullify my arm. I need to get that looked at by a doctor, ASAP.
Burn from the Key. Yuma scooted back right as a slash rented the ground where he'd been sitting. Damn! How am I going to stop this thing?!
Use Hikari, Tsukumo Yuma. You are his apprentice, after all.
Yuma nearly failed in dodging the next attack. 'Hikari'? What's 'hikari'?
Another attack, and the same…voice? Impression? Your power, Tsukumo Yuma. Use it. The key is on your heart.
On my…that sigil! Yuma barely dodged another attack. He touched the sigil on his chest, expecting something big….
Nothing.
"Thanks for nothing!" he shouted, dodging another attack. Now the Key was constantly hot, not giving him much warning for attacks. "How am I supposed to use this 'hikari' without any help?!"
No helpful answer came. On my own, then. Yuma thought, sighing. What a joy.
He barely dodged another attack, this time earning a gash to his shoulder. He swore, loudly, and stumbled up against the wall. The new gash in his shoulder was on the same side as the arm wounds, and the blood was already soaking his shirt. The first place he was going after this latest visit by Murphy's Law was the hospital, possibly in an ambulance.
Taking a better look at the wound, that possibly turned into a definitely. Bad; he had three doozy gashes, all on the same arm, and an invisible monster that seemed hell-bent on making him its lunch.
My day can't get any better.
There didn't seem to be any attacks for a while, so Yuma at least had a chance to relax, after a fashion. That…who- or whatever it was told me I had 'hikari'. It said it was my power…what is it though? He looked to the sigil on his chest, with his Key hanging just to the left of it.
Not knowing what else to do, he closed his eyes and did what he'd done with the Key, when he first had it; concentrated on the sigil.
He was focusing on the sigil as something on his chest tingled, and the Key burned as well.
Here comes Captain Crunch. Again.
He opened his eyes, expecting to not be able to see anything and have to dodge at the last second, but he was wrong. Really wrong. The world looked…different. It was like looking at a false-color image of the Sun, showing all the sunspots and the roiling magnetic field.
Only this time, it was the world around him he was seeing. He could pick out familiar buildings, but he could see faint halos around them, but they seemed semitransparent, and everything looked to have a slight gold hue.
And then there was the monster he'd dubbed "Captain Crunch". He couldn't see it in detail, but he could see a roiling 'field' around it, in void-dark black. Its claws struck out, and Yuma managed to get out of the way in time. He still couldn't hear the thing, but at least he could see it.
As he landed, Yuma saw that there was a weird kind of filigree, like a henna tattoo, all down his arms and ending in the kanji for hikari on his palms. Not really thinking about it—or having a good idea of what he was doing—he let something slip and the gold markings lit up, right down to the kanji.
"Whoa…this is crazy and cool all at once." Yuma muttered to himself. Gods, the new view of the world was starting to give him a headache…or maybe that was blood loss, he didn't know. He looked up just in time to get out of the way of "Captain Crunch" again.
Without thinking, he raised his hands, the kanji on his palms facing the thing and let loose. Lightning, bright blazing white, enveloped the monster, resulting in a shriek that couldn't have come from earthly vocal chords.
Yuma didn't know if it was gone, because as the lightning dissipated he felt lightheaded, and the world started going fuzzy, taking the crazy lights with it.
The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Kaito calling his name, and running footsteps against the pavement.
000
Damien tossed the summoning stone up and down a few times, before catching it in his palm and returning it to his trouser pocket. "That kid has the power of hikari, then." He murmured. "Interesting…I will have to remember that."
He reached inside his blazer and pulled a card out of an inner pocket, smiling at the face. It was a Numbers, one that he had appropriated for his own purposes.
"I wouldn't have been able to summon that beast without your help, my friend." He said. He slipped the card back into his pocket, with two of the others he'd collected from the young man, Kaito Tenjou.
He turned on his heel, and stepped through a hidden doorway into his own dimension.
I will have to work on unlocking all the power from Number 96…
Yuma is the Hikari, and Kaito has a sigil similar to Yuma's on his chest. Will we see his power next? Stay tuned and keep reading everyone!
~HikariHellion
