Anniversary Special: Part 2

"W-wait... no..."

Finally Niijima smiled. It was a slightly nervous smile.

"That's right Kenichi... a time machine..."

Kenichi just stood speechless. A time machine? What the hell? This... this changes so much about the world he knew.

"Kenichi... I want you to be the first person to use it, and... I have a mission for you..."

Kenichi looked at him incredulously.

"A mission? Involving a time machine? Even I know that isn't very smart. Changing anything in the past could be..."

"Yes, catastrophic. I know. I have a plan though... I believe I can rely on you to pull it off. Besides... it has a lot to do with you."

Kenichi immediately had a flashback to Shigure in his arms, light fading from her eyes.

"Shigure..."

Niijima smiled.

"No, but you're on the right track. Think back farther, with this you have the opportunity to save a lot more people than Shigure."

Kenichi's eyes grew wide when he realized what Niijima meant. He didn't say anything. He just slowly looked between him and the time machine.

"So you'll do it? I realize this is a lot to ask, but I felt like this was something that needs to be done. There's a lot wrong with the world today, and a lot of that could be attributed to the absence of your former masters."

Kenichi hesitated, and then nodded.

"Okay then, it's honestly pretty simple. We can send you back to the day it all happened. I don't know exactly what time, but it will be before that man shows up at Ryozanpaku. All you have to do is stop him. I have two letters for you to take as well. One you need to give to your younger self, and one you need to give to my younger self. As immensely important as it is to stop that man, you HAVE to get these letters delivered. If you stop him from killing your masters and Miu, then there won't ever be a need to build this machine, and there won't be a reason for you to go back. In fact, it's very likely that the return portal won't even exist until you get that letter to me."

Kenichi's head was spinning... This was a lot to take in. Changing the past? Damn, he wasn't even sure if he could handle going back and seeing them again. It was bad enough to see them in his dreams every night.

"You ready? We can do this now."

Kenichi nodded and took the letters from Niijima. He walked towards the machine and Niijima started calling out orders to the people in lab coats. He stopped in front of the machine's portal and heard Niijima call his name.

"Kenichi! Good luck!"

Kenichi turned back to the machine and stepped through the portal. Next thing he knew he was standing in the middle of a park. He looked around. The park was familiar. He recognized it as on that was close to Ryozanpaku.

"F-fuck... this is really happening..."

He took a step forward and realized he was a bit dizzy. He reached out and put his hand on a tree to steady himself while he gathered himself.

"This is... weird..."

Suddenly he remembered why he was there. He remembered the face of the man that he was there to stop. His anger flared up and the dizziness went away. He started walking towards Ryozanpaku. He arrived quickly and hid himself in a tree overlooking the yard. It was peaceful, and he could see familiar looking people moving around. His head started spinning when he realized who he was looking at. It was him, 5 years younger, training with Miu. He stared at her. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked around a bit more and saw his other masters. Sakaki... Apachai... all of them...

"Fuck... no... this is wrong..."

He started to feel ill. His head started spinning again and he began to feel a bit confused.

"Th-this... it can't be real..."

A time machine? Really? That was crazy... stuff like that only happened in dreams...

"That's it... this is just a dream..."

He started to laugh. Of course! This was just a dream! Who in their right mind could believe something like this was possible?!

He looked down again and this time all he saw were impostors...

"Yeah... they aren't real... just figments of my dream..."

He jumped down from his perch in the tree and walked towards the front gate. His anger was flaring up, and he couldn't stop himself.

"I've had this dream before... I know how this plays out... I know how to deal with these... impostors... always coming into my dreams... reminding me of... of..."

He kicked in the front gate, fire in his eyes. He was sick of it. Sick of the nightmares, sick of seeing the faces of the people that he loved... He had tried to get rid of the bad dreams before, but this was the last straw. If they wouldn't leave him alone, he would destroy them.

The impostors confronted him on the other side of the gate, but he was stronger than any of them. This was his dream, he could do what he wanted. One by one the impostors charged him and he destroyed them. It was so easy, and with each one gone he felt a great weight being lifted off his shoulders. He came to the final two impostors. One of them threw himself in front of the other and tried to feebly attack. He knocked him aside and reached out for the other.

"MIU!"

The scream sounded as though it were under water. He felt a slight twinge of guilt, but brushed it aside when he remembered that it was a dream. The impostor in his hand tried to fight him but it didn't do anything. The other one got back up and started to charge him.

"Oho! It seems you care for this one! We'll have to do something about that!" The he said while sneering.

With one powerful punch he sent him flying back against a wall with a satisfying crash. Not wasting any time, he brought up his other hand and squeezed the life out of the impostor in his hand.

"MIU, NOOO!"

The scream again. Another twinge.

The impostor charged again.

"How does it feel, boy?"

SMASH! This time it was a kick that sent him hurtling backward.

"To have everyone you care about killed in front of you?" Kenichi snarled.

"What... happened... here?!"

Another impostor had appeared. This one took the form of Shigure... FUCKING DREAM, EVEN HER?!

The impostor looked at the him, full of fury, and began to charge him. The shuriken flew by him as if he weren't there, and when she jumped at him with her sword blazing down he caught it in his bare hand and threw it away from her with ease.

He grabbed the impostor the same way he had grabbed the other...

"NNOOOOOO!"

The impostor yelled out, a familiar aura growing around him.

"PUT HER DOWN YOU BASTARD!"

He looked lazily over at him and muttered another "Oho?"

He blinked, and in the next instant, the impostor was standing two feet away, an immense and fiery aura billowing around him. Kenichi got a curious look in his eye and tossed the other one aside, still alive.

The man looked between the two of them, then shrugged. He moved to attack.

The aura blazed even higher while Kenichi threw a massive punch directly at his face.

"Wha..?!"

The expression on the Kenichi's face was pure surprise when he caught his fist.

"I won't let you lay a FUCKING finger on her, you BASTARD!" The impostor spat at him.

He tried to pull his fist free. He couldn't.

"N-no... this is a dream! THIS IS MY DREAM! YOU'RE ALL IMPOSTORS!"

He continued to struggle, and suddenly he realized... The full weight of everything that had just happened fell on him, and he collapsed. It wasn't a dream... he had let himself go out of control... His eyes widened in terror at what he had done... this whole time... it had always been his own fault. He was the one at fault for all the bad that had happened. All because he couldn't control his rage when it mattered most. It happened once, and then he had another chance to set things right and he screwed that up too...

The last thing Kenichi saw was the fury in those eyes, his eyes, as his younger self lost control. He didn't feel the pain... he was too numb from shock for that. The only thing he could think of in his last moments was the look of sorrow and disappointment in Shigure's eyes as the life left them.

"I... I'm sorry..."