The Haruno Chronicles
Ch. 13 We are going to take a break from the magic for a bit and learn about the Cross family as a Family reunion becomes a challenge like no other. Remember that I took words from many Asian languages for the moves, not just English and Japanese.
Disclaimer: Everything, material, characters, locations ect… are property of the respective people.
Chapter 14 – The Family
They woke up next morning as if nothing had happened. The only thing was that they all slept in until noon. This didn't surprise their parents who suspected that Lee and Sarah kept up Sora with a million questions and then they all went to bed late. Actually, it happened to be the opposite. It was Sora who bombarded Lee and Sarah with questions thereby making them all stay up late. Sora, though older and more experienced in some areas was a young hatchling when it came to magic. They were going over to the clearing, which they had decided to call the training area so they could see Sora's potential. Sora felt kind of weird going to a training area to be taught other-worldly powers by those who were younger than him but it went away whenever he thought about what they had been doing until now.
When he got to the training area. Everyone was there waiting for him. As soon as he was able to transform at will, the real training began. They first tested his abilities. Again, like his siblings, he had the same varied pallet. But instead of extraordinary wide area capabilities like Sarah, he had stronger close-combat capabilities. Another thing was like his brother Lee, Sora could seal. Lance thought that this was good as now there were three lone people who could seal. "This will reduce the chance of me sealing," thought Lance to himself. Due to his good close combat skills, his staff's true form was a Japanese metal kendo style blade. This blade was curved slightly at the top and the outer side of the blade was razor sharp while the inner side was duller.
"Chrono, Sakura, Lee, Sora, Sarah. Please come over here for a minute," said Lance. "I need to teach you something important. I need to teach you about half-releases." Everyone except Nanoha looked confused at this. "Let me explain," said Lance, "whenever you release normally, you have to give the command to and everything comes out. I am pretty sure you know this by now but there is a large time delay why doing all that. That is where half-releases come in handy. These are when you release just your weapon without a command or your barrier jacket. This is also done without a command and it is instantaneous. Nanoha, please demonstrate." "Gladly," said Nanoha. She stood still for a second and then her staff appeared from out of nowhere in her right hand. "There are restrictions," Nanoha proceeded to say, "You can only make it appear into one mode. That mode will be chosen by your personality.
They all tried to do it, but to their frustration, they couldn't do it, "You have to really sync with your device with your heart. Don't try with your brain," was all the advice that Nanoha could give. They continued for another hour or so with no results. Then, without knowing how, Sakura's Staff appeared in her hand. It was her FIRING TYPE staff. "I did it," said Sakura. "Now try it again," said Lee. She did and to her surprise, it happened, almost effortlessly. "I just felt it and went with it." With this boost in moral, the others got it down only ten minutes later. Surprisingly, Sora was the second one to achieve this. Sora's, Sarah's and Lee' all appeared in sword mode. This suited them fine. Sora said it would be handy to be able to summon a sword at any time. He wouldn't need to carry one now. Lance suggested against this so he didn't look two suspicious. Last was Chrono's who was the hilt. He was hoping it was the hilt because now he could summon any weapon in the blink of an eye.
They all headed home for the night. Sora teleported home now that he learned how. When they got home, their father was waiting for them. They had planned to have a training session when they got home but they were all tired out from the half-release training. It was more exhausting then it sounded. Unfortunately, since they couldn't tell their Father what they actually were doing, they all decided that they would just have to put up with practice. Their father was especially hard on them today. He had Lee and Sora doing non-stop matches. They had been banned during the duels to use ZERO TENSHI due to two reasons. One was that they would never improve if they just relied on the one attack and the second is that they kept breaking all of the wooden swords ever time they clashed with ZERO TENSHI. They were now just batting it out. They both agreed to not use magic to beat the other. Due to this, they were completely even. Their Dad had also taught them the Shunpo technique. This technique, also called Flash Steps, was a running style that accelerated the user to speeds beyond normal human eyes recognition. Even Lee and Sora who mastered this technique still couldn't believe that what they themselves were doing was within a human's ability. They also learned SHOU. This was an extrasensory technique that heightened your senses as to kind of feel out were others were without using their eyes. All these techniques were all part of the required skill set for a Cross family bodyguard since the family line started.
Sakura too was getting the hang of it. She actually caught on to Shunpo why watching Lee and Sora train to learn it. This impressed their father as well as Sora and Lee. Their father then taught Sarah SHOU due to the fact that they were a set. SHOU allowed you to find your opponent after accelerating without having to rely on the burred images. She was advancing fast. Unfortunately, she couldn't learn their father's signature, ZERO TENSHI because the backs of her ankles were weak. This was a hereditary trait of all the women in the Cross family line so they couldn't find a way around it. Instead, their father taught Sarah a different, slower technique. It wasn't even remotely as fast but in some ways more devastating. It was called ZEHI TENSHO. This technique required a quick charge by use of Shunpo. The user then sped past the opponent and with a special move of the sword, cut the tendons in their legs and arms. The sword movement itself was charged and power was amplified by the spin around the opponent. The entire attack time was only 5 seconds skipping the time it took to speed up. This was 10 times longer than the kick off and stops time of ZERO TENSHI but on the other hand, this attack made the opponent immobile. Dad used this technique a lot more than ZERO TENSHI for when he needed to bring in someone alive for terrorist investigation. It was perfect for Sarah because all the power for this technique came from a spin of agility focused on the front of the foot entirely. Due to this, Sarah learned it very quickly. She practiced on a target dummy with marks on the back. The attack had to be brutally accurate otherwise the attack would fail.
When they finished their training for the day, they had realized they had been training for 4 hours. It was now 7 O'clock and time for dinner. Luckily, Dinner was waiting for them when they came into the dining room. During dinner, Sarah kept falling asleep with the fork half way to her mouth and Lee kept on dropping his spoon. Their mother, Mary told their Dad not to be so rough on them. Then everyone butted in saying that it didn't matter. If they didn't do it to the fullest, they wouldn't learn anything. Half way through dinner, their mother and father said they had something to tell them. "There is going to be a Cross family reunion tomorrow." With this, their faces lit up. They loved family reunions. They were always different except for one thing. They always had a Kendo competition during the party. Almost all of Lee's relatives on his Dad's side were either Bodyguards or Law officials." In the police world, the Cross's were the elites. They were considered the ones to go to for the best. Of course, that was also the only place they were known. They tried to keep out of the public eye with their amazing skills. Dad had made a slip up when he used ZERO TENSHI at the kendo competition. It wasn't hard to find them, they could be contacted like any other company but they didn't like to broadcast what they could actually do either.
The next day, they told the others that they were going to the family reunion. They then offered for them to go along with them. They all said yes eagerly. These reunions were pretty open to friends of the family. Neither Chrono nor Sakura though had ever gone to one. They were only held once every couple of years and were always on short notice. Organization was not one of the family's strong points. So later that day, they headed up for their uncles estate where it was being held. The others were going to come later. He had a nice sized house and a large Dojo and seating at his house, which was on a 100 acre slot. His uncle was a bodyguard of foreign ambassadors from many nations so besides being multi-lingual, he got paid a lot. When they got there, they saw a lot of their relatives. Their father was popular within the family as the two-time winner of the families Kendo competition and for his invention of ZERO TENSHI. Apparently, each of the intermediate families too had made up their own move to add to the Cross's fighting style. This was also a tradition of the family. Though they didn't seem like it, the Cross's were a very traditional family.
Before the real tournament, Lee and Sarah went around to try and find some of their cousins. Sora was already busy with their older cousin Paul. They were friendly to each other but had a deep rivalry in Kendo. Lee was the first to find a relative. He found his cousin Sam near the Dojo warming up. He was probably on the best terms with Sam than any other of his cousins. They were the exact same age down to their birthday. They too also had a fierce Kendo rivalry. They decided to have a warm-up bout before the actual competition. Their dad had warned before they arrived to not show their skills until the competition. So when they started, Lee didn't even bother taking off his training weights. He only used enough of his strength to be just slightly better than Sam. The last time they had been in a match was during a party 1 and half years ago. Back then; they were both not nearly as strong as they were now. Apparently, it was not uncommon for someone to start developing their real skills at their age. Of course, Lee and Sarah's skills were still way above average but that didn't stop the fact that Sam had become a whole lot better. Back then; Lee had tied with Sam in their match. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He decided to drag on the fight for 5 minutes before doing a quick blow to win the match. "Your a lot better now I see," said Sam. " I let you in on a little secret though, I was holding back. My dad said to. He said to save it for the competition. I hope we get a chance to fight again in the competition. I could tell you were holding back some too. Next time we, should both take our weights off." And with that, he walked away.
"Kay, its our turn now," said Sarah. She had found Rebecca, the only girl of her age that also studied Kendo. It was known in the family that Rebecca was supposed to be a Kendo prodigy, beating both her older brothers at age 10. Of course, it was also unknown to the family how much of a prodigy Sarah was. Sarah and Rebecca's bout lasted only 4 minutes. Their bouts were usually like this. They were totally even but also short. Then Chrono, Sakura and Nanoha came up to them. Chrono couldn't stop talking about the size of the property. Even compared to his house this was big. It was apparently the first time he had been to a house bigger than his own before. This was a new sensation for him and he seemed to be enjoying it. Lee and Sara introduced the others to some of their relatives. Sakura already knew his uncle Fredrick because he had once been an escort for her father while on a business trip. After they were all done with the introductions, they all went to the oversized dojo. What they didn't know was the real size of the dojo. Apparently, the dojo they saw was the small part. The connected oversized garage had been renovated so when he slid the door open, they saw three more rings going down a line. The entire family was impressed with this surprise.
The Cross's may have been disorganized but the Kendo tournament was an exception. You would think it was a regulation event. First were the rule briefing and the prize announcement. This year, it was a solid 24-karat gold trophy about 24 inches high. They looked at it with envy. This year, there were 64 Cross's who decided to participate. This was good as it made the tournament go smoother. First off was the drawing for seeing who would draw who. They would then be split into 4 blocks with the top 2 from each block advancing. That meant that you had to win three times before going to the finals. When all was done and done, Sora, Sarah, Lee and their dad Jonathan were all in different blocks.
It looked like Sam was in the same block as Lee. But they were on opposite ends so they wouldn't have to fight each other (yet). The blocks each were sent to one of the four arenas to start. Lee was first up in his block. He was facing his aunt Sally. She was supposes to be pretty good. Lee allowed he the first attack. She sped toward him at a fast pace. SHUNPO and SHOU were standard in the family. Lee sped toward her just as fast but then in a split second, doubled his speed, spun around and hit her from behind. The match ended in 10 seconds. It though was the second one to finish. His father's match ended in 2 seconds, a new in family record. His next two matches took a little longer but had the same result. The rest of the family and their friends (the ones that didn't take part) looked at Lee in admiration. Lee hadn't showed the results of his training to anyone besides those in his own house so they were looking on with awe. "Sakura," said Chrono, "remind me never to pick a fight with Lee again." Sakura couldn't hear due to her intense focus. She had to use her enhanced senses just to see half of the fights. Nanoha was getting a large headache from just watching. She could see the fights well enough due to her combat training but just couldn't grasp that these people were fighting without magic. She just couldn't grasp the idea of how strong they were. She surmised that these people could probably beat lower level mages with ease. This also kind of worried her. Non-magic people being able to defeat mages; it was unheard of for that to be even possible.
Sarah was doing similarly well. She had finished all three of her matches in fewer than 2 minutes. She also had amazed her opponents with her skill. She was expected by most of the family to have lost in the first battle. Sora showed off a bit and finished all of his matches within one minute consecutively. Their father (who was actually fighting as easily as possible) won all of his matches in 32 seconds. That was all of his matches, not the length of each. Lee's family also had an ace in the hole for the finals. They were all still fighting with their training weights on. Their dad had insisted they master SHUNPO with the weights on. Since then, they hadn't taken them off for anything. None of them knew how fast they would be with the weights off.
There was a lunch break before the finals. The rest of the family came over to congratulate them. Then they got into a discussion with their father about their training regiment. He told them the usual. The other finalists were from Lee's block, surprisingly Sam. It was true that 2 of his opponents were younger than him but the third one had gotten 5th place last year so Lee was sure it wasn't luck. From Sarah's block, Rebecca had made it to the finals. Out of all the teen's participating that year, she was the only one who was expected to pass besides Sora. From Sora's block, their Uncle Will (Owner of the estate) made it. He was known to be extraordinarily skilled. Then finally from Dad's group, the one who in their family was called Lightning God, their cousin Paul. He was currently in third Year College. He had won all the matches he had ever been the captain on his colleges Kendo team. He even won the nationals 3 times in a row and was Sora's current Kendo rival. He was also considered a protégé. Now however, Lee and Sarah were also being considered protégées. Sora was already known to be gifted so he was expected to do good.
After the break, they met back in the dojo. It had been rearranged over the lunch break. Now there was a single, much larger arena space surrounded by bleachers for the family to watch. They all gathered in the arena area after lunch was over. With the entire family and their friend there, the dojo felt more like a fully seated stadium than a family dojo. All of the finalists lined up in the middle of the arena. They all went up to a box in the middle to draw lots to determine the order. No one could of guessed what it was.
1st match: Lee vs. Sam
2nd match: Sarah vs. Rebecca.
3rd match: Sora vs. Paul
4th match: Jonathan vs. Will