Chapter 34

Storming the Castle

Dear Journal,

Well, that was interesting.

I believe I left off just after I promised to get Lisa's cat back from those punks. It took a little investigating, but after some time I discovered that the kids were the sons of a pretty big gang in the area. I didn't tell Lisa about that, since she is a little girl after all.

Of course, she insists on coming. Both her parents were that way. Unless you had a very good reason to keep them back, they were coming. No question. Lisa's the same. I didn't even consider leaving her because I knew she would refuse, and I really can't say no to those eyes.

I haven't had a real reason to fight in a long time, so I don't remember exactly what the other times felt like, but at the time I remember thinking that I'd never been more passionate about a cause than this time. It seems crazy, but Lisa means that much to me already.

Lisa was on my shoulders as I took her to the place where the cat was being "kept" ("kept" in that the guy who'd taken it shoved the cat in a little cardboard box for some reason). Don't worry, I was much safer handling Lisa than the Elder was with me. Seriously. I could've died. Stupid Elder. (;_;).

I burst in through the doors (and set Lisa down gently). I didn't want to waste energy, since there seemed to be a lot of gang members running around the place, so the initial group that tried to question and stop me got blown away by a ki attack.

I think I'm getting a better hold on manipulating me ki. I used to have a lot of trouble mustering up a "killing intent," and although my desire to kill is just as diminutive as before I can also use it in a lot of different ways. Overwhelming weaker people with my determination is one of them.

Lisa brought her staff. I didn't want her fighting too much since she's so little, so she stayed behind me most of the time, but she kicked ass anyways. Jesus. I kinda felt bad for the guys.

The guy at the park (who childishly took the cat) had given it to the boss, who (judging from their physical resemblance) I think was their father.

The deeper and deeper I went in there, the stronger the guys got. No way were they too much for me to handle. I defeated Raimundo. I was the commander of the Shinpaku Alliance, although admittedly that was against my will. But now I had to worry about keeping Lisa safe, since these guys were too strong for her.

It was good training for me, anyways. I knew I could do it (you know, defeat the enemies and protect Lisa at the same time), so it was just a matter of efficiency. Maybe one day I can protect Miu like that. No- that's my goal. This was just practice for that.

Now we were getting to the masters. This gang was pretty legit- there were three martial arts masters, a style I didn't really recognize. But also I sensed something more- higher up; something that could spell out trouble in bright neon letters.

Somewhere in that building was an elite master.

I had to take on the three masters all at the same time, which is BAD. I mean, I had only been a master for six years. These guys looked around my age too, so they might've been masters for a while, too. Even one might have taken me some time. I was starting to become doubtful as to whether I could do this at all.

"You can do it, Ken-sensei!" Lisa yelled. Lisa never yells.

Well, shit.

My ki suddenly swelled up after that, and I think the other guys were kind of freaked out by the look on my face. I think it was one of those "what the hell is wrong with that guy? Is he constipated?" moments of my life, when really I was just determined.

"What do you want?" one of them asked.

"The cat," I said simply. They had a blank look on their faces. Maybe that required a little more explanation. Recognition slowly crept onto their faces, and I was satisfied. Then they just looked confused.

"You're storming the castle because of a cat?" he asked. I glanced at Lisa then back at the guy.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's the craziest thing I've heard in my life!" he laughed and the three of them launched their attack.

For the longest time, it was all I could do to avoid being hit! After all, these guys were masters themselves. But my luck held and I managed to block or dodge for a while until I got a hang of their rhythms and arts.

"What martial art is this?" I asked. "It's kind of strange."

"Our master has created a unique style of Bojuka especially designed for offense!" he boasted. "It's the ultimate weapon for street rats!"

"Bojuka? What's that?" I asked on impulse.

That was the wrong thing to say. All three of the masters went red in the face and they all pounced at me at the same time. Yikes!

"It's an American martial art! It is!" They raged. What was the big deal? I've fought people with obscure martial arts before, and it's not a huge deal if your opponent hasn't heard of it. These Americans are kind of obsessed with pride.

Suddenly, something clicked. When people get enraged, their forms get sloppy. These people were suddenly swinging wide and they had tons of openings. These must be low-level masters. Maybe I could do this!

"B-bojuka? I have never heard of that," I said very exaggeratedly, trying to make it seem like I was looking down on them. It felt strange for me to be intentionally mean. I don't think I'll do that again unless I'm fighting an American.

It worked. All it took was some Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu for me to defeat those guys. Thank God that Apachai and Akisame were so insane with their training, or a lost cause like me (T_T) would definitely have not won.

Anyways, now there were only three people conscious in that building.

Me.

The elite master.

And Lisa.

And, you know, the cat. But that doesn't really count because its not a person. Anyways, I scurried around looking for it. After all, if I could get the cat and run off without running into the elite master, that would be the best. But, of course, that's not how it played out.

Because the cat and the elite master were in the same room.

Man, was he creepy. Like a combination of Sakaki and Apachai in one. One of the scariest guys I've seen in my life.

His martial arts skills seemed scary at first, but then I reminded myself that I've seen some frightening martial artists in my time. Saiga Fuurinji, anyone in Yami... this guy would probably look like a weakling compared to him. That was how I convinced myself to take him on.

I'm always having to find excuses to engage in battle nowadays. I miss the days when all my real life battle experience was from one of my masters or Niijima bullying or tricking me into a fight. Now it feels like I'm looking for a fight, when I'm really just trying to get hyped for a battle that was coming anyways.

Anyways, the creepy Elite Master and I stared each other down. We didn't say anything; I think he'd heard me saying that I was doing all this because of a cat, so he assumed reasoning with me was futile.

I sometimes try to imagine what its like for other people to meet me. I mean, I have certainly gotten a lot thicker than my scrawny days, but my body-type isn't built for muscle stacking like some people (*ahem* Sakaki *ahem* Apachai). So its probably pretty strange for someone to be expecting a big fight and then a muscle-y Japanese guy (which is an oxymoron for most foreigners) shows up. He must be thinking, what the hell is this?

I keep getting sidetracked! Anyhow- the fight started, and it was one of those situations where I was certain I was going to lose.

I mean, that's only to be expected. This guy's an elite master, right? But, oh man, I had a serious flashback to those first fights with Daimonji and Tsukuba.

After the initial beat down, I was in bad shape. It all happened so fast I remember I couldn't even see the attacks when it happened. But slowly, as I started to recover, I pieced together what happened.

First he seemed to attack me on all sides at once with punches and kicks of impossible force. It really made me want to train harder from now on. I've gotta persuade Freya to spar with me; that'll be good training for me. His stance and hand positioning while throwing those punches were both strange as well. It seemed more aerodynamically sound, so I think I'll try it out later.

Anyways, that initial burst of attacks really did a number on me. Miu used to say that whoever got the first punch in had a huge advantage. The guy with the advantage was definitely not me.

After a quick recovery (and I've always been quick to recover and had good stamina), it was time to counterattack.

I used some of the techniques I made in Brazil on him (I think they're in journal 4 of my technique designs). They were surprisingly effective. They were particularly useful against Capoeira, and a more stationary martial art like this Bojuka thing (I still don't know what the heck that is) was at a disadvantage against techniques designed for it.

Of course, there's no way that was enough. This guy was an elite master. I mean, I was using combinations of all the martial arts in my arsenal, and I was still barely able to fend him off!

After I started using Ryuusei Seikuken, I don't really remember much else. At that point, although I was super focus, most of my reactions to things was according to reflexes my masters beat into me a long time ago.

"Ken-sensei?" I heard a voice behind me. Even without turning to look (since I couldn't afford to turn and look), I knew who it was. Lisa.

Imagine my confusion! What was Lisa doing here? I told her to stay downstairs! This was a dangerous situation, and I definitely couldn't protect her if bad went to worse.

"Go back downstairs, Lisa!" I called between strikes. "This is dangerous!"

"Where's the kitty?" she asked. "I'll get it and we can go before you get more hurt!" Lisa ran around our fight and towards the mewing box just behind the elite master, which I assume is where the cat was being "kept".

"Lisa, no!"

The elite master, who instantly realized that Lisa was important to me, dove towards her with the intent to kill.

Lisa threw open the cardboard box and pulled out the cat, pressing it to her chest.

I lunged to stop the elite master. I could tell that I wouldn't make it in time, but there was no way I'd let something like physical limitations stop me.

That was fastest I'd ever run in my life (And that's sayin' something. I mean, it's not like Akisame-sensei was ever easy on my morning runs).

The elite master was getting ready to throw one of those punches. On something as young and tender as Lisa, it would definitely kill her.

Instead of trying reaching Lisa first, I tackled the elite master to try and change the trajectory of his punch.

It worked. We both lost balance and he toppled in one direction (obviously recovering in time to land on his feet) and I careened into Lisa, rolling away and eventually landing on my feet (I am a master, after all. Sometimes I forget to act like it).

The elite master smirked like he'd won. We exchanged a glance. His smirk faded when he looked at my face, probably because I still had the will to fight on. He scoffed at me then turned to the window and jumped out, as was the way of strange martial artists.

"Lisa! Lisa, are you alright!" I said, immediately jumping back to examine the girl. "Are you bleeding? Are you hurt? Did his attack reach you and kill you? Or did my dive crush your bones and you'll get an infection and die?"

"I'm fine," she said shakily. Well, I thought, that was a pretty rough experience for a little girl. But then I saw the cat in her hands.

Broken.

The cat's body was snapped in two. Upon further inspection, the deflected punch had reached the cat instead of Lisa, but I only looked for a minute before snatching the corpse from her hand and laying it down on the ground.

"Do you want to say a few words?" I asked softly. Lisa stared at it for a few moments.

"No," she said, turning around sharply. "The cat didn't belong to me. Its because of me that it died, anyways."

"Don't say that-!"

"It's true, though," she said, looking back at me with wide, sad eyes. "If the cat had never met me, it wouldn't have gotten kidnapped in the first place! Then if I hadn't asked you to come save it, that man wouldn't have tried to attack me! And if I hadn't taken the cat out of the box, it wouldn't be dead!"

That's quite a developed thought process for a four-year-old. I swear, she's too advanced to be normal. Maybe she's a test-tube baby made with Freya and Siegfried's DNA. There's no way she's this smart after four years of life experience.

"There's no use blaming yourself," I assured her. I knelt and placed my hand on her little shoulder. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were just as devastated. "You did what you thought was right. And no matter what happens, you should never regret meeting a friend. Thoughts like that are an insult to their memory."

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded. But somehow I knew that she didn't buy it. Her eyes, despite their clarity, seemed dark to me at that moment.

"Let's go home."

When she said that, something in my mind clicked. Oh, shit.

Freya was mad.

No, she was beyond mad. Her fury was so powerful that she didn't react. She just sat there, staring at me with a ki that could have killed anyone else.

She thought we were at the park. But then, when we got home, she saw my face. And my blood and stuff. So, yeah, I guess she figured I'd gotten into a fight.

"Lisa is fine, unhurt, and perfectly safe!" I yelled before she could say or do anything. I picked Lisa up and showed her to Freya. "See?"

That did not quell the motherly tirade.

She basically grounded me. Neither Lisa nor I were allowed to leave the house. Ever. For any reason. Until further notice, basically.

How can a woman ground a grown man, you may ask? Well, when you're mooching off of her for more than a month, you kinda have to do what she says.

Lisa wasn't the same after that. She never went through a mourning period, but it really is the kind of thing that scars a kid for life, and it was all because I was too weak to protect them both.

She never blamed me. Lisa was just as kind and shy as before, and she seemed to respect my opinions on everything, just like before, although I admit that I avoided her for a while just in case.

With more time to ourselves, I taught Lisa more things. Just the basics, and I reemphasized the importance of conditioning (but Freya was already taking care of that). I'm really jealous of Lisa's talent. She doesn't even complain while she's doing her conditioning, and she does it by herself. As far as I can tell, she does it really well also.

One day, Freya came home early and saw me teaching her something. Her face immediately got really serious and she called me inside to talk, alone.

"Are you training her?" she asked. I flinched. Was that bad? Had I done something wrong? I mean, Lisa technically was the heir to the Kugatachi staff style.

"Not necessarily," I said quickly, kind of defensively. "I'm just teaching her a few things. I mean, it makes sense, you know? It's not like she's gonna have her staff on her at all times, and-"

"Well, would you consider it?" she asked. I froze and stared at her. Huh?

"You want me to take Lisa on as my apprentice?" I asked, just to clarify. I mean, two seconds ago I thought I was being scolded.

"Yes, that's what I'm suggesting," Freya sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm afraid training her myself isn't going too well."

"What do you mean? Lisa is very talented, and she's already very well off for her age!" I argued. I mean, I think. Who the hell knows what's well off in the martial arts world.

"I know she's getting stronger, but that's not the issue here," Freya insisted. "Lisa isn't a normal girl. You know, from the beginning she was always shy and not comfortable around people."

"Yeah, I noticed, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," I said.

"That's not the point. Starting sometime last year, she's gotten considerably darker," Freya said. "Lisa is a good child now, but she has never understood the value of life. I'm afraid it's only going to get worse."

"The value of life?" I gasped. "You mean, you think she'll become... Satsujinken?"

"Yes, I'm almost certain of it," Freya nodded. "It may be too late to change her already, especially given the events that happened a few days ago with that cat you told me about."

"Your right. That would definitely make something like this a lot worse," I said pensively. I turned to look at Lisa.

How could someone as gentle as her now turn into a killer? I can't imagine it, I thought. But after rethinking it, I could imagine it. I'd definitely met a lot of killers in my time (I feel like an old man saying that), and not all of them seemed up to the task at first.

Time and time again, I was proven wrong. The Tanimoto I first met was nothing like the Tanimoto I know now. The Ryuto of my childhood changed drastically to become the Odin we all know. And now, I suspected, this sweet child would become like them.

I remembered her tearless eyes as she held the cat's cadaver. Somehow, remembering that moment, I could also recall the coldness that filled them as she turned and walked away. One day, would she look away from a human corpse with the same apathy? One day, would a life really hold no meaning for her?

I believed it. It took me less than a minute to stop doubting it. When Lisa got stronger, she would be capable of anything.

"So why make her my apprentice?" I asked Freya.

"You are Katsujinken by nature," she said matter-of-factly. "Practically everything you do is for the sake of life. I can't think of anyone else with a determination as respectable as yours. I think that spending time with you and being trained by someone with your innocence would be the best way to try and reverse the damage."

"Maybe so," I said hesitantly. "But I'm not even a master of my martial arts yet, and I don't know Kugatachi style. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Just as you grow, she will too. Besides, regardless of what you teach her, Lisa really does love Kugatachi style," Freya said with a smile. "She won't forget it, and she won't stop practicing. She really does work hard, so I trust that she won't."

"Don't forget that I'm also traveling," I said. "I hate to sound selfish, but I'm still in training too. I'll be traveling to lots of different countries and there will probably be danger."

"Kenichi, you fought an elite class master a few weeks ago," she said. "You came back limping and with several broken ribs. Your face was so bloody I could hardly tell it was you. And even though you didn't win, you still managed to not only save my daughter, but you brought her home without a scratch. I can trust that you won't let any harm come to her, because I know she's important to you in the same way she's important to me."

"Freya..." she was right, of course. I would definitely never let anything bad happen to Lisa. But I still had my doubts. "But what if it doesn't work? What if she spends all that time with me and in the end she still kills?"

"Like I said, it may be too late to change her already," Freya sighed. "And that's okay. It's not your fault, it's mine. When a child is born healthy, she is perfect. There is still no limit to the possibilities of what she can become. But then the parent starts to make mistakes, and slowly the choices and possibilities disappear until there's only one left. I don't know what it is I've done, but the option of Katsujinken is quickly disappearing. What I want is for you to bring her back if you can."

"If I can..." I muttered. I made a decision, and I think the look in my eyes reflected it. "I'll do it, Freya. I'll train Lisa to be a powerful martial artist, and hopefully she'll stay Katsujinken." Freya let out a breath and smiled.

"Thank you, Kenichi," she said kindly.

So now I have a disciple.

Now I'm going to have to provide her with things and keep her safe. It's a pretty wicked responsibility. I don't want to blow this.

Freya suggested that to give me time to warm up to the idea, I should spend the rest of the year training Lisa in America. That way the departure wouldn't be so sudden.

I still don't know where I'm gonna go next, but I've definitely got time to think about it. Freya and I are both going to train Lisa until we leave, so I think I'm probably going to have a lot less free time.

Till next time!

-Kenichi Shirahama

Author's Note: Soooo... Is this story on hiatus? It was, in a way. Unfortunately, sometime in summer my computer started to hate me and all my planning content was there. When it was finally fixed, I had to leave the country twice for some business. When I got back, I immediately started school with AP classes and an unwelcome attack of time-consuming homework. Soon after I started writing again and realized I didn't remember a lot of the things that happened in HSDK. So I had to read it again =_=. I really do feel terrible about the whole thing (but probably not as much as you because I actually know what's going to happen) and I hope you all continue to be as patient and supportive as always. Your reviews really made me happy and I thank you all. I apologize and hope such circumstances don't arise again. Thank you.

-JubJub