A
New Light
Chapter
54
Shinmei-Ryuu
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-Swiish-
Asuna walks inside the bedroom with a set of two droopy blue eyes.
The curtains were completely closed. Making the room pitch black, so she fumbles blindly into the room.
She finally finds her futon and her family's and sets them up on the floor.
Her bell bowties fall off as she was working. But she doesn't take notice.
After a bit of a stretch she finds her legs moving towards the futon closest to the window.
With a cute yawn she opens the curtains slowly. She gazes up to see the constellations twinkling back at her. She smiles a good night, lays down on her futon, pulls the blanket over her shivering body, and then she closes her red eyes…
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Night.
The moon reveals itself from behind a bundle of clouds. It's bright eyes decide to peer through the clear windows of the Hinata-sou only to find the remains of a feast. After everyone got back home, their empty stomachs were instantly filled thanks to the hands of both Sakura, and Shinobu. Makie on the other hand was 'voted' out of the cooking team for her 'lack of' experience thanks to the efforts of Suu and Sara.
Now only Keitaro, Sakura, Shinobu, and Eve remain in the kitchen. Cleaning.
"That…..was an amazing dinner Shinobu, Sakura."
Shinobu blushes as Sakura wraps a proud arm around her neck. "Thanks Papa. We needed something to heal you up right away!"
"But I was already healed when I got home."
"Nu-uh. Can't take that risk. A good meal will make any injury go away!" Sakura glees.
Shinobu smiles. "Its true. And your stomach was asking for our cooking anyway."
Keitaro scratches the back of his head. "Guess that part's true." He glances over at Eve who was at the other end of the dinner table, picking up the remaining dishes and placing it on her lap as she wheels her self towards the gang. "Eve, are you sure you want to help us? You seem a bit tried, you can go rest for a bit."
Eve waves a hand in disagreement, places the dishes into the sink carefully, and writes: "That's okay Keitaro. After all, I want to help out as much as I can because of the reduced payment. And especially…" She finds her self having a crimson hue around her cheeks and looks up, then writes some more. "Especially after you carried me up those stairs."
Keitaro reads and chuckles embarrassingly. "That was partly my fault. I kinda forgot the fact that to get to the Hinata-sou you have to climb…..a hundred steps to get there. And with you and your condition….I kinda….eer…I dunno what to say. I had to do something so carrying you was the only logical solution."
Sakura pats Eve's back a bit. "Don't worry about it."
"Hm?"
"I always ride on Papa's back all the time whenever I'm to tired to climb those stairs!"
Keitaro looks away for a second. "Which is every day….."
"Ohhh. Paaappaaaaaaa!"
Keitaro backs away but was to late for Sakura was already on his back. "Your taking me to bed like this. Okie!"
Keitaro sighs. "Alright…"
Eve silently chuckles with Shinobu.
Shinobu glances over at the girl with green hair.
"Did you get to meet with everyone and talk to them?"
"Oh. That's right. How do you like it here so far Eve?"
Eve nods. "So far, I've gotten to know a lot about everyone here. Suu, Makie, Asuna, you guys, Naru and Mitsune. And especially the dorm. It is very big. It's a very quick change of scenery for me."
"Change of scenery?"
"I lived in a relatively small house and I didn't have a lot of friends to talk to because I had to stay home often."
Shinobu went a bit teary eyed and instantly hugs the girl.
"Aaaauuuu! When ever you're here, you can talk to any one of us when ever you want! Got that!"
Eve nods, her eyes starting to water.
Sakura and Keitaro couldn't help but nod at each other.
"But wait. You haven't met everyone yet. You still need to meet Motoko."
"Yea. Motoko, isn't she supposed to be back today?"
Naru comes marching into the kitchen. "Nope."
Keitaro tilts a confusing head. "Why not? More training."
Naru opens the fridge and takes out a carton of milk. "I don't know. She came into the hospital when we were there and said she was going out for a bit of unfinished business."
"Unfinished business….sounds like an old James Bond movie…..but with swords."
"Hahahaha."
Sakura waves her hand at Naru. "Naru, Where's Asuna?"
"She's already upstairs. Asleep in her futon. She must be tired from all the commotion."
Keitaro turns to make his way out. "Then I should make this little runt on my back join her."
"Yay. I'm a runt."
"Yes you are."
Naru finishes chugging down the whole carton and speaks up: "Well another little runt is making another contraption."
Shinobu murmurs: "You mean Suu?"
"Yup. She's upstairs, making a whole lot of noise. Prolly building another mech."
Eve holds an alerting hand up.
Keitaro takes notice, "Oh, it's probably the voice box Suu promised to give Eve so as she could talk with us."
Naru worriedly looks at Eve. "Are you sure you want to trust Suu with…eer…"
Keitaro walks out the kitchen. "Don't worry. I don't think Suu would give her anything that would endanger her." And he was gone along with Sakura.
"Hm…..guess he's right…."
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-ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-
Blue sparks fly. The machines intertwine against each other.
-ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-
Parts meld together and wires form onto each other.
"Almost! Almost!" Suu sings in a reassuring tone as she guides her machines. Building and creating something for Eve.
-Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-
The sparks die down.
The room goes back to darkness….
But with a flick of a switch the light reappears.
"ITS DONE!"
She jumps up with joy but -CLONK!- her heads hit's the top of a random machine arm and she is out cold.
A huge grin on her face and a small neckband tightly gripped in her hand.
"Dooneeeee." She murmurs silently….
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-Swiiish-
Keitaro slides open his bedroom door. A sleepy Sakura drooling all over her back.
He quietly shuffles himself over to the set of futons laying on the floor. There's four in total and Asuna rests at the farthest one. Closest to the window. Keitaro bends down, lays Sakura's body on the futon besides Asuna's and covers her up.
Sakura turns in her sleep. "Papaaaa. Feed me some soup plleeaasseee."
Keitaro sweat drops. "What she is dreaming about…"
Keitaro stands up and was about to leave but something catches his eyes.
He looks back to see a wonderful view of the twins sleeping tenderly as the moonlight shines above the two of them. But that wasn't what catches his eyes. Actually it was Asuna her self.
She was wide awake, yet seemed asleep. Her eyes open.
"Asuna?"
He inches closer but stops.
Because Asuna turns to face him.
And what he sees wasn't blue calm eyes staring back at him.
But a pair of deep fire like eyes glaring at him.
"Asuna…"
The ten year-old girl grins.
But something in the air seems to have pulsed. A pulse that sounded like a ring that came outside.
Suddenly Asuna's eyes closes on itself and her body gently falls back on her pillow.
"ZZZzzzz" She's sound a sleep.
The dorm manager doesn't move. "Wh……what was that."
Unbeknownst to him a collection of sparkling dust lifts from the floor, circles him several times, and splash themselves over his eyes. "Agghk!.!.!" He takes of his glasses and tries to clear his vision. But in doing so his arms slow down to a crawl. His eyes become more blurry. His mind clears. And his eyelids close on him.
-Thud-
He falls to the floor. Sound asleep.
The sparkling dust flies into the air, twirls, twirls, and twirls around Keitaro's head before shooting out into the open window.
At that time Sara comes barging into the room.
"Papa, why do we have to sleep this early. It's only eight and…." She stops and looks. Her sisters are all asleep in their futons, except for Keitaro, who's a bit in a slant with his futon. "……………………what ever." She corrects Keitaro's lazy body, tucks him in, and goes into her own futon. "Goooood night."
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The fog rolls in outside. Obscuring everything under a white veil.
-Woooosh-
With the wind, the mysterious dust sparkles along the twinkling stars.
It weaves itself through the Sakura trees at the entrance of the Hinata-sou. It descends down the set of stairs, crosses the street, and finally stops.
It lands perfectly on top of Doctor Himura's white gloved palm.
He grins with achievement.
With two swift hands he makes the sand disappear……and quickly places the set of bells in his other hand in his coat pocket.
"No one's supposed to know about….her 'condition' yet. Not even you Keitaro-san. I'm sorry."
He turns around, walks, and vanishes with the fog.
…………
"……now where was that night club at?"
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"………."
The lights of cars and buildings blur past Motoko's vision. She sits comfortably at the back of a taxi cab and leans her whole body towards the passenger window, her head sitting on top of her palm as she looks outside.
"………."
She's silent. The night unravels itself as the lights slowly fade, for the cab escapes the illuminated grasps of the city nightlife and enters a more country and rural part of Tokyo. Now she could only see the vast darkness of the hills in the black star gazing horizon. Everything turns silent for the noise lowers itself in these neck of the woods, or rather these neck of the road.
No blazing lights from incoming cars.
No piercing rays of light from corrupt buildings of lust and greed.
No distractions from the vice polluting the air.
None of the city remains here.
Only the quietness of a blissful night.
Motoko's eyes begin to get heavy.
"I wonder….what everyone else is doing….."
The cab driver looks back. "What was that Ma'am?"
"Nothing…"
"Ok……You know, you should really get some rest Ma'am. We won't be there shortly. Its quite a long trip to your destination. Maybe another hour from here. Two hours tops."
Motoko doesn't notice herself nodding in agreement because she is in fact……actually going to sleep.
"………………..Zzzzzzz"
………….
…………..
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……………
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………….
"I was born into a family. A family that happened to reside in the Shinmei-Ryuu clan. The Shinmei-Ryuu is a clan that has been on earth since civilization itself started. Our job was to defend humanity against attacking demons and perform exorcism. Well, at least that's what I was taught. "
Rows, among rows, among rows of men and woman lined the huge courtyard. Swords tightly gripped in their hands. In perfect unison, all of them trained as one, slashing and flipping in the air. Overseeing them was a woman, a gorgeous proud woman. Her gaze saw everyone and everything.
"My mother was the current leader and matriarch of the Shinmei-Ryuu clan. Her bravery and prowess only matched that of fictional heroes in storybooks and fairytales. She lead the clan to its prime until she fell in love with a man and gave birth to a healthy daughter. My sister. Tsuruko"
One girl out of the rest, about the age of seven, twirled her sword around herself. Her aura manifested itself suddenly, surrounding her in a pure sheet of white and blue.
She jumped, yelled, and split's the training wall in half with a huge strike of Ki.
The others clapped.
The mother came up to her and patted the girl on the head.
The girl smiled.
"She was a prodigy. All powerful just like mother. Her ingenuity and agility became apparent at the age of ten and on. She trained all day until she became fourteen. That is when I was born and when she took over the Shinmei-Ryuu clan for our mother retired from her leadership role to take care of us. Tsuruko was now the youngest leader in all of the clan's history. And one of the most powerful."
Tsuruko walked down the wooden hallways of the Aoyama manor. Her white Kimono complimenting her dazzling smile and beauty.
She opened a set of doors and found her mother holding a giggling baby.
The two look at each other and smiled.
"I wasn't as powerful as my sister. Not even close. I've always lived my life following her, following her shadow and hiding behind it. But I looked up to her. I wanted to be just like her so I trained with her. When I trained, I really got to see what it was like to face….a demon. Her method of training me would be considered something as close to 'tough love'. Maybe even love that can kill."
Two swords met. Little Motoko fell back hard on the ground. She winced for a second till she realized that a sharp edged sword came hurling at her neck. She desperately tried to dodge it but it was too late.
She closed her eyes.
But nothing happened.
She looked up.
Her sister stared down at her. One eye glowing….like a demon's.
An insulting shout.
A flinch.
A kick to the stomach.
Motoko instantly lost her breath.
"But we were still sisters. I still wanted to be like her so I trained and trained, but I could never seem to be the prodigy she used to be. I wasn't even close. Then one day, the clan was attacked. An unknown force came out of no where and attacked the head family instantly. Mother and Tsuruko took up arms alongside fellow allies to meet the enemy and won. I was no use. I don't remember much but one part I do remember was when I was told to protect a certain sword. The sword was what the enemy was after and it was my duty to sneak it out of there. But even that ended horribly."
A seven year old Motoko ran down the lanes of grass and flowers that met up to her knees. At the day time the meadow was a vast country field full of colorful flowers. But at night it was a bleak, daunting field of swaying grass. The moon shone down on Motoko as she ran, illuminating the grass with a tint of purple so as she could see her escape.
A black sword and sheath tightly gripped in her hands. Her long hair wavering behind her along with the chilly wind.
She just ran. Piercing through the ocean of flowers and plants. Her foot then abruptly got caught in between a pair of rocks. She fell down hard. The sword flew out of her grasp. It tumbled forward on the ground. She went out to reach it but a shadow loomed over her. The earth shook underneath her.
Her heart stopped for a second. Something was behind her and she had no choice but to turn around. She gazed over shaking uncontrollably, and saw a creature tower over her. A big muscular body and a shell for a back. A sharp beak full of teeth lusting over her. Two white slit eyes glaring at her.
A beat…
It lunged at her with vigor.
Motoko covered her head as a figure came blurring from the side.
The sword sliced through the monster.
The purple meadow instantly turned into a red one.
"Tsuruko once again saved me that day. That was when I got my fear of turtles and that was the day I promised my self to train till I can actually defend myself and defeat her in combat. But after that attack against us. Tsuruko instantly fell in love with a man. She decided to renounce her leadership and decided to give it to me when the time was right. I didn't know what to say. I didn't like it one bit. Here, the woman I idolize is now renouncing her title as head clans member to be with….a man. Then handing me the title of her successor which everyone criticized. This made me hate men. And made me hate my sister….to a degree. As a warrior, I respected her. As a sister, I loved her. But as a teenager and a clans member, I despised her. I wanted to get away for a little while, away from the whole scene with my sister, her husband, and their adopted daughter….Setsuna who they freed and was found as being half human and half demon.
A fourteen year old Motoko looked out through the window to see Tsuruko training a ten year old winged Setsuna.
Motoko stared for a while till she sighed and walked out.
Bags slung over her shoulder.
"Shortly after they got married. I moved to the Hinata-sou for a couple of years to get away. I told myself that I would train there, defeat my sister one day, and prove that I was not destined to walk behind her and her shadow…… Till I met Keitaro. Everything flipped from that day…when he came…when he got his daughters…I never knew I could be attracted to….a man. Now I knew what my sister felt…what my sister gave up probably didn't come close to what she gained. Love…..Then after and during the summer vacation we all had together, I changed my outlook on training. Before I can become….more then friends with Keitaro…I must get stronger….I told myself that before….and now with this new threat with Seta and the mysteries behind Asuna. I must move fast. I have to do….what I must do to get stronger…to protect everyone and to defeat my sister…."
………..
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A slow gradual stop.
Motoko feels the car pull over as she slowly wakes up.
The cab driver's voice suddenly perks her ears.
"We're here Ma'am."
Motoko opens her eyes, cracks her neck, and opens her door.
The lamp light besides her instantly wakes her up more and gave her the perfect view of a traditional Japanese manor. It was the only estate around a five mile radius and all around the landscape was only a dazzling display of hills, meadows and flowers as far as the eye can see. The moon above shines down on all of these flowers with a blue hue as if admiring them all and blessing them under its holy radiance.
In her denim jeans and light jacket she pays the cab driver and nods a thank you.
The driver bows and takes off.
She is now alone.
She turns around and starts to walk towards the front door of the estate.
-Crrreaaakk-
With a slow and agonizing creak, the front doors open to reveal a stunning woman in white.
Her piercing gaze locks onto Motoko.
Motoko just stares back. Used to this intense pressure.
"Hello……Onee-sama." Motoko smirks.
Tsuruko smiles back. "Good evening……Motoko. What a surprise to see you at this time of night."
--------End of Chapter 54-------------
