A/N: A songfic based on the Christina Augilera song Loyal Brave True from the Mulan remake. I do not own the song or the Anime series. It follows Jiro's journey and his trials and tribulations while persevering in his mission and devotion to protect those he loves. I couldn't help but think of Jiro while listening to it. My first Android Kikaider fic, enjoy!
"Get out of the way now!" Chigusa Sakamoto ordered Jiro as he shielded Mitsuko from the gun aimed towards her. His arms outstretched, no fear emanating from him. The thought of a mother willingly wanting to kill her own child repugnant to him, even while he was not of flesh and blood as them.
"No!" he answered. "Lives are not like snow. I don't pretend to understand but, that much I know. Lives don't drift down for the sake of melting away. Once you're born, you have to do whatever it takes to fight and stay alive." Nothing else mattered more than Mitsuko and Masaru's safety- which he was willing to sacrifice his own life.
War is not freedom
Over my shoulder
I see a clearer view
Masaru looked at him quizzically at first, not sure what to make of Jiro. The air of suspicion quickly lifted as the boy happily smile causing the perplexed but thankful android to return the kind gesture.
In the forest after dispatching the colossal mantis android, Jiro reached his gloved hands out to Mitsuko's face gleaming in the moonlight. The difference he felt between them couldn't be more apparent. Even he could feel it while something much deeper flickered brighter.
"I understand the difference between us. Your body is warm and soft like Masaru's. I know my body is cold and hard. But I'm able to have feelings and I care for both of you."
All for my family
Reason I'm breathing
Everything to lose
"Wh wah..my..my voi- is this my voice?, This reflection. This is me? What's going on here? Who am I? Where am I? I don't know!"
The boy asked himself after he gazed upon himself in the quaint pond water as questions pelted within his scattered, confused and curious mind. The only thing he could do was wander, not knowing what lay ahead.
Should I ask myself in the water
What a warrior would do?
Tell me, underneath my armor
Am I loyal, brave and true?
Am I loyal, brave and true?
The rhino android charged at Jiro before its eyes fell on Mitsuko and her little brother, the prime quarry its master wanted terminated. Jiro's herculean strength stopping the rampaging beast. The girl yelling at him to press the switches on his shoulders. In blinding light his true form was revealed. The rhino attacked again only for Jiro to land on his feet and deal the destructive blow as the beast exploded into flames.
Losing is easy
Winning takes bravery
I am a tiger's fool
He wandered aimlessly. There was no place for him to go. A machine has no home to return to. A machine has no one to love and no one loves him. He longed to go home.
The fearful and crushing word "Monster!" lashing at his ears.
Out in the open
No one to save me
The kindest of whispers are cruel
Catching sight of his reflection in the mirror of the decrepit warehouse where his brother Orange Ant had been felled, by his own hand in a fight he dreaded. The little girl he had befriended sank back afraid of Jiro's real form. The rejection just as severe on seeing how dissimilar he was to those he wanted to protect and how he was not entirely human at all.
Should I ask myself in the water
What a warrior would do?
Tell me, underneath my armor
Am I loyal, brave and true?
Am I loyal, brave and true?
The peaceful starlit night sky was a welcome comfort to Jiro as he stared at it in awe. Mitsuko's approaching footsteps caught his attention when she appeared standing beside him. The hate for robots that once reigned over her mind and soul crumbled away. She revealed the key to his Gemini system. Met with Jiro's unease over losing the feelings he cherished-even more the girl who gave him purpose, a home and the love he was told he'd never have. As Mitsuko slept, Jiro's unwavering drive to protect those whose hearts remained open to him hadn't diminished. His decision made, he mounted his bike and drove off into the mists to fulfill the mission he came to realize was greater than the power Gill or his evil siblings were immersed in. Love.
Cold is the morning
Warm is the dream
Chasing the answers
'Til I can't sleep
Will I be stronger
Or will I be weak
When you're not with me?
Who am I without my armor?
Standing in my father's shoes
All I know is that it's harder
To be loyal, brave and true
"And so now...with this act I shall at last become fully human. But the price I must pay for it... is eternal torment. As the good and the evil inside of me…struggle in my heart forever..."-
Free. Victorious. The demise of the wicked Professor Gill gave Jiro neither. SHADOW's ultimate weapon, the Armageddon generator, decimated and in flames. Jiro's face glistened with tears. He and his siblings gave their lives for so many, yet their deaths were due to his forced anger. Anger he fought hard never to bow before. Anger that ironically proved to be Gill's utter folly. As the colossal titan was engulfed by fire, Jiro did not look back on the scene in a swelling grieving shame. It was time for him to wander again. He wondered if solitude was to be his fate, while he knew Gill's just end had come to pass. Slayed by the slave he sought to manipulate. What of his family the Kohmyogi? After all his suffering, he wanted to believe Hope was in sight. Would they be the same people who loved him for his true self and not his super-human powers? With whom he felt at peace? The memories of times beautiful and terrible held strong. Jiro's heart as Gill'sarrogance had evaporated.
Yet his story was far from finished. The threat of evil had been toppled, the sins of his past cleansed and home beckoned the enigmatic wanderer onward still. What will the future hold? He would not allow others to follow Gill's corrupt example. Jiro walked and acted in peace and in going home would experience what it meant to live not as a shadowy figure shunned and feared yet as a son, brother and lover-loyal, brave and true.