Chapter Nine: Returns and Arrivals

Joe Hayabusa was returning home for the first time in months.

Joe had been reluctant to give the Dragon Sword to Ryu to act in his stead. The boy was not yet ready for the task ahead. But if the Dark Dragon Blade was acting up, it meant that darkness was stirring. At once Joe had sought to cut off the problem at the source, by annihilating any rising power of fiends.

He'd found news of a clan of vampires that had been rising in power in various cities throughout the world. At once, he set out with his best warriors for a preemptive strike. That had been weeks ago, and they were returning two fewer in number with a great many kills to their name.

One step closer to being worthy of the True Dragon Blade.

Joe Hayabusa came home. And it was in ruins.

Joe froze in place. At once, he set his hand to his sword as he walked through the burned-out wrecks. No bodies. No sign of recent struggle. No broken weapons or arrows on the ground. This had happened some time ago.

"Master Joe," said Alik, "what happened here?"

"The attackers may be nearby." said one.

"No." said Joe. "Whoever did this is long gone. The embers have cooled. Check the graveyard."

"The graveyard?" asked Alik.

"If there were survivors, they would have buried the dead." said Joe. "And we may know who the casualties were by their stones."

"You don't think we are the last?" asked Alik.

"I don't know." said Joe. "Go. Now. I will check the shrine."

They broke off. Joe kept his hand near his sword as he rushed across the bridge. Beyond he found the shrine a broken down ruin. Who could have done this? And how could they have moved so quickly and with stealth?

Whoever they were, they had not done it with guns.

No, he sensed the remnants of horrors within this place. Fiends. Making his way into the shrine, he halted and found it too destroyed. And the Dark Dragon Blade was gone.

That was to be expected. If it had been saved, Kureha was wise enough to move it to a more secure location. Even so, his gaze turned from the shrine up to the castle above their heads. In ancient days it had been the home of many troops. But now it was practically unused. Kept repaired as a place for sealing objects of power.

Whatever had happened here, Joe was too late. He forced himself to remain composed. Where were Ryu and the priestess, Kureha? Perhaps with Murai? Unless...

Alik came back with his companion and bowed. "Master Joe, there are many new graves in the burial grounds. However, they have headstones. It seems that there are some survivors at least."

"...Good." said Joe. "That is something. We must seek the aid of Murai and his Shadow Ninja. They will know what has happened here."

At that moment, Joe sensed something. He set his hand to his sword, as several Shadow Ninja landed and bowed. "Master Hayabusa."

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Joe. "Where is Murai?"

"He is in the fortress." said the ninja. "And he would speak with you. He will explain all."

"Where is my son?" asked Joe.

"I was forbidden to speak of the matter." said the shadow ninja. "Murai will explain."

Joe looked to Alik, then removed his hand from his sword. "Lead us."

Murai observed the girl at work. She wielded the naginata with far greater skill than she had when she began training under him. He was impressed with her dedication. She rivaled even Ryu in determination, if not skill.

When she finished her demonstration, Murai nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent form. You have learned much in these past weeks." he said.

Momiji looked around and stood to attention. "Do you think...

"Do you think I'll be able to avenge my sister."

Murai allowed himself to smile. "I should not concern yourself with it, girl, nor hope for it." the master said. "For if you have your chance, it will mean my nephew will have failed."

The door opened, and Joe Hayabusa entered. Murai's smile widened a fraction. "Brother. You have returned from your mission. As I knew you would." He had been looking forward to this moment, even if relishing it was in poor taste. "Momiji, would you excuse us."

Momiji bowed and departed.

"What has happened here?" asked Joe. "Where are my people?"

"In hiding and safely guarded." said Murai. "I judged rebuilding the Hayabusa Village would entice the Black Spider Ninja Clan. You, of all people, must know of Genshin's hatred for you."

"But how was the village destroyed?" asked Joe.

"By fire, I imagine." said Murai.

"A fire set by who?" asked Joe.

"An enemy of the Hayabusa Clan." said Murai.

"Who?" asked Joe.

"Someone on the face of Earth." said Murai.

"Cease these games, Murai!" snapped Joe.

"If you wanted to know the answer to all these questions, you should have been paying attention." said Murai. "There is a saying about mice when the cat is away."

"I entrusted my sword to Ryu." said Joe. "He should have-"

"He is a boy, hardly past his eighteenth year." said Murai. "An excellent warrior and he is accounting for his weaknesses. But I think asking him to face down the Lord of the Greater Fiends was perhaps putting too much faith in him."

"The Lord of the Greater Fiends? Doku?" asked Joe in shock.

"Yes, I gather; he still holds the position. Fiends live a long time." said Murai.

"Where is Ryu?" asked Joe. "Is he... dead?"

Murai looked down at the ground in a perfect show of regret. "I fear he is gone."

Joe faltered. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked broken and vulnerable at once. Did he actually care about the boy? All evidence up until this point had been to the contrary.

Murai looked up. "Not in the village, I mean to say. Off on a mission of some importance, I gather."

Joe faltered, then he gritted his teeth. "He is alive, then. Where is he?"

It really was the simple things in life Murai treasured. "He's gone to Tairon to kill Doku."

"What?!" said Joe, raising his voice.

"And to get back the Dark Dragon Blade." said Murai. "It's a rather important mission, and we're a bit short staffed at the moment. He decided he had to handle it personally, owing to Doku ending the life of his friend, Kureha."

"Are you mad?!" said Joe. "Why would you let him go?"

Murai looked at him. "...Does an uncle need a reason to dote on his nephew?"

"Enough!" said Joe. "You will answer the question!"

Murai sighed. "Very well. As you wish.

"'Let him go.' He is the wielder of the Dragon Sword. That means he is the leader of the Hayabusa Clan until such time as you return. To deny him would not be in my authority." Murai crossed his arms together. "So what you are really asking is why I helped him. To which I answer; I helped him because I respected his abilities that I believe he will be able to survive. I helped him because unless I imprisoned him here, he would have gone after Doku one way or another. So I did what I could to make his quest easier.

"But this is beside the point. What you should ask is 'why were you never here.'"

Joe flinched. Murai took satisfaction from that. But he wanted to drive the point home. "Your village is in ashes, Joe. Every person in it has lost family. The Hayabusa Clan is a shadow of its former self, and it may never recover in our lifetimes. And I find myself having to host them as refugees.

"It is an immensely inconvenient task. As such, I feel I have earned the right to yank your chain somewhat."

"I left the village to protect it." said Joe. "It was a calculated gamble."

"Your gamble failed." said Murai. "Badly. Did you truly believe that the fiends of the world would stand by and let you hunt them one by one?

"Kureha told you that the Dark Dragon Blade was awakening when you came back from training. Your response was to hand the Dragon Sword over to your son and hunt vampires. I have no doubt you've put your training to good use, but it would have been better used here.

"The Dark Dragon Blade is alive. It has the ability to call out to those worthy of its use. Did it never occur to you that it might see you absence as an opportunity."

"This is beside the point." said Joe. "Ryu is not ready for such a task. He may never be ready. You could have delayed him until I arrived. In that time his temper might have cooled."

"First, because I think you underestimate you son." said Murai. "Second, because the Dark Dragon Blade does need to be retrieved. If a mission of desperation is all we can manage, then I will use that. And third, well... you did impart the Dragon Sword to him.

"I assumed that you judged him ready. Somehow. Despite not even having seen him for the last three years. Soon to be four.

"Do you remember when we were boys, Joe? You were chasing after my sister with lovestruck eyes, and I was busy training. But you were always the more naturally talented. Perhaps it was the dragon lineage. Or your unique abilities.

"Whatever the case, when you boasted that one day you would wield the True Dragon Sword I believed it. And I continued to believe it every day until you gave the sword to Ryu. That was where I realized you would never be worthy of it.

"The True Dragon Sword can only be wielded by one who has become truly selfless. And you were not willing to put aside your pursuit of glory to protect your home. You abandoned your people. Your duty. And your son.

"I'm the sociopathic powermonger. If I find your actions distasteful what does that say about you?"

Joe ignored the question. "How long until Ryu gets there?"

"He's taking a fairly safe route by airship, directly to Tairon." said Murai. "I was planning to go after him with my shadow ninja once I had things settled here.

"In fact, I was going to leave tomorrow."

"Airships are slow." said Joe. "If we move quickly we may be able to overtake him. Though I must wonder why you sent him by one."

"He is an advance force of sorts. A decoy." said Murai. "I don't actually expect Ryu to succeed on his own. However, I do expect him to be able to survive and cause a great deal of chaos in Tairon. My sources also tell me that the Black Spider Ninja Clan will be making a move soon.

"With all the chaos we should have an easy time penetrating the Emperor's defenses."

"Then we will both go at once." said Joe. "I have business in Tairon. And with the Lord of the Greater Fiends."

As expected. "Excellent." said Murai. "It will be good to see you in action."

Ryu had been pointedly not enjoying the luxuries of the airship Bald Eagle. He had not listened to any of the invitations to dinner given to him and taken his meals in his room. There he meditated, and he left only to patrol the airship for any other means of escape he may have missed.

In his meditations, he had begun to realize how hopeless what he was doing was. Even if he escaped this airship, would he really be able to find the Dark Dragon Blade? And when he did, could he have any hope of killing Doku? In their last battle, he had been completely defeated. Almost killed.

At this point, he wished he had waited for a time. Gathered strength. But perhaps doing that would only have given Doku the time he needed to unleash the sword.

The door opened and Ayane entered. "Master Ryu, we should reach Tairon in a few days."

Ryu looked up. He considered the most likely points where the ambush would take place. "Then we'll need to sleep in shifts from now on. They'll move soon. I'll take first watch, Ayane."

"I understand." said Ayane. "That is the package you received from Kureha, is it not?"

Ryu looked down to Kureha's gift. She'd wanted him to have it. But he had yet to find the time to read it. Until now his thoughts had been in chaos. "Yes.

"I haven't opened it yet. I'd best do so before it is too late."

He tore open the package and found within a leather bound book. Opening it, he saw a note on the front page. It was to him.

'To Ryu,

If you are reading this message then I am probably dead. Either that or I've been taken out of the picture and you need the information. I hope for the latter.

First of all, I must entrust these documents to you. Not your father, he is too much of a traditionalist to make any good use of them.

I was chosen as a shrine maiden from a time when I was very young. I always knew it was my destiny. However, I decided to make the best of what time I had free and studied abroad. In this time, I came into contact with many beliefs, many theories on the nature of reality.

These experiences changed how I viewed the world. When I returned to take up my watch of the Dark Dragon Blade, I resolved to do more than guard it. I wished to destroy it.

I have spent years working on a means to destroy the Dark Dragon Blade. And all my findings lie within here. Given that you are reading this, I probably didn't succeed.

I need you to pick up where I left off. Memorize what I have learned here and pass it down so that this abomination doesn't exist forever.

I'm counting on you, Ryu.

-With Love,

Kureha

Ryu clenched his fist. Then he turned the page and began to read.

Author's Note:

So I decided to bring Joe Hayabusa into the plot. Ryu's resentment of his father is an element I introduced based on Joe's defining characteristics. Namely, never being there when really important stuff goes down. So I expanded that into a messed up father-son relationship.

I hope the narrative isn't becoming too cluttered. But once I brought Ryu's resentment of his father into the story, I realized I needed to resolve it.