Armor of the Cherry Blossom

By: Keila Tenshi

Part Two: The Discovery



Another Japan, Another World

Kim's mind dizzily raced so much that she was barely conscious of the forest around her. The legend, the words Armor of the Cherry Blossom, they all seemed so familiar to her. But why?

White Gold with a gentle but to her leg moved Kim easily off the well-known forest path and onto an almost hidden one. He led her through the forest keeping her on track with gentle buts of his head. He knew where she had to go.

The gentle almost flat slope of the ground suddenly sloped upward.

Kim froze her confusion leaving her as she looked up the hill and around her, not recognizing anything. "Where did you lead me?" she demanded White Gold.

The wolf just started climbing the hill.

Kim shrugged and went after him. "Where are you going?" she asked.

White Gold still didn't respond, he just kept going up.

Kim kept following. *If this hill is high enough maybe I can see where I need to go to get back.* she thought. She took five more steps and stopped to look around. She looked up to see White Gold looking at her. "I'm coming," she told him. Kim took another step and suddenly the ground broke beneath her. She screamed as she fell.

She landed hard on her side and laid there for a moment until the stars of pain cleared her vision before she moved to see if anything was broken. Nothing being broken she got to her feet.

She cried out and took a defensive position as something landed beside her.

It was White Gold.

Kim glared at the wolf. "Where in the world did you bring me?" she demanded. Looking around her all she saw was darkness. She stood on a marble floor in a vast hall.

The wolf licked her hand then turned away.

Kim's eyes followed where the wolf was looking and saw a huge set of doors at the other end of the hall. The ornate gold doors were open wide enough for her to get through. A soft light glowed through it.

Curiosity winning over caution, she moved slowly towards and through the doors, her body tense, her senses stretched to their limits.

White Gold moved along beside her, also tense and alert.

The room she was now in had torches lining the walls glinting off of the marble floor and walls and many sets of samurai armor that lined the top of the shallow pit which the stairs she faced went into. On the other side of the pit was a dias with stairs leading up to it, and on top of it stood the most beautiful set of armor Kim had ever seen.

Slowly she stepped down the stairs leaving White Gold there, and walked across the shallow pit towards the armor.

It was white and gold and shone in the light. Above it glowed an orb of white with the kanji of peace in gold in the middle.

"The Armor of the Cherry Blossom," she whispered.

Suddenly White Gold growled and crouched down his white hackles raising.

Kim went tense and did a back round-off out of the way as one of the samurai's came to life and jumped at her with his sword drawn. She landed on her feet and took a defensive position. "Whoever you are I don't want to hurt you, I just want to get out."

He sprung at her slashing. She ducked the sword and then stepped into him. Her left arm blocked his and moved around to immobilize it. The flat of her right hand slammed into his stomach and then she flipped him over her shoulder. She moved away and kept her defensive position.

White Gold sprung at him and got the sword away while he was on his back.

The samurai got to his feet and turned to the girl. He froze. "The sign," he said.

Kim still held the defensive position, fists in front of her face, body tense.

He moved to the nearest samurai with a shield and grabbed it. He turned the mirror-like part towards her.

Kim froze when she saw her reflection. Glowing golden on her forehead was the kanji of peace, the same one in the orb. Her hand slowly went up to touch it. She looked at the samurai. "The legend is true," she said.

"Yes," the samurai said removing his helmet. White hair fell about his shoulders and in front of his ice blue eyes.

"And then so is the prophecy told Chieko's ancestor," she said turning to look at the armor. She turned back around quickly to face the samurai who had magically changed into priest's clothes. Realization dawned on her. "The prophecy you told Chieko's ancestor," she said.

"I am Jun, the protector of the Armor of the Cherry Blossom and the last of the Yamabushi Monks," he said bowing.

"And from another world," Kim said.

"Yes."

"Too weird."

"You have been chosen to be the bearer of the Armor of the Cherry Blossom. And it has chosen well."

"I was always good in fighting and gymnastics," Kim said.

"You will need it for your battles with the other Ronins in their world," Jun said.

"Wait a minute!" Kim exclaimed. "Their world?"

"Yes. You have to fight with them against this evil that, with your coming, is most probably rising."

"What if I don't want to go?" she asked stubbornly.

"If you do not go then both worlds will be lost as well as all of the people you love," Jun said.

Kim realized this was true. She had already made up her mind to go anyway but she wanted to keep her options open. "What do I have to do?" she asked.

"First I would like to know your name."

"Kim Doris."

Jun bowed. "I welcome you Kim Doris, bearer of the Armor of the Cherry Blossom, the Armor of Peace."

Kim returned his bow.

"You will first receive your armor orb here and some brief explanation and training in it and then I'll send you on your way, along with White Gold, trust him."

"You know White Gold?" Kim asked. She knelt down next to the wolf and buried her hands in his neck.

"White Gold belongs to the Armor of the Cherry Blossom bearer. I didn't see him until he took my weapon or else I wouldn't have attacked you," Jun explained.

Kim gently squeezed White Gold who licked her face. "He saved my life one night when I was twelve. The night my mom died. He's been with me every since," Kim finished hugging the wolf tightly. White Gold licked her face and gently wagged his tail.

"As it should be," Jun said sympathetically.

Kim closed her eyes briefly against the tears and the memory. She had an urge to touch the scar, barely visible now, that extended from her shoulder to her neck. She fought it and then got to her feet saying, "Now then, what about this armor orb?"

Jun led her to the top of the dias. "Take the orb and call out Armor of the Cherry Blossom-Tao Heiwa!"

Kim reached out and took the orb in her hand. When she touched it she knew she was doing the right thing. It felt right. She held it above her head and called out,

"ARMOR OF THE CHERRY BLOSSOM-TAO HEIWA!"

Suddenly in a flash of gold and white she was surrounded by cherry blossoms and ribbons of gold and white covered her and then it all disappeared leaving her in the beautiful armor of white and gold. Kim opened her eyes and looked down at herself. "Wow," she breathed. Gently she pulled out her weapon, a sword in the European style, from it's scabbard on her left hip. the handle was white ivory, light and graceful with gold carvings on it. The blade was sharp and pure and shone brightly in the light.

Jun watched her awed and relieved. "Now then your power call is 'Blossom Burst!' It sends electric energy through your opponent if pointed at them. If the sword is in the ground and it is called a cherry tree will appear in full blossom and take your opponent into it's heart."

"What will it do?" Kim asked.

"It will heal the evil within them if they are a minor evil. If they are more evil than that they have to be willing to change for it to heal, other than that it just holds them for a while and weakens them."

Kim looked at her sword then closed her eyes. She could feel the power surge through her. "I understand," she said.

Jun smiled and nodded. "Good, very good. Now let's see if you can power down into your sub-armor."

"Huh?"

"Concentrate on powering down."

Kim made a brief command to herself and suddenly she was in gold and white sub-armor. "Cool."

"Now concentrate more and go into your street clothes," Jun said.

Kim did so and suddenly she was in her street clothes.

"All right. Now power into your sub-armor."

Kim concentrated and did so.

"Very good. Now whenever you wish to go into your full armor call out 'Armor of the Cherry Blossom-Tao Heiwa!'"

Kim nodded. "Anything else?" she asked powering down into her street clothes.

"Your quickness and fighting skills have increased. So has your acrobatic ability."

"In other words I can leap tall buildings in a single bound?"

"More like a couple of bounds, but yes," Jun said. "Now then, you know the basics, everything else you must learn on your own. I will return with you but I can give you only limited help and advice."

"Just as long as I get some," Kim said.

"Are you ready?"

Kim sighed and looked down at White Gold. He looked into her eyes and his gold ones seemed to say, "Have no fear." She turned to Jun. "I'm ready."

Jun nodded and turned towards the shallow pit. Suddenly he pulled out of the air a staff. It was as tall as he was and at the top a triangle was formed by three bars of equal length. A softly glowing orb hung in the middle of the triangle. Bells hung from the bottom bar and rung softly.

The softly glowing orb began to glow brighter and more intense. As Kim watched she thought that with the brightness of the light she would be forced to look away, but found it easy to look at. The bells that hung down began to animate themselves and their tone was soft and sweet. Both the light and the ringing grew in intensity until Kim finally had to close her eyes. Suddenly the light was gone.

Behind her closed eyes Kim could feel another light. She opened her eyes to discover that she now stood alone in a cave, the sun being the new light she felt.

Slowly Kim stepped out of the cave, White Gold at her side. She looked around to find herself looking at a lake as the sun was setting behind it, behind Mt. Fuji.