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"Recca? Anything wrong?" Recca excretes cold sweat from all over his body. From his eyes, a mix of fear and confusion could be spelled. He rolls up his hand and swipes out the sweat from his forehead. Before a sigh, he said, "I heard a hissing sound. Danger is nearing us." Shigeo raises his eyebrows, and wrinkles became evident. "No… you can't fight. Stay on your bed. Once you're invited to another brawl, survival is not a sure thing." he responded as he tries to keep Recca from stepping out of his bed.
Hearing those words, Recca stopped his movements and voluntarily allows himself to be pushed again back to his bed. "You have to rest. If anything happens to you…" Shigeo halted about a second and leans against the door. Then, he continued, "just ignore me. Rest now. I'll be in the kitchen." Recca's eyes closes. And he closes the florescent as well. "That feeling. It's very familiar. It's as if I had already encountered that same aura somewhere in the past." He thought.
Chapter 6 – Storm Clouds
After a few hours of journey, Koganei rampaged to a tall building. Big letters and a logo of cross symbolized it as a hospital. Three blocks from Hana no Ishijima, this was the target.
"Where the fuck is that Mokuren?" Koganei shouted furiously as he continues to ram each door. All answers thrown back to him were a single phrase of "I don't know that man." Or "I haven't heard of that name."
He walked for a few minutes, and side by side, he saw different expressions from the people. Some were frightened, some where astounded, especially the girls. Finally, he reached a room where the doctors' names are filed. "Nagai Mokuren, I want to see that man this instant." Koganei demanded before a shivering officer who browses her record for Mokuren's data. She silenced for a while, repeatedly checking for the database. On the third try, she faces Koganei, "I'm sorry sir. This man isn't employed in this hospital." Koganei was petrified for a few seconds. His mind turned blank, but his body rejuvenated him. When he realizes that danger awaits his sister, "Son of a bitch!" he shouted and he pushed the doors with full force and exits the room.
******
"Heh… so this is where the fifth color of light lives." Tokiya expressed as he stares at the house. Top to bottom, left to right, and every angle. That was no doubt, the house owned by Shigeo.
Recca forcefully opened his eyes after feeling the aura, and he sweats even more. "He's here." He exclaimed as he hurriedly steps down from his bed with all his bandages still on him. Shigeo ran towards him and suggested that he shouldn't be moving like that yet. However, Recca protested that resting wouldn't do him any good. He might as well protect himself from something he fears rather than to let it kill him without putting out a fight.
Impatient, Tokiya shouted again, "get the hell outta there! It's time to finish you off!" With that call, Recca reveals himself to the water swordsman. With his calm patient eyes, he asked, "what is your name? And what is your business here?"
Tokiya hesitated to voice out a word. Instead, he draws Ensui out and thrusts it towards the color. Expecting the attack, Recca manages to evade the first blow from the water swordsman. Tokiya slashed again, and this time, cuts Recca's leg. Another attack was unleashed, and injured Recca's arm.
"So you call yourself a color of light? A color which doesn't even possesses a threat to me?" Tokiya asked, dragging Recca by the hair. "What are you saying? I don't even know what you mean…" Recca exclaimed as blood continues to spill down from his open wound. Another sword strike wounds Recca. And several more followed it. Every cut worsens the pain. And Recca could do nothing but to endure.
A few minutes later, Recca felt numb as he lies against the ground. Tokiya stands unscathed with a smile of victory, wiping off the blood from Ensui with a napkin. "You are just a mere human destined to die by my hands. You are not the one they call as the fifth color of light. You are not… KIN!"
~ With those words, darkness enveloped my sight. Then, the same red light I saw when I was five shone before me again. But now, I could see the light clearer than the last time. Ji… a word meaning ground.
"So Kin… have you already decided what to do?" "Yes… I'll keep the power. And I will use that power... to protect." "I see."
No it wasn't a dream. This time, I heard those words with my own ears… not from a dream but from reality. And after that… I felt something really hot. But then, I feel numb… then nothing.
******
"Aoi! Look… Kin has awakened." "Damnit… tell Hiruko to fetch Mikagami at once. We can't afford to lose that swordsman." Aoi responded with a panicking voice. "Understood." Kirito exclaimed in response to Aoi's command. She then left the scene with the mission… to inform the Blood Swordsman about the threat to Mikagami's life. Aoi jammed the table. He felt confused, frightened and angered. "If only… if only Kadotsu is here…" she murmured.
******
Halfway on his way back home, Koganei was interrupted by an orange-haired woman before him. "Neon, you never revealed yourself in public before didn't you?" Koganei greeted. "In that case, I believe this is a very important matter." Neon bowed. She could have said yes better, but from a single bow, Koganei spelled the mission completely. "The orphanage is under seige? Who's behind this?" "I don't have an elaborate description of the group behind the attack. But I do suspect that it was an attack ordered by the shadow." "Shadow? You mean Ura Uruha?" "Yes." "So you need my help in this mission? Can't you assign any other member?" Koganei asked. "I'm sorry. I know you're on leave. But we have no other options to choose. Aside from Joker, the only one left eligible enough to handle this mission would be you." Responded Neon with a convincing look. "Why don't you assign him instead?" Koganei asked who seems already losing his temper. "We could've done that. But Joker has already been assigned in another mission." Replied Neon.
Koganei sighed as he slowly lowers his head. "Neon, please tell Kurei… this will be my last mission for Uruha." Neon's eyes grew larger. For once, she never expected to hear such words from a high ranking troop commander. She couldn't spell a word from her mouth. Only fast hard heartbeat symbolizes her shock. "I'm sorry, Neon… I am a useless brother… I can't go on anymore. I just can't… because someone needs me more than Uruha. I have to help that someone. Just this time. Just this once. Even… even her smallest wish, I weren't able to grant. Now, I have to do it… I have to grant it to her. Because… she's the only one left for me…" Neon sighed and she taps Koganei's shoulder. "I understand. In that case, please allow me to bid you good luck for the last time. Be careful." Koganei raises his head and smiled to Neon, "Thank you…"
Then Koganei decided to turn around… and a few minutes later, his shadow completely faded. Neon draws her flute and started playing. She was unaware of her tears crawling out from her eyes. "Maybe you're right… maybe my sisters also needed me." She murmured.
******
"You want a real challenge? Why can't you put up a fight?" Kin asked standing before a semi-conscious Tokiya covered with his own blood. Kin lifted Tokiya by the neck, staring to him with an evil grin. On his right hand, he spelled a word "break" and a blue eyed dragon appeared from his back. A sword of fire slowly grows out from his hand, and smiled before the swordsman, "Perhaps it's time to finish this, Mikagami? Time to behead you."
Kin heard a hit, but he saw his sword was about an inch away from the swordsman's neck. Another sword protected Mikagami's life. Kin then suffered a kick to the abdomen. From that attack, he was able to drop Tokiya.
"You're too reckless, Mikagami." Tokiya barely opened his eyes. There, he saw a face of an old friend… Raiha. After that, he felt relief in his heart, then he closes his eyes.
Raiha lays Mikagami's body on the ground, then he faces the warrior they called Kin. "Stop it now, Kin. It's over… you won." Kin stayed immobile. Perhaps trying to calm himself down from the fury he has just unleashed. "Tokiya… he doesn't deserve this kind of torment. You know it, Kin. Because you are his best friend."
Friend, from that word, Kin felt something warm inside, and his anger was completely vanquished by this warmth. "My… friend? I have a friend?" Raiha bowed in agreement. "Kin… no, people nowadays call you Recca. Tokiya is the only person who considered you as a friend in your childhood days." Still confused, Kin tries to remember the time… his childhood days. "Tokiya is innocent of his sins. He is not to blame for his actions. Because of the torment he suffered from the time being that both of you were separated by fate, he always looked at the darker side of the world. He was engulfed by his own hatred. Hatred in this world… hatred in everyone… even himself. Kin, no Recca, your friend needs your help. This time, you're the one who can help him. You have to save him from his beliefs, furthermore, from his hatred. You're the only one who can do that."
Hearing those words, Kin was completely stunned. Then maybe after a long silence, he smiled, "I don't really know what happened in the past. I don't even know what I should do. But if he really is my friend, I will help him."
From that, Kin returned to his human body. The body of a youth named Recca. Then he walks near the gray haired swordsman. He first lifted him from the neck, followed by the calf. He smiled again. Now, joy formed from his heart instead of hatred. He stepped out his left foot, followed by the right. And the same pattern repeated, until he reaches his own house.
End of Chapter 6
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