- TOH SHIN DEN: To Challenge Fate -
a Battle Arena Toshinden fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh
CHAPTER ONE: Beginnings
Translations:
saa - now
soredemo - but still
oniisan - elder brother (often shortened to niisan)
Toshindaibukai - Grand Martial Arts Tournament of the Fighting God (Toshinden formal name)
Byakko no Tachi - White Tiger Sword (name for Eiji's sword)
gomenasai, gomen - I'm sorry
ikimasu - let's go
***************
Eight travelling fighters brought together by a common destiny,
now meet at the Battle Arena Toshinden!
Many years have passed since this tournament,
known only to those in the underworld,
was last held.
Some fighters have come for personal glory.
Others have come to fight for those they love.
But all will do their best to gain a victory
in this tournament which will decide their fortunes...
***************
Tokyo International Airport in the bustling heart of Tokyo, Japan. Flight 702 from Europe to Japan has just arrived at gate 9. Amidst the flow of eager passengers that streams off the large jet is a handsome young man. He walks slowly, concentrating on something other than the bustling airport terminal. He brushes his spiky auburn hair out of his face as he studies the flight schedule with deep red-gold eyes. He double-checks the hilt at his side, and smiles at himself for being so paranoid as to think that someone would actually try to steal his beloved sword. Looked like no one would even go near it, let alone touch it, considering the fact that people were swerving around him as he thought. He turned back to the flight schedule and runs a gloved finger down the list.
"Saa, let's see," Eiji Shinjo muttered to himself, intensely searching the guide, "Kayin-chan's flight should be landing at gate 12 right about now."
Eiji grinned in spite of himself, as he was looking forward to seeing his best friend, Kayin Amoh, again. But then again, he thought, I'm not here for reunions. It's my destiny, as it always has been. The red string...maybe there is some truth to that belief. Soredemo, it's good to be back in Tokyo. That, and being able to talk in a language and actually knowing what I'm saying.
Eiji let his mind wander back to how it all began, a long time ago. Though Eiji was only twenty-one years old, only a little more than a teenager, what years of his life he had lived were indeed fateful. His parents had died when he was very young, leaving him alone with his older and only brother, his oniisan, Sho. Eiji grew up in awe of his niisan, and aspired to be just like him. Of course, that was hard, considering the Shinjo clan's treasured sword, the Byakko no Tachi, the White Tiger Sword, was passed on to the eldest son in the family. Sho had received the sword, and quickly became a mighty and skilled warrior, feared and revered by all. Sho had planned to represent the Shinjo clan in the Toshindaibukai, the Toshinden weaponry tournament. And yet, one day, when Eiji was fifteen, Sho received a letter that Eiji never knew about. All that he knew was that later, Sho announced that he would train Eiji in swordplay, for reasons he would not tell his little brother. Eiji, of course, had been thrilled. Until Sho had announced that he was taking in another student.
His name was Kayin Amoh, a sixteen-year-old from a Scottish highlander clan, another inheritant of a family sword.
At first meeting, it was instant dislike for Eiji and Kayin. Being complete opposites and all, Eiji thought Kayin was a stuck-up brash overconfident jerk. Kayin, on the other hand, though Eiji was an incompetant annoying suck-up kid. But, as time passed, they became friends, and enjoyed training together under Sho's tutelage. As a result, they were taught the same technique, and, though they were indeed quite different in personality, they were trained to always fight together. Their skills were quite equal, and their swordsmanship remarkable. Even Sho himself was impressed at the pair's grasp of swordplay, especially for ones so young, so fast. The skills of their bloodlines showed through.
Finally, the time came when Kayin returned to Scotland, when he was nineteen and Eiji was eighteen. It made no sense to either of them why Sho had trained them so quickly, but Eiji's niisan would not say. Shortly after Kayin left, Eiji returned home to his village in Japan, Aizu, and found Sho gone. All that was left was the Shinjo family sword, the White Tiger Sword, the Byakko no Tachi.
Also, an invitation to the Toshindaibukai, in his brother's name.
And a note.
The note, simply, read this, in Japanese:
Eiji,
Don't follow me. It won't work. You will not find me. Wait for me to find you. You keep the sword, and you're on your own now. I know you will be all right, if you remember what I've taught you.
Go in search of your destiny. I'm close to mine. You must find yours. Even though it may come to you instead.
Until next time...
Eiji was greatly saddened by this turn of events, for now he truly was alone. Even though he wanted to go after his niisan, the note specifically said not to. But after a while of thinking, Eiji decided that this would not be a waste, but a chance to learn more about his destiny, like Sho had said in the letter. Would he always be just the little brother of the great Sho Shinjo? Or would he have his own fate, to be a hero, a warrior, a legend? And so, Eiji decided that he would become an adventurer, travelling the world, testing and training his skills against other fighters, and ultimately, finding his lost brother, his hero.
After scouring the world for his niisan, Eiji came up luckless. Though he did have some interesting conflicts with other fighters along the way, Eiji returned home to Aizu to find two pieces of mail waiting for him. One was a letter from Kayin, bearing sad news: Kayin's father had gone to the great tournament, the Toshindaibukai, and lost. As a result, he had been killed in battle by the now-crowned champion of the Toshin tournament. Who this fighter was, it was not known by Kayin. All that he knew was that he would find his father's killer and have his revenge. Eiji's head had spun. The Toshindaibukai. That was the name of the tournament Sho had gone to! Had he...no. It couldn't have been. Eiji had brushed that thought from his mind without a second glance. The other letter had been an invitation.
To the Toshindaibukai.
In his name this time.
Eiji remembered scanning Kayin's letter quickly, and sure enough, he had added on a note saying that he had received an invitation to the great weaponry tournament. The same one Kayin's father had died at, the same one Sho had gone to, and the one that Eiji was now invited to. Eiji figured he had nothing to lose, and maybe even find his brother, and had headed for the secretive underworld tournament. That brought him to here, Tokyo, after taking a flight from where he currently had been travelling through Europe, where he was waiting for his long-time friend, rival, and old training partner, Kayin Amoh. Or, as Eiji had nicknamed him in accordance to Japanese name honourifics, Kayin-chan. Eiji had other nicknames for Kayin too, but many were not worth repeating again. Also in the letter, Kayin told him that he would be arriving at the same time and airport as Eiji. And now, fate had brought the two together again, as the legendary Toshindaibukai was drawing near.
Eiji was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice that he had walked into a path of a young girl running down the terminal, breathing hard and obviously in a hurry, until it was too late to get out of the way. She tried to put on the brakes, but skidded, and the two collided and fell over.
"Gomenasai, I should have been watching where I was going," Eiji got up and went to retrieve her suitcase, which had skittered across the floor. He handed it to the girl, getting a good look at her appearance. She didn't look much older than a teenager, and was wearing an outfit consisting of a pair of faded, cropped jean shorts, a small white halter top that was tied in a bow at the back, and a pair of dusty sandals with black straps and silver buckles. Around her neck, hanging from a thin chain, was a small heart-shaped locket, crafted out of glittering silver. She had big, bright, sparkling blue eyes, and hastily brushed her short, emerald-green hair out of her face and smiled, but it seemed saddened somehow.
"It's okay," was all that she said, and even that was barely more than a whisper. From his world travels, Eiji quickly noted a Hungarian accent in her voice that made her i's sound like e's. "It was my fault anyway." She took her suitcase and continued her race down the hall, her sandals making slapping noises against the hard, elaborately tiled floor as she hastily weaved her way through the crowd.
"Gomen!" Eiji called again, but she was already out of earshot. He continued on to gate 12, this time being more cautious to see where he was going. He got there just in time to see another young man, with aqua-green eyes and light orange-tinged, almost blond, long hair, coming out of the gate. He looked rather awed at the sight of the terminal, and yet anxious at the same time. The man tightened his red jacket with black armoured shoulder pads around his neck, and continued on, matching other people's strange looks with a nasty look of his own. Eiji smirked. Only one guy was like that, or dared to do that kind of thing.
"Kayin!"
"Eiji?"
Eiji ran over and they both hugged, each glad to see their childhood friend.
"Man, it's great to see you!" Eiji said, laughing.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Kayin grinned, still with his broad Scottish accent that hadn't faded over the years, not a bit, not even the fact that he had lived in Japan for part of his life and was almost fluent in the language.
"Three years."
"Goddammit, you've grown since I last saw you," Kayin said.
"So have you." Eiji smiled slyly. "But make no mistakes, Kayin-chan, I probably can still kick your ass, just like I used to when we were training."
Kayin gave Eiji a shove. "Just when did you ever kick my ass?"
"Only all the time."
"Like anyone's ever gonna believe you."
"And they'd believe you?"
Kayin laughed. "I'm not getting too caught up in this. I could beat you physically and verbally any day, Eiji Shinjo. But not in an airport. We oughta get our luggage so people will stop staring."
Eiji agreed. They did just that, and headed out to the parking lot to find a taxi, all the time still ignoring the looks they got from the other passersby, as two young men with strange outfits and sword-hilts was not a common site. It made Eiji feel rather uncomfortable, but Kayin didn't seem to care in the slightest. At least, not that he showed it. Kayin didn't show much.
"By the way..." said Eiji quietly, wondering if now was a good time to mention it (or if any time was a good time to mention it), "I'm really sorry - you know - about what happened to your father."
Kayin grew solemn, and his eyes lost some of the green fire that had always been there, that, like his accent, hadn't dimmed at all over the years. "I know. Thanks. I still miss him. But I will find my father's killer and avenge his death - at the tournament."
Eiji looked at his friend, concerned. "Are you sure - that he will be here, I mean?"
"I know it," replied Kayin confidently, but a hint of sadness showed in his voice. Eiji smiled to himself, yet felt sorrow for his friend. Kayin had always tried to keep the sensitive part of him covered up, as he preferred to be tough. It did suit Kayin's style well, but Eiji believed people shouldn't be anything else other than who they are. Kayin turned to Eiji once again. "This is THE tournament, isn't it? The one you said that Sho had gone to? And that he didn't come back afterwards?"
Eiji nodded slowly. "He was training to represent our clan at the tournament...and as I said, one day I came home and he was gone. He left the invitation behind. That's how I knew." He shuddered. "It was somewhat frightening, to say the least. He usually told me when he was leaving. It kind of made me think, you know? That maybe I didn't know my own niisan as well as I thought. But all he left behind was the invitation."
Kayin glanced at the sheath at Eiji's side. "And the Byakko no Tachi, right?"
"Yeah," Eiji said quietly, sighing. "But I still can't help wondering if he still might be here, at the Toshindaibukai. It's a long shot, I know, but I've been through just about everything else to find him, to hell and back."
Kayin glanced at Eiji, looking somewhat concerned. "You really do miss him, don't you?"
Eiji replied rather sadly, "What else can I say? He's my only family now." A determined look passed over his young face. "And I'm not giving up on my niisan, nor am I going to betray him. I'm going to make him proud of me, wherever he is."
Kayin decided to stay quiet. And yet, a thought lingered, echoeing through the recesses of his mind.
Sho...it might have been... He inadvertantely narrowed his eyes, something he was quite fond of doing, though it was more of a habit.
I never fully trusted him anyway...it was always like he was keeping something from us, but would never tell us what... Kayin glanced back at Eiji.
But I can't say anything to Eiji...God knows how he would take the insinuation that-- He decided to stop thinking about that rather touchy subject, and instead raised a black-gloved hand to finger the little silver cross that had always hung around his neck, reflecting in his religious beliefs. Though they too, like so many other things in Kayin's life, had seriously been in question since his father's death.
Father, I
won't let you down.
They found a taxi that would take them to the tournament grounds. On the way, Kayin noticed that his friend had become awfully quiet, quieter than he himself had been just a minute ago. However, he waited until after the taxi had dropped them off before asking, "Hey, what's eating you?"
"Well," Eiji started seriously, "maybe it's just fighter's instinct, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something really screwed about this whole tournament. My niisan told me about it. He said this tournament is highly secret. Why would that be? And it's usually held around the end of August, but this is the middle of April."
"Damn, you still worry too much, Eiji," Kayin laughed. "Let's just forget about it for now, and concentrate on kicking some ass instead!"
"Yeah, maybe you're right," Eiji sighed.
Soredemo... he mused.
They turned around to face the large, stone double-doors that were imprinted with the kanji for 'Toh' 'Shin' and 'Den'.
"Well, are you ready for this?" Eiji said with a hint of excitement in his voice. A real tournament to fight in! And the Toshin tournament no less. It was a dream come true for the aspiring young adventurer.
Kayin, seeing his friend's excitement, grinned and answered back, "Sure am. Are you?"
"Damn straight!"
Kayin shot Eiji a sly grin and gave him a thumbs-up. "Well then, as you say here in Japan, ikimasu!!" And with that, they entered the building and, more unknowingly, into a part of their destiny itself...
**********
