- TOH SHIN DEN II: Thicker Than Water -

a Battle Arena Toshinden 2 fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh


CHAPTER TWO: Reunion



Translations:
oi - hey
kono yaro - that bastard
genki desu ii yo - cheer up


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"Good afternoon, passengers. We are now approaching our destination of Tokyo, Japan, so please put on your seatbelts and prepare for descent. Thank you for flying Hungarian Airlines."
Ellis attached her seatbelt with a snap and sighed, looking out the airplane window downwards at the green ocean-lined continent. Japan...how long's it been? A year? Maybe more by now? I just tried to forget. She settled back into her seat, tucking some strands of her emerald-green hair behind her ears. So it looks like we're all coming together again. But for what reason this year? She smiled bashfully and blushed slightly. I wonder if Eiji-kun will be there again...I hope so, I've missed him-- She cut off her thought there in annoyance. No, what am I thinking? There isn't time for that. There's more important things to worry about. Reaching forward and pulling out a small suitcase, Ellis opened it and could only stare for a moment at the white invitation packed on top of her clothes, the black "Toh Shin Den" kanji standing out on the sheet of white. Removing it, Ellis re-read the note again.

Ellis-san,

We of the Himitsu Kessha request your attendance at this year's Toshindaibukai. We will give you a warning now: Your father, Gaia, is being tracked by us under the charge of high treason. We will kill him the moment we find him. If you wish to save him, you will attend this year's tournament. It will commence in one week's time. You must have signed in before three days of its opening. We expect to see you there.

Signed, the High Council of the Himitsu Kessha

Ellis closed her eyes and shook her head, fingers lightly brushing the silver heart-shaped locket that always hung around her neck. How cold. What a warning to give. But God, Father, why? They're all monsters...did you try to escape from them? What were your true reasons for leaving them? She looked out the window again, as the plane circled and began to descend towards the Tokyo International Airport below. Ellis rested her head against the back of the seat, sighing.
We have to be ready for anything this time. Or else there won't be a next time...

***************

A few days later in the week saw Eiji Shinjo standing at the doors of Tokyo International Airport. He figured that if any of his friends who had fought with him in last year's tournament had also received invitations, which he believed they had judging by what it had said on the invitation, than the airport was the most likely place to meet up with them. But, as Eiji entered the huge building, he quickly realized that he had no idea who he expected to see or even if he'd see anyone at all. Hopefully, it would be a friend, not a rival, since he had quite a few. However, as he was walking by one of the conveyor belts used for luggage, he did see someone he knew.
Someone he'd recognize anywhere.
And surprisingly, it was the last person Eiji had expected to find there.
Standing by the conveyor belt, waiting for his luggage to come by, was a young man only a bit taller than Eiji, with blond hair tied in a ponytail and tucked in the back of the black and red jacket with black armoured shoulder pads he was wearing. His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his dark pants, and his eyes were shaded by a pair of sunglasses. He didn't look Eiji's way at all, almost as if he was focusing on something else entirely. In any event, he didn't notice Eiji at first, so Eiji saw this as the perfect opportunity to get back at Kayin for all the times he made a fool out of him. Sneaking up quietly, attempting to stay out of Kayin's range of vision, Eiji lept and grabbed Kayin in a headlock. "Oi, Kayin-channnnnn!!"
"What the hell? Who the blazes--??" Kayin responded quickly by tossing Eiji over his shoulder and to the ground with a thud. Removing his shades quickly and revealing the familiar icy and almost translucent aqua eyes, Kayin glared down at him and started to say, "All right, mate, just what the hell is--goddammit, Eiji!?"
"Thanks a lot, Kayin-chan. That the kind of reception you give to all of your friends?" Eiji replied jokingly while picking himself up off the terminal floor. He burst out laughing. "You should have seen the look on your face! You were--"
Kayin shook his head, cutting Eiji off. "For cryin' out loud! So is that how you greet people in Tokyo? By startling the bleedin' hell out of them and putting them in a choke hold?"
Eiji's face showed minor insult. "I figured I should surprise you, since we haven't seen each other since the end of last year's tourney. And I thought you'd be glad to see me. You're looking well, if not a bit jumpy."
Kayin Amoh looked rather embarrassed. "Sorry. I've had other things on my mind. You're looking pretty good yourself. Though you're still such a kid, playing those stupid pranks to get even with me for what I did to you."
"Kid? Give me a break. You're only my senior by a year. And no, you were a complete ass to me when we were training, so the sooner I get back at you, the better."
Grinning, the two best friends hugged, happy to see each other again, since it had been a year now. "So what are you doing here, anyway, Kayin-chan? You specifically said you were retiring from the tournament circuit after the last--"
Kayin turned away harshly. "So I changed my mind, okay? I missed the thrill of fighting and competing and all that crap. Just drop it, Eiji."
But Eiji had seen the look that had just crossed Kayin's face before, many times. Shaking his head, he knew his friend wasn't being completely honest with him.
"Something happened again, didn't it? That's why you're here..."
"Eiji, I really don't want to talk about it--"
"Come on, Kayin-chan," Eiji persisted. "I'm your best friend. You can tell me."
Kayin didn't look at him. Finally, after a few minutes, he sighed and said two words.
"It's Naru."
"What? Naru-chan? What about her?"
"Eiji, she's been kidnapped. She disappeared a few days ago, and I haven't seen her since. I found this in the house where I had left her before she was taken."
He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Eiji. To him it looked like the same invitation he had gotten, small and white except for the familiar three kanji. Then he opened it, and it was the same invitation he had gotten, only there was another typed note attached. A small pink hair ribbon had been taped to the inside.

Kayin Amoh-san,

If you expect to see your daughter again, then we expect to see you at the tournament.

The Himitsu Kessha

"I caught the first plane to Japan," Kayin promptly finished. "Appears that I can't take a leave of absence...they were going to do anything to get me back at the tourney this year."
"Kono yaro," Eiji swore, nearly crumpling the invitation in his fist before handing it back to Kayin. "Don't worry. We'll get her back. They've gone too far this time."
Kayin heaved a sigh and still looked unsure so Eiji pasted a grin on his face and said, "Hey, genki desu ii yo. It'll all work out. We did it last year, so this time we'll take them out for real." Grinning, Eiji added, "I see the year off hasn't made you too shabby though. You have been training for this, I hope?"
Kayin smiled. "I could still take you on anytime, Eiji."
"Oh, give me a break. I could kick your ass in five seconds flat!"
"Wanna put it to a test?"
"Okay, let's take this out to the parking lot."
"You're on, punk."
The two of them stared at each other for a moment before breaking out into laughter. Familiar laughter, similar to all the times they had shared as teenager boys, growing up and training together--after they'd gotten over each other's differences, that is. Then Eiji asked, "Have you seen the girls around?"
"Nope," was Kayin's answer. "We probably missed them and they're already at the tournament grounds." He raised one eyebrow cockily. "Why? Miss your girlfriend, do you?"
Eiji blushed fiercely. "Shut up." Quickly changing the subject, he questioned, "Well, shall we go then? All participants have to register before the end of the day, anyway."
Kayin's luggage, a large suitcase and a guitar case, came by on the rack's conveyor belt just then. He picked them up and they started walking towards the door. Eiji smiled to himself, this place bringing back memories of last year, especially since it was in this airport that he unofficially met Ellis, his so-called girlfriend. He remembered how they met--by literally running into each other. He also thought about how rocky their friendship had been at the start. Actually, they had hated each other. It wasn't until almost two days after the tournament had began that they really became friends.
Enough remembering for now, Eiji thought to himself. Time to focus on the upcoming tournament. I hope everyone else is coming this year, Ellis-chan, Sofi-san, Tracy-san. A frown crossed his face. But what about...Cupido and my niisan? Will they be there again too? Suddenly becoming aware of how upset he looked, Eiji shook it off with a laugh, regarding the case in Kayin's hand. "Kayin-chan, I didn't know you played guitar."
"I do sometimes," Kayin replied back. "But not right now. I keep Excalibur in there. It's easier getting through customs this way, plus I get a lot fewer questions and strange looks."
"You keep your sword in a guitar case? Did you know that's probably illegal?"
"Hey, pipe down," Kayin answered with another laugh. "Do you want the whole airport to hear? And don't say that around Tracy, she'd probably bust me for sure." Seemingly remembering something important, Kayin called out, "Hey Eiji, wait up for a sec." Eiji obliged, and waited as Kayin fiddled around in one of his bags for a minute before pulling out a small envelope, grinning mockingly. "I've got photos!"
"Oh, God," Eiji laughed, burying his face in his hands as Kayin caught up with him, handing over the package. "Are these the ones from when we skipped out on training that one day and--"
"--Went to Akihibara, right, right," Kayin continued, grinning. "And I bought that stupid camera and took like, a hundred pictures with it."
"Twenty. You took twenty, Kayin-chan."
"Oh, well, whatever. Betcha thought I didn't get them developed, did you?"
Eiji shook his head, examining the envelope. "I was hoping you wouldn't."
"Well, I did, and I forgot to bring them last year," Kayin finished proudly. "Take a look at how they turned out. Pretty nice photography job, but then again, I took most of them, so why wouldn't they be?"
Groaning, Eiji said, "Do I have to? As I recall, there were some pretty bad candids of me on that roll."
"Just look at them, damn you."
Eiji opened the picture package and pulled out a small stack of photographs. Thumbing through them, he observed most of them featured either him or Kayin, looking a lot younger (probably about 14-15 or so) and a lot more immature. Laughing, Eiji stuck one in Kayin's face.
"Hey Kayin-chan, here's that one I took!" It was a photograph of Kayin seemingly dead asleep on a kitchen table, a cup of coffee in his hand, though its caffeine didn't look like it had done him any good. "Morning practices really got to you, ne?"
Kayin shrugged. "I'm not a morning person. But get a load of this one of you!" He snatched the pack for a second and triumphantly pulled out one of Eiji, looking like he'd just got out of bed. Only wearing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts, his normally-spiky was an absolute mess, and he was holding one hand up as if to stop Kayin from taking the picture. Kayin snickered. "I had fun taking that one. You looked like you had a porcupine stuck on your head."
"Shut up," laughed Eiji, taking back the stack. After flipping through the whole stack, at the very last there was an extremely cute photograph of the two of them, looking a slight bit older than the ones at the beginning of the roll. Kayin was on the right, leaning on Eiji, making a victory sign, winking and grinning; Eiji was on the left, making a thumbs-up with one hand and holding his sword with another. "This one's nice," Eiji commented. "Who took it?"
Kayin took the pictures back and put them in the envelope. "You don't remember that? It was our last day of training. Your brother took it for us."
Subdued, Eiji bit his lower lip and said in a much-quieter tone, "Oh. Yeah, right."
After Kayin had put the photos back in his bag and the friends had walked in silence for a while. When it came time to find a taxi that would take them to where the tournament was being held proved to be pretty easy, and about ten minutes later the two found themselves standing in front the familiar double-doors, the gateway to the great tournament of the Toshindaibukai.
Inhaling and trying his best to look happier than he really was, Eiji started, "I'm really curious to find out who's running the tournament this year," Eiji said thoughtfully. "We know Uranus ran the last one, but she's dead, so who's in charge now?"
"Someone called 'the Master'."
Eiji whirled on his heel in surprise. "You know?"
Kayin shrugged. "This one criminal I pulled in for info tipped me off. Not that I know anything else about the Master, other than his name." Clenching a fist, Kayin added in fierce declarement, "He's gonna pay for kidnapping Naru."
Exhaling sharply, Eiji looked upwards at the stone doors. "We can't afford to underestimate them. Who knows what they have in store for us this time...?"

***************

In a laboratory deep in the basement of the Himitsu Kessha headquarters, Vermilion was working diligently on a clone of Eiji, which was nearing completion. This Eiji was an almost exact copy of the original, except that he had a black and red outfit. Just as Vermilion was finishing the initial programming, Master teleported in, looking only slightly curious, but more like she didn't care in the least what was going on. "How comes the second clone, Vermilion? You had better be finished."
Vermilion only nodded, smirking. "The DNA duplication process works faster than I thought. Dark Eiji should be ready by tomorrow, just in time for the start of the tournament."
Master examined the clone, who was hooked up to many wires and machines. Vermilion walked up to it, proud to show off his work. "Completely identical to the original. Right down to his fighting moves." He shrugged. "Uranus was wrong. Who needs the real fighters when we have our own versions?"
"And it appears Dark Ellis also has the same moves as her original," Master added, showing a rarity for her: emotion. She was smiling coldly, anticipating her victory--and it would be hers alone. "This time we'll give them a taste of their own medicine."
"And to be extra sure, we'll double their strength levels," Vermilion replied while pressing a few buttons in order on one of the larger machines. An evil grin creased his red-marked face. "Now our revenge is guaranteed. They won't know what hit them."
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