- TOH SHIN DEN IV: Legends Never Die - The Pleiades Chapter -

a Toshinden Subaru fanfiction by Athena Asamiya


a break from the past could make it last
maybe just a little longer

CHAPTER TWO: Chance



Translations:
oi, chotto matte yo! - hey, wait a minute!
dozo yoroshiku - pleased to meet you
otousan - father
unmei, ka? - destiny, huh?
baka - idiot
e? - what?
kore wa--?? - this is--??
sayonara - good-bye


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It was about an hour later that Subaru's female intruder finally came to, if not a little groggily.
Putting down his tea, Subaru smiled in amusement as he watched the blond girl rouse slowly and wake up -- only to find that she was very heavily roped to a chair, her sword sitting right next to Subaru. Their eyes met, and Subaru grinned. "Good morning, Miss Sunshine. I was starting to think that I might have killed you off after all."
She growled, aqua eyes flashing a very unfriendly fire, as she struggled to see if she could free her arms or legs. She couldn't. "You better let me go NOW, you son-of-a-"
"Oi, chotto matte yo! YOU'RE the one who breaks into my house and challenges me to fight, and you're insulting ME?" Subaru raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of his tea. "You've got some manners, Scot-girl." He leaned forward towards her. "So tell me why you're here and why you attacked me."
She snorted in disdain. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"You're right. You don't. But as you may have noticed..." He pointed to her bound hands and feet. "You're the one that's all tied up right now. So how are you gonna get free if I don't untie you?"
The girl narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. Subaru acknowledged this with a nod. "Wise choice." He motioned to the sword beside him. "So...where did you learn how to use this?"
"Why do you care?"
"Just wanted to know." Subaru reached for the sword, intending to examine it closer. "It's a nice piece of work though--"
"Don't touch it." The dark tone in her voice was nearly a threat in itself. "My father gave it to me, and it's mine. So give it back to me, now."
Subaru drew back his hand, but shook his head. "Not a chance. First I want to know what you were doing in my house."
She tossed her head, causing her large green ball earrings to shake. "That's where you're wrong, Spikes. This is Eiji Shinjo's house. I know that for a fact."
"Eiji..." Subaru jolted into attention at the sound of the familiar name. "How do you know Eiji?"
The girl shrugged nonchalantly. "Why wouldn't I? He was my father's best friend. So you're related to him, right? You his son, or what?"
Subaru's mind raced, spinning with all the new information. Her father was niisan's friend? But--wait...she does fight a lot like me...and there was the guy that niisan trained with...who IS this girl? Realizing that he hadn't answered her yet, Subaru quickly said, "I'm his little brother."
"But..." A confused look briefly passed across her face. "He never had a little brother, just--"
"Look, girl," Subaru abruptly cut in. "Just what's your name anyway?"
"First tell me yours. You ARE a Shinjo, aren't you?"
"Yeah. I'm Subaru. Subaru Shinjo. Dozo yoroshiku--" He started to extend his hand, but pulled it back, grinning. "Sorry, forgot that you've kinda got your hands tied at the moment."
The girl scowled at him. "Shut the hell up. I only know your name and you're already starting to annoy me. And you're named after a car."
Subaru nearly fell over in embarrassment. "NO! It's...I was told that it's a constellation...the Pleiades."
"Lovely." She rolled her eyes. "So you really want to know my name? Fine. It's Naru. Naru Amoh."
"Amoh?" Subaru nearly leapt out of his chair, suddenly recalling the name of the old training partner that Eiji had frequently told him about. "As in KAYIN Amoh??"
Naru only stared at him for a long time, before finally locking eyes with him and speaking quietly. "Untie me. We're definitely not enemies, and I think we have a lot we can tell each other."

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

"Okay, so, just...what's your story, anyway?" Subaru glanced over at a pensive Naru, after posing the question. They were sitting on the front deck of his house, trying to get their bearings straight after their first little conversation -- and it had turned out that they had a lot more in common then they could have believed. This revelation still fresh in his mind, Subaru leaned forwards on the railing around the deck. "If you're the daughter of Kayin Amoh, then you must have a reason for looking for niisan here."
Perched on top of the railing and staring off into the distance, the ponytailed Naru Amoh appeared to be a proud, but an almost lonely figure against the glowing sun. Finally, after a few moments had passed, she sighed and looked over at him seriously. "Alright. I'll tell you everything. But keep in mind that I don't spread my story around to everyone, so I'm expecting you not to. Got it?"
"Sure." Subaru, unsure if he should ask the question that he had in mind, toyed with one of the buttons on the cuff of his sleeve. "...But then, why are you telling me?"
Naru stared at him long and hard, until it seemed like her aqua-green eyes were burning into his soul. This made Subaru feel very uncomfortable, and he shifted a little. "Uh...did I say something wrong...?"
"Huh?" She broke her stare away, shaking her head. "No. But I just feel that...well, since you're Eiji's brother, I think that you should know what's going on here. Because I doubt you even know the half of it."
Subaru started to say something, but she cut him off. "Look, just listen to me first, and don't interrupt with questions or anything. This'll probably take a while."
Naru's gaze became distant, as she looked off into the horizon. "I guess you'd say everything started when I was five years old...when I was kidnapped by the Himitsu Kessha. They were this secret underground organization, who held these weaponry tournaments called-"
"Toshindaibukai?" Subaru broke in. Naru glared at him. "I told you not to interrupt."
He shrugged. "I just wanted to show you that I know a little more than you think."
Naru let out what almost sounded like an exasperated sigh. "Okay, genius, so tell me what I already know."
Seemingly ignoring (or not noticing) her sarcastic comment, Subaru crossed his arms in front of him, thinking. "Niisan mentioned the Toshindaibukai a couple times, but it looked almost like he didn't want to discuss it with me. He fought there against the evil hosting organization that wanted to kill them and take over the world. Niisan and your father fought together, I know - with a bunch of other warriors whom they became friends with."
Naru nodded. "Ellis, Sofia, and Tracy. They all met in 1994, at the first Toshindaibukai they attended, and a year later was when I got pulled into it. So can I continue or what?"
"Be my guest."
"Okay, so as I was saying, some people of the Himitsu Kessha kidnapped me, and used me as a pawn to lure otousan - my father, Kayin - to the tournament that year. They wanted all the previous contestants back at the tournament so the Master, who headed the Himitsu Kessha, could destroy them. It didn't work though, as your brother Eiji, otousan and the others managed to beat the Master and save me. That was my first encounter with the underworld organization, and even though I was really young, it wasn't like I was gonna forget it. Or anything that was going to happen within the next couple of years.
"After that, otousan started to teach me how to use the sword of our family, Excalibur. It was probably because he got sick of me following him around when he was training, but I don't like to think that that was the reason. It was so I could defend myself, and so I could be a fighter like him. But after a year, I was out with otousan visiting the grave of his father, who had been murdered a while back by some assassin guy, or something. Otousan didn't speak much about it. Anyway, we were attacked, by this catwoman-type warrior. Otousan and I managed to beat her off pretty good, and he sent me to stay with a friend in Scotland afterwards, probably because he was concerned about me being taken again.
"I didn't hear from him for a couple weeks after that, and I was getting worried. Finally, he came back, but looking a little worse for wear. I begged him to tell me what had happened, but you know what? He wouldn't tell me. Instead, otousan took me to this place, an all-housing institute. I cried and pleaded with him not to leave me there, alone, without him...and I remember clearly, that he just smiled at me, and took Excalibur out of its sheath at his side. And he gave the sword to me. I couldn't say anything. Then some staff at the institute came out, and he told them to take care of me. He kneeled down to my height, and took off the silver cross he always wore, tying it around my neck. He whispered to me, 'Naru, be strong. Be my strong girl, because no matter what anyone says or tries to tell you, you are my daughter. Always.'"
Naru stopped here, pursing her lips together in an effort to stop the tears from flowing. "And just like that, he left. Otousan left me there, clutching the sword, alone to the world." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I--I tried to go after him, but the people from the institute wouldn't let me go. I struggled against them, screaming, begging for otousan to come back, but in the end..." She took a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking voice. "In the end, I could only stand there and watch, as he drove off. And I'm always going to remember...him turning around and walking away from me. Because I haven't seen my father since."
Subaru was silent, and had remained so throughout her story. He had no idea of what to say to her; surely, it hurt her to talk about it. Moving towards her a little, he said, "Naru...I'm sorry."
She shook her head, eyes closed. "No, no...it's okay. That was ten years ago. And besides, that's not all of it.
"Ever since that day, I trained as hard as I could with Excalibur, the same sword I fought you with. Although I had no idea why the staff at the institute let me keep it, I figured I should put it to good use. I had resolved to master all of the techniques otousan taught me...because...somewhere inside me, there was the suspicion that otousan had left me because I was a burden to him. Even though I tried to convince myself otherwise many times, it never worked. So I guess I found solice, and a sense of being closer to otousan, by training. I figured that when he came back for me, I could show him I wasn't a burden, and that I would be useful and a good daughter for him. But during the whole ten years that I stayed at the institute, he never came back.
"Since I was still denying the thought that otousan didn't want me, on my sixteenth birthday, I made a choice. I decided to run away from the institute, and find him. Because I knew that he was out there, somewhere, and that if he wasn't going to come back to me, I was going to go to him. So, I left. That was about eight months ago, and I haven't looked back."
Naru sighed, fiddling with the cross that still hung around her neck. "I've been through a lot in the past while. Gone against many opponents, trying to find some clue that would help me find my father, but I kept ending up with dickshit. I even went to the bounty-hunting organization that otousan had worked for -- but they had no idea where he was either. Then I got my break. A couple of weeks ago, I defeated this fencing student kid - his name was Lancelot, if I remember right - in this castle in France. Because I did so, I was able to meet with the lord of the castle, Duke Rambert, who had also fought in the Toshindaibukai and was a rival of Eiji's. He recognized me as Kayin's daughter, and told me that if I go to Japan and find Eiji Shinjo, Kayin's best friend, then I may find out where my father is. I found Eiji's living address off of a letter he had written to my father years ago, and I went as soon as I could."
She exhaled. "And that brings us to here, now. I was hoping to find Eiji, but I ended up running into you instead."
Subaru managed a smile. "Unmei, ka?"
"Guess so."
He blew a few spiky bangs out of his face. "So you're obviously Scottish...but why's your name Japanese, and why do you call your father otousan?"
Naru leaned forward, chin resting on her hands. "Well...y'know, I don't really know. I've always been able to speak Japanese practically fluently, but my father was definitely Scottish. I've never been able to figure it out. Just another mystery in my life, I guess, but we all have them, in one way or another." She gave Subaru a playful smile. "Now I've told you mine, so I want to hear your's."
"M-my what?" Subaru looked confused, and Naru semi-patiently explained, "Your STORY, baka. I want to know what you've been up to during this time."
Subaru was far from expecting the request, and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Oh...um...well, when I was eight, niisan trained me in swordplay, like all the Shinjos. I've pretty much lived a normal life since then."
"And...that's it? What about before you were eight? Did you grow up here?"
Subaru was silent for a number of seconds, before looking away and dropping his voice to a quiet tone. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I did." Changing the subject hastily, he went on. "Everything changed though, around a year ago. I'd just gotten back from a training journey around the world, and niisan was gone. Just up and left. But..." here Subaru held up the Byakko no Tachi, "he left this behind. For me, I'm supposing."
"Oh." Naru bit her lower lip, before finally speaking up. "Then, I guess I should show these to you."
With that, she reached into the back pocket of her shorts and pulled out two white cards, handing them to Subaru. "Subaru Shinjo, I present to you the biggest piece of the puzzle that you are now involved in."
He took the cards, and, flipping them over, gasped when he saw that they were marked with three black kanji: Toh, Shin, and Den.
"Ko-kore wa--??"
Naru nodded. "You got it. What you're holding right now are two invitations to the first Toshindaibukai tournament since 1996, to be held here in Japan in approximately three days. I received those just as I left the institute." Her right hand was resting on Excalibur's hilt, and she involuntarily gripped it. "It's starting all over again, and I have no idea how or why. Or who."
Subaru flipped open the cards, and, seeing that they were identical, picked one and read the contents out loud. "'You have been requested to show your remarkable fighting skills in the Toshindaibukai. It will begin in eight months' time, at the site of the Golden Prince Hotel, in Osaka, Japan. We have invited only the best warriors from around the world, and we expect you and your team of three to live up to our expectations.'" Subaru read the signature with an odd look crossing his face. "Gerard Zaidan?"
"Yeah." Naru leapt down from the deck railing. "I found out back in 1995 that the Gerard Foundation was the real name for the Himitsu Kessha. But they were crushed that year, so I can't figure out what this all means."
"The organization was revived?"
"Maybe. But I don't know who could have done it. I've tried looking for information, but so far, it's been nothing. What really matters here though, is that they've brought back the Toshindaibukai, and it's one nasty tourney held by one nasty organization. These guys are up to something, and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with my father and his disappearance."
"Let's hope not." Subaru handed both invitations back to Naru, but she only took one, and held the other out to him. "Here."
Subaru's baffled gaze went from the invitation to Naru's pretty face. "--E?"
"I wasn't planning to go to this Toshindaibukai, if I found Eiji. But since I didn't, this looks like the only other option for me, if I want to find my father. You appear to be the only Shinjo around, with the Shinjo swordplay skills passed on to you - that was the reason I attacked you, so that I could see if you were a fighter - so I want you on my team. With me. After all, we've both trained most of our lives. Fighting's what we do. I've seen what goes on at these tournaments, and I think we're both more than ready to take on a Toshindaibukai." She flipped a blond ponytail, and for an instant, her father's brashness shone through. "And of course, any team with both a Shinjo AND an Amoh is sure to kick some ass."
Subaru was still looking a little doubtful, so Naru added, "And you never know. We might find your niisan there too. Didn't that happen once before in your family?"
"No...not that I know of." He stared long and hard at the invitation, narrowing his eyes. Naru noticed this, and quietly said in a serious tone, "If you take this invitation, you're agreeing to come with me. And you're gonna enter a world like nothing you've ever seen before. So make your decision wisely, ne?"
Well, niisan, since it was your destiny to be a part of this tournament, then I guess it must be mine too. And maybe...I will find you. Niisan, if you're there, I swear I'll find you and bring you home.
And in a split-second decision, Subaru took the invitation. "What the hell -- this'll be fun!"
"Ahh, you don't know that," Naru said, pleased with his choice, waving around her invitation in the air. "This could be anything BUT fun. I've seen how brutal a Toshindaibukai is, and from the past few times, this could be a trip into hell." She winked at him jokingly. "You still wanna come?"
"Damn straight I do!" Subaru held up the Byakko no Tachi, grinning. "Now that I can use the Byakko no Tachi, this tournament will be too easy! I can take anything they throw at me!"
Naru made the victory sign. "That's the spirit. So let's get on with it. I left my bag around back, and you gotta go get packed. We've only got a few days, so we're leaving for Osaka as soon as possible."
"Sure, but--" Subaru re-read one of the lines printed on the invitation. "It says we're supposed to be a team of three. There's only two of us."
"Wow, you can count," Naru commented sarcastically, tossing a hand in the air. "It'll get figured out."
Subaru thought for a second, then snapped his fingers. "I know what we can do!" With that, he quickly went into the still-disheveled house, picking up the phone in there and dialing a few numbers. Naru followed, peering over his shoulder. "Who are you calling?"
"A friend of mine." Subaru grinned as he heard the first ring on the other end. "I know he wouldn't want to miss this for anything."

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

In a large, spacious apartment room in a swanky district of New York City, one man was fighting for a date that night.
With a cordless phone cradled against one ear, he was involved in almost a pleading argument with the girl at the other end of the line. "Look, Tanya, baby, I know I've been wrong...but, y'know...that was back when I couldn't really stay with one girl. But now that I've met you...yeah, exactly, everything IS different! I just wanna be with you...me and you, Rook and Tanya...no...no, I'm not just saying that!...c'mon, let's make up...I'm nothing without you, Tanya, really, I mean it...wait, baby, don't hang up!--ah, shit."
Rook Castle slumped back hard against the couch, letting the phone drop to the floor. Running his fingers through his spiky cyan hair, he sighed loudly in annoyance. "Ahhh, she'll come around." Flicking on some loud, blaring music on the stereo by remote and picking up a small black book on the coffee table, Rook got up to get a beer. Flipping through the pages on the way to the kitchen, he muttered to himself, "Let's see...who else's free tonight...Sandy...Tamara...Kristina..." Suddenly, the phone rang again, shattering the silence of the apartment. Hastily turning off the stereo, Rook launched himself back on the couch, snatching the phone off the floor. "I knew you couldn't stay away, baby..." he crooned into it.
Nothing but silence from the other end of the line. Then, a male voice, tinged with a Japanese accent. "Sorry, Rook, but you just aren't my type."
"Hey, what the hell--??" Rook jumped up in surprise, nearly yelling into the phone at the sudden recognition of the voice. "SUBARU?? Is that you, kid? It's been two fuckin' years, and where in Christ's name have you BEEN? After we split in Hong Kong, I haven't heard from you since!!"
Subaru laughed on the other end. "Dammit, I didn't know how to get ahold of you! Every time I tried to phone, the line was busy."
"Yeah, well, when you're a babe magnet like me, you get a lot of phone time with all the sexy chicks here." Rook got up, walking over to the window that displayed the bright lights of the city. "You should come back sometime. It's been a real bore down on the streets without you there for some tag fighting. Those were some great fights we had. You been keeping up with our old pace?"
"I haven't been fighting with opponents much lately--"
"School getting you down again?" Rook snorted, taking a swig of beer. "Damn, kid, you need to just ditch the school thing and come out here. Get a cushy job like I did, make lots of cash, and fight in your spare time. It's a great life, I'm telling ya."
"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, we're gonna be getting some more action in soon. Remember the tournament you saw when you were a kid?"
Rook paused for a moment, his tone dropping to a more serious sound. "Yeah. Yeah, man, I do."
"Well, guess what I'm holding an invitation to right now?"
His blue eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "There's ANOTHER Toshindaibukai being held??"
"Damn straight there is. And I'm going."
"...So I didn't get invited, but YOU did?" Rook smiled nastily. "Not much logic there."
He swore he could hear Subaru smirk over the phone. "Shut up. That's what I'm calling about. See, there's a three-man team rule this year."
"The hell are they doing that for? It was always one-man only."
"Don't know. But there's already two of us--"
"Who's the other?"
"A girl I just met. So I--"
"Oh, so Subaru finally goes for the ladies! I was started to worry about you, not having a girlfriend yet and all..."
"She's NOT my girlfriend!"
"Sure, sure, cover it all up like you always do. So hell, tell me more about what's going on with this new Toshindaibukai. Let me guess, you want me to be on your team?"
"Sadly enough, yes. You need to be at the Golden Prince Hotel in Osaka within the next three days. Got it? We'll meet you there, and explain the rest."
"No prob. I can make it...`course, I'll have to get another one of the photographers to take over my position, but none of them are as good as me, and I'll have to cancel my dates for the next couple weeks..."
"You're as conceited as ever. So, we'll see you then, I guess--"
"Naw, Subaru, wait a second. Is Eiji coming this year too?" Rook's eyes lighted in sudden hope, quickly fading from the long pause that followed, and finally, Subaru's answer.
"...That's something else I have to explain. See you there."
The connection shut down with a click. Rook stood for a second longer, staring at the phone in his hand, trying to encompass all of what Subaru had just told him. He eventually shrugged to himself, a mile-wide grin splitting his face. "Finally, the Toshindaibukai! I've been waiting for this my whole damn life!" Rook headed for his room, pulling a suitcase out of a side closet and starting to stuff clothes into it. He slid open a drawer by his nighttable, and took out its only contents: beautifully-crafted nunchaku, two thick yellow bars held together by a length of silver chain. Standing in front of his (large-sized) mirror, Rook expertly flipped the nunchaku over and around his torso, multiple times, until it was almost a silver and yellow blur in his hand. Finally, he stopped, holding the nunchaku out in front of him with both hands. Rook paused, thinking about all his hard work training, all the street fights he had been in and won, and...a girl. That mysterious ninja girl whom he was sure to see there...
He smiled cockily at his reflection. "I'm definitely ready. And I'm definitely going to find HER."

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

Subaru hung up the phone, looking pleased with himself. Naru stood behind him, holding a small bag. "I'm assuming that was our third team member?"
"Yeah. Rook Castle. He's a kung-fu fighter I met in New York a couple of years ago, when I was on my training journey. We met when I was travelling downtown one day, and I stopped to watch this street fight between him and some gang member guy. He won the fight easy, and then I challenged him."
"So I'm guessing you won?"
Subaru smirked proudly. "Hell, yeah. It was close, but I managed to come out on top. After the fight, we got to know each other better and became friends. And Rook decided to travel and train with me for a while. We split up in China though, him going back to America, me coming back here. That's how we met, and Rook's meeting us at the hotel in a day or so." He smiled at Naru. "You'll like him. It takes a while to get used to his ways, but he's a decent guy underneath all that bragging."
"Okay, I can deal. So go get packed."
Leaving Naru to wait for him, Subaru went to his room, laying the sheathed sword down on his bed, and began cramming clothes and various other necessities into a duffel bag. As he picked up a textbook for advanced calculus, Subaru decided that necessities didn't include schoolwork, and he tossed it over his shoulder gleefully. When he was done, Subaru glanced around his bedroom once more to see if there was anything else he needed. His eyes fell on a strip of light purple cloth that lay draped across his nighttable. A scarf.
Subaru approached the scarf slowly, and after picking it up, he stared at it for a long time. And as he did, images, voices, feelings began whirling through his mind like a maelstrom. Anything and everything and what it symbolized--
No. Just--no. Don't think about it ever again.
He temporarily dropped the scarf, and it all faded away, where he wanted it -- far, far away from him, where it couldn't hurt him anymore. But after another minute, Subaru ended up taking the scarf again, silently unzipping his bag and placing it inside. Subaru breathed in slowly as he closed the bag once again, exhaling shakily at his almost-lost control. He refused to say or think any more. Not now.
As Subaru left down the hallway and passed by Eiji's deserted room, he slowly stopped in its doorway. Everything looked the same as it had when Eiji was living with him, as Subaru hadn't dared to touch anything for fear that it would mean he truly accepted that Eiji wasn't coming back. His gaze focused in on another framed photo on the dresser, which he could see from the doorway was a picture of a much younger Eiji - looking about Subaru's own age - goofing off for the photo with a blond teenage boy around the same age as him. That's gotta be Naru's father, Kayin. She looks a lot like him. And as for niisan and I...
For the first time, Subaru set foot in Eiji's room, drawn by his own curiosity to the picture. But as he picked it up to look at it closer, he was startled when he saw that a long crack that ran through the glass in the frame, etching right between Eiji and Kayin.
"How weird..." he mused, staring at the split in the glass. It was Naru's voice that broke the silence. "Subaru! Come on, we have to get going!"
"O-okay, coming!" He set the photo back down in its original position, heading out of the room and picking up his bag. Before he left, however, he cast one final glance into the room of his teacher and brother. Subaru took a deep breath, closed his eyes and continued down the hallway.
Sayonara, niisan...


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