Child of the Storm
Chapter 5: Santi Uru
Once more the years passed by, one by one till almost ten years have passed since the great storm cast Arashiko into the world of Nameck. In that small amount of time she has learned much. She has formed a bond with these people, the same people she could have cared nothing about so short a time ago. Nail, who was once her teacher, had now become the student. They taught each other their own languages. Arashiko learned to speak Nameck as fluently as any one of the village. Nail, in turn, learned a decent grasp of the Saiyan language, especially the word girl. In her years there, he also taught her the Art of War, the graceful fighting techniques of Nameck. After a hundred years, they finally entered the last year of the war between the Purunga and the Kurai. Ten years did Arashiko fight against the Kurai, wielding her new skills with power and precision as a most effective weapon against their enemies. In all the years since, Yugure had not shown himself. With hard determination, Arashiko prepared to wipe the last of his kind off the face of Nameck.
On the outskirts of the Purunga village, a battle raged once again. The crimson armor of the Purunga soldiers flashed brilliantly in the glare of the three suns. Lanan led them on, screaming triumph in the face of all the Dark Ones who would destroy the tranquility of their home. The Kurai foot soldiers fought ferociously, landing blow upon blow, but the Purunga fight with all their will, fending to protect what is most sacred to them. Amid the violence and the blood, it was hard for either side to notice the black clouds that had begun to streak the sky. The field became enveloped with shadow with the blinding of the sun. Death was coming on silent wings. Lanan shouted to be heard over the screams of the battle.
"Pull back!!! Pull back!! Santi Uru is coming!!!"
The Purunga soldiers did not hesitate. They pulled away from their opponents and gathered back to watch the wrath of the Storm. The Kurai clamored uneasily. Each one knew what was coming; it was Death in the form of the Child, Arashiko. They had no time to run or time to fight, a cyclone of thunder and lightening struck down and battered their bodies, sending the purple earth flying into the air in a beautiful pattern. Thunder roared all around them, feeding their fear. The battleground alighted with white fire as Santi Uru burst forth from the heart of the lightening, ripping through one of the Kurai with her blazing white sword. The flashing white blade passed through flesh and bone easily and with little effort. The Kurai scattered about, trying to escape their fate, but Santi Uru's blade found them wherever they ran. Soft and shining purple blood spread from their gathered wounds and splattered across the silver mask, framing her striking blue eyes with trails of dark blood.
One of the shadowy creatures struck at her from behind, his blade glancing off the side of her head. To his surprise, his blow did not wound her at all. Santi Uru twirled around in the air, her hand shooting out to grasp her assailant's neck. With one strong squeeze of her fingers, she crushed his throat, leaving him trying to gasp for air. The unfortunate Kurai warrior fell back, his red eyes bulging with the final realization of death. One by one, the wretched Kurai fell, their black bodies littering the battlefield which had once been the peaceful gathering place of the Purunga village. Finally, there was only one lone warrior left. He fought desperately to save himself, backing away from her in a futile effort to escape the wrath of the Child of the Storm. In a last ditch effort, he launched at her with an energy beam hitting her directly in the face. The force of the beam threw her head to one side, but she still remained on her feet. The beam bounced of the mask, ripping it from her face.
Arashiko stared down upon the last warrior with her shining blue eyes, her black hair whipping at the wind. The lightening and thunder roared around them in a tumult of cacophonous noise. The stunned warrior lay on his back, staring at her dumbfounded. He looked upon her real face with wild, scared eyes. Fear and anxiety drove him to attack her though he knew she was his death. The last Kurai warrior thrust his sword at her with all his might. Arashiko caught the blade with her forearm, it lodged harmlessly into the front guard. The sharpened sword quivered in the air for a few long moments then shattered to a thousand pieces. Splinters of the broken sword flew back into the Kurai's face. A small sliver brazed Arashiko's cheek, causing a tiny river of blood to flow down the side of her face.
Arashiko loomed over him once again, the black storm wrapping her in a shroud of darkness. Like the grayed specter of death, she stood over him, waiting to claim another. She hesitated. Something echoed in her memories. Another regret, another soul she had claimed.
The young Saiyan soldier still looked up at her and begged her one last time, his desperate voice pleading.
"Mercy...please!!"
He was so young, just barely out of his teens.
Arashiko's hands trembled as she reached out to the ghost, the wraith of the young Saiyan she had killed on Cadvia. His words twisted her soul and wrenched her heart.
"Please!"
Arashiko shook her head, trying to make the ghost disappear. Whenever she let her guard down, the ghosts seemed to gather there in the mists of her memories. One face always seemed to stare at her among the many blurred faces. Brana's burning brown eyes were always there, staring from the blackness of her soul. Crystal tears streaked from Arashiko's blue eyes. She had to escape them or she would surely go insane. Her hands trembled violently from her impending madness. A lump of fear and anxiety caught in her stomach and her throat.
Then something else appeared to her, another image, another memory that was vividly relived. The Kurai were not the only ones to die in this war. Arashiko saw new friends, the peaceful people of Purunga, with their shattered bodies spread across the battlefield. They gave their lives to defend what they held most sacred and dear. Their pale blood seeped into the earth, along with the tears of all their loved ones.
That single fact drove her back to reality with a stinging rush of anger. The crushing weight of the waking world ripped her from the brink of insanity. The lone Kurai kneeled in front of her, even more scared and confused by her unpredictable actions. Was she going to kill him or not? Arashiko stared deep into his dark red eyes. The souls of all the dead Purunga shined there, crying out for retribution!! Wasting no words, Arashiko took his head with one fatal swoop of the snow-white sword. Sections of the silver blade reflected from the parts not covered by Kurai's dark blood. White light poured into her blue eyes.
There is no time to regret when the ones you care about are at stake.
. . .more blood.
. . .more death.
This is all I can do to save them.
The heart of a Saiyan bends so easily. .? Death for something
good.
Life for something better. . .
* * *
Arashiko stared up into the darkening, deep jewel sky. Once more it was tinged with the black clouds of the storm of the Eternal Dragon, the storm she was born in. Golden lightening jumped from cloud to cloud and converged over the gathered Elders and the soldiers of the village. Arashiko let out a deep sigh.
The last time I saw this warm, golden light, I was dying. Now I see it to say farewell.
It was her first day on this world again, ten years gone by in the dust. Nail stood beside her, his face filled with hidden tears. He appeared as a child no longer. His small form had melted away from the child she had gazed upon through the tears and the rain, all those years ago. His face still held that same quality of youth, the same gentleness and wisdom she respected in him, but there was a firmness and sharpening of his features that tipped him more towards being a man. His black eyes watched the dragon forming out of the nothingness of the sky. All those years of fighting and dying, student and teacher, and she was going to leave him now?
Kaiochuru stood at the center of the circle of elders, within the circle of the Dragonballs. Every year had deepened the wrinkles on his once proud form. But every wrinkle and scar was a testament to his great wisdom and knowledge. He had pleaded with her not to leave them. She was a part of them now. But Arashiko felt it, she could feel her own power. She could feel that it was time.
It was time to leave and face her demons.
Frieza was waiting for her.
Every sane bone in her body told her to stay here with them, with the ones she cared about. But her past was haunting her, it stung at her in the night, in her dreams, and behind the joy in every waking moment. Perhaps it was the deep loyalty she once held for Vegeta? Perhaps it was some kind of honor? Revenge? Rage? Guilt? So many things called her back and ate away at her conscience.
Somewhere she could feel that the Prince was alive.
Vegeta was alive!
She had an obligation to him, for the death of his father, her King. If anything, she owed him the same chance that she had found here, among the Nameckjin. Maybe she could change him as they had changed her.
"You have summoned me from my slumber. Give unto me thy three wishes and unto you they will be granted. As it is written so it shall be done." The Eternal Dragon Purunga spoke the same words as it manifested before them.
This is the gift that Kaiochuru presented to her in their parting, the three wishes of the Dragon. The chance for power was there. The chance for immortality, the chance to seize all she had strove for as a harbinger of destruction was all right there, ready for her to grasp. But Arashiko left it to fate. Kaiochuru's untold wisdom would guide her now.
Arashiko kneeled before the Dragon on one knee and awaited Kaiochuru's words, her faith complete in him. She could not help but stare in awe at the magnificent creature curling about the sky. Its great presence filled her with a combination of fear and wonder. This was a being of pure power and energy, something beyond her own comprehension. Staring at Purunga, she felt some kind of kinship, some kind of bond between the Dragon and herself, though she could not put her finger on it.
"The first rite, Purunga," Kaiochuru began, "Give your Child, Santi Uru, the Eternity of Youth, so that she will live in glory forever."
"WHAT?!" Arashiko had time to gasp before the light of the Dragon enveloped her in a glaring sheet of radiance. Every pore in her body seemed to open up and breathe. Her skin felt boiling hot, like her innards were cooking in their own juices. When the feeling and the light finally vanished, Arashiko opened her eyes and stared up at the great Dragon, than spun around and cast Kaiochuru a questioning glare.
What did you do to me??
Before she could voice her question, Kaiochuru raised his hand and bade her be silent till all was finished. Arashiko bit back her frustration and listened. In the back of her mind, she knew what he was doing.
He is giving me all the power I ever wanted. How can he do this? How can he know, how can I know, what I will do with such power??
Once again, the fear of that black creature of evil lurking inside her soul re-emerged to torment her. Arashiko dreaded each word as Kaiochuru pronounced the second wish.
"Purunga, grant this warrior the power to overcome the one she seeks. Give her the strength to save the ones she loves in return for saving those I hold so dear. This is my wish, so it shall be done!!!"
Thus followed the same burning, the same igniting of the senses, except something was different this time. All the fire in her spirit was released. Blue shafts of light spiraled outward from her body in a deadly blossom as the gates of power were released within her. A rush of energy and flashes of cool thunder took the breath from her lungs.
I've never felt such power!!!
It was almost god-like, almost enough to drive her insane. In that single moment, she felt as if she could raise her hand into Heaven and touch the face of the Divine. Blue lightening surged outward from her body and struck brutally at the ground around her, reducing it to a battered mess. Even after the Dragon's presence had left her, she could still feel the maddening levels of power that now surged through her veins faster than any blood. Then Arashiko reminded herself.
There is still one more wish!
Arashiko stayed herself, the force of breathing and living finally returned to her senses. She gulped in the air and stared up into Purunga's looming face. The towering dragon seemed to smile at her with his boundless red eyes.
The third and final wish echoed throughout the Circle.
"Purunga, I call upon you for this final rite. Grant your Child the wisdom to overcome, to fight, to survive. Give her the knowledge to combat the evil within herself. That is my final wish."
Arashiko closed her eyes and sighed as the light of the dragon caped around her for the last time.
What is power without the knowledge to use it? How can Kiaochuru know if he has just given all this power to a monster?
Arashiko opened her azure eyes again as the parting farewell of Purunga echoed throughout. The Dragonballs divided the black sky as they fell towards their resting places in the four corners of Nameck.
We shall have to see after all is said and done. Now comes the hard part...
How do I say goodbye?
Kaiochuru walked over to Arashiko and placed his hands affectionately on her shoulders, "Arise, my daughter."
Arashiko smiled to hear him use a word that she had taught him. She got to her feet, turned, and embraced him.
"I'll win that battle for you, Kiaochuru. I'll win it and I'll stand proud with the knowledge and the life that you gave me." Arashiko squeezed him tighter. "Thank you...thank you for giving me the chance to do something good."
Fare thee well, Wise Nameck. She let him go. Kaiochuru moved aside. Nail stood there with that same sorrowful look trying to hide his tears. Now came the real goodbye. Arashiko appraoched him and kneeled down before him. Nail was still a shorty, though he was growing up right before her eyes. Arashiko smiled tenderly at him and wiped away his tears with a gentle sweep of her hand.
"Now don't start that. Warrior's don't cry, Nail. You have to be strong and guard your father, to take my place as Santi Uru."
Nail sniffled and obeyed, "But I will miss you if you go, Arashiko, gurl."
Arashiko laughed softly at his innocence. He was like a little child again. She pulled him close and gave him a mighty hug.
"Little warrior, my heart will always be here. Thanks to you, I was able to change it."
Nail could not help but let a few sniffles escape from him as she spoke.
"You saved me." Arashiko was almost crying herself. She pulled away from him before her emotions could overcome her. She had to leave before she changed her mind. Nail still grapsed her hand tightly. When he finally let go, a small golden trinket lay in the center of her palm. It was a delicate golden charm in the shape of a dragon. Arashiko smiled at him.
"I don't need this to remember you by, I will always remember you."
Arashiko's fingers enclosed about the charm as she turned and walked away from him. Nail watched her silently as she walked out of his life.
A single strong tear slid down his face as he watched her.
Goodbye.
Nail stood his ground as he watched her leave. He was strong in spirit and mind.
He would become as great a warrior as his Father saw in the Future.
He would take her place as their protector.
Arashiko took one last breath of the humid air of Nameck and prepared to leave. She called all of her new power to test herself, to see if she could control it. Rings of shimmering blue and white stars spun around her body. The rush of energy opened up her senses to a new level. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, all were elevated far beyond anything she had ever felt before. Victory could be so much sweeter, death could be so much more painful. Sowehow she managed to control it. The gifts of the Dragon stayed true to their form. Arashiko used the quickening of energy to mark her departure. Trails of white light followed her body through the air as she raced through the sky, leaving everything behind once again.
* * *
Rain beat against Arashiko's face as she headed towards where her ship had been nestled in the womb of the land. The storm caused by the presence of the Dragon still lingered over the planet, turning the bright day into a dreary night. Arashiko gazed at the little dragon charm that Nail had given her, twinkles of golden light reflected into her eyes.
I'll never forget you, Nail. You saved my soul. I will repay you one day, I swear! I pray that I can live up to your expectations. Please go on without me, protect our people.
A brilliant flash of lightening suddenly flashed in front, blinding Arashiko for an instant. Thunder clapped as a familiar pain almost forgotten pierced into her mind once more. All at once it hit, sending her falling from the sky, streaks of power still flailing from her body as she fell like an angel from paradise. She couldn't breathe, her throat constricted as she was choked by something, or someone. Before Arashiko could free herself, the ground came up to kiss her on the face. She slammed head first into it, pushing up the purple earth with a terrifying impact. A few disorienting seconds passed before she pulled herself up and looked around frantically. Even before the incensed lightening illumintated his dark form, she knew who it was.
Yugure finally showed himself after all the years.
"You!!" Arashiko yelled out in surprise at seeing him again. She would not let him go this time.
With another flash of lightening and clap of thunder, he was gone, just like that. Arashiko searched the horizon, squinting to see through the pummeling rain and the glare of lightening that flashed all around her. Deep laughter echoed on the blowing wind behind her. Arashiko spun around, lashing out with her fist and hitting nothing but air. The laughter continued, echoing all around her with the howling of the torrent. He was toying with her.
"It's just you and I."
"It's just you and I."
"It's just you and I..."
"You and I...the only shadows left on the wall."
"Hahahah!"
Arashiko screamed out and punched into the ground, sending cracks radiating from the impact, energy and light bursting outward from her.
"I WILL MAKE YOU BE SILENT!!!"
Silence pervaded as the dust cleared. Arashiko breathed a sigh of relief, eyes still searching around nervously. He was gone.
"NO!!! We finish this now!!!!" She shouted into the stillness. She knew that he was still there, somewhere. Arashiko kept a cool hand on the hilt of her ivory sword. A bead of sweat streaked down her temple. Her breath crystallized in the air, its crisp hush the only thing that sounded as the world turned cold. Everything faded to black. Even the roar of the storm quieted. Arashiko tensed and raised the sword when she spotted a small figure standing alone in the darkness. It was turned away from her, head bowed solemnly.
The child turned to her and raised her soft brown eyes, short brown hair framing their burning sadness. Her voice whispered loudly to Arashiko, filling her with fear. The ivory sword fell to the ground with a loud, metallic clang.
"Kakayun...never open the door to death. Remember? I told you that all things would come to their just ends. You're coming to yours."
Brana's eyes burned into her. "You're coming to yours."
Arashiko slid to her knees, the darkness pressing in upon her heavily. Brana's soft voice was the only thing that echoed through the awful blackness. Arashiko tried to make it stop. She was going insane!! All the ghosts were coming back, all of them!! She clapped her shaking hands over her ears in a futile effort to stop the madness, to block out the Voice.
"Arashiko, never pretend to act or be someone you never were and can never be. You killed people and you did it with a smile on your face so don't pretend to be a nice caring person! You think you have changed? Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember. Happiness, you never had it and never will since you don't remember it. Your life begins to end the day you become silent about things that matter. So stop pretending..." Brana's voice became so clear and loud it sounded inside of Arashiko's ears as if Brana were there whispering beside her.
"You have not changed, you've only tricked yourself into believing that you have. You're heart is as black as the day you first killed!! Have you changed? Have you?! Ask yourself...you've become just another killer for another king."
Arashiko clutched her ears tighter as hot tears forced their way out of her eyes. She screamed out as if stabbed, the pain of remorse evident still. She raised her eyes, vision blurred with the painful tears and saw nothing...Brana was gone. A cool wind blew, the winds of her home. She was standing in the plains of her homeworld, Vegeta. The frigid breeze sighed through her long dark hair.
Is it painful to know that it was a cool, windy night when you had to kill your best friend? The Voice returned to haunt her once more.
Arashiko looked around her. She was in a field that held endless patches of NightBells. The shining white bells of flowers spread to the endless horizon. There were few fields like this..most of Planet Vegeta was barren. Only the lower castes farmed the land.
I'm home? The images of her world confused her thoughts. She never realized how much she missed the world of Vegeta till these images passed before her. Arashiko lay in the soft grass where she was surrounded by NightBells and looked into the stars caught in the depths of the blue sky.
Arashiko shouted to the stars as if they could offer her the answers she sought, "What does Brana want to show me? Why does she haunt me day in and day out? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!?!!" Arashiko's voice faded with the dying wind.
Arashiko curled up and closed her eyes, wishing to return to this world that she knew was all a part of her tortured nightmare. The stars fell from the sky, returning her to darkness. In her mind she could hear the cries of the people who suffered and died at her hands.
I have gone mad and the world has gone mad with me.
Everything is dark still...
Please!! Just let me go!! LET ME GO BRANA!!!! HASN'T THERE BEEN ENOUGH SUFFERING???
"No...no...you don't know what suffering truly means. That is why I have brought you here...to see my suffering. So you can taste it and know what you are...
.. A killer forever and eternal..."
"Wake up, Hurry," the Voice began quietly, "WWAAAKKKEE UUUPPP!!!" The Voice seemed to be right there over Arashiko.
"WAKE UP!!!!" It was right in front of her.
Arashiko opened her eyes slowly, sluggishly...not wanting to see who was standing over her, for she knew who it was.
"Long time no see, traitor." Brana's voice seemed different, darker than she remembered, full of hatred.
Arashiko shook her head slowly, unwilling to accept the realization that Brana was there.
"GO AWAY!! LEAVE ME BE!!" She shouted desperately at the wraith.
Brana walked over to Arashiko's side and stood there looking up at the field of boundless stars. The wind blew through her brown hair. Brana looked just as Arashiko remembered. Her feathery brown bangs settled over her eye. The rest of her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. Brana was dressed in the dark uniform of a Third Class Saiyan, the uniform that Arashiko had first met her in.
"I have only come here to show you what you have done to the many poor souls of your kind. Your own people that you sent to hell! I thought you were my friend why did you lie to me?!"
"I am sorry Brana.......," Arashiko's voice turned empty.
"You're sorry?? My old friend, you don't know what sorry is..." Brana turned her head, motioning to the side.
A small girl who looked about five or six sat in a grassy field close by them. The girl stood and walked over to where Arashiko was standing but she sat there quietly watching the flowers in the field. Her tender, long brown hair danced in the wind behind her. Arashiko recognized the girl. It was Brana when she was smaller. It was her past self the way she used to be before. As the girl sat there alone she started to sing.
"Will you miss me? Will your sunny days go away? For I will miss you. I will cry if you left me here. My sunny days would turn cold, I wouldn't know what to do. Would you? Just remember, that I will be here for you. When you need me the most. Will you miss me......?" The voice was soft yet the song was familiar.
"Brana!!! Where are you child?!" two more people ran between Arashiko and the wraith of Brana. The wraith stood by, watching gravely.
The girl stood up and wiped the flowers off her lap as she heard her name.
"I'm right here!!! Over here Keoto and Broli!! hehehe!" Brana's voice tinkled with the cheerful sweetness of youth as she yelled, waving her arms in the air.
Two teenagers ran up to the innocent girl and sat down beside her. Broli was a handsome youth. He had long, dark hair and handsome dark eyes that were set in a strong, determined face. The girl, Keoto, was also dark, possessed of raven black hair and strange crimson eyes. She was a tall, slender female Saiyan.
Arashiko recognized Keoto instantly. I know her from long ago! She was my brother Zorn's trainer!! She was one of the Elite, just like me!
What is she doing here??? Arashiko thought, puzzled.
Brana sat down by Keoto and laughed as Broli picked a long piece of grass and started to tickle Brana.
"Broli that tickles...hehehehe......," Brana tried to speak as she laughed.
Arashiko gave a mournful sigh as she watched and wondered why Brana turned the way she was. She knew the name Broli from somewhere, it was vague, lost in a cloud of violent memories.
Brana and Broli ran off together towards the house oblivious to their watchers, Arashiko and the wraith. They had been called by the frantic voice of their mother. Their father had come home with wounds of some sort. Keoto disappeared into the fields as they left. Arashiko followed Brana and Broli, she had a sense of dread that would not let her stay behind. The ghost of Brana did not follow, she vanished into the cool evening air, solemn eyes closed with sorrow.
Before she reached the open door of the little house, she could hear the yelling voices. Arashiko listened intently to them.
"Brana, go to your room and stay there while me and father talk for awhile....." Broli looked at her kindly and pointed to the stairs as he spook to her.
Brana ran to the stairs and then ducked behind the door so she could watch and no one could see her. Broli walked up to their father, Parangus, his eyes shining angrily.
"Father, King Vegeta wishes to kill us!!!! I overheard him talking to some of the Elite of our deaths! I didn't hear it all, only that part. They're coming!! You must believe me!!" Broli's voice deepened with anger and fear as he tried to convince his father.
Parangus turned away angrily and both of them walked into the other room and talked with Brana's mother, Kayinko. Arashiko caught snippets of their heated conversation.
"I know they're coming. It's inevitable now.My stand against the king failed! I barely escaped with my life! If the guards had less care for where they throw there garbage, I would be dead now! It's your power that drives them!"
Broli burst out of the other room and found Brana hiding by the stairs. Broli looked around then grabbed Brana, "Brana, listen to me. You have to stay here, under the stairs with mom okay? No matter what you hear, don't come out! Just stay here with mom." He put a gold medallion into her small fingers, "Keep this for me Brana, promise me you'll stay here." The small child nodded and went under the stairs. Kayinko took Brana by the arm and tugged at her arm, pulling her under the stairs. Broli and Parangus turned from them and towards the door.
Arashiko jerked around from them as several loud knocks pounded at the door.
"Parangus of the Third Class. Open the door, by order of the King you must be taken."
The door flew off its hinges, an energy blast shattering it to pieces. Saiyan soldiers of the Elite stood in the dust of the beam. Their blue armor shined maliciously.
"Broli, Why do you fight the king? Come peacefully and you may see heaven faster and besides Broli we need you....."
"Never!!! You want to kill my family I will never help you!!! If you hurt my family I swear I will see you in hell!!" Broli yelled as he shot forward, hammering one of the Elite guards in the stomach, sending him flying back through the door.
Arashiko ran outside as the fight escalated. Strangely, Parangus watched as his son fought alone, a cold stare encompassing his features. Broli was surrounded by the Elite, they tightened in a circle about him. He backed away towards the forest, teeth clenched in anger.
Suddenly, Broli's head jerked forward. He fell slowly to his knees, blood dripping from his lips. He collapsed forward and looked up before unconsciousness took him.
"K..Keoto??" Broli had time to say before he passed out.
Keoto stood with one foot on Broli's chest, hand still fisted from the viscous blow she had inflicted to the back of his head. Her red eyes squinted, her lips contorted in an evil smile. She turned and bowed to King Vegeta as his form emerged from the shadows of the trees.
A gasp escaped Arashiko. She watched dumbfounded to find the King was there, that he had some part to play in Brana's madness.
He couldn't have done this to her? He couldn't have!! It can't be true!!
"My lord, the Super Saiyan is in our grasp."
"Good work, Keoto." He nodded towards Keoto and turned to Parangus who stared silently at him.
"Your work is done King Vegeta, you have him. Now leave the rest of my family in peace!" Parangus sternly pronounced as the King surveyed the small Third Class dwelling.
"You underestimate your position in the scheme of things, Parangus. We need your son alive, but I'm afraid it is impossible to leave the rest. Frieza will become suspicious if he doesn't see the bodies of those who carry the gene that creates such power." King Vegeta motioned to the other guards and they angled their hands at Parangus.
"What?! My lord, you can't do this!!!" Wait! We had a deal! My life for the boy's!" Parangus shouted as the Elite unleashed a barrage of violent energy beams into him. Parangus grasped at Vegeta's knees as he fell, begging one last time, "P..Please.."
"I am sorry, but you should know better than anyone. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." King Vegeta tore his cloak from Parangus's grasping fingers. Parangus gave one last moan and his eyes closed, but the slow motion of his chest showed that he was still alive.
Arashiko heard a cry behind her and quickly turned to see Brana's mother on her knees crying, Brana held in her arms.
Brana screamed out desperately "Broli! Daddy! No!"
Brana frantically looked around at her destroyed home. Things lay on the floor broken, crushed, and bloody. Her brother and father's blood stained the white bells of flowers that grew before their tiny dwelling. Everything was shattered, her life, shattered. Brana tore from Kayinko's hold and ran off into the fields trying to get them to follow her instead of her mother.
The Elite were right behind her chasing her down like hunters chasing a fox for sport. Brana ran into the forest and used the trees to try and evade them. Arashiko ran behind her! She had to do something!! She couldn't let it end like this!! She knew what was going to happen!! Suddenly, Brana stopped running.
"Give up Brana we have your mother!!! Surrender, and we might offer you deaths worthy of the Saiyan Elite rather than the low class trash that you are!!"
Brana froze as she heard her mother scream in pain. The Elite saw that she had stopped and fired beams at her. Brana dodged the first beam, but another one sliced through her ankle. The child fell towards the monsters below.
"NOOOOO!!! Arashiko screamed as she ran forward to catch her.
I can't let it end like this!!! I can't let it happen like this!!!!
She was too late. Nothing Arashiko could do would change the past. That was the lesson Brana was trying to teach her. The Elite pounced upon the child and beat her. Their fists lashed out, drawing blood and cries.
Arashiko screamed out, anger finally moving her to a desperate action. She charged all the energy she could into her hands and released it outward into the group of Elite, once her former comrades. The beam roared through them, passing by harmlessly.
The Voice of Brana's wraith laughed at her from nowhere.
"Hahahah!! Arashiko, you cannot change the past!! Look upon this horror and know that you have inflicted it upon thousands!!! Know that you can do nothing to stop it now!!"
The Elite kept up their gruesome work until Brana was beaten unconsciousness.
"I wasn't powerful enough to save myself then. I was just like you, enable to do anything but watch as everything was stripped from me, my family, my life, my honor.
Brana woke up covered in a dark shadow. King Vegeta stood before them, his Elite gathered about him on either side. Her mother hugged her tightly, wiping away the blood and tears from her young face. Arashiko approached the pair. She stared into the young child's eyes and brought her hand up to her face.
I wish I could have changed everything.
Her hand passed through Brana's tears, offering no comfort.
"You two shall die to save our whole race. You should be honored to die for your King and your people!!" Keoto talked down to them haughtily.
"I don't understand, how is killing us going to help our planet? Tell me what have you done with my brother!!!!" Brana worked the strength up to say, her yells coming out ragged.
"He's in a safe place, child." King Vegeta softly answered.
Arashiko watched as Brana stood holding her fists tightly.
Such strength. Arashiko admired her determination.
Brana lashed out desperately at the King. Vegeta took her blows lightly. They didn't even topple him. Keoto grabbed her arm and threw her back down to the ground. Kayinko was the next to strike. Kayinko stood and shoved Brana away from her. She launched a beam of light that slammed into Keoto's chest. Kayinko jumped into a fighting stance and prepared to fight the Elite to her death. She would not die lying down.
"The Saiyan Elite of King Vegeta were more than a match for my mother. They slaughtered her like so many others."
"Mommy!" Brana's voice cut through the noise of the battle.
Kayinko fell to her knees, beaten and bloody, she stared back to her daughter, her tearful eyes begging forgiveness that she could not protect her. Keoto walked up to her, wiping the blood from her face and the dirt from her shining blue uniform. She grabbed Kayinko and shot her through the back with an energy beam.
Kayinko gave a small cry as she fell forward, the light in her eyes dimming. She looked up at Keoto and implored her one last time, "Why Keoto? Why? You damned traitor......see you in Hell Keot...." Death stopped her from finishing her sentence.
Arashiko fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the fact that she could do nothing but watch.
Brana pressed her face to the ground crying. Arashiko watched as rage overcame the young girl. Her chestnut hair glowed brilliant gold in the darkening night. Brana gave a cry of pain and defeat. Arashiko shielded her eyes as everything was surrounded in golden light. When it finally faded, all of the Elite except for King Vegeta and Keoto, who had been covered by him, lay dead. They had been destroyed by Brana's fearsome outburst of power.
A look of pure awe and astonishment crossed Vegeta's face, "Incredible!! How can a child so young have such power!!! HAHAH!!" He laughed insanely at the irony, "No wonder Frieza fears Parangus's family so! They carry the gene of legend!!"
Brana fell to the ground breathing heavily then passed out.
The same look of amazement overcame Arashiko, "Impossible!! Brana was a Super Saiyan? It can't be!! Only the Royal Family of Vegeta possess that rite!!!"
Brana's voice echoed in Arashiko's mind "I am a Super Sayian....But I was one of those poor souls who didn't understand the power I was given. And so I wasn't able to use it, it left me weak. I never knew how to become a Super Saiyan. I only became a Super Saiyan twice out of my whole life.......I didn't even know about it because I was too mad to control it...."
As the child lost consciousness, the world shattered to darkness once more. All that could be heard was a child's quiet weeping and Arashiko's fated heartbeat.
"You did it, you never changed at all......you are the same damned traitor you always were ......stop fooling yourself Arashiko....." The Voice echoed in her mind.
"Brana .....I wish there was some way I could keep you from changing like that.....If only I could..." Arashiko's voice was loud but no one heard it.
"I trusted you.......I would have given up my life for your King........Why must I go through hell? Arashiko..... Why.....Why??" Brana's voice assaulted her from every side.
"Damn it!!!! Brana!!!! Why are you doing this to me?! Stop the pain, please! I am so sorry Brana.......Forgive me.........Please? I know not what I have done....," Arashiko's voice faded and died like the wind.
"Why should I give you mercy? You gave no one mercy!!! What goes around comes around Arashiko. Did you give me mercy when you killed me you murdering traitor!!!" Brana's voice echoed loudly in Arashiko's tired mind.
"You were the same throughout your life... you were merciless, you were blood thirsty.....you weren't happy if there was no blood shed. Your pride and joy was being in the state of battle......you were a Saiyan, but you were a monster.......," Brana's voice was relentless. She beat and battered Arashiko coldly with an incessant barrage of words.
Liar!!
Traitor!! Murderer!!
Killer!!
MONSTER!!
Every word seeped down into her like the unforgiving coldness of the dark. Every syllable made her bleed as if stabbed
MURDERER!!
Finally, Arashiko could take it no more, she screamed out so horrendously it seemed as if she would die then and there. The soul wrenching scream tore from the deepest, darkest bowels within her. Tears of agony fell down her face.
"Just let me die!! Let me die to take away your pain! Give it allt o ome! Just let me die! For you!" Arashiko collapsed to the ground, beating the void of darkness with her fists, blood crying from her eyes. She crumpled up into a ball, will finally broken. She whispered to herself.
"Just let me die...I deserve it. I'm sorry...I'm sorry....sorry." She repeated the phrase endlessly till all her strength was gone and her face was covered with the blood of her own guilt.
For once, the Voice of Brana was silent. The wraith of Brana stood over Arashiko's broken body and looked upon her silently. She bowed her head in soundless affirmation. She had no answer for this.
Brana became a part of the black nothingness once more.
Arashiko's silent crying echoed into the endless void. Forever and eternal. . .
"Lift up thine eyes."
A new voice penetrated the darkness. It sounded deeply and eternally throughout the nothingness. It resonated clearly through all who heard it. The voice was reminiscent of the Dragon's, Purunga.
Arashiko slowly raised her eyes to him. She never expected to see him here, not in this emptiness and sorrow. Not as a spirit. Never in her darkest moment.
It was Zorn. He stood over her, his cloak of crimson shrouding and protecting her like the wings of a guardian angel. Zorn's gentle black eyes looked upon her with compassion and sorrow. His jet black hair floated divinely about his pale face. Arashiko averted her eyes from him.
"How can you bare to look at me? I've failed you. . ." Arashiko's voice cracked with emotion and fatigue. "He's dead...I couldn't save him, I couldn't save you, I couldn't even save myself...Just let me die. . ."
"Your suffering is not in vain, my sister." Zorn knelt down close to her, bringing his hands up to her face. He firmly held her chin in his strong palms and lifted her blue eyes towards him, "Death is never the answer." He wiped away the blood and the tears that stained her pallid cheeks crimson. Zorn grasped her wrists and pulled her to her feet. His dark blue eyes glimmered ethereally as his blood red cloak flailed out around them.
"You are a Saiyan. Death is your redemption of life. I stood with Vegeta when he fell. He died defending his people. I died by his side. The Royal Emblem was crushed under the foot of Frieza, but the Prince lives. My faith is complete in you, Arashiko, do not let this injustice take place. Never allow the deaths of so many to be in vain. Find your faith in yourself so that you may go in Grace. See now with eyes unclouded by hate and anger, fear and agony. Fight to avenge us, in all our fallen glory, you are the only one who can."
"Stand tall and shake the Heavens. . .
stand tall, my sister. . .
and awaken, for even shadows must be true to their shade."
As he spoke, he faded away from her. Arashiko's eyes glistened with tears of profound happiness, her heart split to see her brother leave. She wished with all her aching soul that he would stay, that she could be at peace as he was in Death. But she had to fight, all her life, she had to fight. At least now it would be for her reason, a just reason. She sought naught but honor as the stars seek their places in Heaven.
I fight for you, brother. I'm the only one who can.
Arashiko burst awake with a crack of thunder. Her senses rushed back to her overwhelmingly as the night sky alighted with the clap and tumult of the storm. Her throat and face burned with blistering pain. Deep cuts and blood streaked her cheeks. Arashiko lifted her hand up to her neck and felt four grooves left there by long, sharp claws. She raised her fingers up and saw them covered by her own red blood. Arashiko quickly jumped to her feet as a sword's blade punched into the rock where her head would have been.
"Impossible!!!" Yugure shouted insanely at her, his sanguine eyes burning, "You were mine!!!"
Arashiko faltered painfully. Everything hurt, making her confused senses rail. The old wound where Nail's golden sword had stabbed into her was bleeding profusely. She glared at Yugure defiantly, blue eyes blazing.
Yugure's fangs gleamed against the blackness as his deep, maddening roar filled her ears. The storm screamed with him as his anger poured out into the night. Arashiko returned his yell with her own wailing battlecry. She raised her blood-covered hands wildly, blue stars gathering at her fingertips. Yellow rays of effulgence spun around her body, spiraling fast with her heartbeat. The lightening joined the fray as it struck all around her, almost as if summoned by her command. The blood gleamed on her face, marking it like warpaint.
For you, brother!!!!
Arashiko launched forward at him, putting all her power into one, all- encompassing beam of pure white energy. It enveloped everything in blinding light. Yugure melted away again into his shadows. Arashiko knew he was not gone and looked to the shadowfalls behind her. She sensed him all around her in the darkness. Arashiko spun around, trying to see where the creature had gone. The blue glint of her sword caught her eye as lightening struck, reflecting on everything. Arashiko scooped up the white sword and angled it skillfully. Her eyes shifted hastily about, probing the darkness for his form. Another spear of lightening struck into the earth, sharpening and revealing the shadows of the land. With all her might, Arashiko threw the sword. It sang through the air and thunked into the side of a rock formation that was awash in a black shadow. Thunder crashed loudly around them as the skies shrieked. Silence fell, fragile and trembling. Arashiko watched the sword attentively. A hiss sounded as the white sword began to slide forward, a black figure impaled upon it slowly parted itself from the shadows of the rocks. Yugure grimaced at her evilly, fangs beared. He fell forward, the sword driving through his torso as he hit the ground.
"Damn y . .you." he growled as the life ebbed away from him. "You are not the one I seek, she . . .she is the other half of Kaiochuru. She is . . .not you?!"
Arashiko watched silently, puzzled by his dying words. Yugure cringed upon the ground and was finally still. The storm had finally quieted and shafts of sunshine peeked through the clouds, illuminating Yugure's body. There were no shadows for him to hide in now. A sunbeam shined down on Arashiko, lighting up her features with sparkling beauty. Arashiko walked up to Yugure's corpse and tore her blade from him. She breathed in the air triumphantly, sable hair blowing out with the last winds of the storm. She looked down on Yugure, her whole being shining with her triumph.
"Even shadows must be true to their shade." she said to his deaf ears.
The words of her brother lifted her spirits high. Now she was truly ready to leave Nameck and walk her own path.
Destiny would have it be so.
* * *
Chapter 5: Santi Uru
Once more the years passed by, one by one till almost ten years have passed since the great storm cast Arashiko into the world of Nameck. In that small amount of time she has learned much. She has formed a bond with these people, the same people she could have cared nothing about so short a time ago. Nail, who was once her teacher, had now become the student. They taught each other their own languages. Arashiko learned to speak Nameck as fluently as any one of the village. Nail, in turn, learned a decent grasp of the Saiyan language, especially the word girl. In her years there, he also taught her the Art of War, the graceful fighting techniques of Nameck. After a hundred years, they finally entered the last year of the war between the Purunga and the Kurai. Ten years did Arashiko fight against the Kurai, wielding her new skills with power and precision as a most effective weapon against their enemies. In all the years since, Yugure had not shown himself. With hard determination, Arashiko prepared to wipe the last of his kind off the face of Nameck.
On the outskirts of the Purunga village, a battle raged once again. The crimson armor of the Purunga soldiers flashed brilliantly in the glare of the three suns. Lanan led them on, screaming triumph in the face of all the Dark Ones who would destroy the tranquility of their home. The Kurai foot soldiers fought ferociously, landing blow upon blow, but the Purunga fight with all their will, fending to protect what is most sacred to them. Amid the violence and the blood, it was hard for either side to notice the black clouds that had begun to streak the sky. The field became enveloped with shadow with the blinding of the sun. Death was coming on silent wings. Lanan shouted to be heard over the screams of the battle.
"Pull back!!! Pull back!! Santi Uru is coming!!!"
The Purunga soldiers did not hesitate. They pulled away from their opponents and gathered back to watch the wrath of the Storm. The Kurai clamored uneasily. Each one knew what was coming; it was Death in the form of the Child, Arashiko. They had no time to run or time to fight, a cyclone of thunder and lightening struck down and battered their bodies, sending the purple earth flying into the air in a beautiful pattern. Thunder roared all around them, feeding their fear. The battleground alighted with white fire as Santi Uru burst forth from the heart of the lightening, ripping through one of the Kurai with her blazing white sword. The flashing white blade passed through flesh and bone easily and with little effort. The Kurai scattered about, trying to escape their fate, but Santi Uru's blade found them wherever they ran. Soft and shining purple blood spread from their gathered wounds and splattered across the silver mask, framing her striking blue eyes with trails of dark blood.
One of the shadowy creatures struck at her from behind, his blade glancing off the side of her head. To his surprise, his blow did not wound her at all. Santi Uru twirled around in the air, her hand shooting out to grasp her assailant's neck. With one strong squeeze of her fingers, she crushed his throat, leaving him trying to gasp for air. The unfortunate Kurai warrior fell back, his red eyes bulging with the final realization of death. One by one, the wretched Kurai fell, their black bodies littering the battlefield which had once been the peaceful gathering place of the Purunga village. Finally, there was only one lone warrior left. He fought desperately to save himself, backing away from her in a futile effort to escape the wrath of the Child of the Storm. In a last ditch effort, he launched at her with an energy beam hitting her directly in the face. The force of the beam threw her head to one side, but she still remained on her feet. The beam bounced of the mask, ripping it from her face.
Arashiko stared down upon the last warrior with her shining blue eyes, her black hair whipping at the wind. The lightening and thunder roared around them in a tumult of cacophonous noise. The stunned warrior lay on his back, staring at her dumbfounded. He looked upon her real face with wild, scared eyes. Fear and anxiety drove him to attack her though he knew she was his death. The last Kurai warrior thrust his sword at her with all his might. Arashiko caught the blade with her forearm, it lodged harmlessly into the front guard. The sharpened sword quivered in the air for a few long moments then shattered to a thousand pieces. Splinters of the broken sword flew back into the Kurai's face. A small sliver brazed Arashiko's cheek, causing a tiny river of blood to flow down the side of her face.
Arashiko loomed over him once again, the black storm wrapping her in a shroud of darkness. Like the grayed specter of death, she stood over him, waiting to claim another. She hesitated. Something echoed in her memories. Another regret, another soul she had claimed.
The young Saiyan soldier still looked up at her and begged her one last time, his desperate voice pleading.
"Mercy...please!!"
He was so young, just barely out of his teens.
Arashiko's hands trembled as she reached out to the ghost, the wraith of the young Saiyan she had killed on Cadvia. His words twisted her soul and wrenched her heart.
"Please!"
Arashiko shook her head, trying to make the ghost disappear. Whenever she let her guard down, the ghosts seemed to gather there in the mists of her memories. One face always seemed to stare at her among the many blurred faces. Brana's burning brown eyes were always there, staring from the blackness of her soul. Crystal tears streaked from Arashiko's blue eyes. She had to escape them or she would surely go insane. Her hands trembled violently from her impending madness. A lump of fear and anxiety caught in her stomach and her throat.
Then something else appeared to her, another image, another memory that was vividly relived. The Kurai were not the only ones to die in this war. Arashiko saw new friends, the peaceful people of Purunga, with their shattered bodies spread across the battlefield. They gave their lives to defend what they held most sacred and dear. Their pale blood seeped into the earth, along with the tears of all their loved ones.
That single fact drove her back to reality with a stinging rush of anger. The crushing weight of the waking world ripped her from the brink of insanity. The lone Kurai kneeled in front of her, even more scared and confused by her unpredictable actions. Was she going to kill him or not? Arashiko stared deep into his dark red eyes. The souls of all the dead Purunga shined there, crying out for retribution!! Wasting no words, Arashiko took his head with one fatal swoop of the snow-white sword. Sections of the silver blade reflected from the parts not covered by Kurai's dark blood. White light poured into her blue eyes.
There is no time to regret when the ones you care about are at stake.
. . .more blood.
. . .more death.
This is all I can do to save them.
The heart of a Saiyan bends so easily. .? Death for something
good.
Life for something better. . .
* * *
Arashiko stared up into the darkening, deep jewel sky. Once more it was tinged with the black clouds of the storm of the Eternal Dragon, the storm she was born in. Golden lightening jumped from cloud to cloud and converged over the gathered Elders and the soldiers of the village. Arashiko let out a deep sigh.
The last time I saw this warm, golden light, I was dying. Now I see it to say farewell.
It was her first day on this world again, ten years gone by in the dust. Nail stood beside her, his face filled with hidden tears. He appeared as a child no longer. His small form had melted away from the child she had gazed upon through the tears and the rain, all those years ago. His face still held that same quality of youth, the same gentleness and wisdom she respected in him, but there was a firmness and sharpening of his features that tipped him more towards being a man. His black eyes watched the dragon forming out of the nothingness of the sky. All those years of fighting and dying, student and teacher, and she was going to leave him now?
Kaiochuru stood at the center of the circle of elders, within the circle of the Dragonballs. Every year had deepened the wrinkles on his once proud form. But every wrinkle and scar was a testament to his great wisdom and knowledge. He had pleaded with her not to leave them. She was a part of them now. But Arashiko felt it, she could feel her own power. She could feel that it was time.
It was time to leave and face her demons.
Frieza was waiting for her.
Every sane bone in her body told her to stay here with them, with the ones she cared about. But her past was haunting her, it stung at her in the night, in her dreams, and behind the joy in every waking moment. Perhaps it was the deep loyalty she once held for Vegeta? Perhaps it was some kind of honor? Revenge? Rage? Guilt? So many things called her back and ate away at her conscience.
Somewhere she could feel that the Prince was alive.
Vegeta was alive!
She had an obligation to him, for the death of his father, her King. If anything, she owed him the same chance that she had found here, among the Nameckjin. Maybe she could change him as they had changed her.
"You have summoned me from my slumber. Give unto me thy three wishes and unto you they will be granted. As it is written so it shall be done." The Eternal Dragon Purunga spoke the same words as it manifested before them.
This is the gift that Kaiochuru presented to her in their parting, the three wishes of the Dragon. The chance for power was there. The chance for immortality, the chance to seize all she had strove for as a harbinger of destruction was all right there, ready for her to grasp. But Arashiko left it to fate. Kaiochuru's untold wisdom would guide her now.
Arashiko kneeled before the Dragon on one knee and awaited Kaiochuru's words, her faith complete in him. She could not help but stare in awe at the magnificent creature curling about the sky. Its great presence filled her with a combination of fear and wonder. This was a being of pure power and energy, something beyond her own comprehension. Staring at Purunga, she felt some kind of kinship, some kind of bond between the Dragon and herself, though she could not put her finger on it.
"The first rite, Purunga," Kaiochuru began, "Give your Child, Santi Uru, the Eternity of Youth, so that she will live in glory forever."
"WHAT?!" Arashiko had time to gasp before the light of the Dragon enveloped her in a glaring sheet of radiance. Every pore in her body seemed to open up and breathe. Her skin felt boiling hot, like her innards were cooking in their own juices. When the feeling and the light finally vanished, Arashiko opened her eyes and stared up at the great Dragon, than spun around and cast Kaiochuru a questioning glare.
What did you do to me??
Before she could voice her question, Kaiochuru raised his hand and bade her be silent till all was finished. Arashiko bit back her frustration and listened. In the back of her mind, she knew what he was doing.
He is giving me all the power I ever wanted. How can he do this? How can he know, how can I know, what I will do with such power??
Once again, the fear of that black creature of evil lurking inside her soul re-emerged to torment her. Arashiko dreaded each word as Kaiochuru pronounced the second wish.
"Purunga, grant this warrior the power to overcome the one she seeks. Give her the strength to save the ones she loves in return for saving those I hold so dear. This is my wish, so it shall be done!!!"
Thus followed the same burning, the same igniting of the senses, except something was different this time. All the fire in her spirit was released. Blue shafts of light spiraled outward from her body in a deadly blossom as the gates of power were released within her. A rush of energy and flashes of cool thunder took the breath from her lungs.
I've never felt such power!!!
It was almost god-like, almost enough to drive her insane. In that single moment, she felt as if she could raise her hand into Heaven and touch the face of the Divine. Blue lightening surged outward from her body and struck brutally at the ground around her, reducing it to a battered mess. Even after the Dragon's presence had left her, she could still feel the maddening levels of power that now surged through her veins faster than any blood. Then Arashiko reminded herself.
There is still one more wish!
Arashiko stayed herself, the force of breathing and living finally returned to her senses. She gulped in the air and stared up into Purunga's looming face. The towering dragon seemed to smile at her with his boundless red eyes.
The third and final wish echoed throughout the Circle.
"Purunga, I call upon you for this final rite. Grant your Child the wisdom to overcome, to fight, to survive. Give her the knowledge to combat the evil within herself. That is my final wish."
Arashiko closed her eyes and sighed as the light of the dragon caped around her for the last time.
What is power without the knowledge to use it? How can Kiaochuru know if he has just given all this power to a monster?
Arashiko opened her azure eyes again as the parting farewell of Purunga echoed throughout. The Dragonballs divided the black sky as they fell towards their resting places in the four corners of Nameck.
We shall have to see after all is said and done. Now comes the hard part...
How do I say goodbye?
Kaiochuru walked over to Arashiko and placed his hands affectionately on her shoulders, "Arise, my daughter."
Arashiko smiled to hear him use a word that she had taught him. She got to her feet, turned, and embraced him.
"I'll win that battle for you, Kiaochuru. I'll win it and I'll stand proud with the knowledge and the life that you gave me." Arashiko squeezed him tighter. "Thank you...thank you for giving me the chance to do something good."
Fare thee well, Wise Nameck. She let him go. Kaiochuru moved aside. Nail stood there with that same sorrowful look trying to hide his tears. Now came the real goodbye. Arashiko appraoched him and kneeled down before him. Nail was still a shorty, though he was growing up right before her eyes. Arashiko smiled tenderly at him and wiped away his tears with a gentle sweep of her hand.
"Now don't start that. Warrior's don't cry, Nail. You have to be strong and guard your father, to take my place as Santi Uru."
Nail sniffled and obeyed, "But I will miss you if you go, Arashiko, gurl."
Arashiko laughed softly at his innocence. He was like a little child again. She pulled him close and gave him a mighty hug.
"Little warrior, my heart will always be here. Thanks to you, I was able to change it."
Nail could not help but let a few sniffles escape from him as she spoke.
"You saved me." Arashiko was almost crying herself. She pulled away from him before her emotions could overcome her. She had to leave before she changed her mind. Nail still grapsed her hand tightly. When he finally let go, a small golden trinket lay in the center of her palm. It was a delicate golden charm in the shape of a dragon. Arashiko smiled at him.
"I don't need this to remember you by, I will always remember you."
Arashiko's fingers enclosed about the charm as she turned and walked away from him. Nail watched her silently as she walked out of his life.
A single strong tear slid down his face as he watched her.
Goodbye.
Nail stood his ground as he watched her leave. He was strong in spirit and mind.
He would become as great a warrior as his Father saw in the Future.
He would take her place as their protector.
Arashiko took one last breath of the humid air of Nameck and prepared to leave. She called all of her new power to test herself, to see if she could control it. Rings of shimmering blue and white stars spun around her body. The rush of energy opened up her senses to a new level. Sight, hearing, touch, taste, all were elevated far beyond anything she had ever felt before. Victory could be so much sweeter, death could be so much more painful. Sowehow she managed to control it. The gifts of the Dragon stayed true to their form. Arashiko used the quickening of energy to mark her departure. Trails of white light followed her body through the air as she raced through the sky, leaving everything behind once again.
* * *
Rain beat against Arashiko's face as she headed towards where her ship had been nestled in the womb of the land. The storm caused by the presence of the Dragon still lingered over the planet, turning the bright day into a dreary night. Arashiko gazed at the little dragon charm that Nail had given her, twinkles of golden light reflected into her eyes.
I'll never forget you, Nail. You saved my soul. I will repay you one day, I swear! I pray that I can live up to your expectations. Please go on without me, protect our people.
A brilliant flash of lightening suddenly flashed in front, blinding Arashiko for an instant. Thunder clapped as a familiar pain almost forgotten pierced into her mind once more. All at once it hit, sending her falling from the sky, streaks of power still flailing from her body as she fell like an angel from paradise. She couldn't breathe, her throat constricted as she was choked by something, or someone. Before Arashiko could free herself, the ground came up to kiss her on the face. She slammed head first into it, pushing up the purple earth with a terrifying impact. A few disorienting seconds passed before she pulled herself up and looked around frantically. Even before the incensed lightening illumintated his dark form, she knew who it was.
Yugure finally showed himself after all the years.
"You!!" Arashiko yelled out in surprise at seeing him again. She would not let him go this time.
With another flash of lightening and clap of thunder, he was gone, just like that. Arashiko searched the horizon, squinting to see through the pummeling rain and the glare of lightening that flashed all around her. Deep laughter echoed on the blowing wind behind her. Arashiko spun around, lashing out with her fist and hitting nothing but air. The laughter continued, echoing all around her with the howling of the torrent. He was toying with her.
"It's just you and I."
"It's just you and I."
"It's just you and I..."
"You and I...the only shadows left on the wall."
"Hahahah!"
Arashiko screamed out and punched into the ground, sending cracks radiating from the impact, energy and light bursting outward from her.
"I WILL MAKE YOU BE SILENT!!!"
Silence pervaded as the dust cleared. Arashiko breathed a sigh of relief, eyes still searching around nervously. He was gone.
"NO!!! We finish this now!!!!" She shouted into the stillness. She knew that he was still there, somewhere. Arashiko kept a cool hand on the hilt of her ivory sword. A bead of sweat streaked down her temple. Her breath crystallized in the air, its crisp hush the only thing that sounded as the world turned cold. Everything faded to black. Even the roar of the storm quieted. Arashiko tensed and raised the sword when she spotted a small figure standing alone in the darkness. It was turned away from her, head bowed solemnly.
The child turned to her and raised her soft brown eyes, short brown hair framing their burning sadness. Her voice whispered loudly to Arashiko, filling her with fear. The ivory sword fell to the ground with a loud, metallic clang.
"Kakayun...never open the door to death. Remember? I told you that all things would come to their just ends. You're coming to yours."
Brana's eyes burned into her. "You're coming to yours."
Arashiko slid to her knees, the darkness pressing in upon her heavily. Brana's soft voice was the only thing that echoed through the awful blackness. Arashiko tried to make it stop. She was going insane!! All the ghosts were coming back, all of them!! She clapped her shaking hands over her ears in a futile effort to stop the madness, to block out the Voice.
"Arashiko, never pretend to act or be someone you never were and can never be. You killed people and you did it with a smile on your face so don't pretend to be a nice caring person! You think you have changed? Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember. Happiness, you never had it and never will since you don't remember it. Your life begins to end the day you become silent about things that matter. So stop pretending..." Brana's voice became so clear and loud it sounded inside of Arashiko's ears as if Brana were there whispering beside her.
"You have not changed, you've only tricked yourself into believing that you have. You're heart is as black as the day you first killed!! Have you changed? Have you?! Ask yourself...you've become just another killer for another king."
Arashiko clutched her ears tighter as hot tears forced their way out of her eyes. She screamed out as if stabbed, the pain of remorse evident still. She raised her eyes, vision blurred with the painful tears and saw nothing...Brana was gone. A cool wind blew, the winds of her home. She was standing in the plains of her homeworld, Vegeta. The frigid breeze sighed through her long dark hair.
Is it painful to know that it was a cool, windy night when you had to kill your best friend? The Voice returned to haunt her once more.
Arashiko looked around her. She was in a field that held endless patches of NightBells. The shining white bells of flowers spread to the endless horizon. There were few fields like this..most of Planet Vegeta was barren. Only the lower castes farmed the land.
I'm home? The images of her world confused her thoughts. She never realized how much she missed the world of Vegeta till these images passed before her. Arashiko lay in the soft grass where she was surrounded by NightBells and looked into the stars caught in the depths of the blue sky.
Arashiko shouted to the stars as if they could offer her the answers she sought, "What does Brana want to show me? Why does she haunt me day in and day out? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME!?!!" Arashiko's voice faded with the dying wind.
Arashiko curled up and closed her eyes, wishing to return to this world that she knew was all a part of her tortured nightmare. The stars fell from the sky, returning her to darkness. In her mind she could hear the cries of the people who suffered and died at her hands.
I have gone mad and the world has gone mad with me.
Everything is dark still...
Please!! Just let me go!! LET ME GO BRANA!!!! HASN'T THERE BEEN ENOUGH SUFFERING???
"No...no...you don't know what suffering truly means. That is why I have brought you here...to see my suffering. So you can taste it and know what you are...
.. A killer forever and eternal..."
"Wake up, Hurry," the Voice began quietly, "WWAAAKKKEE UUUPPP!!!" The Voice seemed to be right there over Arashiko.
"WAKE UP!!!!" It was right in front of her.
Arashiko opened her eyes slowly, sluggishly...not wanting to see who was standing over her, for she knew who it was.
"Long time no see, traitor." Brana's voice seemed different, darker than she remembered, full of hatred.
Arashiko shook her head slowly, unwilling to accept the realization that Brana was there.
"GO AWAY!! LEAVE ME BE!!" She shouted desperately at the wraith.
Brana walked over to Arashiko's side and stood there looking up at the field of boundless stars. The wind blew through her brown hair. Brana looked just as Arashiko remembered. Her feathery brown bangs settled over her eye. The rest of her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. Brana was dressed in the dark uniform of a Third Class Saiyan, the uniform that Arashiko had first met her in.
"I have only come here to show you what you have done to the many poor souls of your kind. Your own people that you sent to hell! I thought you were my friend why did you lie to me?!"
"I am sorry Brana.......," Arashiko's voice turned empty.
"You're sorry?? My old friend, you don't know what sorry is..." Brana turned her head, motioning to the side.
A small girl who looked about five or six sat in a grassy field close by them. The girl stood and walked over to where Arashiko was standing but she sat there quietly watching the flowers in the field. Her tender, long brown hair danced in the wind behind her. Arashiko recognized the girl. It was Brana when she was smaller. It was her past self the way she used to be before. As the girl sat there alone she started to sing.
"Will you miss me? Will your sunny days go away? For I will miss you. I will cry if you left me here. My sunny days would turn cold, I wouldn't know what to do. Would you? Just remember, that I will be here for you. When you need me the most. Will you miss me......?" The voice was soft yet the song was familiar.
"Brana!!! Where are you child?!" two more people ran between Arashiko and the wraith of Brana. The wraith stood by, watching gravely.
The girl stood up and wiped the flowers off her lap as she heard her name.
"I'm right here!!! Over here Keoto and Broli!! hehehe!" Brana's voice tinkled with the cheerful sweetness of youth as she yelled, waving her arms in the air.
Two teenagers ran up to the innocent girl and sat down beside her. Broli was a handsome youth. He had long, dark hair and handsome dark eyes that were set in a strong, determined face. The girl, Keoto, was also dark, possessed of raven black hair and strange crimson eyes. She was a tall, slender female Saiyan.
Arashiko recognized Keoto instantly. I know her from long ago! She was my brother Zorn's trainer!! She was one of the Elite, just like me!
What is she doing here??? Arashiko thought, puzzled.
Brana sat down by Keoto and laughed as Broli picked a long piece of grass and started to tickle Brana.
"Broli that tickles...hehehehe......," Brana tried to speak as she laughed.
Arashiko gave a mournful sigh as she watched and wondered why Brana turned the way she was. She knew the name Broli from somewhere, it was vague, lost in a cloud of violent memories.
Brana and Broli ran off together towards the house oblivious to their watchers, Arashiko and the wraith. They had been called by the frantic voice of their mother. Their father had come home with wounds of some sort. Keoto disappeared into the fields as they left. Arashiko followed Brana and Broli, she had a sense of dread that would not let her stay behind. The ghost of Brana did not follow, she vanished into the cool evening air, solemn eyes closed with sorrow.
Before she reached the open door of the little house, she could hear the yelling voices. Arashiko listened intently to them.
"Brana, go to your room and stay there while me and father talk for awhile....." Broli looked at her kindly and pointed to the stairs as he spook to her.
Brana ran to the stairs and then ducked behind the door so she could watch and no one could see her. Broli walked up to their father, Parangus, his eyes shining angrily.
"Father, King Vegeta wishes to kill us!!!! I overheard him talking to some of the Elite of our deaths! I didn't hear it all, only that part. They're coming!! You must believe me!!" Broli's voice deepened with anger and fear as he tried to convince his father.
Parangus turned away angrily and both of them walked into the other room and talked with Brana's mother, Kayinko. Arashiko caught snippets of their heated conversation.
"I know they're coming. It's inevitable now.My stand against the king failed! I barely escaped with my life! If the guards had less care for where they throw there garbage, I would be dead now! It's your power that drives them!"
Broli burst out of the other room and found Brana hiding by the stairs. Broli looked around then grabbed Brana, "Brana, listen to me. You have to stay here, under the stairs with mom okay? No matter what you hear, don't come out! Just stay here with mom." He put a gold medallion into her small fingers, "Keep this for me Brana, promise me you'll stay here." The small child nodded and went under the stairs. Kayinko took Brana by the arm and tugged at her arm, pulling her under the stairs. Broli and Parangus turned from them and towards the door.
Arashiko jerked around from them as several loud knocks pounded at the door.
"Parangus of the Third Class. Open the door, by order of the King you must be taken."
The door flew off its hinges, an energy blast shattering it to pieces. Saiyan soldiers of the Elite stood in the dust of the beam. Their blue armor shined maliciously.
"Broli, Why do you fight the king? Come peacefully and you may see heaven faster and besides Broli we need you....."
"Never!!! You want to kill my family I will never help you!!! If you hurt my family I swear I will see you in hell!!" Broli yelled as he shot forward, hammering one of the Elite guards in the stomach, sending him flying back through the door.
Arashiko ran outside as the fight escalated. Strangely, Parangus watched as his son fought alone, a cold stare encompassing his features. Broli was surrounded by the Elite, they tightened in a circle about him. He backed away towards the forest, teeth clenched in anger.
Suddenly, Broli's head jerked forward. He fell slowly to his knees, blood dripping from his lips. He collapsed forward and looked up before unconsciousness took him.
"K..Keoto??" Broli had time to say before he passed out.
Keoto stood with one foot on Broli's chest, hand still fisted from the viscous blow she had inflicted to the back of his head. Her red eyes squinted, her lips contorted in an evil smile. She turned and bowed to King Vegeta as his form emerged from the shadows of the trees.
A gasp escaped Arashiko. She watched dumbfounded to find the King was there, that he had some part to play in Brana's madness.
He couldn't have done this to her? He couldn't have!! It can't be true!!
"My lord, the Super Saiyan is in our grasp."
"Good work, Keoto." He nodded towards Keoto and turned to Parangus who stared silently at him.
"Your work is done King Vegeta, you have him. Now leave the rest of my family in peace!" Parangus sternly pronounced as the King surveyed the small Third Class dwelling.
"You underestimate your position in the scheme of things, Parangus. We need your son alive, but I'm afraid it is impossible to leave the rest. Frieza will become suspicious if he doesn't see the bodies of those who carry the gene that creates such power." King Vegeta motioned to the other guards and they angled their hands at Parangus.
"What?! My lord, you can't do this!!!" Wait! We had a deal! My life for the boy's!" Parangus shouted as the Elite unleashed a barrage of violent energy beams into him. Parangus grasped at Vegeta's knees as he fell, begging one last time, "P..Please.."
"I am sorry, but you should know better than anyone. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." King Vegeta tore his cloak from Parangus's grasping fingers. Parangus gave one last moan and his eyes closed, but the slow motion of his chest showed that he was still alive.
Arashiko heard a cry behind her and quickly turned to see Brana's mother on her knees crying, Brana held in her arms.
Brana screamed out desperately "Broli! Daddy! No!"
Brana frantically looked around at her destroyed home. Things lay on the floor broken, crushed, and bloody. Her brother and father's blood stained the white bells of flowers that grew before their tiny dwelling. Everything was shattered, her life, shattered. Brana tore from Kayinko's hold and ran off into the fields trying to get them to follow her instead of her mother.
The Elite were right behind her chasing her down like hunters chasing a fox for sport. Brana ran into the forest and used the trees to try and evade them. Arashiko ran behind her! She had to do something!! She couldn't let it end like this!! She knew what was going to happen!! Suddenly, Brana stopped running.
"Give up Brana we have your mother!!! Surrender, and we might offer you deaths worthy of the Saiyan Elite rather than the low class trash that you are!!"
Brana froze as she heard her mother scream in pain. The Elite saw that she had stopped and fired beams at her. Brana dodged the first beam, but another one sliced through her ankle. The child fell towards the monsters below.
"NOOOOO!!! Arashiko screamed as she ran forward to catch her.
I can't let it end like this!!! I can't let it happen like this!!!!
She was too late. Nothing Arashiko could do would change the past. That was the lesson Brana was trying to teach her. The Elite pounced upon the child and beat her. Their fists lashed out, drawing blood and cries.
Arashiko screamed out, anger finally moving her to a desperate action. She charged all the energy she could into her hands and released it outward into the group of Elite, once her former comrades. The beam roared through them, passing by harmlessly.
The Voice of Brana's wraith laughed at her from nowhere.
"Hahahah!! Arashiko, you cannot change the past!! Look upon this horror and know that you have inflicted it upon thousands!!! Know that you can do nothing to stop it now!!"
The Elite kept up their gruesome work until Brana was beaten unconsciousness.
"I wasn't powerful enough to save myself then. I was just like you, enable to do anything but watch as everything was stripped from me, my family, my life, my honor.
Brana woke up covered in a dark shadow. King Vegeta stood before them, his Elite gathered about him on either side. Her mother hugged her tightly, wiping away the blood and tears from her young face. Arashiko approached the pair. She stared into the young child's eyes and brought her hand up to her face.
I wish I could have changed everything.
Her hand passed through Brana's tears, offering no comfort.
"You two shall die to save our whole race. You should be honored to die for your King and your people!!" Keoto talked down to them haughtily.
"I don't understand, how is killing us going to help our planet? Tell me what have you done with my brother!!!!" Brana worked the strength up to say, her yells coming out ragged.
"He's in a safe place, child." King Vegeta softly answered.
Arashiko watched as Brana stood holding her fists tightly.
Such strength. Arashiko admired her determination.
Brana lashed out desperately at the King. Vegeta took her blows lightly. They didn't even topple him. Keoto grabbed her arm and threw her back down to the ground. Kayinko was the next to strike. Kayinko stood and shoved Brana away from her. She launched a beam of light that slammed into Keoto's chest. Kayinko jumped into a fighting stance and prepared to fight the Elite to her death. She would not die lying down.
"The Saiyan Elite of King Vegeta were more than a match for my mother. They slaughtered her like so many others."
"Mommy!" Brana's voice cut through the noise of the battle.
Kayinko fell to her knees, beaten and bloody, she stared back to her daughter, her tearful eyes begging forgiveness that she could not protect her. Keoto walked up to her, wiping the blood from her face and the dirt from her shining blue uniform. She grabbed Kayinko and shot her through the back with an energy beam.
Kayinko gave a small cry as she fell forward, the light in her eyes dimming. She looked up at Keoto and implored her one last time, "Why Keoto? Why? You damned traitor......see you in Hell Keot...." Death stopped her from finishing her sentence.
Arashiko fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the fact that she could do nothing but watch.
Brana pressed her face to the ground crying. Arashiko watched as rage overcame the young girl. Her chestnut hair glowed brilliant gold in the darkening night. Brana gave a cry of pain and defeat. Arashiko shielded her eyes as everything was surrounded in golden light. When it finally faded, all of the Elite except for King Vegeta and Keoto, who had been covered by him, lay dead. They had been destroyed by Brana's fearsome outburst of power.
A look of pure awe and astonishment crossed Vegeta's face, "Incredible!! How can a child so young have such power!!! HAHAH!!" He laughed insanely at the irony, "No wonder Frieza fears Parangus's family so! They carry the gene of legend!!"
Brana fell to the ground breathing heavily then passed out.
The same look of amazement overcame Arashiko, "Impossible!! Brana was a Super Saiyan? It can't be!! Only the Royal Family of Vegeta possess that rite!!!"
Brana's voice echoed in Arashiko's mind "I am a Super Sayian....But I was one of those poor souls who didn't understand the power I was given. And so I wasn't able to use it, it left me weak. I never knew how to become a Super Saiyan. I only became a Super Saiyan twice out of my whole life.......I didn't even know about it because I was too mad to control it...."
As the child lost consciousness, the world shattered to darkness once more. All that could be heard was a child's quiet weeping and Arashiko's fated heartbeat.
"You did it, you never changed at all......you are the same damned traitor you always were ......stop fooling yourself Arashiko....." The Voice echoed in her mind.
"Brana .....I wish there was some way I could keep you from changing like that.....If only I could..." Arashiko's voice was loud but no one heard it.
"I trusted you.......I would have given up my life for your King........Why must I go through hell? Arashiko..... Why.....Why??" Brana's voice assaulted her from every side.
"Damn it!!!! Brana!!!! Why are you doing this to me?! Stop the pain, please! I am so sorry Brana.......Forgive me.........Please? I know not what I have done....," Arashiko's voice faded and died like the wind.
"Why should I give you mercy? You gave no one mercy!!! What goes around comes around Arashiko. Did you give me mercy when you killed me you murdering traitor!!!" Brana's voice echoed loudly in Arashiko's tired mind.
"You were the same throughout your life... you were merciless, you were blood thirsty.....you weren't happy if there was no blood shed. Your pride and joy was being in the state of battle......you were a Saiyan, but you were a monster.......," Brana's voice was relentless. She beat and battered Arashiko coldly with an incessant barrage of words.
Liar!!
Traitor!! Murderer!!
Killer!!
MONSTER!!
Every word seeped down into her like the unforgiving coldness of the dark. Every syllable made her bleed as if stabbed
MURDERER!!
Finally, Arashiko could take it no more, she screamed out so horrendously it seemed as if she would die then and there. The soul wrenching scream tore from the deepest, darkest bowels within her. Tears of agony fell down her face.
"Just let me die!! Let me die to take away your pain! Give it allt o ome! Just let me die! For you!" Arashiko collapsed to the ground, beating the void of darkness with her fists, blood crying from her eyes. She crumpled up into a ball, will finally broken. She whispered to herself.
"Just let me die...I deserve it. I'm sorry...I'm sorry....sorry." She repeated the phrase endlessly till all her strength was gone and her face was covered with the blood of her own guilt.
For once, the Voice of Brana was silent. The wraith of Brana stood over Arashiko's broken body and looked upon her silently. She bowed her head in soundless affirmation. She had no answer for this.
Brana became a part of the black nothingness once more.
Arashiko's silent crying echoed into the endless void. Forever and eternal. . .
"Lift up thine eyes."
A new voice penetrated the darkness. It sounded deeply and eternally throughout the nothingness. It resonated clearly through all who heard it. The voice was reminiscent of the Dragon's, Purunga.
Arashiko slowly raised her eyes to him. She never expected to see him here, not in this emptiness and sorrow. Not as a spirit. Never in her darkest moment.
It was Zorn. He stood over her, his cloak of crimson shrouding and protecting her like the wings of a guardian angel. Zorn's gentle black eyes looked upon her with compassion and sorrow. His jet black hair floated divinely about his pale face. Arashiko averted her eyes from him.
"How can you bare to look at me? I've failed you. . ." Arashiko's voice cracked with emotion and fatigue. "He's dead...I couldn't save him, I couldn't save you, I couldn't even save myself...Just let me die. . ."
"Your suffering is not in vain, my sister." Zorn knelt down close to her, bringing his hands up to her face. He firmly held her chin in his strong palms and lifted her blue eyes towards him, "Death is never the answer." He wiped away the blood and the tears that stained her pallid cheeks crimson. Zorn grasped her wrists and pulled her to her feet. His dark blue eyes glimmered ethereally as his blood red cloak flailed out around them.
"You are a Saiyan. Death is your redemption of life. I stood with Vegeta when he fell. He died defending his people. I died by his side. The Royal Emblem was crushed under the foot of Frieza, but the Prince lives. My faith is complete in you, Arashiko, do not let this injustice take place. Never allow the deaths of so many to be in vain. Find your faith in yourself so that you may go in Grace. See now with eyes unclouded by hate and anger, fear and agony. Fight to avenge us, in all our fallen glory, you are the only one who can."
"Stand tall and shake the Heavens. . .
stand tall, my sister. . .
and awaken, for even shadows must be true to their shade."
As he spoke, he faded away from her. Arashiko's eyes glistened with tears of profound happiness, her heart split to see her brother leave. She wished with all her aching soul that he would stay, that she could be at peace as he was in Death. But she had to fight, all her life, she had to fight. At least now it would be for her reason, a just reason. She sought naught but honor as the stars seek their places in Heaven.
I fight for you, brother. I'm the only one who can.
Arashiko burst awake with a crack of thunder. Her senses rushed back to her overwhelmingly as the night sky alighted with the clap and tumult of the storm. Her throat and face burned with blistering pain. Deep cuts and blood streaked her cheeks. Arashiko lifted her hand up to her neck and felt four grooves left there by long, sharp claws. She raised her fingers up and saw them covered by her own red blood. Arashiko quickly jumped to her feet as a sword's blade punched into the rock where her head would have been.
"Impossible!!!" Yugure shouted insanely at her, his sanguine eyes burning, "You were mine!!!"
Arashiko faltered painfully. Everything hurt, making her confused senses rail. The old wound where Nail's golden sword had stabbed into her was bleeding profusely. She glared at Yugure defiantly, blue eyes blazing.
Yugure's fangs gleamed against the blackness as his deep, maddening roar filled her ears. The storm screamed with him as his anger poured out into the night. Arashiko returned his yell with her own wailing battlecry. She raised her blood-covered hands wildly, blue stars gathering at her fingertips. Yellow rays of effulgence spun around her body, spiraling fast with her heartbeat. The lightening joined the fray as it struck all around her, almost as if summoned by her command. The blood gleamed on her face, marking it like warpaint.
For you, brother!!!!
Arashiko launched forward at him, putting all her power into one, all- encompassing beam of pure white energy. It enveloped everything in blinding light. Yugure melted away again into his shadows. Arashiko knew he was not gone and looked to the shadowfalls behind her. She sensed him all around her in the darkness. Arashiko spun around, trying to see where the creature had gone. The blue glint of her sword caught her eye as lightening struck, reflecting on everything. Arashiko scooped up the white sword and angled it skillfully. Her eyes shifted hastily about, probing the darkness for his form. Another spear of lightening struck into the earth, sharpening and revealing the shadows of the land. With all her might, Arashiko threw the sword. It sang through the air and thunked into the side of a rock formation that was awash in a black shadow. Thunder crashed loudly around them as the skies shrieked. Silence fell, fragile and trembling. Arashiko watched the sword attentively. A hiss sounded as the white sword began to slide forward, a black figure impaled upon it slowly parted itself from the shadows of the rocks. Yugure grimaced at her evilly, fangs beared. He fell forward, the sword driving through his torso as he hit the ground.
"Damn y . .you." he growled as the life ebbed away from him. "You are not the one I seek, she . . .she is the other half of Kaiochuru. She is . . .not you?!"
Arashiko watched silently, puzzled by his dying words. Yugure cringed upon the ground and was finally still. The storm had finally quieted and shafts of sunshine peeked through the clouds, illuminating Yugure's body. There were no shadows for him to hide in now. A sunbeam shined down on Arashiko, lighting up her features with sparkling beauty. Arashiko walked up to Yugure's corpse and tore her blade from him. She breathed in the air triumphantly, sable hair blowing out with the last winds of the storm. She looked down on Yugure, her whole being shining with her triumph.
"Even shadows must be true to their shade." she said to his deaf ears.
The words of her brother lifted her spirits high. Now she was truly ready to leave Nameck and walk her own path.
Destiny would have it be so.
* * *
