Chapter Two: Changing Perspectives
Dark…dark…I can't see anything…can't move…I hear voices…shouting…what are they saying? I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. My eyes are open...it's still dark...what the hell happened? ........ Am I dead?!?! I blinked. The voices were getting louder... My back started burning with pain...not like a cut, I know what one of those felt like, but...more like I was cut with Mikagami's ice sword... Burning from cold... Like that made any damn sense... I tried to move my body, and it responded sluggishly. The pain started melting away, slowly at first, but it increased in speed, and my eyes started blurring back into reality.
"Koganei!!!"
"Kaoru-kun!!!"
"Ko-chan!!!"
Blurry faces became faces of my childhood friends.... Recca, Yanagi, Domon, Fuuko, Mikagami. Yanagi had her hands hovering above my stomach, where the blood stain had leaked through my black shirt, and dyed my white shirt crimson. Her eyes were watery and tears had leaked down her face. Blood diluted by tears.
"Kaoru-kun...I...I'm so glad, you're okay..." Yanagi said, sniffing. Recca poised above her looking down on me. There was relief in his eyes...but not only because of my miraculous recovery. He's happy I took the blade instead of his hime... I gave her my fanged grin and slowly sat up, wincing at the still sore once-wounds. Damn...what the hell was that...it looked like a shadow...but shadows can't hurt you...can't damn stab into you... Domon knelt down and held his hand out, and when I took it he yanked me up, practically dislocating my shoulder. Damn!! That freaking hurt....I get hurt from help more than in fights... I stood up blinking, my body swaying back and forth.
"Arigatou Yanagi-nechan." I said, grinning at her. I touched the blood stain on the shirt wincing from an unfeeling pain. Yanagi kept her head down, her bangs hiding her eyes from me, and walked closer to me. She put her hands on my chest and looked up, tears still in her eyes.
"I'm sorry....Kaoru-kun..." she mumbled to me, meeting my eyes for a brief moment. I blinked.
"Ahh Yanagi-nechan, I'm fine remember? You healed me!" At least somebody appreciates that I saved her....everyone expects me to save her and then be all fine with it… I looked up at the faces of my friends, they were all watching Yanagi.
"Hime…" Recca said, putting his hand tentatively on her shoulder. She looked up and leaned against him. I blinked. Before…I didn't…I didn't think that it was expected of me as one of the Hokage to protect Yanagi. I just did it unthinkingly. I looked at their faces once again, crowding around Yanagi, telling her it was okay.
"Don't worry about Koganei!" Domon said, patting her on the head. She looked up and wiped her eyes. "He's used to being beaten up, right?" He looked back and grinned.
"Uh…yah." I said, looking down at the blood stain on my shirt. I blinked, looking up at the shattered window. Forgot about him…has he been watching Yanagi? A piece of paper fluttered down to land softly on the floor. Fuuko went to pick it up, her eyes widening as she read whatever was written on it. Wordlessly, she handed the paper to me. What's with your look, Recca? Guess…I was elected to read it to him… I glared beneath my bangs at Fuuko.
"Hokage, or should I say the protectors of the girl of healing? You're probably thinking that I'm some psycho out to take over the world, like Mori Koran was, am I right? And to do so I need Sakoshita's powers to keep me alive for eternity? Can't believe you're so unimaginative…" I paused, looking up at Recca, who was clutching his fist tightly, a vein standing out in his forehead.
"Keep on reading." He muttered. Watching his face, I could read his emotions easily. If he's irritated by these childish taunts, he hasn't changed, gets too emotional too quickly. I cleared my throat.
"All of you have become too lax in your training. I would guess that all of you do not have the same powers that you had before. For example Kirisawa Fuuko, you only have one spare crystal on the Fuujin. Once you use that, you're just a powerless college girl, am I right? No, you still have those ice picks that you can throw, other than that your power's diminished drastically." How does he know this… no way, he was in the Urabutosatojin?? If he watched all our fights he could know our strengths and weaknesses… Fuuko punched the floor, looking at the empty crevasse, where the main orb of the fuujin would fit.
"Fuuko…" Domon said, looking at her.
"Ishijima Domon, you haven't been practicing with the kuchibashi, probably forgotten how to use it. Sitting in a closet collecting dust, that wasn't what the madougus were for…" I mumbled the rest of the sentence, looking guiltily at kougon anki that lay beside me. When I was with Kurei and during the Urabutosatojin kougon anki was with me all the time…lying beside me, ready to protect me… Mikagami walked over to me, plucked the sheet from my hands and began to read it.
"Moving on to the next member of Hokage. Koganei Kaoru, isn't it? You've become separated from the rest of Hokage when you moved. It's too bad you didn't stay out of this; you could have stayed in your depression. I should have killed you, I suppose, before you had the chance to hook up with Hanabishi. In some ways…you're still able to fight, but with your fists, you haven't brought kougon anki with you. I guess it would be a bit ostentatious if you went around slashing people with that… I'm getting sidetracked aren't I? Mikagami Tokiya, you don't change, carrying around the ensui everywhere you go." Mikagami paused and put his hand in his pocket, and, as if he felt something comforting in there, took his hand out again and continued reading. "The ensui isn't a replacement for your sister. Carrying it around won't keep her with you; you do know that, don't you?" Recca jumped up suddenly.
"Can't he fucking get on with it?!" he shouted, baring his fangs. "What the hell is the point of this damn letter!?" Mikagami looked up slightly at Recca, and then looked down again.
"It's nearly over." Mikagami said, and passed it to Recca. Recca's eyes widened.
"Do the flame dragons listen to you anymore? That would be unfortunate, wouldn't it, Recca? If you tried to summon Saiha, and he came out and burnt you, going out of control like he did with your fight with Saicho." A smirk appeared on Recca's face. "Do you think that this is enough insulting? You all are probably angry enough now, to fully comprehend how I feel. You were waiting for this, weren't you Recca?
Depending on your madougus, you did not try to improve yourselves, but just to gain the ability to use the madougu you were given. The madougus disrupt normal life, going to school as a teenager, homework, classes, and teachers. The Urabutosatojin was made to collect the girl of healing, to collect all the madougus of the losers. Madougu are killing devices, and to collect them people killed, fought, won and lost the fight for life. They've hurt more than they've helped. They should not exist. With my madougu, the shadow, I will destroy all of the madougus. Sakoshita also disrupted normal lives, all of yours, I'll do you all a favor, and kill her after I destroy your madougus."
TBC
I took a long time to write this…gomen… I was lazy… This chapter was supposed to introduce the bad guy and show how Koganei sees how he's changed, before he always protected Yanagi without thinking…and shows how he isn't a kid anymore, but still the Hokage see him as the same… Review!