Catse: Hiyya ya'll! Hehehehe....Chappie numbah twenty here! Yays! And Yays again! I think you'll like this chapter. Things are going to begin getting interesting. Sure it's a little boring with the references and the training, but it all pays off later! Just a clue....Seika gets Yoru back when she tries to take advantage of him like she did before to come in later chapters. Heheheh...Yoru's going to get it! Well, enjoy.
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Disclaimer: See chapter one....
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Kenya sighed as he walked up the stairs to where Seika was sleeping. He had a tray with some food on it, knowing his friend would most likely be starving when he woke.
He had been asleep all night, and half the day, and if he wasn't up yet, Kenya was going to have to wake him.
'What exactly was in that plant anyways?' Whatever it was, maybe Kenya could convince Haku to use it on Yoru. That away she wouldn't have to go with them when they entered through the barrier. To say the least, Kenya was excited.
His first real mission! And he was leader!
They would actually be on their own, without parental guidance, and anything they did would make an effect on the world! It was wonderful.
But he couldn't help but worry that he wouldn't make a good leader.
What if he failed them, or fell to fear in the mission? What if he froze when he needed to act, and left everything to his team?
He couldn't bare the thought of failing anyone, so he hoped that when they went into the field, he would keep alive and brave.
Finally, Kenya walked into Seika's room, to find the boy sitting up at his desk, staring out the window.
"Hey sleepy head. It's noon and Dad wants to start training." Kenya acknowledged cheerfully, setting the tray on the counter.
His friend didn't respond.
"What's up?"
Seika bowed his head, and Kenya thought he noticed a stray tear fall down his cheek.
"His name is Shadow. That bastard your parents killed. He's in my body." Seika replied sadly. "And I have no control of him."
Kenya shrugged and sat on the bed.
"We know already."
Seika glanced up at the other boy with confusion. "You know? Did Shadow tell you?"
"No. Koenma found out for us. He said he was going to look into a way of getting rid of him for you, but no gaurantees. How you feelin'?"
"Fine I guess." Seika admitted. "Only now I feel odd. It's like there's only half of me in here."
"Really? How so?"
"Well...it's sort of like I'm afraid of every move I make, otherwise I'll black out and do something I don't want to do. That kind of feeling."
Kenya nodded. "I would figure. You have a maniac human killing machine trying to take over your body. Any ways, eat quickly. Dad wants to start training right away."
"Why so soon?" Seika replied, taking a hungry bite of his sandwich. It was past lunch, but Kenya was sure Seika would be alright off the food he brought.
"Koenma's decided that he wants us to infiltrate the base if you know what I'm saying. Five hundred children went missing in the last two weeks, so we got to act fast, other wise the number will grow."
"Oh really?" Seika sighed and stared at his food, and then suddenly, a light entered his eyes as a thought struck his mind. "Did we get Arune?"
"Yep. She's in Spirit World right now. Koenma's questioning her. She insists that she hasn't been stealing children, but I think she's lying."
"What did she say?"
"She said that there was someone like her stealing them, and pinning it on her. But I have a feeling she's lying about something in that statement."
"Why do you say that?"
"How can there be another like her? Everything fits. The clothing, the voice, the way she looks, and the attitude is fit for a thief. What else do you need?"
"The fact that she might be at twin to start off with?"
"A twin? That's a little impossible. Archive would have said something about it?"
Seika smiled and took another bite of his sandwich before continuing.
"Not exactly. If you're a twin, you can confuse the system. Say you're born but never recorded as living. The two of you can grow up exactly like the other, and then just commit crimes and escape, one at a time. And then if one gets caught, the other can move in and show the her twin to be a fake. Then, when caught, they register only one, but there are two fooling the system."
"Where'd you learn that?" Kenya inquired, but stopped himself when Seika gave him an idiotic look. "Right. Streets."
Seika finished his sandwich a few bites later, and then the rest of his lunch, before he and Kenya ran down to the house Dojo where Kenya's father was waiting to train them.
When they walked in, Hiei was crouched in a corner of the dojo, his sword before him, looking asleep.
But he wasn't. As soon as his demon ears picked up the vibrations of their entrance, his eyes were open and he was standing, sword in hand.
"Glad you're up." Hiei sarcastically remarked, glaring at Seika.
"Yeah well...The prince has got to get his beauty sleep." Seika replied, throwing his hair as if he were a model of somesort.
"Hn." Hiei replied. Then a moment later, he turned to the two boys and glanced at his son. "Kenya. Come here please."
"Yes father." Kenya answered, stepping up.
He watched as his father pulled the Flaming Sword before him, and presented it to his son. "This is for you. You're going to need it when you enter through the field. For the next two days, I want you to master it. There is nothing else I can teach you in this Dojo Kenya. Now, you need to learn to master what you've been taught. Go outside and practice with this weapon, night and day if you must to master and and befriend it. Remember, the Flaming Sword can only be used by those who it accepts. Now go."
Kenya took the sword and felt the weight of it in his hands as if he had been handed a huge bag of heavy riches.
"The...The Flaming Sword is...is mine?"
"Yes." Hiei answered, turning around to find another sword, one of his older ones. "You are old enough and experienced enough. But don't think that because the sword has power, it will protect you."
"I know father. I must make my will the sword's. Then, and only then, will it protect me. We must and will be as one." Kenya bowed to his father and left the room to the backyard, leaving Seika and Hiei alone.
"What about me? What will I do for the time being?" Seika inquired, finding his Wind Dagger amongst the weapon's rack. When Hiei noticed the weapon, he swiped it from the young boys hands and placed it back on the rack.
"You will not need such an easy weapon any longer. The demons you may fight are tricky ones to be under someone such as Lord Rioko. You need something that will be useful. Carrot-top had this made for you. He said it might help you to channel your energies better. I say it's rather unusual in the way he described it's use, but if it works, use it."
Hiei handed Seika a long pole, thin and finely carved with the emblem of lightning along the sides, with what looked like tigers emersed in the electricity. It was hollow at the ends, leaving a space for something to fit, but Seika wasn't sure what, and it had a silver handle directly at the middle that fit his hands perfectly. It was a fighting staff, and a damn good one at that.
"Where'd Kuwabara get it?" He inquired, staring at it.
"Carrot-top may be a duffus, but he has his ways of making friends in good places. That's a demon staff, made by an old buddy of his he met while being a detective. One of those times you find someone you get along with rather well. They were both idiots. Only Carrot-top uses the weapons, and the other guy makes them."
"Oh...How precisely am I supposed to use this? What are the holes at the ends for?"
Hiei smiled and turned to his young pupil. "Channel your energy and see what happens. Don't be a coward."
Seika nodded and forced a bit of his energy into the weapon, waiting for what might happen. Amazingly, the silver handle was like a conductor, and Seika's eyes widened in amazement as his energy flowed freely through the carvings of the lightning along the staff, and then formed a tiny spirit blade at either end.
It was a staff that used his energy as spears!
"Awesome!" Seika shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to fight with it as best he could. He made a few mistakes, considering it was longer than his usual swords, but because his energy was in it, he couldn't really hurt himself.
"Now Seika, I am going to teach you how to work with that. It's similar to a sword, in that it has blades, but there are certain things you must fix in your stance if you ever want to defeat an opponent with a weapon like that."
After two hours of long training with the staff, and mastering several stances and moves with it, Seika was ready to test his hard work out.
When he mentioned it to Hiei, his sensei nodded and took up his sword, taking one of the stances he had taught Seika a while back.
"Either you attack or I attack. Take your pick." Hiei replied, glaring as he usually did. It wasn't that he hated anybody, it was just that years of glaring madly at other demons to scare them off had left a habit on Hiei's face. He glared almost all the time now.
"You attack."
"Sure?"
"Sure."
"Hn."
In a second, Hiei was gone, leaving a bare shadow where he had once been.
Seika put his spirit awareness to use, scanning out where Hiei would be before he ever reached the spot. Frightening as it was though, before he was knocked out, he could only sense the opponent if they were close. Now, Hiei was all over the Dojo, and Seika was pinpointing his every move.
It just had to be something that Shadow had done to his body. Probably increased his abilities as well.
There was only one way to test that.
Seika snapped around exactly where Hiei had appeared at, and flicked his staff up at the koorime, pausing only when he hit the blade. Then Hiei was on the move again, but this time, so was Seika, wondering what all gifts Shadow had left for him.
He came to find that there was a lot. His speed had increased by almost double, causing him to keep up with Hiei, but just barely, and his senses were so exact that he could get at Hiei before he even struck. His foot work had bettered as well, and his reflexes made him like the wind itself, quick and unpredictable. By the time the session had ended, both Hiei and Seika were exhausted, and neither had landed a good hit on the other.
"You've gotten good Seika. Shadow must be helping you." Hiei remarked, wiping sweat from his forehead, careful not to undo the head band that covered his third eye.
"Yeah. I guess so."
"You still need to work on your weapon coordination. Where you strike. Go out and watch Kenya. You may learn a little on how well to strike."
"Kenya really good with weapons?"
"Hn. You've never seen him fight with a sword in his hand. When he has a weapon, he could out match me any day. He's a worthy foe for any demon, even the S-class, although he hasn't the right amount of Spirit energy yet."
"What do you mean?" Seika inquired, retrieving the energy he had used in the fight. "I thought he had mastered everything."
"Mastered. Yes. Experienced, grown to his limit. No. He thinks he has no farther to go in his training, but what he doesn't realize is that he has a well of spiritual energy he hasn't unleashed yet. He thinks he was meant to have such a low energy level, yet his is larger than mine. Go outside. Kenya could use an audience."
Seika nodded in response and left the Dojo, walking outside to his training friend.
At first, he thought there was no one in the back yard. But as he sat down to relax and cool off from his exersize, he began to notice that the breeze was uneven, and it's breaths were warm, and then cool.
The trees fluttered oddly every once in a while, and the his senses picked up a force moving extremely fast around him, yet he couldn't pinpoint it exactly. Looking before, he noticed that several differently sized boards had been set up, hanging from trees, probably in the last few days. He didn't remember seeing them when Kenya and him had left and found Arune.
Suddenly though, as he stared at those boards, a glint of sliver swiped out of the air and ran right through the wood, running past with as speed that was almost unnoticeable. The glint appeared several more times, slicing through six in a second, and then finishing them all three. Then, before the boards, Kenya skidded to halt, the Flaming Sword glowing in his hands. He sat crouched for a moment, eyes closed as if in a trance, and then, slowly, stood, smiling when he noticed Seika.
"Hey. How'd training go?" He inquired, stepping up.
"Pretty well. Kuwabara sent me a neat staff to work with. How about you? That was a neat display. Were you working on dodging the boards or something?"
"Why do you say that?" Kenya asked, snatching a towel from the outside table in order to wipe his face.
"Well you...." Seika stopped as he watched the boards. Slowly, one the first board, the lower half fell to the ground, shattering into dust when it hit, followed by when the top side of the board desintigrated into several pieces.
The other twelve or so boards followed, landing in the same manner.
Seika was speech less. 'How many times had he sliced them up?'
"This sword works pretty well. It gains speed as it races through the air, meaning it's blade is finely sharpened.
"How...How many times...did you hit those boards?"
"What...the practice blocks? I don't really count, cause I usually loose track of the numbers."
"Well, where do you get to?" Seika couldn't take his eyes off the boards. His first impulse was to walk over and check the saw dust that the boards had become to ensure it wasn't a trick, but he was certain the effects were real.
"Well, last time I tried counting, it came out to a good fifty in the first second. But that was a while ago."
Seika's jaw dropped even lower at the mention of the number. "And here I am thinking I'm doing good because I can keep up with your father."
"You can keep up with Dad? That's impressive in itself. I can't even keep up with him unless I'm lucky or ticked. You must be doing pretty good for yourself eh?"
Seika nodded. "Yeah...good for myself. I'd be doing excellent if I could grind up boards like that."
"Yeah well...that's part of my only talent. Using weapons. Other than that, I'm not that strong."
"What weapons have you mastered?" Seika inquired, handing Kenya his staff when he notioned for it.
Kenya answered as he looked at the craftsmanship of the weapon.
"All the ones in Dad's dojo, except for this one of course, but that's because I never got to use it before. Here." Kenya handed the staff back and smiled. "Kuwabara got you a good one. It's perfectly weighted. I gather your energy comes out the ends."
Seika nodded. "Sure does. So, where to next?"
Kenya sighed as he thought. "Actually, I told everyone we should meet up at Genkai's temple to train together. Get a feel for what powers we have. I already called Katai and Haku while you were sleeping. We shouldn't get any trouble from Yoru and her gang."
"Right. When we going?"
"When we can leave here of course. Give me a minute to tell Dad."
"Sure. Give me a minute to feed Niko and I'll be ready."
The two boys split up to finish what they needed to do, and then left the house together, heading to Genkai's temple in order to train for a short while in the company of their friends.
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Catse: There you go. What do you think? Neat eh? Seika's becoming pretty powerful...but Kenya's also got his skills. Next chapter to come will have a sort of tournament before them all, but, will Seika remain himself, or let Shadow out to do the talking for him? You're going to have to find out next Friday! So please review! Oh...and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and eat plenty of Turkey! Ja Ne for now!
