Chapter V: The Seed
"What the--- Ginji!" Ban broke free from the barrier and jumped to where his partner was. He managed to carry him off from where he was lying down just in time. Half a second later, bolts of lightning struck the area where Ginji laid a second before. He put Ginji down and looked for the source of the attack. He set his eyes on the boy whose fingertips were still smoking due to the attack he made. Only then did Ban realize what his mismatched eyes meant.
"You see Mido," started Isan. "why the third curse is a fake? Ayo said I was the last Eclextia to come after him. But you can clearly see that I have my dear son standing here, protecting me from traitors just like you."
For the first time in Ban's life, he felt fear… Fear that he could not explain. Maybe it was the effect of the jagan but still, he was fearful… he feared not Isan, but her son… his evil counterpart.
"I thought… the race of the Red Jagan had been completely eliminated… years ago?"
"Yes Mido," answered Isan. "But the hatred your ancestors has inflicted upon us has been the source of our continued life in this land. Anger, hatred, pride, and jealousy, are just some of the food our race has been feeding on ever since. I have successfully done that to my boy, Ikari. His father was of your clan, the Blue Jagan, meaning he is taboo. Taboo children make better and more powerful allies, Mido Ban."
"You're lying… Hell, everything's a lie…" whispered Ban. He now knew the reason why this woman had set her eyes lovingly on him. Another thing was, he didn't know this kid was alive. "That's just a living imitation of me Eclextia… You and I know very well that a son or daughter of a Blue and Red Jagan heir should never exist. It'll cause chaos in the whole race of humanity. For everyone's sake, stop playing your games!"
"No one's telling me to stop," answered Isan. "This is no game Mido. Ikari will take my place in this system. You think you've destroyed everything but you're wrong. You think that this boy here is a clone. You're wrong again because it's the real thing. So tell me Mido, when will you ever be right?"
Isan laughed her mirthless laugh again and as she did, a violet aura encircled the two Eclextias. Bombs were finally dropping everywhere, destroying everything except, coincidentally, for the four people inside the building. A strong wind was coming from the dark aura emitted by the boy named Ikari. Ban was covering Ginji who was barely breathing.
"Hold on partner," muttered Ban to the half-conscious Ginji. "Everything's almost over."
"Nothing's over yet Mido!" cried Isan from the other side. "You still haven't tasted anything my dear. Revenge is yet to come… and it'll be sweeter than ever especially when your loved ones are involved. And oh, please do say thank you to your partner. His powers came in handy, especially to Ikari here. Before I forget, tell Raitei when he awakens, if he wants his boy back… he must see me at the old manor near the seashore of Kanashi."
With that, there was a flash of violet-turned-black aura and the two disappeared, leaving Ban in confused thoughts. Boy? What is this woman talking about?
Ban shrugged off the idea and looked at his partner who was taking deep breaths.
"Now, we got to get out of here or it'll be a terrible mess," said Ban to himself and to his now unconscious partner. Ban carried Ginji on his back and whispered to him, "Your life's greatest joy ride is about to take place… Brace yourself Ginji!"
There was a great bang, as one of Shido's final explosives took effect. The building was slowly breaking down, giving Ban less than a minute to get out of the place and save his partner and himself.
After evading several falling debris that could've killed them both, they arrived at the main gate where Ban had promised Himiko at least an hour ago that he'll make it out alive. He tried to push the gate open but it was jammed for the debris of the building had fallen on the other side, blocking the way of the gate.
"Damn this thing," muttered Ban. "If I use snake bite right now, we might as well commit suicide. And I can't risk that." I'd never hope to get out alive in this building if it weren't for you Ginji. I just hate to see you suffer and you know that. God knows that…
"Ban…chan?"
"Hold on a sec partner, I smell something… is that you? I didn't know you were using a sweet perfume."
"It-it's not me Ban-chan," answered Ginji softly, eyes still shut.
"Oh well, maybe it's that Isan. Anyway, we're leaving this place," muttered Ban. "Just let me do my stuff."
"Thanks Ban."
At that same moment, a raven perched on the shoulder of Ban cawing madly. It stuck out is leg as though waiting for Ban to get something.
"You!" said Ban, surprised. "You're one of Shido's pets. Great timing, what are you bringing us?... Oh a rolled note? Fold this piece of paper Mido if you're still alive… Well I am…"
Ban folded the note and handed it over to the raven which flew off immediately after having received his answer. He moved closer to the wall supporting the gate to take cover from the debris while he covered Ginji's head with his right hand. He looked at him and saw that he was again unconscious.
"Now, the only thing we can do is to pray for the best Ginji," muttered Ban. "And hope that it gets safely to its owner."
No… this can't be… Kai-kun…? This is all my fault…
Before his eyes, he saw Kaisshin's body slowly fall in a graceful arc towards the ground. He could swear he saw her smile at him and heard her say "Ojisan" ,before she closed her eyes. He knelt down to catch her before she hit the ground. Two arrows had struck her abdomen, making her lose consciousness at once.
Kadsuki, who was stunned let go of the string that bound Rinube allowing him to move totally.
"Kai-kun? Kai-kun? Wake up… please… your uncle's here… He's not leaving anymore…"
A small tear trickled down from Kaisshin's eye and Rinube wiped it right away with his left hand.
Kadsuki moved closer, bent down and removed the hair covering half of the girl's face. He saw that though without consciousness, a smile was painted on her face.
"We need to get her out of here," said Kadsuki. "She can still be saved. I know someone who can help her. For now, use this."
He withdrew a blue knife from his pocket and handed it over to him. He helped him remove one of the arrows from her stomach, afterwards, they then plunged the blue knife in the open wound.
"Will this help?" asked Rinube, in a worried tone.
"For now, I think it will," replied Kadsuki. "I've seen my friend use it this way in cases like this before. Just wait here, I'll find him before it gets too late."
Kadsuki stood up but before he could, Rinube held his arm and nodded.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I… I did not know everything about Eclextia… that this'll… this'll happen…"
Kadsuki made a little smile and nodded in return while taking his arm back.
"No one knows this will happen, my friend," replied Kadsuki. "I need to hurry… for Kaisshin-san." He left Rinube with Kaisshin in his arms.
"Are you still hoping he'll come back?" asked Akabane who was leaning on the tree near the Western Wing of the System which was now totally burned down.
"He said he will," answered Himiko. "And if he said he will---"
"---he will," continued Shido while looking far away. "It must be your lucky day Poison Lady, Win is back."
Himiko and Akabane simultaneously looked up and saw the raven Shido sent descend on his arm. He removed the piece of paper from his foot and showed it to them.
"Folded," said Shido. "He's alive. Win, is he still inside the building? How about boss?"
The raven cawed twice and Shido looked seriously at the two. "He said yes. Raitei and Ban are still inside."
"Then we have to go," said Himiko urgently. "There's no time to lose. They need our help."
Himiko started to run towards the building where Ban and Ginji were. She didn't even bother to see if the two have followed her.
"But we don't know where to find him, Lady Poison" said Dr. Jackal, keeping up with her. "That building's ablaze and it'll take us at least an hour before we can search the whole place for them."
"No need to search for them," replied Himiko. She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "He's behind the main gate, I'm sure. That's where we parted and where he promised."
"Are you sure?" asked Dr. Jackal who now drew out his neon knives in case of emergency or surprise attacks.
"Well if not," began Himiko. "I made sure not to lose him so before we got separated on the gate, I've poured on his lower back some tracking scent Mr. Doubter. It's a sweet smelling one, and it's bound to be revealed when fire gets near the victim. Let's just hope that he isn't starting to get a whiff of the scent yet."
The three ran for almost ten minutes and Shido, who looked at Himiko every now and then, saw that the longer they ran, the more worried her face became.
"Hey," asked Shido who was now breathing hard. "You ok? You seem so worried. Don't worry too much it's getting on you already. Mido's a tough guy just like boss. He's not about to be buried in there."
Himiko smiled at Shido then looked back in front. "Thanks for your concern. I'm not really worried. It's just that, I can't forgive myself if we don't get there on time."
"It means you're still worried," said Shido.
"Well… maybe… I guess so," replied Himiko grimly. She looked at her Tracking perfume and saw that it was coming from the main gate. They were going in the right direction.
"We're here," said Akabane, shifting the slit on his hat to take a clearer look of the place.
"This place's a mess," said Shido who tried to get a bomb lighted. "And those two are still in there? Honestly Himiko, we're lucky if they still aren't crushed."
"No! Don't use that," said Himiko, blocking the bomb from being thrown and walking towards the gate. "Ban wouldn't want to be blown to pieces you know! Besides, he has his snake bite. And he hasn't tried using it yet so I bet he knows he'll be risking their lives if he uses it to get out."
The three, led by Himiko, went near the gate and tried to evade the falling debris. The Poison Lady placed the scent near the gate and saw that it was changing color: from red to light blue, signifying that its victim is just nearby.
"Ban! Ban! Are you still ok?" asked Himiko. She placed her ear on the gate and heard crashes of building parts inside. "Answer me! Ban…!"
Ban who was busy shielding himself and his partner from the falling ceiling had a hard time to answer back. "Ye—damn this--- yeah we're here! Can you help--- t ---aargh--!"
"BAN!" cried Himiko while searching for the right perfume to use. "Please hold on, just another second…"
"What happened?" asked Shido who was busy keeping enemies off Himiko. "Is he --- get off you! --- done for?"
"Stop being so happy Beastmaster," said Akabane while finishing 5 enemies at once with his bloody sword.
"We're fine!" answered Ban from the other side. "Just had a difficult time blocking a big one. Hurry now! Ginji needs some oxygen."
Ban saw how hard his partner was breathing. Though he himself was unscathed, he felt difficulty in breathing already so he knew they should get out of that place. It was now… or never…
"Found it!" exclaimed Himiko. "Ban, can you try to get away from the wall for just about half a minute…no… just 10 seconds? This Dissolving scent might burn a hole in your back if you don't. And oh, don't breathe. It's burning smell can damage 60 of your lungs."
"How about Ginji?"
"It doesn't matter," said Himiko. "It only affects conscious people. So don't worry about him."
Ban thought for a moment. If they would, he wouldn't be able to cover both of them from the falling wreckage. And it was hard to get hit while not breathing at the same time.
"Sure," Ban answered back. "A little sacrifice will do." If it's for Ginji, here.
"When I say now, get away from the gate wall, got it?" asked Himiko.
"Yeah, just do it…" replied Ban.
Well, here goes nothing… "NOW!" Himiko said while pouring half of the contents of the bottle. Akabane and Shido looked around and saw the liquid burning a hole right through the seven-inch thick wall.
When they were able to get a view of how it looked like inside, what they saw almost gave them a heart attack. Ban was kneeling over Ginji and he was using his back to protect him from the falling debris. His left hand was on his head while his right hand, he used to cast snake bite on the too-big ones.
"Oh no! Ban!" cried Himiko. "Common, let's get them out!"
Himiko helped Akabane carry Ban, who was almost unconscious, and Shido carried Ginji out before the building totally collapsed.
"We have to get cover! That thing's gonna blow up!" shouted Shido through the noise. He was looking for a good spot when they heard Kadsuki shout from the woods.
"Here guys! Hurry!" he said while going out of the woods to help Shido with Ginji. They were able to get deep inside the woods before the building blew totally leaving the place with nothing but burning wreckage and heaps of ash.
Kadsuki led them deeper into the woods until they saw three people settled around a fire. One was tending the second while the third was holding the hand of the person being tended.
Shido recognized the two at once as Jubei and Kaisshin but he did not know the person who was holding the hand of Kaisshin.
The four laid Ban and Ginji near the fire and then helped one another to tend the wounds of the two. Kadsuki stood up and approached Jubei who was now bandaging Kaisshin's injuries.
"Is she going to be alright?" asked the Thread master to his colleague.
"Yes…" answered Jubei. "I've managed to clean her wounds. Good thing the arrows used were not rusty so it was easy for me to tidy her up."
"That's great then," said Kadsuki. "Rinube, you don't have to worry about anything anymore."
"But he said," muttered Rinube weakly. "He said to me, when you went to get your friends, that there's nothing more he can do."
"She's safe, Jubei said," replied Kadsuki who squatted beside the man. "He said she's going to be alright… right… Jubei?"
Kadsuki's voice trailed off as Jubei showed him a black seed dripping with Kaisshin's blood. He gave it to Kadsuki who reluctantly accepted it. He took a look closer on the seed and saw a word engraved on it. His eyes widened with shock.
"This can't be…" whispered Kadsuki. "The Kurushii seed… no one in this world has this kind of seed anymore."
"I know," replied Jubei. "We made sure of that before, didn't we?"
Kadsuki nodded and put the seed on the ground before picking it up again. He threw it in the fire but the seed remained unburned. The three saw the seed emit a violet shield, protecting itself from being licked by the flames. Kadsuki used his string to get it out of the fire and thrust it on the soil. He looked at Rinube who was clasping his forehead with his right hand. He can hear him cursing under his breath. He stared at him for sometime before he looked back again at the fire.
"I'll leave you for a moment," said Jubei, breaking the silence. "I need to see Mido and Raitei and check how they are."
Kadsuki nodded without looking at him. He reattached his bell on his hair and breathed hard before pulling out the seed from the soil and stared hard at Rinube.
"Tell me, how did you get hold of this seed?" asked Kadsuki in a soft voice but with a note of disappointment and anger. "Did Eclextia give you this?"
Rinube didn't answer but continued to rub his forehead. Without warning, he thrust his fist in the soil while tears were silently streaming down his face. Kadsuki sighed and covered the seed with his handkerchief before pocketing it.
"I'm… I'm not blaming you," muttered Kadsuki, whose hands were around his knees. "I just want to know how come you have this forbidden seed."
Rinube wiped his face with his sleeve and started talking to Kadsuki, his eyes glued on the fire crackling before them.
"She gave it to me months ago. She said that I could use it to protect myself whenever danger comes. I entrusted it to my best officer when I plunged in this battle without knowing what kind of power it contains."
Kadsuki thought for a moment before answering his explanation. He again brought out the seed and placed it between him and Rinube.
"This seed is from a poisonous plant which was banned from Mugen City years ago. This poisonous plant has the ability to kill a person within a few hours. It has no cure, up to now. The scientists weren't able to make an in-depth examination on the source of the plant's capability because it was destroyed before they could get samples to observe and experiment on."
"How was it destroyed?" asked Rinube whose eyes were now on Kaisshin.
"VOLTS had it destroyed," replied Kadsuki. "We didn't let the scientists take a deeper look on the other capabilities of the plant because… this sounds stupid, but… we didn't trust them."
"You didn't? How come?" asked the man incredulously.
"You still haven't learn anything in Mugenjyou, haven't you?" answered Kadsuki with a laugh. "No one can be trusted in that place. Not everyone who works for you is really loyal to you. You never know who'll double cross you sooner or later so it was hard to entrust dangerous stuff like this to people whom you rarely see and work with."
"Let's go back," said a voice behind Kadsuki and Rinube. "What makes the seed forbidden anyway?"
The two looked around and saw the owner of the voice. It was Ban, in a sitting position with his hand placed over his left shoulder, feeling the wounds caused by Akabane's knives and the falling debris.
"You shouldn't get up yet," said Jubei who tried to stop him. "You'll be opening up your wounds."
"Quit it doc," replied Ban while taking his cigarette and lighter from his pocket. "I know my body better than anyone else and it's starting to complain about backache from lying down."
Kadsuki smiled and took the seed in front of them. He raised it up and let the moonlight shine on it.
"It's cursed," replied Kadsuki with a shrug. "It's a seed that wasn't supposed to exist in the first place."
"I've heard enough about curses this day to last me a life time but I want to know something," said Ban who was now smoking his cigarette. "So, it wasn't supposed to exist right? How come it exists then? I mean, let's get things a little bit clearer. How did it exist in the first place, thread boy?"
"This is not a naturally made seed," started Kadsuki. "The poisonous plant was the result of a failed experiment years back, when VOLTS was still at its peak. Ban, did you know that taboo blood has the ability to produce anything, out of nothing?"
"I… wait a minute, you're not talking about the jagan clans… our jagan clans?"
"Your jagan clan, to be specific Ban," said Kadsuki whose eyebrows were starting to meet at the center. "Eclextia, for an unexplained reason, is a daughter of the red jagan clan. I bet you didn't know that, did you?"
"I know that one," replied Ban. "Isan told me about it an hour ago."
"And she married someone, I doubt if they got married, but that man from a blue jagan clan was the reason this seed came into existence. Eclextia bore a son to that man. His name is---"
"—Ikari," supplied Ban. "I'm right, am I not? And it was that boy who created that seed. I should've known…"
"You're right," answered Kadsuki. "Before the seed came into existence, Ikari used the exotic plants being taken cared of his mother to produce it. Even a seed needs to come from a plant, right? And so, the only way to save Kaisshin is to get rid of this seed."
"So," whispered Rinube, who was now holding Kaisshin's hand. "There's still hope for Kai-kun?"
"There is," replied Kadsuki but with a grim smile. "However we have to do it as soon as possible. And destroying this seed is no easy task. We will need to have its creator in our hands, for only the person who made it has the ability to destroy it."
To be continued…