"…" – Character talking
'…' – Character thinking
Italics - singing
Chapter Five: Daily In My Sin …
Later That Night
Seta and Derrick took Keitaro to the excavation site so that he could set up camp. With some good fortune, they were able to find some clothes for the new assistant, since Keitaro left Japan without any other personal items. While Seta got a tent set up, Keitaro went with Derrick into the nearby town and the church that Derrick was staying in to see if he had some items for the ronin to borrow. As they entered into the room, Keitaro begins to notice some of the items in the room. The guitar case in the corner caught his attention first.
"You play a lot?"
"Whenever I get enough free time, yes. I actually took up songwriting after my grandpa died. It helped give me some emotional relief." Derrick said half-heartedly. 'Not enough though. That was when the demons began to weaken my soul and get me in this predicament.'
"Think you could play me a song or two."
"Not right now. The rest of the people working at this church are asleep and get pretty irritable when their sleep is disturbed. If we have enough time after work tomorrow, I'll bring my guitar over to the campsite and play a tune." Derrick said as he removed the sword and prepared to set it down on the floor. His progress, however, was halted when Keitaro grabbed the handle of the sword and removed it from its sheath.
"Were did you get this thing from?" Keitaro asked while he began to wield the sword and execute a few slashes. Derrick was completely stunned by the perfection of Keitaro's swings, albeit with some effort due to the sword's weight.
"It was a gift from my master. I've studied martial arts for a few years now and it was a gift from him after the completion of my training. You seem to have an untapped fighting ability judging by your technique."
"Yeah. My family practices a unique form of martial arts. I tried to master it at one time, but quit at an early age. Plus, I happened to memorize some sword fighting techniques after being on the receiving end of so many of them."
"Let me guess. Motoko." Derrick's statement caused Keitaro to go into a state of shock.
"H-How did you …?"
"When you were getting cleaned up at the campsite, Seta gave me a little background info on you. This Motoko girl happened to be a master swordfighter, if I'm not mistaken." Derrick spoke, while in is head, he thought 'It didn't hurt that I spied on every aspect of this guy's life for about 2 months either.' "It seems like that crowd at Hinata Sou is something else."
"No kidding. It's really something I don't want to talk about right now. I was thrown head first into a piranha pond by my grandma when she made me manager of that place. I would go to the ends of the Earth for those girls and they hate me for the slightest mishap on my part." Keitaro looked at the ground in dejection. "Well, it's getting late. I need to get back to the campsite. See you in the morning." Keitaro's exit from the room is cut off by the sound of Derrick's voice.
"Hey Keitaro. I really think you're wrong about those girls. Hate is a very strong emotion for one human to have against another. It destroys life and yet you're still here. I believe that deep inside, those girls have a spot in their hearts that care for you deeply. It just takes some time for it to show."
A faint smile cracks Keitaro's lips as those words leave the Dark Angel's lips. "Maybe, maybe not. Even at this moment, I can't help but think about how they're doing right now." Keitaro responds as he exits the room.
Alone now, Derrick powers down to conserve some of his Super Saiyan energy so he could continue to keep the disguise up later on. As he lies down on the bed, he reaches under it to grab is black Western hat. After he mumbles a prayer, Derrick places the hat over his eyes and begins to drift to sleep.
The Previous Day – Hinata Sou
The last ten days at Hinata Sou have felt like a funeral for the girls. Ever since the day of the Tokyo U. entrance exam and Keitaro's disappearance, the girls' efforts to find him have turned up no results. Keitaro hasn't contacted anyone, including Haruka, which depressed the girls even more. Shinobu spent much of her time crying the privacy of her room. Motoko, who had only the faintest idea of the manager's whereabouts, couldn't concentrate on any of her training. Su and Sarah were visibly devoid of their usual energy. Kitsune seemed to take more solace in her bottles of whiskey and sake. Mutsumi tried to maintain her same dizzy, clumsy demeanor, but the sorrow in her heart was beginning to show through. Naru just sat on her futon clutching her Liddo-Kun doll while staring at the workbooks that she and Keitaro had spent so many nights working on. 'Why did he leave like this? Everyday, I expect that board over the hole to shift and see Keitaro pop through.' Naru finally decided to stop sulking and see if anything in his room would provide any answers.
As Naru dropped through the hole into Keitaro's room, she made a beeline to his desk and, more importantly, to his diary hidden in the top drawer. As she sat down at the desk and begin to thumb through the pages, she began to notice an odd pattern. There were some dark, cryptic entries scattered in the diary. As the diary progressed, more of these entries began to occur at greater frequency. Some of the pages were smeared with a dark red substance. As Naru's thoughts raced at the discovery of these dark reflections of Keitaro's feelings, something else in the desk drawer caught her attention: a knife with the same red substance dried on the blade. As Naru held both objects in her hands and wandered around the room in a daze, she began to think about that one night two months ago when she spotted an open cut on Keitaro's wrist. Everything suddenly added up in Naru's head and she was unable to hold her emotions in anymore.
"DEAR GOD, NO!" Naru's scream pierced every room in Hinata Sou. The rest of the girls rushed to Keitaro's room and opened the door to discover Naru crying uncontrollably, holding two objects in her hands.
"Naru, what's wrong with you girl?" Kitsune asked while wrapping her arms around her best friend in an attempt to comfort Naru.
"Naru, what's that you're holding?" Mutsumi asked with a concerned look on her face.
Knowing that she couldn't hide them now, Naru held out the blood stained items for the rest of the girls to see. As the rest of the girls drew up the same conclusions that Naru did, they immediately began to deny that Keitaro wasn't capable of doing this. "He just couldn't do this! He would never inflict himself like!"
"He would and, obviously, he did." This snapped the girls out of their panic long enough for them to notice Haruka standing in the doorway of the room.
"Why would Sempai do this to himself!" Shinobu asked, crying enough tears to put Noah's Flood to shame.
Haruka took a long drag from her cigarette before she began her spill. "He did it as a form of relief. He has spent most of his life trying to fulfill a promise that has caused him much grief from others, including his own family. Then, after he moved here, most of your actions gave the feeling that you all hated him. He knew that wasn't true, but every once in a while, his mind would convince him otherwise. Those cuts and dark entries in his diary ended up being his only solace from the pain." All of the girls stared at the floor in sorrow for a few seconds before Naru broke the silence.
"Baka, why couldn't he just be honest with us! Whenever I get my hands on him …"
"Shut up, Naru! This situation is more serious than you or anyone else in here can comprehend!"
Everyone in the room turned and gave a surprised look at Motoko. It was time she shared with them what she knew.
"Does everyone remember that night when Urashima ran away and we encountered that person in the park?" Everyone, minus Haruka, nodded in agreement. "Well, that person is a heavenly spirit assigned to watch over Keitaro. He shared with me everything that he knew about this situation. Keitaro is in a supernatural fight for his survival. Demons have corrupted a spiritual test designed to strengthen Keitaro's soul, causing the possibility for a dark fate to befall Urashima. This spirit promised me that he would help return Urashima to his original destiny in life." All of the girls were dumbfounded by Motoko's revelation.
"Wait a minute! How could that spirit be concerned about Keitaro at all! He kept us from trying to find him, scared the shit out of us with that paranormal show, and then beat you up!" Kitsune blurted out in a drunken slur.
"He did it to protect Urashima. That spirit believed that Urashima needed some time to sort things out and feared that our presence would be detrimental. Besides, he won't let anything happen to Keitaro."
"Why! What makes you believe that!" Mutsumi asked in a tearful, shaky voice.
"That spirit is a Dark Angel, a spirit who must cleanse his or her soul by helping a person on Earth who is suffering through a similar plight. This spirit's afterlife depends on Keitaro overcoming the darkness in his soul, so he will do his absolute best to help Urashima." Motoko said a calm voice.
"I sure hope that Keitaro will be alright." Su and Sara stated in a hopeful, yet sad, tone.
"So do I, you two. You all know that when he returns, we must make amends." Everyone nodded in response to Motoko's statement.
'Keitaro, please be alright,' Naru's mind pleaded.
During this entire time, Gabriel had been keeping watch at Hinata Sou for Derrick. The archangel had taken upon himself to scan the deepest, most private thoughts and memories of the girls to find out their true feelings toward Keitaro. 'These should come in handy in case Derrick needs to use them.' he thought while continuing to collect images.
Keitaro's First Day on the Job
Keitaro had to wake up bright and early as his first day at the excavation site. After Seta prepared some breakfast for the group, the two were later joined by Derrick, who had returned to his disguise state. Seta laid out the instructions for the day: Keitaro was to dig an experimental cave to start out with and Derrick was going to help him out, since he was still new to the job himself.
"Any questions you two?" Both of the new assistants didn't have any, so Seta gave them some digging tools and they got to work.
After digging for some time, both Keitaro and Derrick decided to share their life stories. Derrick began with a planned out story that centered around some problems back home that caused him to leave for a while. He claimed that he met a group of missionaries who were getting ready to head to Pararakerusu and decided to join them. Once he arrived, he found out that the missionaries really didn't have any work for him to do. That's when he came across the archeology dig and volunteered to help Seta.
"Well now it's your turn Keitaro. What's a young urbanite like you doing in a rugged little setting like this?"
"Well, if you must pry Derrick."
"Oh, I must, I must."
Now it was Keitaro's turn to retell his life's story to the Dark Angel. He told him about his plight to enter Toudai that was caused by his childhood promise, his life (and numerous near-death experiences) at Hinata Sou, and the events that led to him being at Pararakelse. He even told Derrick about his past involvements with Seta. After Keitaro shared this little bit of dirt with him, Derrick couldn't resist the urge of some good-natured ribbing.
"I see what you're plan is now Keitaro. You're going to attack Seta and bury him in this hole for trying to steal your chick."
"Well, the thought has crossed my mind once or twice … Wait a minute! Narusegawa and I aren't involved like that at all! Sure, she's really cute and all that but she wants to kill me half the time over some little mishap! Were only friends and that's it!" Keitaro's adamant denials only fueled Derrick's remarks some more.
"Even if you two are just friends, Keitaro, that doesn't rule out any extracurricular activities with her. Same thing goes with that Mutsumi girl that you told me about. I can't even begin to imagine what happens when you're alone with both of them, you little devil." Keitaro dropped his shovel and slaps his hands over his nose in response to Derrick's statements.
"I'm only friends with them! The only that happens when I'm alone with those two is studying!"
"Studying? Oh, so that's what they call it these days." Derrick was able to stop laughing long enough to see blood trickling out between Keitaro's fingers as he desperately tried to stop the nosebleed brought on by his comments. "Alright Keitaro, I'm messing with ya. Now quit bleeding and clean that mess up." he blurted out as he tossed Keitaro a canteen of water and a towel.
As Keitaro finished cleaning up, he couldn't help but smile about what had just transpired. "With those comments, you seemed to be a clone of Kitsune. The only thing separating you two is a set of boobs and a constant state of drunkenness."
"See, that goes to prove what I was telling you last night. She's just having some good natured fun with you."
"Yeah, but there's a difference between good humor and a person's comments causing someone to get launched into orbit by a fist or a sword attack."
"Got a point there, Keitaro. But seriously, I don't believe for one second that life with those girls is all bad."
"Yeah, you're actually right on that one. With Naru and Mutsumi around helping me study and trying to get into Toudai, I felt like my goals weren't a lost cause despite what happened recently. Su looks up to me like a big brother since she's so far away from her family. Kitsune and Motoko have odd ways of showing their appreciation. Shinobu is the only one I know for sure that has a soft spot for me and really wants me to be happy, even though that soft spot has caused more trouble for me than I care to remember. As for Seta's daughter, the jury's still out on that one." Keitaro felt a good feeling come over him as he actually remembered some of the good times at Hinata Sou. Both of the young workers started back to digging again when they were interrupted by Seta's voice.
"Hey you two, are digging for artifacts or trying to dig to the center of the Earth?" Seta's question caused the two people to look around and noticed their predicament. They had been so caught up in digging and talking that they failed to realize that they dug the cave too big and had no way out.
"Uh, little help Seta?" Keitaro's question was answered with a rope for him and Derrick to climb out of the hole with.
After the two had gotten out of the cave, Seta took them into town for a lunch break before continuing with the rest of the day's work. As the sun set and the workers called it a day, Seta decided to show Keitaro how to cook some meals at the campfire. After everyone ate their supper, Derrick went to Keitaro's tent to retrieve his guitar and play some songs in private. Keitaro and Seta, who were catching up on things, turned their around to see Derrick at the edge of the camp as he found the appropriate notes to play and began to sing.
Alone again, again alone
Patiently waiting by the phone
Hoping that you will call me home
The pain inside, my love denied
Hopes and dreams swallowed by pride
Everything I need, it lies in you
'Cause I'm broken
I know I need you now
'Cause deep inside I'm broken
You see the way I live
I know I know your heart is broken
When I turn away
I need to be broken
Take the pain away
"Wow, he's really good. Wouldn't you agree Keitaro?" Seta's question causes Derrick, who thought he was alone, to quit singing and look back in astonishment.
"Yeah, that was pretty good. Did you write that yourself Derrick?" The Dark Angel bowed his head in response.
"No. It was one that I heard back in the States that I really liked. The name of it is 'Broken '."
"You still did a good job with it anyway Derrick." Keitaro chimed in.
"Thanks."
"Well, you two better get to sleep. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
As Seta left for his tent, Keitaro had to ask some questions that had been bothering him for a while. "Hey Derrick, where did you get that cross necklace at?"
"It was a gift from my grandpa. Why do you ask?"
"Well, before I left Japan and wound up here, I met a person who wanted me to share my problems with him. He had a chain with the exact same type of cross pendant that you have on yours. And here's what else was weird about it: the guy didn't seem to be much older than you and he had the same name as you do. Albeit, he was a dark looking person, but thinking back on it, there's something about you and this guy that seems so familiar."
Mentally, Keitaro's statement caused Derrick to freeze in terror. 'Oh no, my cover's about to go up in smoke!' "Probably some strange coincidence." the Dark Angel responded without missing a beat.
"Yeah. That guy wanted me to stay away from the Hinata girls for a while and you, in a round-about way, have been telling me to contact them. You and Seta both."
"Well, maybe you should Keitaro. You think that they aren't worried about you, but like it or not, you've been a part of their lives for the past two years. More than likely, they probably are worried sick about you. At least contact them and let them know that you're okay."
"Alright, alright, I give up! Is there a fax machine in town?"
"There's a store in the town that has one. Whenever we go to town tomorrow, you should see if the owner will let you use it. Anyway, I need to get back to the church before they lock me out. Good night."
As Derrick left the campsite and made good progress back to the church, Gabriel appeared out of nowhere. "The Urashima kid seems to be doing a lot better since he got here."
"Yeah, he is. Hopefully he's finally got his head clear. That dark seed in his heart has been suppressed a great deal."
"It certainly has. However, I'm beginning to wonder about this idea about him contacting those girls. If any of them show up and return to their old ways toward him, it could cause that seed to strengthen greatly. I sure hope you know what you're doing."
"You and me both."
Realizations - That night at Hinata Sou
"How is she doctor?" Naru questioned as the doctor quietly exited the room.
"She's doing fine. She needed a couple of stitches to close the gash and some medicine for that headache, but she should be fine in the morning." the doctor said to the group of girls as she prepared to leave the building. As soon as she left, Naru turned around and grabbed Kitsune by the collar of her shirt.
"Baka, how could you just leave your stupid sake bottles lying around on the floor! It's amazing that Shinobu didn't get her headcracked wideopen on a countertop or the table!"
"Hey, don't blame me! She's slipped on stuff like this many times before and nothing like this has happened!" Kitsune's eyes suddenly snapped open as a new thought entered her mind. "Oh no." was the only thing the young woman could utter in response.
"Kitsune, what's wrong?" Naru asked in a worried tone.
"Shinobu never hurt herself when this happened because Keitaro was always there to catch her." Kitsune's statement hit the rest of the girls like a two ton wrecking ball.
"She's right." Motoko obviously took this the worst. "Urashima was always there to help her. Yet we always mistook it as a perverted act. God we are horrible people." The young swordswoman turned and ran up the stairs to her room, hoping to hide her feelings of anguish from the rest of the girls.
"Wow, she's taking this fairly hard." Sara said as the rest of the group looked back at the ground.
"Well, wouldn't you if you found out you hurt someone over little misunderstandings?" Kitsune snapped back. "Besides, I really think she misses her little practice dummy. By the way, can I borrow a few hundred yen?"
"What! Why are you asking for money at a time like this?" Naru snapped.
"I really need a drink. Unfortunately, Keitaro hasn't been around for me to bum money off of." Kitsune said in a whining manner.
"Oh, here. Maybe if your lucky enough, you can leave a bottle for someone else to trip on." Naru said as she grabbed a couple of bills out of her purse and gave to her friend.'Iwonder how Keitarohas been able to put up with her antics.' she thought as Kitsune exited the building. Naru then noticed that Su and Sarah were unusually quite. "Hey, why don't you two go build something."
"But everytime we try to test it out on you, you get upset. And so does everyone else." Su replied, trying to hold back tears.
"Well, no offense, but your inventions can be a little on the dangerous side."
"But Keitaro never complained about them being dangerous!" Su cried out as she turned around and ran to her room, with Sarah in pursuit.
'She's right, Keitaro never complained about anything. He was always attacked, overworked, blackmailed, and experimented on, yet he never complained about it.' A half hearted grin crossed the Toudai hopeful's face as she headed to her room, now realizing that they had truly been sent a one-of-a-kind manager.
'I really didn't think that Keitaro leaving would be so hard on everyone. And after everything that happened earlier ... Motoko's right, we really are horrible people.' Naru thought as she opened the door to her room. She looked over to her bed to notice that Mutsumi was still sleeping in it, trying to recover from a fainting spell she suffered after the events from that day. Naru then walked over to her Liddo-kun doll and the hole that connected her room to Keitaro's. Doll in hand, she leapt through the hole and walked over to Keitaro's bed. Seconds later, Naru had flopped down onto the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"God, please let him return safely. I'll never be able to forgive myself if I don't tell him." She choked out between sobs as she laid there. Mutsumi ended up finding Naruasleep in the manager's roomthe next morning, with a look of undescribable look of anguish on her face.
The next day – Lunchtime
As Keitaro hurried to the store with his letter, he couldn't help to wonder if he was making a wrong decision. Derrick and Seta had encouraged him all morning to contact the girls, so he felt like they wouldn't misguide him. As he entered the store, he asked the store manager if he could use the fax, in which the fellow was more than happy to oblige. As Keitaro set the letter and map into the machine, his mind caused him to hesitate one last time. Keitaro just shook the negative thoughts out of his head as he punched in the number for Hinata Sou and pressed the dial button.
A/N - Yes, I'm back up (I know ya'll were hoping I was gone for good). The powers that be here at kicked my story off because I broke a guideline (apparently, postingsong lyrics is against the rules and unfortunately I started the 1st chapter with song lyrics). Hopefully, I've got those issues worked out and will stay out of trouble so that don't kick me off for good. There is an exert from the song in this chapter. If you would liketo hearthis song, you can listen to it and see the music video for it at Yahoo Music and the band's homepage, www (dot) 12stones (dot) com. Sorry I've taken so long to get the story back up, but I've been busy with final exams and starting a job for the summer. Anyway, I'll try to have Ch. 6 up as soon as possible.
- OD
