Motoko awoke slowly, her head cushioned on something warm and strong. Instinctively she moved closer to the source of that warmth, sighing happily.
There was a stifled giggle from somewhere nearby. Motoko groaned in her state of semi-wakefulness and tried to will the sound that disturbed her to go away.
Unfortunately it seemed her groan had drawn another observer, as the first giggle was joined by another and muted chatter.
Motoko opened bleary eyes and found Su crouched near her bed, a smile that should not have been possible on her tanned face.
"Su?", Motoko asked sleepily, "What are you doing in here?".
Su seemed to find this question funny as she looked at someone off to her right and giggled and.
Motoko followed her gaze, finding that she was not alone. Shinobu hovered nervously near the doorway, turning her face away in embarrassment when Motoko looked at her.
"Shinobu? What's going on, what are you both doing?"
"Motoko-sempai, y-you, y-you…"
"You and Koi-kun got freaky", Su finished for the shy girl, her eyes shining.
"What!", Motoko asked, a lot more awake now. Her attention was drawn back to the warm object she was lying against, and her eyes tracked reluctantly down, confirming what she already knew.
Koichi was there, oblivious to the world and snoring gently in his sleep.
"I'm gonna go tell everyone the good news!", Su said, leaping up and heading for the door.
"No Su wait!", Motoko called desperately after her, throwing back the covers to reveal the robes she had been wearing the previous night and nearly bowling poor Shinobu over in her attempts to reach Su.
Koichi rolled over and continued to snore.
At breakfast Motoko felt as if her face was on fire. Even though she had caught up with Su before she could begin yelling from the roof of the Hinata Sou, she still felt as if everyone at the table was staring at her knowingly.
It was all in her head of course. The other residents, well the only other two there apart from Su and Shinobu, were merely curious as to why Koichi and Motoko were sitting so close to each other that morning. Motoko's mind however, turned their inquisitive stares into condemning glares and she felt a little ashamed, even knowing that nothing had transpired between her and Koichi the previous night.
Kitsune was thankfully still asleep, so Motoko would in theory have chance to talk to her before Su gave the fox girl her own interpretation of the previous nights events.
She glanced discreetly at Koichi, who didn't seem to be bothered by Naru and Keitaro's glances; indeed he didn't seem to notice anything other than Shinobu's meal.
She could have kicked him. How dare he not have the common decency to feel at least as uncomfortable as she did.
Koichi spotted her looking at him and smiled lopsidedly.
Motoko sighed internally. Men were so clueless sometimes.
Suddenly Koichi's head snapped around, and he was starring with poorly concealed fright at the door to the living area.
"Koichi?", she asked, placing an hand on his arm, shaking him gently when he didn't respond, "Koichi, what's wrong".
"No, it can't have been a month already", he said, his voice tense and low, as if he were trying to convince himself.
"Wait here Motoko", he said standing, the look in his face that of a man about to face his doom.
Without waiting for a reply he swallowed deeply and left the room.
Koichi felt as if his muscles were slowly liquefying, sapping his ability to move. His suspicion had been right, that Ki couldn't have belonged to anyone else but her.
Tsuruko.
"Greetings brother-in-law to be", the elder Aoyama sister said, smiling at him from where she sat on the smaller of the living area's couches and removing her hat, "It is good to see you".
"Likewise, I trust you are well Tsuruko-sama", he said, his voice guarded. Anyone familiar with her knew that Tsuruko didn't make idle house calls, even to relatives, and her choice of greeting implied the reason for this little visit.
"Why so formal Koi-kun? That's no way to greet your sister-in-law".
Koichi grimaced inside but kept his face neutral.
"Koichi?", Motoko said, stepping around to his side, wondering what had so frightened her boyfriend. She froze when she spotted her sister.
"Ane-ue?" she said, repressing the urge to hide behind Koichi. The last few times she had seen Tsuruko had been rather…tense, to put it mildly.
"Ah, there you are Motoko-chan, I was just saying…", she trailed off, peering at Motoko's right hip before turning a gaze that somehow managed to be chilling without any change for expression, on Koichi.
"She does not wear the Sword of Two Souls Koi-kun, I would like an explanation", she said, her voice matching her stare.
"It has not yet been a month Tsuruko-sama, I was promised a month", he said, quaking inside at his own boldness in not answering her question first.
"A month for what?", Motoko asked, worried when Koichi wouldn't look at her, "Koi-kun, a month for what?".
"Your time has expired Koichi, we have been monitoring it closely…or do you suggest I would lie?"
Koichi shuddered involuntarily at the subtext behind that simple question. He would never suggest such a thing to her face; he valued his life to much.
"No", he ground out.
"Koichi", Motoko said sternly, bring his attention back to her, "A month for what?"
"He was granted a month to find you, and convince you to become his bride", Tsuruko answered for him, "As you know little sister, there has always been a certain amount of … rivalry, between the Clans. It was believed that a union between two members of our schools would help allay any hostilities. With the promise made between you as children, you were the obvious choice".
Motoko looked between Koichi and her sister disbelievingly, "Then…you mean the only reason you are here is to complete an arranged marriage?".
"No", Koichi said, shaking his head violently, "I came here for the reasons I stated. My father was opposed to this, as were certain members of your own family, so I was placed under a one month restriction…I'm sorry Motoko-chan, I thought I had more time…".
Motoko took in all of this new information, trying to figure out what it all meant.
"…Now that your time is up, what will happen now?", she asked him, almost not wanting to here the answer as a look of pain twisted his features.
Once again it was her sister who answered, "With the agreed upon period expired, Koichi must return with me to his family…He must never see you again Motoko-chan".
Motoko felt as if an icy hand had reached inside her chest and squeezed.
"I am truly sorry little sister", Tsuruko said, smiling sympathetically, "Koichi, collect your belongings, I think it best we leave immediately so as not to prolong my sister's suffering".
Koichi clenched his fist, trying to catch Motoko's eye to tell her how sorry he was, but she stared at the floor, her hair hiding any last glimpse of her face from him.
Heartbroken, he shuffled past her.
A hand lanced out, wrapping around his wrist with a grip of steel. Koichi looked back in surprise, following the hand back to its owner.
Motoko looked at him with a piercing gaze.
"Koi-kun…do you love me?"
Koichi was taken aback by her question. He turned around to face her, placing his free hand over the one she had used to stop him, "Aishete, Motoko-chan".
Her face lit up in a wonderful smile before she turned to her sister, iron hard determination radiating palatably from her.
"I fear I can not accept this sister", she said, proud that her voice did not shake.
"It is not your choice to make Motoko-chan", the older woman said sadly.
"Yes…Yes it is", Motoko said, a little stunned by her own continued defiance, "This not something I will sit idly by and allow to happen".
Tsuruko smiled proudly up at her younger sister. Motoko-chan, how you have grown, willing to fight the will of the Clans for one man.
"…Very well, he may stay"
Motoko was momentarily speechless that her sister had heeded her, "Th-thank you ane-ue, I-"
"Under one condition".
Motoko braced herself for what she knew was coming. Her sister had challenged her before, and Motoko knew she could win. It would not be easy, but it could be done.
"He", Tsuruko said, looking at Koichi, "Must defeat me in battle".
Koichi swallowed audiably and Motoko felt her knees threaten to give. Tsuruko had challenged Koichi?
"M-me?", he asked nervously.
"Yes little one", she said laughing politely at the way his spine stiffened when she said that, "You are the one who wishes her hand in marriage, so you are the one who must face down the judgement of the Clans… Do you accept my terms?".
Koichi couldn't believe what she was asking. No one in any battle ever recorded had defeated the Aoyama sister's. It was they who made the Gods Cry School the envy of the other Clans.
He looked at Motoko, expecting to see the same fear reflected in her eyes…and found only determination.
"…Yes", he said, still looking at Motoko not Tsuruko, "I accept your terms".
Pride beamed across Motoko's face, making Koichi feel as if he were accepting something mundane as an invitation to tea.
"Very well", the elder Aoyama said, carefully hiding her smile. She had not missed the unspoken exchange between Koichi and her sister, "You will have two days to prepare…I suggest you use them wisely".
With that she stood gracefully, bowing slightly to each of them and leaving.
"What the hell did we just get ourselves into?", Koichi asked.
Motoko grabbed his hand and began dragging him bodily behind her, "We don't have time, we must begin to prepare immediately".
His protests were cut off as she hauled him up the stairs.
"Hello?", called a timid voice, as Shinobu stuck her head in from the kitchen, looking around the empty living area, "That's strange, I could have sworn I heard Motoko and Koichi talking to someone in here just now".
"Hey, you could take someone's eye out with that thing", Koichi said, knocking the tip of Motoko's bokken wide as it screamed in toward his face.
"Concentrate!", she yelled, flicking the blade down toward his ankles only to be intercepted in the nick of time, "I nearly had you"
"Not a chance", he shot back, forcing her blade wide again and snapping a kick out at her midsection that she easily pivoted around before ducking and sweeping his leg.
Koichi yelped a little as his balance abruptly vanished, one hand flashing out to catch himself and propel him up and over a low swing from Motoko.
Motoko eyed him warily as he landed a little way away from her and reset his guard. Now that he was no longer trying to hide it, she could see that he was a proficient swordsman, perhaps even a Blademaster. His movements had no wasted energy or flourish, but neither were they stilted or awkward.
In short, he was good, but was he good enough to take on Tsuruko successfully? That was what worried her. In this entire match, all five hours of it, he had yet to use a Ki attack that she could discern. He was relying solely on the standard movements of the art, and that just wouldn't cut it against as an experienced opponent as her sister.
Motoko was a tad annoyed wit him, she was sure he could manipulate his Ki, in fact, she had seen him do it…hadn't she? Surely that whole thing hadn't just been some kind of illusion.
She used their pause to read him again. She was still detecting no advanced spiritual energy from him.
He must be hiding it somehow, she reasoned, well he can't do this against Sister. I must make him release his power.
Channelling some of her internal energy into her muscles, Motoko moved with blinding speed across the distance, he bokken blurring toward his neck.
Koichi's eyes widened and he ducked, feeling the wind of the attack pass over his head by millimetres.
"What was that all about Motoko-chan?"
"Don't call me that when we fight! As far as you are concerned, I am Tsuruko", she said, unleashing another flurry of Ki enhanced chops and strikes at him that he barely kept up with.
"You sure don't look like her", he said with the smile that she usually found endearing, but not now. Now it meant he wasn't taking this seriously.
"You need to calm down a little Motoko-chan, you're gonna burst a vessel or something".
"Baka!", she shouted, swinging with enough strength that it hurled him back a few paces, "Shut up and fight!"
Koichi obliged, suddenly moving almost fast enough to match her, and fast enough to place her on the defensive.
Motoko felt something flare. The briefest release of Ki and he was above her, face down, bokken swinging in toward her head. She smiled tightly as she blocked. This was what she had wanted; he was taking this training match a little more seriously. They had only two days to get him ready and that meant she needed to know the full extent of all of his abilities so that she could best advise him.
That's it Koichi, show me your real strength.
Koichi landed, barely touching down before he was on the attack again, pressing her back, bokken moving like a thing alive. This was good but she suspected he could do better.
Drawing on her full strength Motoko was on the assault again, occasionally landing a hit as he tried to reverse modes into defensive without success.
He blade lanced out, striking his wrist hard, causing him to drop his own weapon.
Motoko didn't hesitate, she rotated her own wrist, intending to tap his neck to indicate a kill.
She watched in slow motion as her bokken tracked upward, saw the look of understanding dawn on Koichi's face. There was a massive surge of Ki energy and then… he was gone.
Motoko stumbled a little as her weapon ripped through empty air.
What had just happened? People didn't just vanish into thin air, that was impossible. Motoko replayed the last few seconds in her mind. She had nearly tagged him when…when he had blurred for a spilt second, just as she had felt that burst of spiritual power, and in that second, he had begun to move away from her attack.
Koichi hadn't vanished at all, he had simply used his Ki to accelerate his body at a level far beyond anything she had ever been taught at the Gods Cry School.
Is the one of the secret techniques of the Oni's Bane School, she wondered, eyes alert and scanning for some sign of Koichi, for what little good it would do.
Motoko felt another flare of Ki and spun, bokken whipping around ahead of her.
When she caught up with her movement she froze for a second until rage replaced surprise on her face.
"Can't you ever be serious!", Motoko yelled at the black-clad form perched upon the flat of her blade. This proved her earlier assumptions about the new house guest. Firstly he was a Ki adept, and judging by the lack of noticeable weight on the blade, he must be exerting an incredible amount of spiritual strength to achieve a form of semi-levitation.
Secondly he was clearly a fool. As impressive as his little manoeuvre was, he had dropped his own blade in the process, leaving him unarmed and a simple wrist-flick away from a sound stabbing.
"Hmmmm", he said, putting a finger to his chin as if genuinely considering her earlier outburst, before smiling lopsidedly and replying, "Nope, guess not".
"Grrrhhhh!" she raged in spite of herself, this man surpassed the Keitaro of the early days in terms of annoyance, talented but cocky to a fault.
Throwing form aside she hurled him bodily to the ground using his 'perch'.
"Hey!" he complained, his grin never slipping even as he impacted "wasn't that a little sloppy for you?"
Motoko's eyebrow twitched dangerously even as another idea slipped into her opponent's mind. Perhaps Kitsune was right, perhaps he really was a masochist, but he figured: What the hell.
"Not that I mind", he said casually, resting on his elbows even as his survival instinct caught wind of his intention and screamed a heart felt: Flee you fool! You know not your peril!.
"You know how I love it when you get rough with me Motoko-chan", he finished with his best smile.
Tsuruko would have been proud of the fear inducing demon-glare her younger sister gave her upstart of an opponent.
"Err", he said showing uncertainty for the first time since the fight began, while his survival instinct hung it's figurative head and wept, giving him a pretty clear idea what was coming next.
"Hey, I think I may have-"
"Silence! Boulder cutting blade!"
The wave of Ki swept Koichi up in it's wake, tossing him like a leaf on the wind before dumping him roughly down again about ten metres away.
"Ow!", he complained, "That hurt Motoko!".
"Good! Maybe you'll take this a little more seriously now. Do you want Sister to take you away from me?".
Koichi's face softened as he began to understand the source of the younger Aoyama sister's intensity, "You know I don't Motoko".
"Good", she said, not letting the smile she wanted to show onto her face as she retrieved his weapon and tossed it toward him, "Because I don't want that either".
Koichi snagged the wooden blade out of the air and stood, dusting himself off.
"Round two?" he guessed.
"Not exactly…Koichi, you've been holding back on me haven't you?"
"Why would you say that?"
"You've yet to use a single Ki attack other than that speed alteration you made just. If you don't let me know what you can do then I can't help you defeat Sister, and believe me, you will need all the help you can get", she said seriously.
Koichi sighed and nodded reluctantly, "True…If that's the way you want it Motoko, then here goes".
Holding the blade at one side as if sheaved, Koichi closed his eyes, falling into himself and finding his centre. He released his carefully controlled Ki, another technique taught solely by the Oni's Bane School to conserve energy, allowing to to flow out from his body and into the waiting weapon.
"Ok Motoko", he said, opening his eyes and locking on to were she stood, bokken raised in preparation to defend against his attack, "I hope you're ready for this. Serpent's Strike!".
The snake-like attack hurtled toward Motoko as she looked on calmly, waiting for just the right moment.
"Boulder cutting blade!", she shouted, unleashing her own power in opposition.
The two attacks collided, and with a violent thunderclap that tore up the earth beneath were they hit, vanished from regular sight, leaving a multicoloured haze over than area that only the two combatants could see.
"…That was it?", Motoko asked, feeling her anger rise again, "Why did you not strike with your full power?".
"What are you talking about! I did!", Koichi shouted with a little hurt pride.
Motoko felt her hopes sink a little, if that was the extent of his power, then they were doomed.
She asked him to repeat the attack for the next few minutes, but it wa no good, he couldn't produce anything stronger. He revealed to her that the Oni's Bane school believed in stamina, endurance, skill and speed above raw power, that was why he knew of no more powerful techniques and also why he had been able to move like he did and conceal his real strength while living in the same house as her.
Motoko was still hopeful that he could win. No one had speed like that in the Gods Cry School, not even her sister.
Motoko and Koichi spent that night together as they had the previous, talking about everything they would do after he won. Or rather Koichi talked and Motoko listened, just happy to be spending what might be their last days with each other together.
As she felt sleep beckoning, Motoko could only hope that nights like these awaited her in the future.
Only time would tell.
---Author Notes---
Hopefully that wasn't too obvious, anyway, chapter five: Steel cutting Rose, will be up tomorrow all things permitting.
Points to address: I apologise for the weirdness of the last paragraph in the previous chapter. I was trying to create dramatic tension but re-reading it I don't really like how it turned out, I may change it later.
After Chapter 5 there is only one maybe two left to go, so stick around
Till next time, Betweenheavenandhell