Disclaimer: See prologue
Rise of Samurai
Chapter 5
By UesugiKenshin
Base of Mt. Fuji, two weeks ago.
Keitaro decided to get away from everyone and decided to find himself. He had to understand himself and others would just impede his progress. He had packed lightly, just his sword and one pair of extra clothing for his journey.
'Mt. Fuji, ever majestic, it looms over the landscape.' He thought as he walked closer and closer to the base of the mountain.
The trees were beginning to lose their green long before but there were a few obstinate trees that still retained their hue. They were the distinctive few among the yellow, orange, and red, their companions obeying nature's law.
'But you don't want to change do you,' Keitaro touched the trunk of one of the obstinate trees, 'you want to be unique, even against such force as mother earth.'
He decided he would make camp in front of this tree. He sat down on his knees and placed the sword on his left side and supplies on his right. 'Now what?'
'How does one understand himself?' The question Keitaro came to Mt. Fuji to answer, he decides to mediate, 'Well it is a start.'
He closed his eyes to the world, ignoring all senses and focused all of his being into his mind. His breathing began to slow, he did not feel the chill that made him shiver during his walk, and he fell dead to the outside world.
Keitaro opened his eyes in his mind and saw where he was. It was a movie theater, with only two seats and the movie projector was already starting its film.
"Kei-kun, we don't want to miss the movie do we?" A familiar voiced called out to Keitaro from one of the two seats.
The darkness of the movie theater made it impossible for Keitaro to distinguish who was calling out to him, but he trusted the voice as someone he knew.
"Moe-chan?" Keitaro was surprised at the appearance of the doll from his past, he asked Su and Sara to fix her ruined legs, finishing the task his great-grandfather left behind.
The doll smiled at the man who resided in both their memories. "The movie is about to start."
Keitaro took his seat, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. Watching a movie with a doll from his past was bizarre to say the least.
"So what is the movie about?" He asked Moe.
"I heard you were trying to find yourself, so I decided to set up this film to clear things up Kei-kun."
"Oh," Keitaro said softly, "I have to view everything huh?"
Moe-chan nodded with a sad expression, "Yes Kei-kun, you may have partially accepted everything in the real world, but you are still hiding from the truth."
"Alright, Moe-chan." Keitaro gave her a small smile; "I guess I couldn't hide from my own heart forever."
"Here we go."
"Will you accept me Motoko-sensei?" Keitaro bowed in front of Motoko.
"Why do you wish to train Urashima?"
"No wish, other than to get strong."
"Urashima, there is other ways to get strong. The way of the sword is dangerous, a danger to yourself and others, so why?"
Keitaro spoke from his heart, "I know there are other ways Motoko-sensei, but I learned something when I was studying for the Toudai examination."
"That the perseverance to pass, it has ingrained something different in me. It is telling me to try new things, and I shall succeed no matter the difficulty. I have always admired your strength Motoko-sensei; I want to have that strength for my own. I will do anything you ask, please accept this humble student!"
"Raise Urashima, I will accept you as my student."
"Keitaro, were you always this talented with the sword?" Motoko asked, it was her first time seeing him with a blade and she was significantly surprised.
"My grandmother was a martial artist, she grew up in during the world wars and her father taught her the ways of the sword." Keitaro had lost his first duel, but he showed much skill.
"She taught me when I was little; I guess I still remember something she taught me." He rubbed the top of his head, looking sheepishly.
"You seemed to have the bases already covered; it won't take you long before you are at a decent level of combat."
"Thank you Sensei."
Keitaro watched his training sessions with Motoko. He saw how far he had advanced from his earlier attempts to the time right before he was sent to Feudal Japan. He watched himself save Tokugawa from the ambush. He saw to the point where he was let out of his cell, for his defiance against Tokugawa's repeated questioning. He saw himself take up arms against Kano, and was losing.
"Moe-chan do I need to watch this?" Keitaro tried to plead with her.
She nodded solemnly, "I've been here in your memories Kei-kun, this is where it causes you pain doesn't it?"
He croaked an affirmative.
"Kei-kun, look at me."
Keitaro's downcast eyes lifted to eye level with Moe's eyes.
"Why does this memory cause you pain?"
"Because I killed someone!" Keitaro sobbed, "I killed Kano, and I couldn't control myself."
"But wouldn't he have killed you if didn't defend yourself? Wasn't the battle to the death? It was not your fault that he called Motoko those foul names, it was his own fault Kei-kun."
"It is never right to take a life Moe-chan."
"Keitaro, the sword is not a peacemaker. When you started to learn the sword, it was in a time where taking a life was not ever possible. But where you are now, it is in place of war. The times are different Keitaro; war brings out the worst in men. It becomes to be a life or death situation. Tokugawa wanted to see your skill that is why he said battle to the death. He is a clever man, he knows that one tries his hardest to survive, it is the basic animalistic instinct."
"Moe-chan, are you saying that it was right to kill Kano?"
"No Kei-kun, taking a life is something one should never do. But Su's invention has left you no choice but to kill." Her expression became more grave, "Tokugawa will want you to kill more Kei-kun, I am sure of it."
"I won't do it, I will not kill others." Keitaro resolved, "even if I am forced back into the dungeons, I will not do his biddings."
"Kei-kun, will you keep that resolve when Motoko is in danger?" Moe smiled sadly, she knew Keitaro's love for that other woman.
"W-what?" Keitaro's resolve broke, "what do you mean Motoko will be in danger?"
"Keitaro, lets stop this scene." As soon as Moe said that, the film stopped and rewound to the beginning. "You will see in time what I meant."
"Play," Moe called out in the empty theater. She ignored the confused look on Keitaro's face and views the new pictures appearing on the screen.
Motoko was training with Keitaro; she was forcing him to run the trek around Hinata city. She was easily keeping pace, and Keitaro wasn't that far behind. She gave him a small glance out of the corner of her eyes, amazed how quickly Keitaro was meeting up the expectations that she thought he would never achieve. Keitaro was panting softly but caught her glance with one of his own.
Motoko quickly turned around, hoping Keitaro couldn't see the rosiness appearing on her cheeks, she did not see the obstacle, a porthole, and stumbled. She began to fall, and Keitaro caught her before she would meet the concrete.
Keitaro was quick enough, to prevent harm to Motoko or himself, but could not stop in time to prevent being placed in an embarrassing sprawl. He landed on top of her, and she below him. After they both detangled from each other, both blushing,
"Are you alright Motoko?" Keitaro asked, finally finding his voice.
"Y-yeah," Her heart was racing a hundred beats per minute.
Keitaro laughed, "Shouldn't I be in orbit? I remember how the procedure goes, I do something like that and I get swept away by a Chi attack."
"I should," Motoko said, eyes still adverted from Keitaro's face, "but Thank you Keitaro."
"You're welcome, Sensei." He held his arm out for Motoko to grab, and she pulled herself up.
"Sensei, where are you?" Keitaro searched for Motoko, she wasn't at the training area waiting for him, and this was a deviation from the norm.
Keitaro asked the other residents, and they all replied in their usual manners, Kitsune tried to get him drunk, and bring him into her room. Naru gave a nonchalant reply, not really explaining anything; she continued her studies afterwards, ignoring him. Su tried to test her newest invention, a particle beam that would turn him into a female, Keitaro ran the other way, like the horsemen of the apocalypse was on his heels. And Shinobu just stammered, pointing at all four cardinal directions, and just fell down in a daze that Keitaro was so close to her.
Keitaro sighed, he had wasted over an hour, and he just decided to the most sensible thing, look for Motoko in her room. 'Why didn't I think of this in the first place?'
He knocked on the door and all he heard was a moaning, a sound one would hear if someone were sick.
"Motoko-chan, are you alright?" Keitaro said worriedly, wanting to see if she was all right, none of the other girls ever mentioned that she was sick. He wanted to go in, but decided to wait permission, one learns not to barrage in on Motoko after the beatings and sword strikes.
Coughing noises permeated through the walls now, Keitaro decided not to wait any longer.
Motoko was in a comatose state lying in bed, saying she was sick would be an understatement. Cold sweat dripped from her head, she was shivering, and the pain was racking through her body. Keitaro rushed to her side, he hadn't ever seen her this sick, not even the first time when they met. Nor the time when she decided to run away, to hone her declining sword skills.
He looked around for the thermometer and find it near her suit of armor, he placed the thermometer into her mouth, more coughing racked from her diaphragm. '39.16 Celsius, she is burning up!' Keitaro tried to remember the ways to lower a fever, 'do we have icepacks in the apartment?'
He started to get up, remembering Su's attempt to stuff an icepack with dry ice, thinking they were the same. 'There should be one in the kitchen' Keitaro thought.
Motoko began to stir beside him, and her olive eyes opened to see Keitaro rushing out of the room. "Keitaro?" she said, her voice barely above the sound of a whisper. Keitaro did a 360-degree turn; he hadn't expected Motoko to be awake anytime soon. "Motoko-chan?" He ran back to her side.
"Motoko, why didn't you tell the rest of us that you were sick?" Keitaro questioned softly, he stroked her forehead covered in cold film of sweat. "I didn't want to be an inconvenience," she answered.
"Being sick is never an inconvenience, I will always be here to nurse you back to health. Wait here a bit longer, let me get an icepack and fluids for you to drink."
Keitaro rushed out for the second time. An addition of blush came on Motoko's face that Keitaro never saw, and it had nothing to do with her being sick.
Many other events passed between when Moe-chan started the memories, all of them dealing with Keitaro and Motoko getting closer. Keitaro was astonished; he never expected how much he had come to love the samurai girl, all the events that happened between them, each special in their own ways.
"Moe-chan, what was the point of showing me all of this?" Keitaro did not want to hear it, he knew the answer already, but he needed to hear or Motoko would be in great danger.
"I can see by the expression on your face that you figured it out Kei-kun." Moe-chan said, turning off the movie projector. "You know that many forces now surround you, all want to use you, and they aren't above using underhanded tactics to achieving their goals."
"Tokugawa will use Motoko as a hostage if you don't comply with his wishes. And you don't want her harmed do you Kei-kun?"
"No."
"That is what I thought, you were always caring Kei-kun, placing others before yourself. Now you have a sense of duty to protect the one you love. I know you won't falter, I know you too well. Kei-kun?"
"Yes Moe-chan?" Keitaro could sense the mediation was coming to a close.
"Remember Motoko's words, getting yourself killed is the last thing you want to do. You know rage, now figure out serenity in your sword moves." Moe-chan finished her advice and reached over and gave a peck on Keitaro's cheek. "Good-bye Kei-kun."
Keitaro jerked out of his mediation, it was dark; many hours had passed since he first sat down to mediate. He shrugged to release the tension of sitting for so long in one position, and thought about what Moe-chan said.
'Balance between aggression and defense is what Motoko drilled into me, how?'
Keitaro decided to explore that the avenue of advice tomorrow, when he was fresh and ready to learn.
For the next week Keitaro trained with no avail. He could not figure out how to balance the two, he had done hundreds of strokes, all of them leaving an Achilles' heel when he swung his sword. He threw his sword toward his bag in disgust; the sword hitting the tree rang like a chime.
His stomach growled, having nothing to eat but what he could forge from his surroundings. 'Lets find those acorns again,' Keitaro shuddered at the bitter taste, but it did not help to starve himself in training.
He walked from his camp to the trees that had offered him nutrients for the past week and a half, he began to gather the acorns. He had gathered around forty or so of the bitter nuts when he heard a struggle in the clearings ahead. Keitaro dropped the entire acorn bouquet and wished he brought his sword along. 'I haven't heard from anyone or anything since I got here… Who could that be?'
Keitaro looked around for a weapon, he found a stick similarly shaped in a usable weapon. He armed himself and walked toward the noise. What he found in that clearing was not people, but tigers, fighting each other.
Keitaro was in awe, the magnificent beasts were striking each other with a force that would kill a human being. He saw instantly the difference between the two animals; one was younger and more aggressive in his attacks, similar to himself. While the other seemed to be mature, and more precise in his attack. The aggressive one slowly lost to the attrition, not able to keep up his attack. The ending was quick, the victor gave the final blow to the neck, snapping the opponent's spine and leaving it for death to claim.
Keitaro learned something from the fight between the tigers, something that was missing in his moves. He would always lose, if he tried to be aggressive, his energy would be drained quickly. Purely defensive would never win the battle either, but striking at the most critical periods, when the enemy was open to a blow. He witnessed something else, a move that the mature tiger used, if the opponent uses all his power into one blow, block the blow he is defenseless. If Keitaro wielded two blades, the opening between the block would leave sufficient time for a counterblow, to strike out and defeat the opponent.
He slowly madehis way back to camp, leaving the scene where he learned how to be a better swordsman. He learned enough from his absence, alone to think about what he would do in this time period. Keitaro affirmed his love for Motoko, he knew he would defend her to the death; he would never leave her side. He would take Moe-chan's advice to look favorable in Tokugawa's presence, until he could make it back home. He had a task, a sense of direction to where he was heading.
A/N: I am still noob at this fanfiction stuff so forgive me when I have to write a chapter to fill in the potholes I left behind. I hope this explains the sudden jump between the chapter 3 and 4.
Lets give our dues for the prereader Peacemaker!