I had giggles while I was writing this chapter out. Hope you all enjoy this one! There will be tiny stories within the manga that I will skim over.
Also, friendly reminder that the poll on my profile will be ending on July 30th. If you haven't voted yet, go vote! That, and I have a pat reon page, just look up azndrgn creating fanfiction.
On with the story! A/N at the end.
Kenichi and Miu were back in class once more, taking a well deserved break from the last Ragnarok fight. There had been a few gangsters trying to prove they could join Ragnarok by defeating Kenichi, all of which had been quickly put down. Takeda and Ukita had thanked Kenichi and the others for the rescue, though Ukita had trouble remembering what had happened. All he remembered was he had gone to tackle Shiratori, then everything else was a blank. Nobody was willing to tell him he had groped Shiratori's chest, so he remained clueless on both what he did and Shiratori's gender.
Finally, Niijima was busy spreading the news of the Shinpaku alliance and Kenichi's reputation. He didn't spread anything about Miu, but everyone already knew that wherever Kenichi was, Miu was with him.
"Kenichi, Miu," Natsu greeted with his usual princely smile, "I have a favor to ask of both of you."
"Both of us?" Kenichi clarified in confusion.
"Yes," Natsu nodded, "The theater club is a little understaffed for our next play. I need someone to play Juliet while I play Romeo. You, Kenichi...can play as a tree."
Kenichi was sorely tempted to punch Natsu for that joke but withheld his anger.
"I'm just kidding," Natsu smiled, though only Miu and Kenichi could tell he wasn't, "I want you to play as Tybalt."
"Juliet's cousin?" Kenichi frowned, "I don't know about you, but I don't exactly fit the bad guy, so to speak. Why not Mercutio, perhaps? You and I are good friends, right?"
"Don't joke around," Natsu laughed for the audience, while inside his mind he was contemplating whether he was fast enough to snap Kenichi's neck, "Though I'm surprised you know other characters in the play."
"Natsu, you've been into my room before," Kenichi deadpanned, "What was the first thing you noticed?"
Natsu blinked as he remembered his first comment was that there was a lot of books. He had forgotten about that and when Kenichi had told him that he wanted to be an author.
"Plus, Miu and I are dating. I'd rather be the one playing as Romeo or something else."
"Oh, can you perform Romeo's role flawlessly?" Natsu asked, "The character that has the most lines in the play?"
Kenichi just mumbled silently before replying no.
"Fine, but not Tybalt," Kenichi snapped.
The two of them argued for a bit before finalizing his role as Benvolio.
"Oh, and quick warning," Kenichi added, "You might want to edit the kissing scene. I don't think the Elder would like that, even if it was for a play."
Natsu actually had to suppress a shiver up his spine as he remembered meeting the Elder. He had no desire to have that...man's wrath be directed towards him.
"I'll be sure to change that scene to a kiss on the cheek," Natsu nodded, "Plus, my little sister will be coming to watch too. I have to make sure she doesn't get any ideas about kissing boys yet."
Luckily, Natsu had given them a ten-day notice, compared to the five-day notice from the last timeline. Also due to the fact that Niijima had secretly spread the fact that Kenichi and Miu were currently in the theater club, none of the punks seemed eager to push the theater club members around. The Fighting Arts Research Association promptly withdrew all harassment towards them in fear of retaliation from the Shinpaku Alliance.
Miu was easily able to play the role of Juliet having done it once before. Still, she went to Akisame for a general review. Kenichi surprised everyone by easily memorizing all of his lines in a single day. Seeing as he still dreamed of being a Naoki Award-winning author, he had read and reviewed Romeo and Juliet many times before as part of learning how to write a good story. Of course, memorizing the lines and being able to perform them are two completely different things. Kenichi was thankful that he had more than five days as he kept stuttering for a week until Akisame finally managed to get him to speak clearly.
Meanwhile, Kisara was busy with her intensive training as well as venting her anger on her hapless punching bags. She wanted to get a rematch against Miu, whom she had nicknamed Dairy Cow. She received news that Kenichi and Miu were set to perform in a play soon and decided to strike on that day. Miu and Kenichi would be unprepared and in clothing that would be ill-suited for combat. It didn't matter that they wouldn't be prepared, only that her victory would come. That, and embarrassing them on stage would be a huge bonus. Hermit had sent orders to tell her to leave Miu and Kenichi alone for the play, but she blatantly ignored them. She, of course, would send her grunts to hunt down the new Shinpaku Alliance while she went to find Miu.
The day of the play arrived and to Miu's delight, the Elder would be attending it. Originally, he had missed it due to business in the South. He had left three days before the play and hadn't been able to return fast enough. Hearing that he missed it the first time, he swore he wouldn't do so and dragged Sakaki to help him with his mission. Sakaki tried to complain, but a simple sentence from the Elder stopped him cold.
"Miu is making more money than you, and you're an adult."
Sakaki could only look away in guilt and tried to say that he made big money in one go, but the sad truth was that Miu was indeed making money from her stocks, thanks to Niijima. Shigure and Apachai tried to volunteer to help, but the Elder kindly refused. He needed someone who could at least be discreet for his next mission, and Sakaki was the only one available that could do so besides Akisame and Kensei, but those two had their clinics to run.
Still, there was lots of fighting, which allowed Sakaki to enjoy himself. His help ensured that they completed the mission quick enough that they were able to make it back in time to see the play, with an extra five hours to spare.
Kenichi's family also attended the play, happy to see Kenichi being more proactive with others. Though he was smart and popular back in elementary and middle school, his parents had noticed that his list of friends was comprised of only Miu and Niijima, with Natsu as a big maybe. Kaede was sitting next to Honoka, both eager to watch their brothers perform.
While Kenichi's family and Natsu's sister took the front row on the left side, Ryozanpaku's masters took the right side front row. A small pathway split the two sides apart, leading up to the gym exit. The Elder, however, opted to take the back seat right side closest to the door. His excuse was that because he was so huge if he sat in the front, he would inevitably block people's view from watching the play. However, he had another reason for sitting in the back today. As the lights dimmed, someone took the back seat left side closest to the door. The man seemed rather unnoticeable, wearing a worn-out suit that seemed to be too big for him. His hairstyle was black and parted down the middle, his bangs covering his eyes. When asked for his name from the ticket booth, he gave it as Okamoto.
"So, you did come," the Elder grumbled, once again using his technique, the Obstructive Lung Voice, to talk to Okamoto, "And I see you're using that disguise."
"I missed out on her childhood," replied the disguised Saiga Fuurinji, "I can't afford to miss out on some of her activities. Especially since you did threaten me if I didn't come."
The Elder huffed. "I did no such thing."
Saiga merely smiled before putting a small memorial tablet next to his seat, with the name Shizuha Furinji inscribed onto it.
As the curtains began to part, the Elder made a small comment towards Saiga, "You know, it would be nice if Miu had a mother figure. Perhaps you could find someone. I'm sure Shizuha wouldn't mind."
"I know she wouldn't, but I can't forget about her, especially how she died," Saiga frowned, "I swore I would avenge her, and I can't do that if I try to find somebody else. It would be dishonest to both women. What about you? Mom told me to tell you to remarry if she passed away earlier than you. Miu could use a grandmother, considering she never met her. How about...Mikumo Kushinada? She keeps harping to me in private how I could've been her son, and how you both felt what she described as 'hot fires of passions blazing between you two'?"
"Those were burning forts and tanks that we destroyed back during WWII!" the Elder muttered, almost losing control of the technique, "There was absolutely nothing between us!"
"Be honest, father, if she hadn't fallen into the path of Satsujinken, would you have dated her?" Saiga asked curiously.
"...I refuse to dignify that question with a response,"
Saiga had to stifle a laugh. "I guess it was better you met mom. I can only imagine how screwed up my childhood would have been with her as my mother. Not to mention the fact that the Kuremisago Clan would have gone crazy if I was descended from both you and the Kushinada family. Regardless, it's not too late to try to persuade her to switch back."
"Let's just watch the play," the Elder suggested, ending the conversation there.
On the stage, the students were quickly getting ready to perform, each one doing last minute check-ups while their adviser was on stage, who had started the narration part of the story. Unfortunately, Kenichi was panicking.
"Dammit, of all the times to get stage fright!?" Natsu cursed as he tried to get Kenichi to calm down, "Why didn't you say anything about it?"
He would not let this idiot ruin the play that his sister wanted to watch!
"I didn't even know I could get it!" Kenichi whispered. He was shocked. He had faced masters, deathmatches, life or death situations. And while he had been scared for...well all of them, he always managed to find the courage to push through. And now, that courage was failing him for a simple school play.
"We have minutes left before you go on," Natsu hissed before turning to Miu, "Do something!"
Miu pursed her lips in contemplation before arriving towards a solution. Her grandfather couldn't see her, and she was sure nobody else would say anything. Plus, she had wanted to do this for a while, too. She grabbed Kenichi's head, turning his face towards her, and gave him a deep passionate kiss to the lips.
Kenichi froze for a second before feeling her tongue touching his before he responded, their tongues dancing together before a hiss from Natsu pulled them apart.
"For luck and courage," Miu blushed before she gave Kenichi a small push forward.
Inside Kenichi, his courage meter, which had been at 0, suddenly burst past 100 and broke the thermometer that had been the measuring device. With courage enough to even spar with the Elder at 0.0002%, which took a lot of courage, he stepped onto the stage as Benvolio.
"My son on stage!" Mototsugu cried happily as he saw him, "Look at him perform without any flaw to his lines! Without any hesitation in his movements! He truly has my blood running in him, with that courage!"
'Dear, I think it's less of your blood and more of mine,' Saori snickered mentally.
"Look, look, Onii-chan is on!" Honoka clapped, along with Kaede.
The scene progressed without any error, and mock sword fights were held. Shigure stared at Kenichi holding the sword in a proper position but knew he did not know how to fight with a sword nor a weapon. That would have to be corrected soon if he was going to be her disciple.
As Kenichi finished his last line for the scene, he looked out to the audience to see his parents and masters. As he swept over the audience, he almost tripped when he saw Saiga Furinji in disguise at the back. He had seen his Mr. Okamoto disguise before back in the old timeline.
"Miu," Kenichi hissed as he made it backstage while the stage crew quickly shifted props for a scene change, "Your father is here!"
"What!?" Miu nearly shouted, quickly peeking out to the crowd, "Where?"
"By the Elder, left side audience," replied Kenichi.
Miu saw the disguise and almost shed a tear. She was sure that her father had never been in contact with her ever in the old timeline until the Tidat incident, so why was he here now? Did her grandfather have anything to do with it? It didn't matter now, her father was here, along with the rest of her family, and she was going to do her best!
"Was it just me, or did the kid who played Benvolio know martial arts, and already knows how to invoke Ki?" Saiga asked as his eyes narrowed towards Kenichi as he left the stage.
"He's Ryozanpaku's first and strongest disciple to come," answered the Elder, "He's all of our disciples."
"...Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be amazed or pity him," Saiga admitted.
The Elder frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Father, I've undergone your training before. If he's doing that, along with the training programs of everyone else at Ryozanpaku, he must have stared death in the eye plenty of times," Saiga deadpanned.
"That's...not...true," replied The Elder hesitantly.
"Oh, I see Miu!" smiled Saiga, his hand gently touching the memorial tablet, "She's playing Juliet, huh. It suits her. The Romeo actor sure knows how to act too, and I can tell he also practices martial arts. Those two aren't going out together, are they?"
"No, definitely not," snorted the Elder.
"Good, she's too young for that," Saiga nodded.
'Oh how far away from the truth that is,' smirked the Elder mentally.
Miu played Juliet beautifully, even more than the last time she played Juliet in the last timeline. As Miu began to leave the stage to allow the stage crew to change scenes as well as change clothes, she locked eyes with Saiga and smiled.
"Dad?" Saiga asked nervously, "Miu doesn't know I'm here, right? Nor that I'm in disguise? You didn't tell her anything did you? Why does it seem like she knows I'm here and she knows who I am?"
"Of course," nodded the Elder, "On my honor and word as the Grand Master of Ryozanpaku, I have not said a single word about you to Miu."
The Elder didn't feel like adding the fact that Saiga's future self-had done that already, or that Miu was a time traveler.
Kisara and her gang were walking towards the gym, where the play was being held. Kisara was looking for a rematch while Koga just wanted to touch Miu inappropriately as usual. Shiratori was right next to Kisara, getting ready to direct the grunts to search for the new Shinpaku group. Tsuji had refused to help, stating he would be sending Kenichi a challenge himself, mano a mano. Unfortunately, this decision made all but two of his best friends/lackeys leave his gang. The others believed Kenichi to be too strong for Tsuji, and that he was just looking to be crushed. Better to follow a leader with reasonable goals and benefits instead of one looking for death. Tsuji raged, but he kept his word, never looking back.
"Get ready to hunt for the Shinpaku members," Kisara announced as they arrived at the gym doors, "We've got an act to crash."
The doors were open so as to allow audience members who needed to use the bathroom to go out without disturbing everybody else, so Kisara saw they had made it to the part where Romeo was at the Capulet ball with Benvolio and Mercutio, and Juliet had arrived.
"Perfect, Kenichi and Dairy Cow are both here," Kisara grinned.
"I'm going to get first blood!" Koga declared as he began to run towards the stage, "And I'll take the Big Boobie girl as my plaything!"
He took one step right where the back seats of the audience chairs were and felt like he had stepped into the valley of death itself. Two murderous aura filled the air Koga was breathing, all directed towards him. Koga fainted and began to fall forward when the Elder caught him by the scruff of his shirt and quickly put him on the empty seat next to him.
To most of the audience, all they felt was a cold chill before it disappeared, and believed it was just that the air conditioning had kicked in.
To most of the masters sitting in the front row, they felt the ki spike, but for the most part, ignored it. They were familiar with the Elder's, and though they were not familiar with the other one, they decided to shelve it for later. The Elder seemingly hadn't done anything, so the unknown martial artist was not a danger to them. Only Akisame froze for a bit. It belonged to a man whom he once called a friend, whom he thought had transformed a cold-hearted killer despite his concious telling otherwise, only to discover the truth behind it.
'That ki...I've felt it before. Saiga? What is he doing here? Did the Elder invite him here watch Miu perform?'
Shelving these thoughts for later, he returned his attention towards the play.
"What just happened?" Kisara asked in a daze, "What the actual fuck just happened?"
They all saw Koga charging in when he went one step past the audience members before suddenly feeling that chill. They saw Koga falling forward before he became a blur and disappeared. It took them roughly ten seconds before they noticed Koga conveniently sitting next to what seemed to be the biggest person they'd ever seen. Kisara could easily see and feel power emanating from the man. Before she could do anything, though, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder.
"What!?" she bristled as she turned around just meet face to face with Siegfried, the Fifth Fist of Ragnarok.
"Siegfried-sama!" Shiratori gasped, "What are you doing here?"
"I shall explain lalalalalaaaa," Siegfried began, "In soonnnnnggg!"
"Please don't," Kisara huffed, but Siegfried ignored it.
"I came here to seeee," Siegfried sang, "A classical play people all over know! I was invited to see itttt! And am currently enjoying it so farrrr! So I would appreciate itttt! If you and your gang didn't disrupt today's playy! Otherwise, I will be forced to take action! Upponnn youuu!"
Kisara was grinding her teeth in anger now, but a quick whisper from Shiratori reminding her that Hermit had also ordered her to leave Kenichi and Miu alone. With two Fists now ordering her to not disrupt the play, Kisara could only obey and leave. They could pick Koga up later.
As Siegfried was sure that they left, he felt his phone vibrate. Not even letting it complete its first vibration, he picked it up swiftly.
"My demon lord, they came just as you predicted and I have successfully deterred them away. Though I doubt I was truly needed. Not with those two guardians sitting at the entrance."
"Kehehe, it's never safe to assume otherwise," Niijima cackled through the phone, "Though curiously, what guardians?"
Siegfried quickly described them before taking a photo of their backs and sending them to him, almost causing Niijima to fall over in shock.
"Err, yea I know them," Niijima said quickly, "The big one is Miu's grandfather. The other one...is classified."
"Oh, how wise you are!" Siegfried praised, "But on another note, as I have been spying on my fellow other fists, I have been given notice that Loki, the Fourth Fist, has received an interesting offer. Apparently, it revolves around Takeda the Fist, the ex-member of Kisara's troops. I'm not too sure what it's about, but I'll look more into it."
"See that you do," Niijima nodded, "I think I know what it is, but keep me posted."
"As you say, my lord," Siegfried bowed, "And now, I'm off to watch the play! Laaa! Lalalalalalalalaaa!"
And with that, he hung up.
"Haaa it's good to have him back by my side," grinned Niijima, "Now hearing that Miu's father is there was a bit of a surprise. Still, I'm sure he's enjoying the play. For now, let's see what I can find out about Rimi Kokorone."
The play went off without a hitch, and any potential lip kissing was replaced with a peck on the cheek and some line changes so Natsu could live without the Elder glaring at him. He still felt the heat of those glares when he even pecked Miu on the cheek and was thankful they decided to not completely follow the original script. Otherwise, he would fear for his life, this being the only time he would ever actually admit to that.
"Onii-chan, that was soooo cool!" Kaede smiled as she tackled Natsu and hugged him by the waist. Natsu merely smiled as he patted her head, tossing the flowers some female members gave to him. To him, the hug was more important than some plant that would just die in the future.
Honoka was doing the same to Kenichi, asking him to take her out to the park sometime or even help her do a play for their parents. Mototsugu was crying manly tears while Saori congratulated him.
Miu was surrounded by the Ryozanpaku masters except for Apachai, who needed to use the bathroom but got lost and ended up playing basketball for the school team, cementing his legend within the school once more. Sakaki went to retrieve him. As the Elder hugged Miu, she quickly looked around.
"Your father left," whispered the Elder, "He doesn't know that you know. I thought it would make you feel better if he saw your play."
"It did," Miu smiled as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"He left you this," said the Elder, presenting a single flower, "Your mother loved this type of flower, and he thought you might too. Of course, he told me to tell you it was from me."
"It's beautiful," Miu sighed in gratitude as she took it, "Someday, we'll be able to pull him back in."
"Indeed, I hope so too," nodded the Elder.
Summer vacation arrived, and after much thought, Akisame decided to head off to visit their fellow friend who resided in the mountains, Taiki Yamamoto and his son Naoki. Last time Kenichi had gone to get some training in tactics. This time, Akisame decided to go alone to not only visit but see if Taiki would be willing to aid Ryozanpaku when it came time, especially when Yami's plan unveiled itself. Akisame was puzzled why Taiki hadn't come the last timeline when he asked Kenichi who had come with them during the invasion. However, he figured that due to the fact Taiki lived in the mountains he had absolutely no clue what was going on, as he didn't get news.
Kenichi considered going, if only to say hi to Naoki, when Shigure suddenly dragged him by the scruff of his uniform.
"Today...I get the longest...training time...," Shigure said as she finished dragging him to an open field.
Kenichi was quite confused as to what Shigure wanted. She had been quite silent after the play for a while. He got his answer as a real sword landed in front of him.
"Today...we practice...with real weapons," stated Shigure as her face became eerily scary, her eyes glowing as she began to draw out her blade.
Kenichi took one look at the blade and screamed, causing the masters and Miu to quickly come to see what was going on. Even Akisame, who had been just about ready to leave, came running to see what was going on.
"Blades are scary, blades are scary!" chanted Kenichi as he glued himself to Miu's leg.
"What brought this on?" asked the Elder as he noticed Miu patting Kenichi in the head, trying to comfort him.
"I just...wanted to teach him...more about weapons," Shigure pouted, "It seems...my future self...only taught him...how to fight...against them."
"Well that's true," admitted Miu as she tried to slowly pry Kenichi off, though mentally, she didn't really mind it. It was just her grandfather happened to be there.
"I can see why," said Akisame as he raised his eyebrow at Kenichi's chant, "But what brought this on Shigure?"
"The...play...Kenichi knew the proper stance...but not really the proper style," said Shigure.
'I guess Niijima was right about how some changes can really affect things,' thought Miu as she managed to calm Kenichi down.
"Well, it looks like Shigure really wants her disciple to know how to use a weapon," Kensei chuckle.
"It's not something we can force on him though," Sakaki frowned.
"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to learn," said the Elder as he scratched his head, "He is the disciple of all of us. He wouldn't really be Shigure's disciple if he only knew how to fight against weapons, which we all know."
"But the problem lies in the blade," pondered Akisame, "Kenichi clearly does not want to wield one and is afraid of it."
As the masters began to ponder, it was Apachai who solved it easily.
"Apapapa! Then just give him a weapon with no blades, like a club!"
The other masters blinked before smacking their foreheads with their palms.
"Indeed, in Chinese Martial Arts there is the metal fan or the three-sectional staff he could use," Kensei grinned, "Even I have some practice with the staff."
"Aye, in Karate there are some forms that involve using nunchucks or tonfa, though I've never used them before," Sakaki scoffed as he chugged on another can of beer.
"Apapapa, Apachai doesn't know much about blunt weapons!" Apachai laughed, "Apachai only learned how to use his body to fight!"
"There are plenty of weapons that do not have an edge," Akisame nodded sagely, "Even swords can be from wood or other materials."
"But I don't really want to learn how to use a sword," Kenichi whined, "Even if they're fake, I still think they are scary."
"Well, that rules out quite a few," chuckled the Elder, "Tell me, which weapon would you consider using at all?"
"I don't know," sighed Kenichi, "I know Shigure-sensei can use any weapon and not cause intentional harm towards others and teach me like that, but I don't want the chance that the smallest mistake could cause a limb to fall. Weapons were generally made to take a life."
"I don't think that could happen," Miu sweatdropped.
"Now, now, he does have a valid point, even if it's to the point of exaggeration," placated the Elder, "In that case, would you be willing to listen to my suggestion?"
"Ohh, which weapon would you suggest our pupil learn?" Kensei asked.
"Easy. Have him learn the three-sectional staff and/or a modified rope dart, with dart part just being a bag of sand," suggested the Elder.
"That wouldn't be a rope dart, but rather a single-headed meteor hammer or dragon's fist," corrected Kensei, "But both weapons I can help Shigure teach Kenichi how to use, as I've had a little experience on both."
"Curiously, why those?" Sakaki asked, "I mean, the tonfa is a blunt weapon too. Though, it's not like I wanted to teach him that or anything."
"Because of their ability to capture without injury," answered the Elder, "Kenichi is the type of person who doesn't like to cause injuries unless it's unavoidable. Both weapons can provide him with a way to capture and defeat his enemy without injury. Not to mention, neither carries the same dangers that Kenichi fears, the fear of maiming his enemy beyond healing. Tonfa could work, but like you said, you don't have any real experience teaching it."
"Bah, can't be too hard," Sakaki muttered, causing most of Ryozanpaku to laugh.
"Well, Kenichi, are you willing to learn how to use weapons?" asked the Elder as they all calmed down, "Keep in mind, we will not force you to do so. This was more on a whim that Shigure wanted to do. Though also take into account that getting lessons from her is rather rare, as she has had many weapons users begging her to teach them, including ones older than her."
Shigure pouted but nodded in agreement. Kenichi looked at Miu, who just tilted her head while smiling. Whatever he chose, she would always support him.
Kenichi took a deep breath as he knew he was taking a step beyond what he was comfortable with and nodded.
Several days passed as Kenichi experienced more bruises. Shigure's training was slowly making its way up the rankings on which master had the most sadistic training. Sadly, most of his bruises were mistakes he made with his own weapon, causing it to bounce off his body harshly. The weapons made for him were rather shoddy and quick jobs, but they would help him with the basics. Shigure promised him that she would construct him a weapon that was more suitable.
It was around this time that Kenichi noticed Kensei acting weird, not even spying on Shigure and Miu when they had been bathing at the hot springs. When he saw him not even reading his porn magazine, but rather holding it upside down, he knew it was time for Kensei to go to Chinatown and meet his brother, Sogetsu.
Kenichi knew that Kensei knew that he would try to follow him and try to stop or lose him, so Kenichi made a different plan, thanks to Niijima as usual. Cunning plans were more of his best horrible friend's department anyway.
As soon as Kensei departed from Ryozanpaku in the middle of the night, Miu phoned Kenichi to notify him. Kenichi was back at his house, playing with his little sister and to his surprise, Kaede. He wasn't sure what Natsu was doing but decided it had to be important. Quickly leaving the house, he caught up with Miu, where they took the express train to Yokohama, Chinatown, thanks to Niijima's unusual connections. They arrived earlier than Kensei, as he had taken the regular train, and quickly made their way to the Imperial Wrath Restaurant, where they knew Kensei would be. However, they found someone they never expected.
"Natsu?" Kenichi asked as he and Miu stopped when Natsu unintentionally crossed their paths in Chinatown.
Natsu winced as he was wearing his Hermit uniform, complete with the gloves signifying he was the sixth Fist of Ragnarok.
"What are you two doing here?" Natsu demanded, trying to shift the subject away from his clothes.
"We came here following Ma-shifu," Kenichi answered, "My master was acting strange and came here. What about you?"
"I...err...came here to buy some Chinese ingredients to have Chinese food with Kaede tonight!" Natsu lied.
"Kaede is at my house, isn't she?" Kenichi asked, causing Natsu to wince as a Choju Giga bunny that had been hopping around was pierced by this.
It was true that whenever Natsu had business, whether by work, school, or Ragnarok, he would have Kaede go to the Shirahama household to sleep over. Saori and Mototsugu welcomed this easily with no argument, stating that they were starting to see Kaede as a second daughter.
Natsu had mixed feelings about this arrangement. As much as he wanted to snap Kenichi's neck for the embarrassment and being able to find his real personality, he didn't hate the Shirahama family. Kenichi was just the one he hated the most, with the father coming second, though not very close. Then again, he hated a lot of things and Kenichi surprisingly wasn't as high as the others. Mototsugu proved himself when one of the traitorous coworkers in Natsu's company tried to pick up Kaede from school.
Small flashback.
"Let go of me," Kaede cried as a man held on to her hands.
"Tanimoto-sama, your brother sent me to pick you up," exasperated the man as he tried to pull Kaede to his car.
"Liar! My brother would never send someone I've never seen. Plus, you never even said the secret code!"
The man was getting tired and ready to just pick up Kaede and force her into his car when he heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked. He turned around just to see a double-barreled rifle pointed to his head and promptly dropped Kaede.
"Honey, aim for the leg," Saori said, not even stopping her husband or figuring out where he has hidden the gun.
Seeing Mototsugu already shifting his aim, the man figured out that Mototsugu was a man who shot first and asked questions….probably never if the target was dead. With speed and an agility the man never knew he had, he dove into his car and drove off.
Flashback end
Hearing about that, Natsu felt it was safe to allow Kaede to stay with Honoka for the while.
"So, what are you doing here?" Miu asked again.
"I...er...your friend Niijima," Natsu started as he scratched his head in embarrassment, "He gave me info that my old shitty master might be around here. I've been looking for awhile now, and had no luck."
The two time travelers glanced at each other and knew Niijima had sent Natsu here on purpose, but for what reason?
"I think we know where you need to go," Kenichi sighed, "Follow us."
Kensei arrived at the Imperial Wrath Restaurant, pondering about the situation. According to Kenichi from the other timeline, he had accompanied him here, though Kenichi wouldn't tell him everything that happened here. And yet, he wasn't here now. Kensei admitted that if Kenichi had tried to come, though, he would've insisted he stay at Ryozanpaku, time traveler or not. Still, he had to admit he felt a bit disappointed.
"Maybe they forgot the date, confused it, or the timing was completely off from the old timeline," mused Kensei as he walked into the Imperial Wrath Restaurant, where his uncle Hakubi, otherwise known as Ma Ryo, who really was his uncle, worked.
"Hi Ma-Shifu," Kenichi greeted.
"Senior," Natsu greeted.
"Hello," Miu smiled.
"Hey kids," Kensei waved as he walked by them. He stopped as Choju Giga frogs followed him with dots trailing behind them.
"What?! When?! How?!" Kensei shouted as he jumped back in shock.
"You didn't think we'd let you go by yourself, did you?" Kenichi smirked, "You were acting suspicious for days and it seemed time you were going to do something."
Kensei saw the underlying message that Kenichi knew what would happen and that Kensei would've tried to stop him from coming.
"And the boy?" Kensei asked, pointing to Natsu.
"Niijima sent him here," Kenichi frowned.
"So it's true?" Natsu asked, "My master, Ma Sogetsu, is here?"
"That's what I'm here to find out," Kensei ushered them all in behind him.
They all politely greeted Hakubi, where he set up a table for them all to eat.
"My, my, are these all your students?" Hakubi asked.
"No, no," Kensei waved, "The one with the bandages, Shirahama Kenichi, is mine. I sometimes help the blonde girl, but she is Fuurinji Hayato's granddaughter."
"The invincible superman?" Hakubi smiled, "Impressive. From Ryozanpaku, no doubt. What about the other one. I can sense he too is a fighter."
"His objective aligns with mine," Kensei admitted, "So tell me, did he come to Japan?"
"Oh, so the boy has a connection with Ma Sogetsu," Hakubi mused, "But yes. Rumor has it he's working for the mafia around here. Though I must admit, I would've thought you had come here for one more thing."
"You're only worried for your brother?" rang a feminine voice from the upper levels of the restaurant.
A second later, a figure came crashing down trying to kick Kensei, only for him to suddenly dodge. The kick destroyed the table of food, but the trio of disciples managed to grab what they wanted to save from it.
Natsu grabbed his dumplings and dim sums he had planned to take home to give to Kaede. Kenichi grabbed the plate of fried rice he had been enjoying. Miu nabbed the spring rolls in midair.
In the middle of the crash site was a female with purple hair done in an intricate braid and bells. She was wearing a rather skimpy Chinese dress that showed off her curves while allowing her full movement of her body. It was Ma Renka, Kensei's daughter, and a good friend to the time travelers. Though Miu was hoping to make sure Renka knew that Kenichi was hers and would stop trying to pursue her boyfriend.
"Hmph I don't know who you are, but you are-" Kensei started before he saw Kenichi crossing his arms, telling him to stop talking and look. He did so and saw it was his daughter and screamed in fear.
"Are you so shocked to see your daughter, Papa?" Ma Renka sneered.
"Daughter?" Natsu coughed in surprise. He had gone over to Kensei's clinic for checkups as well for Kaede to know that Kensei was a pervert to the highest degree and was shocked that he would have a kid.
"Aye, my true daughter, Ma Renka, age 16," Kensei nodded.
"He as a wife and two more children back at Mainland China," Ryo added.
Natsu coughed even more at this revelation.
"Papa, you're coming home with me now!" Renka yelled as she threw a meteor hammer at him, allowing it to tie around his arm, "I came to Japan as a foreign exchange student just to find you! And when I heard you came here every now and then, I knew I had you! It was only a matter of time!"
"My time here isn't up yet," Kensei said calmly as he cut through the rope with his bare hands as Renka was pulling as hard as she could.
The sudden lack of tension caused Renka to fall backwards, but she managed to hurl her second side of her meteor hammer towards Kensei. Kenichi knew what Kensei was going to do, so he conveniently moved away from him, pulling Miu with him. That left only one target for Kensei to use and the unfortunate target was Natsu Tanimoto, trying to figure out how Kensei of all people got married.
"Sorry, but do a favor for your senior and distract her," Kensei apologized as the rope tied around his neck. Before he could react, Kensei pushed him towards Renka, causing him to fall on her. The rope somehow managed to tangle both of them up as Renka tried to push Natsu off.
"Get off me," growled Natsu before he found himself in a truly awkward situation. Somehow, Renka's butt was now on top of his face while her breasts were pressing down on his stomach. To make things worse, her groin actually went down and stifled his mouth as he was about to say something else.
"Aaaaauuuu~~," Renka moaned before she realized what had happened.
"Pervert! Hentai!" Renka shouted as she began to struggle even more.
"THNN GIT FF MM!" shouted Natsu, while trying to say 'then get off me,', but his voice was still muffled. Luckily, Renka's dress was long enough to provide enough cloth so Natsu's mouth didn't actually make contact with her panties, or worse, skin.
"You know, it's pretty funny to watch the always stoic Tanimoto Natsu fall into this type of situation," Kenichi whispered to Miu.
"Did this happen to you when you came here?" Miu asked.
Kenichi glanced at Miu to see her glaring at him with jealousy in her eyes. Kenichi looked away and whistled as he remembered when he had gotten tangled with Renka. While struggling to escape, though Renka did not put her groin on his mouth like Natsu was 'suffering', Renka's breasts were rather big, almost the same size as Miu's, and she had unintentionally put them on his groin while her skimpy dress had flipped up to reveal her underwear. He was lucky Renka managed to cut away the rope and stand up before she noticed Kenichi Jr. waking up.
"Something like this, but definitely not like what Natsu is going through," Kenichi whistled, still feeling that glare and pout.
"Why are you two staring, hurry up and help me!" Natsu shouted as he managed to wriggle away from Renka's butt.
Luckily Renka had already grabbed a knife and cut through the ropes before turning around to Natsu and trying to slap him, but Natsu blocked it.
"Pervert, take your slap!" Renka shouted, reverting to Chinese in anger.
"It's your own damn fault you kept moving your butt on my face!" Natsu shouted back in Chinese, "You damn exhibitionist!"
The two of them squabbled for a bit before Hakubi reminded them that Kensei had gotten away.
"What do you want with the old pervert?" Natsu grumbled.
"Are you stupid?" Renka questioned, "Papa is the high leader of the Phoenix Martial Arts Alliance, with 100,000 followers! There's nobody who practices Chinese Martial Arts that doesn't know him! But one day, he suddenly left a letter to mama saying that it had become a pain in the butt, turned over full control of the organization to her and disappeared!"
"...I can see how those two are brothers," Natsu mumbled to himself as he compared the Ma brothers together, always running out on anything they felt was too troublesome.
"Speaking of which, where is he!?" Renka shouted as she looked around and started running in a random direction. The trio decided to follow, though Natsu looked like he wanted to go the opposite direction of where Renka was going.
"You three, do you know where he went?" Renka asked.
"We just decided to follow you," Kenichi deadpanned, causing Renka to stomp her legs on the ground in anger before pointing to the three of them, asking who they were and why they were with her father.
"My name is Fuurinji Miu, I live at Ryozanpaku along with my grandfather and several others. Kensei is a resident there."
"...Tanimoto Natsu. No real relationship with the old man beside him being my little sister's primary doctor."
"Shirahama Kenichi! For the time being, Ma-shifu's best student!"
Renka looked at Kenichi for a second before delivering a double palm strike at him. Luckily, Kenichi was prepared for this and blocked it, as he did not want a repeat of last time they first met.
"Hoo, not bad," Renka smirked, "But I know people that would've done better! Since you're clearly not part of the Phoenix Alliance, how much are you paying Papa for tuition?"
"8,000 yen," replied Kenichi.
"Per week? Papa made it too cheap," Renka scoffed, "I'm guessing twice a week?"
"Actually the tuition is per month, and I live at Ryozanpaku, so I'm a live-in disciple, learning every day," said Kenichi, "Plus, I have five other masters in different martial arts field."
Renka stared at Kenichi for a bit before delivering a second palm strike at Kenichi. This time, he wasn't prepared and fell down from the impact.
"Waaa what a sad fate!" Renka cried, "Papa, who was extolled for mastering all Chinese Martial Arts, reduced to teaching someone for such a cheap rate like some third-rate master! And the worst part, he's learning it as though it's something to do in his spare time with other styles!"
"Hey, hey," Kenichi said as he quickly rose to his feet.
"Oh you're back up already," Renka raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yea, I've been praised of being able to take strong hits," Kenichi chuckled.
"That's not praising!" Renka shouted as she tried to hit him again, but Miu quickly grabbed her wrist.
"Stop attacking my boyfriend," Miu said, emphasizing the boyfriend part.
"Let's just go find Kensei," Natsu sighed as he began to walk away.
Suddenly, a chef was tossed out through the window of another restaurant. Two men, one smoking a cigarette and one much taller and more muscular than the chef stepped out the restaurant. They began to threaten the chef, trying to wring out protection money. The chef refused, stating that Hakubi was gathering them all to force the mafia out. The man with the cigarette merely scoffed before telling his companion to teach the chef a lesson. The muscular man threw the chef towards the ground, only to be caught by Kenichi. After that, Renka gave them five seconds to disappear or suffer the consequences. She counted down to zero just as the big one tried to punch her. The big man threw his fist, only for Renka to push it aside and counter with three punches to his stomach, instantly crumpling him. The punches were just as powerful as they were quick.
The other man growled as he suddenly whipped out a sword, which had been disguised as his belt. Renka dodged it out of instinct, but it did cut the piece of cloth between her cleavage, revealing even more. Before the attacker could do anything, he was hit in the head so hard that he flipped. Natsu had swung his arm like a whip to stop him.
"That was Hikaken, wasn't it?" Renka asked, looking at Natsu at a new light, "Who was your teacher?"
"Just some old drunk," Natsu grumbled.
"And you addressed my Papa as senior. Meaning you have some sort of relationship with Papa. Who are you?" Renka demanded as she narrowed her eyes.
"Let's find out where Kensei-san went," Miu interjected, knowing a fight would break out between Natsu and Renka if the truth were revealed.
"You damn brats," growled the smoker, "Don't think this is over! As far as the mafia is concerned, one word to Ma Sogetsu, and you brats are dead!"
Renka grabbed the smoker by his shirt and glared into his eyes, "Listen, you! Tell us where Ma Sogetsu is!"
When the man began to refuse, Renka twisted his arm behind his back, forcing him to move and telling him to lead them to Ma Sogetsu.
"Not that I'm complaining, but weren't you looking for Kensei, your dad?" asked Natsu.
"Idiot pervert," answered Renka, "Since Papa is looking for Sogetsu, we'll just get there first and wait for him there."
"I'm not a pervert, you exhibitionist," shouted Natsu.
The smoker had a smirk as he thought about leading these brats to the headquarters. Surely, they could take down four brats. And the two girls looked like they would do nicely in a new brothel they were planning to open.
"We'll knock off everyone in your headquarters while we're at it," said Renka, as if reading his mind and twisted the arm harder. The smoker began to cry.
As Renka forced the smoker towards the headquarters, she warned them all about where they would be treading, and that one wrong step could mean the end of their life.
"I'm going," huffed Natsu, "There's a shitty old man I'm looking for, and he's probably there."
"I'm already familiar with that part of the world," smiled Miu, "I've been in it since I was just a baby."
Renka looked at Kenichi, who easily replied that he would step in, and that he couldn't let a girl like her step into such a dangerous place by herself, nor let Natsu and Miu go without him.
Renka gave a slight blush while Miu slightly glared at Kenichi. Though it was a charming part of his personality to help others, he didn't understand how it could charm other ladies. Natsu took note to add that in his other personality.
They made it to the mafia headquarters, where Renka was about to knock the smoker out when Miu stopped her.
"We need to see what traps he might have," said Miu before turning to the smoker.
"He, I'll never tell," scoffed the smoker. He was soon singing a different tone when Miu grabbed his legs apart and began stomping on his groin.
"Go, go, go!" cheered on Renka.
Both Natsu and Kenichi couldn't help but cross their legs in fear.
Scene change
In the hallway, an elevator chime rung, signaling that it was opening. A second later, four bodies flew out of the elevator.
"So much for peaceful," sighed Kenichi.
"Hey, nobody died, so that's peaceful," argued Renka as she pounded her fist into her palm.
The four of them continued walking when they all sensed killing intent, though Natsu was a bit slower on that.
"Get down!" shouted Renka as she tackled Kenichi, who was already moving back.
Miu tackled Natsu forward, splitting them apart. A second later, the wall exploded outwards to reveal Ma Sogetsu slamming the local mafia boss through the wall. The mafia boss had just been unfortunate to be in between the wall and Sogetsu.
"Hmm, though I felt Kensei's aura, but I guess I mistook it for somebody else," grumbled Sogetsu, "Though something feels familiar about someone."
"Ma Sogetsu!" shouted Renka as she quickly stood up, "Prepare to die!"
She charged in with a kick, just for Sogetsu to grab her by her ankle and toss her into a wall, leaving a Renka size indent. He followed up with a palm strike towards Renka to hurt her and keep her on the wall when both Kenichi and Miu reacted. Both of them rushed forward before spinning to gain momentum and kicked Sogetsu's palm strike upwards. They were both able to shift Sogetsu's palm strike upwards, missing Renka as she fell down and caught herself.
"Hoo, not bad," muttered Sogetsu before sensing another attack.
He turned around and caught the attack with just two fingers, catching the fist between his index and middle finger.
"Hey shitty master," growled Natsu as he tried to pull his hand free.
"Hoo, the little brat is here," said Sogetsu with an amused tone.
"You're Sogetsu's disciple!?" spat out Renka as she managed to stand up.
"Somewhat," replied Natsu as he flinched in pain as Sogetsu tightened his two fingers, "The shitty master left while I wasn't even done with training."
"I left for a good reason," frowned Sogetsu as he took a sip from his jug, "You were a pain in my ass to teach."
"Bullshit!" shouted Natsu as he finally managed to break free from Sogetsu's tyrannical two fingers, "I know the true reason why you ran! You left...because you were getting your ass whupped by Kaede in Mah Jong so badly that you ran with your tail tucked between your legs!"
"Liar!" roared Sogetsu, "I did not lose to your little sister that badly!"
"Then what's this about Kaede pouting that she didn't get to continue her win streak to 100 because you left!"
Miu, Renka, and Kenichi were treated with an extremely rare sight of Natsu and Sogetsu arguing with each other with Choju Giga monkeys walking by with a twig.
"Umm, sorry can we get back to the part where I was going to try to kill Sogetsu, or at the very least, beat him up for shaming the Ma family?" asked Renka.
Both Sogetsu and Natsu had stopped arguing and glared at each other before turning away, though there was a tiny line of blush that could be seen on both faces.
"So, you found some interesting people," said Sogetsu with a glint in his eye, "I don't know you three, but I can tell the blonde girl and the boy are far stronger than people their age. And the other girl...isn't bad. I was right to ditch you Natsu, you're weaker than all of them."
"No thanks to you ditching," spat Natsu.
"Brat, I left because," started Sogetsu, but Natsu waved him off.
"I know, because of …," Natsu looked around before lowering his voice so other couldn't hear, "Because of Suparna of Yomi."
Sogetsu neither acknowledged or disputed this, but Natsu could see his hand twitch a bit.
"Well then, I guess you three brats will keep me entertained until my little brother gets here then," declared Sogetsu as he rolled his neck, "Tell me you names before I kill you all."
"Fuurinji Miu."
"Shirihama Kenichi."
"Ma Renka. Ma Sogetsu, I, as the daughter of the leader of the Phoenix alliance as well as the daughter of the head of the Ma family, will punish you for disgracing my family! Your penalty will be your death!"
"Well then, try if you can," grinned Sogetsu.
"Renka," chided Kenichi gently, "We do not kill. Your father would be disappointed to talk about killing."
Renka had the decency to blush a little and shyly looked at Kenichi before focusing back on Sogetsu.
"So, the daughter of my brother and clearly the boy is my brother's disciple," said Sogetsu as he narrowed his eyes, "Brother has pretty good eyes to spot you. And you definitely sound like him, with all the bullshit talk about Katsujinken. "
He paused at Miu, thinking about what to do. The Fuurinji name was very well known in the martial arts world. Her father was the One Shadow in the One Shadow Nine Fist, though it seemed like he had abandoned all blood relations. The grandfather, though, was not someone he wanted to tangle with, at least not yet.
Before anyone could move, a window shattered into pieces as Ma Kensei arrived.
"As I thought, you are here Ma Kensei!" roared Sogetsu.
"Brother...you are still living like this?"
"Finally...I can settle matters with you."
The two brothers stared off against each other before coming to a conclusion.
"As I thought, I can't get you back on the proper path, brother," sighed Kensei, "Back when we were able to laugh together."
"Ha," spat Sogetsu, "Stop talking nonsense. It's too late already."
"Then I will end your path as a martial artist, even if I have to do it with these hands," proclaimed Ma Kensei, giving him the clasped fist salute, wrapping his right hand over his left fist, signifying a duel to the death.
"Don't be conceited," snorted Sogetsu as he did the same, "You will die witnessing what it truly means to master martial arts!"
Both masters began to raise their spirits to the utmost, affecting all disciples for a bit.
"Don't do this!" shouted Kenichi, even though he knew what would happen. He hated to see brothers fight against each other, no matter what future knowledge he had.
"Kenichi," stated Kensei calmly, "Watch this match, and burn it in your memory. As my disciple, you should know this is one fight I will not walk away from, past or future."
"You too brat," stated Sogetsu, talking to Natsu, "You're about to witness history. There's no better lesson then watching us, the ones who have taken Chinese kung fu to its limits, and learning from it."
Silence reigned between them all as bugs buzzed around the ceiling lamps. A moth strayed down the middle of the brothers, only to be shredded into pieces as the fight begun.
Miu immediately ignited her spirit with Dou Ki, raising her instincts to its highest level so as to witness this fight, as did Renka. Kenichi activated Ryusui Seikuken to allow him to perceive what was going on.
The fight carried over into the next room, allowing the disciples to gather together and chase after the two masters. As they were doing so, Natsu and Renka had their eyes on Miu and Kenichi.
'That feeling,' thought Natsu, 'Is there another level in that strange technique? And that Ki...I can tell its much higher than anyone in Ragnarok, and possible approaching the masters themselves! Just how much were you holding back in our fight? And that damn exhibitionist, as much I hate to admit, is stronger than me. Possibly on the same level as the First Fist himself.'
'Those two...are stronger than me,' gritted Renka as she looked at Miu and Kenichi, 'I don't know how they're the same age as me! How did papa find such a person?! He would be a great addition to the Phoenix Alliance if it wasn't for the girl. Well, mama told me how she got papa despite girls falling for him and was even dating one before she managed to get him. I can do the same!'
She looked over to Natsu and hummed to herself, 'Him...He could be useful. Though a disciple of the traitor Ma Sogetsu, he himself admitted Sogetsu abandoned him. And whether I like to admit it, Sogetsu is one of the highest masters in Chinese martial arts, almost on par with papa. I could potentially lure him into the Phoenix Alliance! And that last name, Taninmoto...if he's really part of the Taninmoto corporation, then it'll be a huge bonus! Not to mention he owes me for that perverted act!'
Both Renka and Natsu shelved those thoughts for later as they returned their gaze to the fight, burning it in their memories.
As the fight went on, Kenichi had to admit that he had missed a lot compared to the first time he witnessed this fight. The insight provided with his technique allowed him to see how the masters fought, positioning themselves in the most optimal spot while trying to push their opponents to the worst spot. And the speed of the fists that they were sending...Kenichi saw nine different hand attacks from Sogetsu, ranging from palm strikes to fists, while Kensei parried them away easily. He remembered the first time, and though that Sogetsu had only delivered five.
Sogetsu launched an uppercut that sent Kensei towards the ceiling, though he flawlessly blocked it and transferred his power to let him approach the edge of the room. He did the splits, allowing him to stay on the ceiling.
"Your disciple...is much more than he seems," noted Sogetsu, looking at Kenichi, "Is he already in the realm of Ki no Shouka despite being a Disciple zone? Impressive."
"More than you know," replied Kensei mysteriously.
Suddenly, the building's lower level suddenly exploded, forcing the disciples to almost lose their balance. The local mafia boss had blown up the building to kill all of the Ma family in one go. He threw a dynamite to force the building to collapse faster, as well as tossed oil tanks to accelerate the fire.
One of the walls that Kensei had been using as a foothold suddenly broke, forcing him to fall down. Sogetsu saw this as an opening and struck with all his strength in an elbow attack.
"He's won!" shouted Natsu as he saw Kensei flying back, blood spewing from his mouth.
Sogetsu looked confident as Kensei landed on the ground, feet first, still glaring at his brother. Suddenly, he felt four impacts on his chest and coughed out blood, falling to the ground on his knees. Kensei had launched four attacks at him right before the elbow strike had hit home.
"Master!" shouted Natsu as Kensei stood back up.
"How...how did your skills improve so much?" growled Sogetsu as sweat began to fall on his forehead, struggling to get up.
"Because I have friends whom I train with diligently," replied Kensei, "While you have trained alone. That is the difference between us."
Sogetsu looked at Kensei before slumping down in defeat, chuckling that it was still the same as it was in the past. How he was alone and feared because of his stature while Kensei was admired and adored. How he had left China not because that he killed someone, but there was no place for him to live there.
As the fire started to wrap around them, Kenichi had to remind them all that it was getting too dangerous to stay here.
"Go, brother," stated Sogetsu, "For a martial artist, defeat is death!"
The brothers looked at each other's eyes one last time before Kensei turned around to leave. He knew that if he approached his brother to even help, Sogetsu would take his own life right away.
"Go on brat, go away," said Sogetsu, waving at Natsu, who had been standing still, gazing at Sogetsu.
Renka opened the elevator door to allow them all in. Natsu was the last one to enter, his eyes focused on his master in what he believed to be his last moments.
"Hehehe, the end of a murderer," laughed Sogetsu as he took another sip of his alcohol named Baijiu, "Should die like this."
Right before the elevator door almost close, Kenichi's eyes snapped open and forced the door open. He didn't care he was just repeating what he did last time. He knew in his heart, he had to do this, even if the results would be the same. And perhaps if he didn't do this, then Sogetsu really might die. He had no idea if his words in the old timeline had affected Sogetsu or not, but he wasn't willing to let brothers part like this.
"I can't permit this kind of farewell between brothers," stated Kenichi as he quickly rushed out.
"That idiot!" shouted Renka, "It's too dangerous!"
Both she and Miu held the door open, calling Kenichi to come back.
Kenichi didn't care and walked towards Sogetsu, offering his hand.
"Take my hand!" shouted Kenichi.
Sogetsu stared at Kenichi for a bit when another hand came out besides Kenichi.
"You can't die yet, shitty master," cursed Natsu as he had also ran out, "I still need you to teach me. Also, Kaede would never let me live it down if I let you escape without bringing you back to her. She does miss you, and wants her hundredth win streak against you."
As Sogetsu raised both hands, Kenichi thought that this time, Sogetsu would actually take their hands. Alas, Sogetsu quickly moved and hit both of them with a palm strike, launching them both towards the elevator. Miu caught Kenichi while Renka caught Natsu, allowing the elevator doors to close.
"Take care of my lousy disciple for me, brother," said Sogetsu as he leaned back.
Kensei nodded as the elevator doors closed.
"Well, that's one thing off my back," shrugged Sogetsu as he laid down on the floor, ready to let the fire consume his body. His disciple and his brother, along with the other brats, would make it out safely. They had his brother, and they were leaving in...an...elevator.
Choju Giga monkeys danced around for roughly two seconds as he processed this thought.
"Damn idiot!" shouted Sogetsu, breaking character as he sprung back up, "Kensei you idiot, you don't take an elevator in a building that's on fire! Did you forget the damn protocols?!"
He quickly glanced at the elevator, hoping it was a fireman elevator, only to see it wasn't.
"Great, this is going to annoy me a shitload," grumbled Sogetsu as he managed to get back up despite his injuries.
Being honest with himself, he had been debating whether or not to let the fire consume him when he pushed the brats back. He could easily escape by jumping out of the building and into the next one, continuing until he found a nice place to rest. Now, he had to stay to make sure his brother didn't let his disciple be killed, and he wasn't sure if he could do so. As another part of the room crumpled, causing a bookshelf to fall over, a strange box landed in front of him from the bookshelf, saying for fire emergencies.
Sogetsu opened it to see a bottle of aspirin and a flame-resistant cloak that was miraculously his size. He pondered why these were even here in the first place, but he took it anyways. He took one aspirin, and not caring about the warning of not taking it while consuming alcohol, and put on the cloak. As he quickly walked away, he didn't notice the back of the box, with a statement saying 'Provided by the Shinpaku Alliance', along with the Shinpaku logo.
As the group was going down the elevator, Natsu remembered something very important about the elevator.
"Is this a fire elevator at all?" pondered Natsu aloud.
The group blinked in silence before remembering the safety protocol of NOT using an elevator in a fire.
"Kenichi, did you use one back in the old timeline?" whispered Miu.
"Yea, and we got out safely...somehow," replied Kenichi, "Now I think about it, I really should've pushed to use the stairs."
"And will we be safe this time?" asked Miu.
"I...don't know," admitted Kenichi, "I kinda...lost consciousness the first time because the palm strike knocked me unconscious. I just assumed we got to the bottom floor safely with the elevator."
Just as he said that the elevator halted with them trapped inside.
"Alright, we're taking another way out," stated Kensei as he ripped the doors open, "We're low enough that we can just jump through."
"I can see the Ma family is just full of recklessness," sighed Natsu.
"Hey!" shouted Renka.
"Exhibit A," replied Natsu, "You charging at a Grand Master in delusion you could beat him."
The two argued as they jumped out of the building, landing safely onto the floor, along with Kenichi, Miu, and Kensei.
The local mafia was quickly rounded up and just like the old timeline, Ma Sogetsu's body was nowhere to be seen. Before Renka could turn around to catch her father, Miu, Natsu, Kenichi and Kensei all ran away, shaking her off.
"Dammit!" shouted Renka in frustration as she returned to the restaurant alone, where Hakubi quickly assigned Renka to sweeping the floors, "I'll get you somehow Papa! The next time I find you, I'll put a rope around you so I can drag you home!"
'And maybe take Kenichi and Natsu with me,' added Renka as an afterthought.
The front door suddenly opened to reveal...Niijima Haruo coming in.
"I'm sorry, but the restaurant is closing in 10 minutes," said Hakubi.
"I'm here to pick up my order," said Niijima, "I ordered a box of meat buns, stir-fried noodles, and chicken? Order number 452?"
"Oh my, I almost forgot about that. I'll get it for you right now," apologized Hakubi as he left to get it, leaving Niijima with Renka.
"So...you want to learn more about Kenichi, Natsu, and your father?" grinned Niijima.
"How do you know that?" asked Renka, her eyes narrowed.
"Why I'm Kenichi's best friend!" said Niijima with a disarming smile, "He told me he was heading to Chinatown here with his master and texted me that Natsu was here."
Niijima quietly leaned over and whispered, "Do you want to know where Ryozanpaku is? And do you want the chance to attend Koryu Highschool, where we all go? You could use this chance to learn more about them."
Niijima didn't attempt to use his antennas to latch onto Renka, as the last time he had done so had gotten him a gut punch. This time, he would do it slowly.
"Mmm I want to go to their school," pouted Renka, "But I can't. I have to work at the restaurant, and Koryo Highschool doesn't sound like it's anywhere near here. If there could be some low wage workers here, I might be able to go."
"Ah, but what if I could get you someone?" grinned Niijima, "I know quite a few people looking for one. And since you did just break up the local mafia, there are going to be some people looking for jobs."
Before he could say anything more, Hakubi had come back with the items.
"Just remember, we all go to Koryo Highschool if you're interested," reminded Niijima one more time before leaving.
"What was that all about?" asked Hakubi curiously.
"Oh nothing," smiled Renka as she shelved this information for later. She now had a general idea where her father was. All she needed to do was start from Koryu Highschool and figure out how to get in there.
Two days after the incident, Natsu Taninmoto returned home tired. He had finished a school project, delivered a report of where he had been lately to Ragnarok and how he would be gone for a bit still, and had reviewed the quarterly assessments of his company. All he wanted to do now was just to go home, eat a warm dinner prepared by his little sister and head to sleep.
"Welcome home, Nii-chan!" cheered Kaede as she greeted him.
"How is your cough?" asked Natsu, "Is it getting better?"
"Yea, much better!" smiled Kaede, "Does that mean I don't have to eat the icky medicine?"
"Sorry, but no," chuckled Natsu, "You'll finish it all up until the doctor says otherwise."
Kaede pouted before brightening up once more, "Ooh, ooh, you'll never guess who came today while you were at work still!"
"Who?" asked Natsu as he began to wash his hands.
"Uncle Ma!"
Natsu froze for a second before turning around to Kaede, "You mean..."
"Yea, uncle Ma Sogetsu, the big man who I dominate in Mah Jong. He came to visit! I told him you were still at work and asked him to stay! He said he couldn't stay long, though, and left. He brought us presents though!"
She held up a bracelet with Mah Jong tiles on it, though on the tiles it said: "To my favorite brat". Then she handed some scrolls to Natsu, who quickly opened it. From the first one he opened, was a note stating that yes, he was still alive, but he wanted to travel for a bit still. It advised him to work on basic training and to go see Kensei to make sure he was doing it correctly. On some other scrolls were some of the more advanced moves with drawings all over, and to ask Kensei if he didn't understand it, though Natsu could tell the last part was said in a sarcastic tone. Still, it was proof that his master was still alive.
"I'll find you again later, shitty master," whispered Natsu.
And done. Hope you enjoyed it.
Now for random notes:
Remember, Kenichi wants to be an author, so it wouldn't be weird for him to know about Romeo and Juliet in detail.
Niijima is... everywhere muhahahah.
Also, I noticed I focused a bit on Natsu and the other characters interaction on this chapter. No worries, next chapter will have Niijima mostly in the spotlight once more!
If you couldn't tell, I might and I stress MIGHT... have Natsu x Renka. Not too sure, but I do love the interaction I wrote. No Kenichi x harem. He be dead by the Elder if he dated someone else while with Miu.
Yes Kenichi will be learning a little more about weapons. Had a huge discussion about this with a writer. It won't completely dominate in his fighting style, but I might have some fights with him using weapons. Always thought that Kenichi should've learned some if he was Shigure's disciple. I mean, all the other martial arts master all have anti-weapon techniques, so Shigure's teaching is just basically the basics of how weapons work, meaning she really has little in helping Kenichi. As for Ma knowing how to use some weapon, Renka used a two sided meteor hammer to try to capture him, so it wouldn't be off that he wouldn't know a little. Maybe he just favors his fist. Afterall, I took kung fu before for a little, and as I progressed they had me learn some form of weapons.
I chose those two weapons because they do have moves that capture the opponent, whereas it might be a little harder with a sword. I mean, sure holding it up someone's neck could stop them from moving, but one mistake and you cut them, whereas the other two don't really have that. In my opinion, Kenichi doesn't like weapons because of how easily most of them can either maim or be lethal. Also, it seems like the majority of weapons they show are mostly ones with blades. Plus, the Elder used giant clubs as weapons, and if needed, human beings for his human shuriken technique.
I guess Katsujinken style, having a weapon that can't cut wouldn't suit the style? I mean you can still use a stick to kill someone, but I guess with the blade it's easier to chop something? I don't think I've actually seen anyone from the Yami Weapons division that uses a blunt weapon in general.
Next chapter, prepare your mustaches for who's coming in! That... should be enough spoiler to know who's coming in.