Ch 19

*clack clack clack clack CLACK*

*clack clack clack CLACK clack clack CLACK*

*clack CLACK clack clack CLACK clack clack clack clack CLACK*

"Hold it." Stepping back, Keitaro wiped the sweat from his brow with his off hand as he held a suburito bokken. Across from him was Kanako, holding a regular bokken at a low ready position. Sweat droplets dotted her brow but otherwise his sister did not look like she had just practicing with him for two hours straight. "Seriously, Kana-chan, relax, drink some water."

Kanako's bokken flipped up and back so it was laying backwards along her arm. Catching the water bottle her brother had tossed her, she cracked it open and took a long pull, watching as he did the same. Feeling the thirst she had worked up, she drained the bottle and tossed the empty next to the still full bottles laying on the ground off to the side.

"You know Kana-chan, you're probably better at this than I am at this point. I haven't been able to get the same amount of practice that you have the last couple years." Keitaro smiled at his sister.

The younger Urashima blushed. "You flatter me too much, Kei-kun." While Kanako was faster with her strikes, Keitaro was stronger and more accurate. They had been doing sword drills since they had come out behind the house after breakfast this morning. After some stretching, they had done some kata, then some light sparing, then the heavy contact drills. In their case, it was Kanako striking as fast as she could with her bokken, while Keitaro blocked and tried to counter-attack at the same time. Kanako occasionally got a strike through his guard, leaving welts on his arms and shoulders, but he gave as good as he got, occasionally leaving welts on her as well. His attacks were handicapped by the suburito bokken he was using, but the weighted practice sword increased his strength and coordination. Being able to block his sister's faster attacks that way would train him for what he would face in the upcoming duel tomorrow morning.

"I think what we need to do next is some hand to hand practice. We need to kick it up a notch from our usual spars though," Keitaro stated. Kanako nodded, abet reluctantly. While their morning training was not anything near easy, they were not trying to hurt each other either. "Since I don't want you to kick my head off, no high foot strikes, OK?" Keitaro grinned at her. "I don't think Motoko-san is much of a high kicker anyway."

Kanako nodded again as she got into a ready position. Now that she thought about it, Motoko seem to be the type of person that would concentrate mostly on the swordfighting techniques of her school and not much else. That thought brought her to a halt. "Keitaro, I just thought of something. How much unarmed training would a kendoist have? Especially someone like Motoko-san?"

Keitaro paused then straightened up out of his stance as well. "Most kendo and kenjitsu schools teach some aikido and jujitsu, for weapon retention if nothing else. So you have to maintain some proficiency when you practice a school's techniques. I would think that you have to at least reach dan rank in unarmed techniques if you are a serious student."

"Yes, but how well do you think Motoko-san is at unarmed fighting? Especially since she has been training away from her family?" Kanako asked.

"Well, she has been training with the school kendo team… actually, that makes it worse, wouldn't it?" Keitaro asked in surprise. "They train for interschool competition, and they aren't going to start grappling and throwing each other if they break or lose their swords. That is why you brought this up, isn't it? You think this is Motoko-san's Achilles' heel."

"Well, it's something to seriously consider. You left a lot of leeway when you set this duel as you did. As long as you don't use crippling attacks, you could use any technique. But that leaves you open to her ki attacks as well."

"Yeah, but I don't think Motoko-san is used to doing her ki attacks at touch range, or if she's been disarmed… oh bloody hell." Keitaro tilted his head back so he was looking skyward. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What's wrong?" Kanako was puzzled now at her brother's reaction.

"Why does Motoko-san insist on being armed? And I don't mean because she probably sees herself as a samurai reborn?" Keitaro kept his eyes looking up.

"Because she thinks she will see something perverted happening, and she will need her weapon to… oh, hell, I believe I know what you are thinking. Motoko can only attack with a weapon, either ki or physical." Kanako was shaking her head at the revelation.

"We're just guessing here, Kana-chan. For all we know Motoko-san is a fifth dan jujitsu practitioner." Keitaro cautioned his sister.

"Yes, but what are the chances of that? Motoko-san's whole mental image of herself is a swordswoman, she does not want to dirty herself by rolling around on the ground with some perverted male," replied Kanako.

"Perhaps. In any case, I need to get some hand to hand practice, so if you will start, little sister?" Keitaro dropped back into his unarmed ready stance.

Kanako, not happy at being called 'little sister', decided to get things going by chambering and firing off a high side foot strike aimed to the side of Keitaro's head, only for him to slide back and start to circle her. "Not nice, dear sister." He called out to her,

Growling, Kanako was more than a little tempted to do a full out blitz on her teasing brother, but she decided to do what she was here for and help get him ready for his fight. Instead, she went into a low ready stance, her fists flashing out and Keitaro beginning to deflect, dodge, and counterattack.

Motoko was in the meadow in the grove behind the Hinata-sou, sitting in the lotus position. Eyes closed, her breathing at about 10 respirations per minute, she could hear the slow beat of her heart, the sound of the water trickling in the creek behind her, the breeze whistling through the trees around her. This was as close to peacefulness that she was able to reach in a meditative state, yet serenity escaped her.

Why, why, why does he affect me so? Was the question that kept being whispered in her mind. What is it about this male that makes me lose control?

It was not just the manager's behavior. As much as he found himself in questionable circumstances, such when he grabbed onto Shinobu-chan to keep her from falling from the stepladder, or when he had been inspecting the hole in his room's ceiling that led to him looking into Naru-san's room and seeing her in her underwear, such incidents were explainable. However, the number of incidents that had occurred, and the fact that he had been changing the rules of the Sou to make it safe and accessible to both genders made him look more suspicious. Yet that alone did not justify her attack on him a couple of nights ago.

"So you're ready to have this guy's babies because of something that happened a few hundred years ago?" Kitsune's voice echoed through her memory, causing her to blush slightly. Yes, the manager was not unpleasant to look at. The fact that he was the descendant of a family with a distinguished and noble background was not to be ignored. As a matter of fact, if it was not for the fact that anyone that she would marry would either have to give up their family name and take on hers instead, or that any children that they would have would have to take on the Aoyama name, the manager would have been an excellent candidate for marriage. However, given that he was the only marriageable male left to carry on his family name, that was very unlikely.

"Look Motoko, this guy may be the modern day equivalent of a samurai warrior…" Naru's voice was now the one that echoed in her mind. It was not something that she could deny either. When she has seen the manager wearing haori, hakama, and kataginu, it was as though he had stepped out of a historical film. The only thing that had detracted from his appearing as a feudal lord was the glasses he wore. Even though his hair was not worn pulled back with the crown shaved in the way of historical samurai, his appearance and calm demeanor made him seem more like the masters of the various martial arts schools she had met throughout the years than a young ronin looking to enter the most prestigious of the nation's universities.

Was it his age? The manager was only three years older than she was, but it was as though he had an old soul, that he had experienced things that most other people had not. The manager was calm and polite to a fault, but you could see through his actions that he was wary of his surroundings and other people. His practice of always keeping his eyes up and aware while bowing, his tendency to never stand in front of or in a doorway and therefore make himself vulnerable to attack. His habit of always keeping his eyes moving from one person to another, even if he was talking to only one person. His instinctive reaction to hostility; when she had been waiting for Haruka and Naru to arrive back at the Sou the night the younger girl had been attacked, the manager had visibly tensed and then looked right at her, no matter than she had been under the shade of a tree in an unlit area of the back yard.

Or maybe it was his uncommon calmness? Motoko had spend almost all of her life around martial artists, and Keitaro was more in common with the more senior members than with the younger ones. She had started training in her family school almost from the moment she started to walk, while the manager had been training in his family style on and off through his childhood and adolescent, yet it was as though he was the master and she was the student.

"The manager does an acceptable job in controlling his emotions, at least to the point where I normally don't detect the chi he produces, but his sister is another story." Her own words replayed in her mind. Both of the Urashima were uncommon in their emotional control. The manager was almost a null as a result of his control, which was fairly unusual. A null was someone that didn't broadcast emotions and the resulting chi that was tied to them. It was been the desired state of being for many martial arts schools as it allowed for concealing intent in a fight, yet someone that appeared to be a bookish student was an adept at it.

The manager's sister was almost the opposite; her emotions were under tight control, yet it would be felt regardless. It was something that Motoko was not at all eager to face again, as the encounter she had with the assistant manager had not turned out well for her, when she had distracted and disarmed her of her tanto in the hallway.

"You do not want to get a Urashima very angry with you when you fight them, you will not escape unscathed." Her sister's voice drifted through her thoughts. What she had seen and heard of the Urashima fighting techniques was rather awe-inspiring, even if it had not been apparent at times. Of course the first time she had seen a Urashima fight was when Granny Hina mopped the dojo floor with the advanced students at the family school. Her sister had mentioned that it would give her serious pause to have to fight against the Urashima matriarch, and given that Tsuruko was a master in the family style, that was no small praise.

The next Urashima she had seen fight had been the manager when he first arrived at the Sou. Even unarmed, he was able to improvise a weapon and disarm her of her own sword before knocking her out. The fight had lasted less than a minute from start to finish, and this was with him dodging her ki attacks. It would have been humbling if it had not been so infuriating that a partially unclad unarmed male had been able to defeat her while she was armed with a live blade and ki attacks.

And the last Urashima she had not even seen fighting, yet she had affected her the most. The assistant manager was able to dominate her in the hallway, even though she was unarmed, with just sheer force of will. And the other time the assistant manager had dealt with her she had not even seen or felt her coming before she had knocked her out.

How was it that those two had affected her so badly? Why was it that her anger had grown into fury when she had seen the manager come out of the taxi that night? Why had her temper spun out of control when they were judging her during the disciplinary meeting?

In her mind's eyes she visualized the younger Urashima, the male with his calm mien and amiable personality, the female with her aura of coolness and intensity. How the two always interacted without pause or misunderstanding, with a trust and confidence in each other that she had never encountered before, especially with people as young as they were.

Even before she had her falling out with her older sister, Motoko had not had that kind of relationship with Tsuruko. She had admired her sister, strived to become as good as her sister, but that awe had become a fear that she would never become as good as her aneue. The fear had only twisted and morphed into anger when it was announced that Tsuruko was giving up being the heir of the family to get married to a male from outside their martial arts community, and that the heirship would now pass onto her.

Fear. Anger. Jealousy. Were these the themes that kept coming up in her life? The emotions that had lead to her estrangement with her formerly beloved older sister? The feelings that lead her to view all males as perverts, waiting only for an appearance of weakness to take advantage while others shamefully looked away? The reaction to seeing the manager and his sister perform a mirrored kata, moving in harmony without a word? The feelings that made her think that no matter how hard she worked at her art, she would not be able to match those around her? Was it the culmination of these feelings that had produced an inferno of rage, having to sit there and listen to her actions be second-guessed, to criticize her intentions, to have her sister sit beside her and not come to her defense? The cold sensation of being on her own, with little to show for her years of training and study?

Duty, honor and service were words that the Aoyama were to live by. By protecting those who could not protect themselves, they served. By following a code of conduct they maintained honor. By doing what needed to be done they fulfilled duty. And yet, with all that had happened to her, she had always held in her heart that she was doing the right thing, that she was protecting the helpless. To lose that belief was something that would leave her adrift in this cold and amoral world, truly a ronin, one cast upon the waves.

Given what had happened at the disciplinary meeting, and the confrontation she had with her sister afterwards, Motoko could feel her life spinning out of control. Perhaps it was her destiny to wind up alone. But she would fight to maintain her beliefs and personal honor, in a world where there was otherwise little that attracted her to it.

Feeling a minute spike of chi, Motoko opened her eyes and looked up at the person standing before a short distance away. Tsuruko was looking at her with no expression on her face, holding a bokken in each hand. Her older sister studied her face for a long moment before stepping toward her, stopping within arm's reach as she came to her feet.

Reversing the bokken in her left hand, Tsuruko extended it to her younger sister, who took it and held it loosely and pointed downwards. Taking a step back, Tsuruko raised her bokken to the ready, and Motoko followed suit.

"There is not much time left. We will go through all the forms first then do some sparring. I will make corrections if they are needed." That was as close as Tsuruko was able to get to saying that she wanted her sister to do her best. And for now, that was enough for Motoko.

"Do we really need to do this outside? We would be a lot more comfortable if we were in my room, or even in the storage area."

"Tsuruko and Motoko are too sensitive to chi to not notice what we are doing, Kei-kun. Last thing we want is to scare the crap out of them when we break the seals on this." Haruka gestured toward the long narrow box the manager had carried outside into the grove of trees behind the Sou. Kanako followed behind them, carrying a powerful lantern and a shoulder bag filled with items them may or may not need tonight. It was after dinner and the sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving a twilight that allowed them to walk around the trees, but that would not last for long.

After a couple minutes of walking, the Urashima came to a halt at a large waist-high boulder laying on the ground among the trees. Carefully putting down the box on the semi-flat top of the boulder, Keitaro waited for Kanako and Haruka to stand on either side of him before he pulled out a tactical folder knife and started to cut through the ofuda talismans that were all over the box keeping it sealed shut.

"If stuff starts to go weird, I want you guys to run, OK? Last thing I want is for the sword to hurt you." Keitaro could see the protest forming on Kanako's face and cut her off. "I'm serious, Kana-chan. I know how to handle the sword, if I lose control of it, there is nothing you will be able to do. Just run and get Tsuruko's help." Seeing his sister reluctantly nod, Keitaro continued cutting the seals.

After two of the seven seals were cut through, a faint hum started to be heard. "Kana-chan, get the replacement ofuda ready in case we have to have to slap them on fast." Kanako nodded and pulled out a short stack of hand-lettered paper slips, while Haruka held the lantern over the sword case, illuminating it better as the sunlight faded.

As the fifth seal was cut, the hum was starting to sound like an electrical transformer under load. Finally, as the seventh seal was broken, the box shuddered for a few moments before the hum dropped down to an barely audible level. Keitaro glanced back at Kanako and Haruka and saw they were ready before he looked back at the case and carefully opened the lid.

Laying on a lining of faded red silk was a sheathed katana sword, almost a meter long. The handle was covered in black sharkskin with dark blue silk cord wrapped around it in a cross-hatchet pattern. The sheath was lacquered black, however there were cracks throughout the surface of the lacquer, showing the dark red wood below it, looking more than a little like dried blood. A rounded plain black metal tsuba guard was flush against the sheath, leaving no part of the blade itself visible.

Cautiously, Keitaro grasped the sheath of the sword with his left hand and lifted it out of the case. The hum that was obviously coming from the sword maintained its current volume as Keitaro held it and carefully took hold of the handle and started to draw the blade from its sheath.

Slowly, dark gleaming metal appeared as the sword was drawn, flecked with shiny white specks across the length of the blade. Once the blade was clear of the sheath, the Urashima all looked closely at it, seeing that there was no corrosion or tarnish on the metal, and except for some minor nicks and scratches, the sword appeared to be in excellent condition.

"How long has the sword been sealed?" Kanako asked in a hushed voice. Given the low hum the blade was producing, and the cold feeling chi it was emitting, it was understandable why she was wary of it.

"Ever since Granny Hina became clan head. The Hina blade is used in the induction ceremony." Haruka replied, placing the lantern next to the empty box. "So about fifty years now."

The two females watched as Keitaro took a step back and brought the katana to the present position, the blade held vertically in front of his face. Closing his eyes and tilting his head forward for a moment, Keitaro looked up and fixed his gaze on his sister. "Kanako, please step forward."

Once his sister was standing in front of him, Keitaro began to speak. "Know all present that this is the Urashima family sword, also known as the Hina Demon blade, the Blood Drinking sword, and it's original name, the Juuchi Yosamu, the Ten Thousand Cold Nights sword, so called because of the blade looking like the winter night sky. This is the sword that changed the fortunes of the Urashima family, starting with Taro Urashima, the lowly warrior and scholar that gave his life to protect the Tokugawa Shogun almost four hundred years ago, using only his bare hands against armed traitors and assassins and finally his own body to stop this very sword. Beyond titles, lands, and money, this sword is proof of our family's honor, and it is both a sign of our courage and our selflessness. As Taro-sama lay dying in front of the Shogun, he was offered any boon that his lord could give, and he only asked that his family be taken care of, and that they be told of his actions so as to teach them how a warrior should live his life and lay it down when need be. The Shogun so swore, and starting with Taro's ten year old son, the Urashima were promoted to the rank of Lord, and became hatamoto to the Shogun, serving faithfully until the end of the feudal era. Even now, this sword represents the honor, courage, and selflessness of our family. May those values never be forgotten."

Keitaro looked at Kanako as he lowered the sword so it was pointing off to the left of his sister. Haruka came to his side, and moving quickly made a small cut on the palm of his left hand with a small knife. As the blood began to flow, he held his hand over the blade, and as soon as the droplets of blood hit the blade, they hissed as though the metal was heated, and then surprisingly the drops were absorbed into the blade, which then gave a quick pulse of chi. After a moment, Haruka quickly applied a small bandage to the cut, and then moved over to Kanako's side. Keitaro then asked, "Kanako please hold out your left hand."

As Kanako did so, Haruka came up beside her, and with Kanako carefully staying still, Haruka made a small cut on the palm of her hand and moved it over so that it dripped droplets of blood onto the darkened blade, which were absorbed as well as producing another pulse of chi. After her hand was bandaged, Keitaro continued speaking. "The Juuchi Yosamu chooses who it serves, and it does do by tasting their blood. Should the spirit of the sword not agree to serve you and you try to forcibly do so anyway, madness and death of the wielder will result. By producing that burst of chi, the sword has shown that it will serve you. However, you must keep in mind that the Juuchi Yosamu is a bloodthirsty sword, and should you lose control of yourself while wielding it, death and destruction will result."

Keitaro now turned the sword so it was horizontal but held between the two of them. Seeing that he was presenting the sword to her, Kanako took hold of it as Keitaro released his grip on it. "You are now the hatamoro of the Urashima clan, Kanako. May you serve with honor and courage." Here Keitaro stopped speak and smiled at his sister. "Congraulations, Kana-chan."

Kanako smiled and would have rushed forward to hug Keitaro, but she was aware she was holding a bared sword in hand. Taking the sheath that Haruka passed her, Kanako quickly covered the blade before passing it to Haruka and then springing forward and hugging Keitaro tightly.

"A couple more things, Kana-chan." She pulled back so she was looking at his face, but left her arms around him. "One is that the Juuchi Yosamu cannot be sheathed unless it has been given blood to drink. The ceremony we just did qualifies, but otherwise you are going to have to nick yourself." Kanako nodded her understanding. "The other thing is that you are not to cut yourself with the Juuchi Yosamu, use another blade or even bite a finger if you have to. If you cut yourself with the sword, it gives the spirit in the blade the chance to take you over. So I suggest you give it some blood when you first draw it, as to appease the spirit. Otherwise, the longer the fight and the more emotional you get, the more you lose yourself to the spirit in the blade. Hopefully you never have to draw the sword for real, little sister." Kanako nodded her understanding and laid her head on his shoulder.

Looking over Kanako, Keitaro addressed his aunt. "Haru-chan, would you tie a couple of ofuda around the sheath near the top and wrap it with that length of black silk in the bag? It should help suppress the chi the sword gives off, so it doesn't spook the Aoyama." Haruka gave a nod and started to do as he asked, as Keitaro and Kanako standing in each other's arms, his sister enjoying the warmth their closeness was producing.

A/N - As of 10Oct11 0500 PDT this story has 63,062 hits, 151 Reviews, 16 C2 listings, 245 Favorite listings, and 228 Alerts. The last chapter received 25 reviews, the most for any chapter in this story. Many thanks to all my readers.