The Shattered Blade
Chapter V: Truth
(BGM: Okami – Seiankyou Nobles' Quarters II)
"You have a very beautiful garden, Yuki-san."
Indeed she did. Behind her family's ancestral mansion was a massive garden covered in Cherry Blossom trees. Small, man made rivers flowed throughout, dividing the land in sections with bamboo bridges linking the lands together. Sunlight rained down from the canopy opening, giving the land a heavenly glow.
"Aa, thank you, Kasumi-san."
She would have loved it here... Who? Lynn? Yes…our house was rather bland and small compared, but I know she would have loved to visit this place at least once…
"Zero-nii?"
Snapping out of his thoughts, the young man turned to Mikoto, who was holding his arm, a worried look on her face.
"Sorry…spaced out there…right."
He turned his head to the side, a contemplative frown on his face. He nodded to himself and stepped away from the group.
Hey wait a minute. I didn't hear a thing you just thought! What are you doing?
Giving you legs.
Giving me-wait what?!
"Zero?"
Suddenly his body glowed a fierce purple, putting the ninjas on edge, and making the others step back. A silver undertone shimmered into view beneath the purple. Slowly, small strands of silver light began to swirl into the purple glow, merging the two together. Crossing his arms, the glow intensified, and by swinging them open, he launched the aura away from him, it taking the form of a massive purple sphere. The sphere slowly floated from his position, and then touched the ground. A few flashes of energy, and the sphere began to collapse.
"What the…"
From within the sphere emerged a girl. She looked young, perhaps no older than sixteen. She wore little more than a black gown and a pair of sandals. Long deep violet hair flowed down her back as milk white skin reflected the sunlight. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, as if testing them out for the first time. They were a brilliant crimson.
Zero dropped to one knee, panting. The girl whirled around and ran to his side.
"How the hell did you-no, no. First thing's first. Are you alright?"
He nodded. "Yeah…just got a bit winded there. I need to do that more often." He slowly stood with the help of the girl. Kasumi quickly grabbed a spare lawn-chair and opened it for him to sit. He nodded his thanks. Mikoto handed him a small glass of water, which he gratefully drank.
After seeing him recover slightly, Yuki asked first. "Zero-sama…might I ask what that was? And who your friend is?"
"That…was me kicking my tenant out for a bit." A few confused faces. "As for who she is…well…everyone, meet Tiamat, the Dark Dragon."
"WHAAAAT?!"
"You gave her a human form?"
"How did you do that?!"
"I too would like to know how you pulled this off."
"It's simple really. You're a lingering spirit sealed within a blade, which now uses my body as a host. By using my own energy to repel yours, and then entwining the two energy patterns together, I created you a quasi-physical "body" to project yourself as. You can interact with things, but not do much else. It will fade after a while, how long I'm not sure, and you or I can cancel it at any time, but ultimately since it's my energy that created the body for you, I can choose how and when it fades. Though if I do it too sharply, or you REALLY want to stay, the backlash of our clashing wishes will cause a bit of strain on me…"
"Define…a bit."
"I dunno…depends on how bad it is…could be from a simple case of sudden fatigue to…worst case scenario being knocked into a coma for a while to maybe death? But that would only happen if I pumped your form full of energy, and then ripped it all away to cancel out the projection. A backlash like that would be expected because of the sudden return of such mass amounts of power."
"…you've been planning this…haven't you?"
"Well…kinda. It wasn't until we got the ring that I would have been able to do this…because of the pact, as you get stronger, I do too. I'd say…for every shard we recover that is big enough to restore a segment of your power…I'd get…maybe a third of that power? Yeah, a third sounds about right. It's roughly equivalent to maybe…a year and a half of spiritual training and energy manipulating. It would have taken me years to get this far, if we'd stuck with only one shard."
"But…why?"
He shrugged. "Boredom. Wondering if it was possible…take your pick. Plus, you've been basically contained and confined to a singular location, never shifting, barely awake for how many centuries now? One would figure the chance to stretch one's legs would be welcomed…"
"Wouldn't that mean she could enact her power if she so chose then?"
"Not at all Yuki-san. See, the body already existed. Made from my blood, on the day of the pact. All I did was call upon that pact, and infuse some of my spiritual energy into the blood that flows through the two of us. The blood, empowered by the willing connection between our existences, enhances the amount of energy that flows between us. As such, since it was solely my blood that was used as the grounds for the pact, I am the one in which the pact is bound. Therefore, I am able to control how much, or how little power she has, at expense of my own."
Some of them, especially the kids, were still confused.
"Ahh…lets put it this way. Yuki-san, you watch anime with the kids, right?"
"Yes."
"You've seen Naruto, right?"
"That is their favorite show…next to that one about Shinigami."
"Right, so you've seen how Summoning works in that world, correct?"
"Yes I have."
"For those of us who don't know, in the Anime known as Naruto, their take on Ninjas have the ability to warp time and space to summon creatures they've signed a 'Summoning Contract' for. They sign it with their blood, perform a few hand seals, and depending on the chakra they give, they get a creature of varying strength, depending on the contract signed. The show's main character, Uzumaki Naruto himself, has a contract with amphibians, mostly frogs, whilst his teacher, Hakate Kakashi, has a contract with canines. As such, depending on how much energy they put into the summoning, they can summon anything from the base form of the creature, say a tadpole or a puppy, to a full grown summon creature, like an armored bipedal frog or a giant bulldog."
"Wait…so…you're saying…depending on how much energy you give, you could have Tiamat as young as a baby?"
He blinked. "I…never thought of that…huh…but no, that's not what I meant, though theoretically I could…argh, anyway. What I mean is that the amount of energy I give to the body created, dictates how much she can do with that energy. The body is created by my energy giving hers a physical form. She can access her own energy, but only if mine gave her body the ability to channel it. It also depends on how much energy we both use. Like right now, because I surprised her with it, my energy is what holds the form, which limits her to maybe…five percent of her current maximum. If we were to say, make her have the form using my energy as more of the mould and contents than my own, she'd have access to more of her energy, and I would have less control over how much she can use or touch."
"Zero…if you don't mind me interrupting…could I see the memory of your fight?"
"Huh? Sure."
She raised her palm and rings of light surrounded her body. After a few moments, the arm fell limply to the side, and she dropped to her knees in shock.
"Uhh…you ok?"
"Genius…my host is a bloody freaking genius…"
Zero blinked. "Huh?"
She turned to the others. "You all know how devastating that shockwave technique he used was right?"
A series of replies. "Well, it was formed by him using his second sight…but even then it shouldn't have been THAT destructive…"
"'choo talkin' bout Tia?"
"You gathered the very existence of wind itself around your blade and formed it into a solid wave of massive destruction."
"Really? Huh…and here I was just wanting to do an aerial Majinken…"
"Oh you did alright…only it'd be more like a Shin-Majinken."
"Majinken?"
"A technique from the Tales Of series of games. Basically, whoever uses it creates a small white shockwave of energy that travels along the ground in a straight line until it impacts something. Gou Majinken creates a rising shockwave in front of the attacker, and Majinken Souga launches two waves of energy. To be honest, I've been wanting to give some more of those moves a shot…since Tiamat can enhance my natural skills."
He looked to the side. "But…as fun as all this is…we're getting off track…"
(BGM: Kingdom Hearts II Complete – Organization XIII)
"Might as well start from the beginning…"
My family was rather well off. Not overly rich or anything, but just right. Like any other normal kid growing up, I went to school, hung out with a few friends here and there, played video games, did a few sports and martial arts for fun…
I never did know what my parents did for a living. They both worked at the same place supposedly, and I just didn't care. We were happy, and I really had no interest in their work. I could tell they weren't being secretive about it either, but I wasn't too concerned about it. Neither of them sounded worried about anything, so I believed it wasn't dangerous.
I was always a little…odd though. Kinda out there, according to past attempts at dating. I believed in things that people thought disproven, or impossible. Even though news stories of Ninjas in the Dead or Alive tournaments ran rampant…nobody else seemed to think 'hey…he could be right!'
And then one day it all changed. My parents came back, holding a girl. She was clutching a purple shining thing in her hand, and shivering, wrapped in a black trench coat. My parents told me they found her in a ditch on the side of the road home. She didn't have a name, they said. So I called her Lynn. Cute little blonde thing she was.
We took care of her for a few months. Didn't tell anyone about her. After she recovered, she began training. I caught her a couple times, practicing some random martial arts techniques…and then she summoned fire into her hand. That alone threw me for a loop.
She remembered how I was talking about wishing how to do stuff like that…so she decided to teach me, as repayment, for being there for her. I tried to tell her if she honestly didn't want to she didn't have to, but she apparently wanted to anyway.
Over the past few years after we found her, she trained me. The physical aspects I picked up on pretty quickly. But being surrounded by disbelievers for so long slowed my spiritual and mental training. I never got past learning to feel the flow of energy around me. As a gift one birthday…the last one I spent with her, she gave me the very coat we found her in. It was still a few sizes too big for her, but fit me fine. Not long after that, my parents announced that they wanted to adopt her.
I'd already began seeing her as an older, if shorter, sister, so we were all happy about the idea…but then, a few months later…they came.
I was just coming home from taking a walk, when I heard gunfire. Running into the house, I saw Lynn fighting off four armored people. Before I could seize up, I grabbed a nearby chair and smashed it into the back of one of them. It didn't do much but annoy him, and he swatted me away like a fly. Right after that, he was incinerated by Lynn. But apparently she'd used too much energy. One of them shot her, right in the chest.
Screaming I ran back over to her. Oddly enough they stepped away. She said she was sorry she couldn't keep our parents safe. I told her to worry about herself. She knew she wouldn't make it. She gave me the pendant made out of the strange purple shard.
"Hold on to it…it's…very important to me…"
"I'm sorry…I couldn't…stop them…"
"Take…care…"
I don't fully remember what happened after that. Just that I was gripping the shard, and wishing I could do something…anything…against these people. I didn't even notice my blood slipping onto the shard, from the cut that formed where I was holding it.
And then my world went black.
A few days later, I did some snooping. I knew a few people that were damn good hackers. We found out that my parents worked for DOATEC…and they were the ones who sent the armored bastards out to kill my family. Nothing ever said why, just that there was a hit placed on them. I didn't find out until much later, that they were looking for Lynn. When my parents officially adopted Lynn as their daughter, the description matched with the girl DOATEC was looking for.
It was then, that I spoke to Tiamat. We made a deal. She would help me crush the ones who ordered the hit, and in return, I would help her collect shards. I swore to avenge my sister…my family…no matter what it took…
"Up till now, Tia's been helping in my training. Linking up with her allowed me the last step to access my inner power. I took a code name, changed my appearance slightly, and became a mercenary. Quietly, I put a hold on my family's accounts, and continued on."
Ryu spoke. "I think…I remember hearing about a family being wiped out in a fire…but…I cannot recall the name…"
Mikoto piped up. "Ne, Nii-chan…what was your name?"
Even Tiamat was interested. "Yes…what was your name? I never could access that part of your memory…"
"Tch…you all wanna know huh? Fine…"
He turned away and they watched as a slight shimmer surrounded him. He turned back around and they watched as his hair grew a shade lighter, his skin turned a lighter brown and his eyes turn from brown to black.
"Shinji…Miyamoto Shinji."
Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE let out at least a small gasp.
"The last Miyamoto…"
"Rumored to have descended from Musashi himself…"
"So that's who you were…no wonder you picked up the way of the Sword so easily…"
"Then I must thank you, Miyamoto-sama, for giving our sister, the peace she deserved."
Everyone turned to Kasumi, who had gone rigid and began speaking in an ethereal voice.
Suddenly, her body relaxed, but took on a very solid green glow.
Tiamat readied herself…but Shinji stepped forward, calmly.
"And you would be…"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten already. My stomach still hurts when I recall that Reppashou of yours."
"The naked living glow stick."
"If that's how you choose to remember me, then yes."
"Alright…how?"
"That ring of yours. Before I was fully destroyed, I was able to throw my consciousness into this body. She IS my original after all…"
"A clone…wait…that means-
"Yes…the one you call Lynn is…was…a failed clone of Kasumi. Much like myself."
Using his surprise, she continued.
"Kasumi was captured by DOATEC, her DNA analyzed and replicated. Hundreds of clones of her exist. Few are actually battle capable, and even then, they were defeated by their original. The majority still sleep, or have been used by that perverted bastard Victor Donovan as servants. Infer from that what you will, you'd probably be right."
Zero twitched at that. Tiamat flinched as well, feeling the sudden turn his thoughts took.
"The one you call Lynn, was one of the many outright failures. She was battle capable, but for some reason, it took a while for her to assimilate that type of information. Not to mention, she was blonde haired and blue eyed, which is not the original's look. As such she was slated to be eliminated, her body intended to return to the liquid in which it was spawned in, and added to the others' tanks. However…some of us didn't like that. Defeated in battle we could stand, but killed by the ones who spawned us…that did not sit well with us. As the ultimate failure, but yet, the strongest clone, I was able to take control for a while, and sent one of the successes out to give Lynn one of the shards of the Dark Dragon Blade Donovan had acquired and send her away."
Nobody knew what was going on in Zero's mind…nobody, save Tiamat. The dark thoughts running through the mind of her host surprised her. Surprised…and somewhat scared. He was freed from their contract. Both sides had fulfilled their parts, thus he was now able to access whatever amount of her power he wanted. She feared his possible corruption.
"It pleases me greatly to hear that she managed to escape and live a happy life, if only for a time. But I have one request of you, Miyamoto-sama."
"Speak. I shall hear your request."
"Please…destroy the clones. Return us to our original so we may rest…we who were not intended to exist."
"You are certain."
"Yes. We grow tired of existing for their purposes…all of us, from the moment we first wake, know we were not meant to live…return us to our original. That is what I ask of you."
"It shall be done."
That surprised her. "You…but…you don't want-
"If it weren't for you, I'd never have met Lynn, and I'd still be that little boy who dreamt, but never believed he could live his dreams. If it weren't for you, someone else would have managed to find that shard, and become corrupted by Tiamat's power. If it weren't for you, they would have found a way to complete the ring, and the world would have ended a lot sooner. So consider this a favor…for doing me a favor."
"I…understand. Thank you…Miyamoto-sama. I shall add my consciousness to Kasumi…so I may rest…and she may become stronger for it. Your ring…that is what will give Kasumi strength for each clone you send to sleep. I feel…as if she might need it."
"Very well." Nobody realized that he was slowly moving towards Kasumi's body.
"Thank you…Miyamoto-sama…"
The glow faded, and Kasumi's body dropped to the ground…or it would have, had Zero not anticipated what was to come, and caught her. He gently placed her in Hayate's hands, and stepped away. Tiamat looked quite worried. His thoughts were blazing around his head, flashing between points like a bolt of lightning. Tiamat puzzled over what she could possibly do to restore his mind from his turmoil…when the choice was taken out of her hands…
"So…the last Miyamoto yet lives…there are some people who would kill for that information…"
Immediately their eyes snapped to one of the sakura trees. An armor clad female walked out from behind its shadow. With a shuddering voice, Zero spoke.
"And you'd tell them…wouldn't you."
"Well…I could keep my silence…for a price…"
She heard everything. Tailing them from just outside the sensory range of the Ninja, she hid behind one of the many trees in the garden, listening.
So that's why he became a mercenary…perhaps we aren't as different as I once thought…
The red haired warrior closed her eyes and sighed sadly as she sensed the darkness brewing within her fellow mercenary.
Damn…I need him calm and coherent before I can approach him with my request…it's the only way I can have a chance of him accepting…
With a heavy sigh, she resolved herself to be the outlet for his struggling emotions.
"So…the last Miyamoto yet lives…"
(BGM: Chaos Legion – Choir of Curse Boss BGM Type 1)
"A price…Tell me…why would I pay your price…"
In the blink of an eye, he was right next to her. Her eyes widened as she could feel his breath on her ear.
"When I could silence you myself…"
A small flash came from his left palm, which was on her back. She was blasted forwards, towards the others. She landed face first onto the ground.
What the hell?! I didn't even see him move!
Scrambling to her knees, she hopped out of the way as he appeared behind her and brought his fist down on the ground where she once lay. Standing up, she summoned a red plated scythe to her hands.
Maybe becoming a target for his anger wasn't such a good idea…
He pulled his fist out of the ground and shook the dirt off it. Locking eyes with hers, she saw they'd become silver, with a jagged ring of black within the irises.
"Weapons already? Pity…I was hoping you'd last longer than that…"
He threw his right hand to the side, and in a red flare of energy, the Kitetsu appeared. Unknown to him, the others were shivering from the oppressive aura he was giving off. He stepped forward and vanished again.
The red haired warrior rose her weapon just in time to block an overhead swing from Zero's blade. She twitched as he hopped back, only to spring at her again, spinning his body around for a horizontal swing from the right. She blocked it and he bounced off her weapon and spun to the left. She twirled her scythe like a baton and deflected his sword upward. Unfortunately he used that movement to turn the deflection into a back flip that kicked her in the chin.
Stepping forward again, he slammed an energy charged left fist into her stomach, right in the weakest point of her armor. The detonation sent her skidding backward, as she had slammed the bottom of her scythe into the ground as a balance. Before she could recover, the scythe was kicked twice, and then slashed in half.
He…he broke it…
Stunned at the destruction of her weapon she was defenseless for his next assault. Another charged fist sent her back again, only this time, the ending was different. He vanished from view again. Suddenly a thin white line slammed into her. A cloud of dust appeared in front of her, followed by another. Another cloud to her left flank, and another line. One to her right front, and then another line. A cloud to her left and another line. Finally one last cloud and one final line.
Tiamat understood now. This isn't the mercenary Zero…this is the budding potential of Miyamoto Shinji…
Zero delivered a solid back kick to the warrior's chin, knocking her into the air. He swung his right arm in front of him, the Kitetsu hovering in place. He crossed both arms in front of him and then brought both hands along the hilt of the blade. The blade split in two, and he leapt into the air, vanishing partway to reaching the warrior. Suddenly all they saw was a series of crescent shaped white lines swirling around the warriors form, before the almost sphere like appearance exploded. The warrior's armor was shattered and flew all over the place before disintegrating.
(BGM: Organization XIII)
The female warrior landed harshly on her back while Zero landed in front of her, Kitetsu back as one blade. She was left wearing naught more than a ripped T-shirt and undergarments along with her leather leggings, but even those too were nearly ruined.
"Shit…I didn't…think you'd be this…strong…"
"…why."
Figured it out huh?
"You were…troubled…I needed…you…to have…a clear…head…"
He continued staring at her.
"I know…you don't…like us…but…you're the only one…that can help me…god…DAMN this hurts."
He turned away and looked at Tiamat, who hurled a jacket at him. He caught it and pulled the female warrior up, covering her with it. Kasumi, who had recovered, seemed to catch onto his thoughts and ran over with the chair Zero had long since vacated.
The warrior sat down, thanking the red-haired kunoichi.
"Alright Harken…what are you talking about."
"Please…call me Elmina…Lady Harken is just my title…"
"My question still stands."
"I…have a favor to ask you…"
Seeing the look on his face she sped up.
"We would pay you, of course. Rumor says you've been seeking strange purple crystals that give off a faint echo of darkness…Zeik…he…well…he has one."
"Really now…"
"But…that's where the job comes in…"
"Speak…and I'll decide whether it's not just easier to destroy you and take the shard myself."
It was then that she realized…she wasn't talking to the mercenary Zero…the one who would put his life on the line to save an unknown child…but Miyamoto Shinji…the boy who lost everything because of some foolish man's desires. It really would be a favor…rather than a job.
I just hope that the promise of a shard is enough to garner his interest…or else I may never see my brother again…
And that's it for this chapter. After months of trying to figure things out, I have a few ideas of where I'm going with this. The story's title…will have more than one meaning…
Yup: Sorry it took so long, but here's my character's background…and a hint of his true potential. Before you say anything though, he's not hiding his potential. He's actually been restricting himself without realizing it. By taking on the name Zero, he's been denouncing his past life, using only the bare minimum of it to press on. By re-telling his life's story, he reminded himself of who he was…and how happy he used to be. And no, Alpha won't be taking over Kasumi's body ever again. She WILL however be able to tap into some of its power though, because like it said, she is the original.
Yuki, Kenji, and Mikoto's characters weren't really too explained in this particular chapter, but I'll summarize. Akira from the last chapter, had claimed Yuki's heart, sired two children with her, and then planned to have them all killed so he could take the money she had. Zero was hired to rescue the kids a while back, and he succeeded. Along the way, he found two smaller shards, ones that weren't strong enough, even combined, to match the power of one bigger shard, so he gave them to the kids as gifts.
Ahh…the next few chapters are going to be interesting, me thinks…I've got some interesting ideas in line for this…I just hope it gives me inspiration to finish up my .hack fic…I'm almost there too…