Love Hina: Aoyama Generation
Ch. 3: No Promise Undone
"But, she tried to kill you, though," Sakura said, almost crying. "You would have died if you didn't strike first! How we have lived with that?" She had asked her opinion though, not everyone else's.
"I wouldn't die yet," he responded. "I won't let my promise go to waste. After all, it's not like you'll miss me that much anyways." He wished to work on a new technique, but that had to wait, given the fact that Sakura held him down with force. "Why are you wanting me to stay here, Sakura?" he had to ask her.
"Huh? Because…well I…it's just that…well…"
"I mean, why this spot? It's not like I'm leaving you here by yourself."
"Oh, ah hah ha ha," she responded rather quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't even know that I was holding you down. My bad."
She looked at him, and he looked at her. He took of his glasses, and he leaned closer to her. 'What,' she thought. 'Is he really about to…Oh, Shadic…' She leaned closer to him and she closed her eyes. She was ready for what she thought he was going to do. But instead, Shadic leaned closer to her and whispered, "Would you like some tea?"
Confused, Sakura opened her eyes quickly and leaned away from him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she almost yelled. "I thought you were gonna kiss me, dammit! But instead, you offer me some fricken tea? I am so gonna kill you when I get a chance!" She stood up and ran out of the room.
Shadic sighed and looked out the window of his room. 'I ask her if she wants something, and she thinks something completely different. What seems so familiar about this, anyways?' He was about to ask himself what type of mess he got himself into when he heard someone say, "You've gotten stronger since you left the Clan."
He turned rather quick to see Motoko sitting in the bed. "It's not likely that you would have gotten stronger because you got lazy, now would it?" she asked. "It just reminds me of Keitaro after he got back from America. The way he was able to finally block some of my attacks." She blushed. "Man, I still can't believe that I didn't marry that bumbling idiot." Her face fixed and she looked at him. "So, did you practice the whole time you left?"
"Actually, yes I did," his response. "I figured that since I'm living here, there should be some protection from invaders. Not only that," he was staring at her with eyes filled only with black, "I'll never have to suffer for good deeds from my family here." Motoko froze by being frightened of her son's eyes, and his eyes returned to normal. "Besides, I have a promise to fulfill," he added.
"You know," Motoko was saying," it seems that your promise is an excuse not to die. It's like you never liked the Clan at all."
"I guess it's because I had great parents," he smiled, but his face turned to an almost saddened face. "But, I wish I could see him again. I'd challenge his skills and try to win. But, ever since he left, I've always wondered what happened." He looked up at Motoko. "Do you know what happened to him, mom?"
Motoko only looked down with sorrow, since she didn't have an answer either. "I really don't know, son," she responded with sadness. "If I knew, I would have told you a long time ago. He disappeared with his friends only seven months ago. He calls every once in a while, but," she looked up at him with tears, "I have forgotten his face, also."
Shadic walked up to his mother and hugged her, both with tears. "When he comes back, I will challenge him in a duel that he cannot refuse," Shadic told her. "But until then, I guess I'll just keep training myself."
He released her, put on his sunglasses, and left the room, letting Motoko rest in peace. "I want him to see his father before he dies, but I have to cancel that event, permanently."
"Shadic!" exclaimed Sakura, followed by Nariko, who had arrived a few minutes ago. "So, does she still want to kill you, or are you going to stay alive?" Sakura asked him. "Or did you even talk to her about that?"
"Listen," he was saying to her, "We just talked. That's all you need to know." He walked down the stairs to the courtyard. "I still have to let her know that I wasn't first in the highest class because she was the Leader of the Aoyama Clan." He pulled out both of his swords and took stance, one sword behind him, the other in front.
"Why, why must you do this?" Sakura was screaming. "You'll never be free from them if you kill her! Why go through this at all?"
"The thing is, I can come to an agreement with her if I win," he smiled. "That is the plan." Shadic's swords were glowing with a dark aura, him still holding them in position. He then yelled "Awakening Legend: Edge's Whirlwind!" and rotated a full 360 degrees while slashing. The aura flew from the swords and created a whirlwind at one of the large rocks in the courtyard. The rock, a whopping three hundred pounds, lifted into the air about four feet, then fell to the ground, causing a crater underneath it.
"Wow!" exclaimed Nariko. "That's amazing! How did you do that?"
"I'd go into specifics, but there's one thing I still need to achieve, but I can't just do it," he said, his head down. "I've only gotten to mark VI of the slash, but I must achieve mark VII. It's the only way that I will win against her." He sheathed the Hina Sword, leaving the new sword out, and he closed his eyes. "I've been trying to find a name for this sword, but I can't think of one," he said, trying to change the subject. "I was thinking it over last night, but I couldn't decide. Would you be honored if I named it after you?" he asked Sakura.
'No way!' she thought. 'He wants to do that? Yes. Yes, I guess so.' She nodded with amusement.
"Well now, I must rest. My ki is almost depleted. I must eat," he said. "Can you both please fix something to eat for us four?"
"Sure thing, Shadic," said Nariko, running for the kitchen. She disappeared inside, and Shadic fell to the ground, almost fainting. Sakura ran to him and tried to help him up. He could only feel his side swelling. His mother didn't go for his outside; she got him on the inside instead.
Sakura nearly pulled him inside. Shadic asked for a bottle of sake and some type of sewing thread with needle. He also told her not to come in for about an hour after she brought it in. In only a few minutes, Sakura brought more than enough and left the room.
It had been only 45 minutes when Shadic came out of the room, his lower torso wrapped with his shirt, exposing the upper torso. Sakura wondered what had happened with the stuff he asked for, since it was no longer in the room, except the needle and blood-filled cloths. "Where's the stuff, and more importantly, what were you doing in there?" she asked him.
"I used the items to surgically fix my liver, some of my large intestines, and my gallbladder," was his only response. "Mom did get me, but she got my internal organs. Is the food ready?" he asked, changing the subject.
"It's in the dining area," she answered politely. "Your mother's also down there too." Sakura wondered how he was able to do that without dying. No human could do that, not even anyone in mythology that she read about. "Are you even one of us?" was her only question.
"Well, what else could I be?" he asked in response. He headed into the dining hall, where he also saw his mother and Nariko. He sat down, Sakura also doing so next to him.
"You must be the girl that Shadic keeps talking about. I believe your name is Sakura?" Motoko asked her. "Shadic writes me each week to tell me that he's doing fine, and how his family here is."
'He calls us family?' Sakura thought. Her face blushed instantly, mainly because she thought of Shadic being a "big brother" for them. "Yes, he is also family here, too," she responded. "But, do you really have to kill him? It's just wrong that you need to." She had made Motoko stare at her with evil eyes.
"It's a personal matter," Motoko had said in a ticked-off way. "It's none of your business, anyways." She took her eyes off of Sakura and looked at Nariko. "You must be Kitsune's daughter. You kind of look more like her than your father." She smiled to Nariko, and vice versa.
"Well, my mother is kinda cool, even though she still lives here with dad," Nariko had said to her. "She started working on her third book last week."
"So she finally has some novels out already?" Motoko asked herself. "I thought that looked weird when I saw that name on there."
"So anything new going on at home?" Shadic asked her. Motoko only looked at him with agony. "Well, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry," was the only response he could think of.
"Do not worry yourself, Shadic. The Aoyama Clan is doing well, and the owner of Aoyama Café is pregnant with child," Motoko told him. "For some reason, she looks more beautiful now than a few months ago."
"Don't worry yourself, mom," Shadic said. "Let's eat."
'October 27th, 20XX
I still haven't healed completely from my injuries, but I can still do most activities around Hinata-sou. It looks like mother may let me live this time around, but I still need to be ready in case of another attack.' Shadic decided to write this entry short. 'In any case, I've decided that I need to contact Gackt in America, so that I can get some reconnaissance done. I want to know Sakura's feelings about me.' He closed the book and went to sleep.