A/N: Before we begin this installment of Kuro Arashi, I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this storyline arc to my grandfather, who passed away on April 3. He never knew a thing about anime or video games or anything that would have made up any constituent part of Kuro Arashi, but he was a father figure to me, and never gave me anything less than his full support. Many a time I remember he would walk up to me while I was writing something story-related in a notebook or notepad, and he'd jokingly tell me "Remember, it's Ellis with two l's when you put me in your book." Well Papa, you can rest assured that I got your name spelled right.
Dedicated in the Memory
Ellis E. Burnham, Sr.
1932-2007
"Etched into their future, I could see, were many sorrows to come. But even then, my soul knew what I thought impossible; I would one day call them friend."
- Sabashii Kokuei; 'Justice for Those Who Are Forgotten'
Chapter XI:
9th Movement of the Odyssey
August 17, 2006
Headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency
Langley, Virginia; United States of America
It was the most secure room in the entire North American continent. Buried deep underground beneath the headquarters of the CIA, encased on all sides by thirty feet of steel-reinforced concrete, many in the department joked that the CIA's Department 13 could survive the complete destruction of the planet, and would be a recognizable piece of debris.
"What's the situation?"
"Increasing activity of the global leylines, centered in the Western Pacific near the MolMolian island kingdom."
"Any idea what's causing it?"
"Not at the moment, but we had another activity spike in that area a few days ago, beneath Pararakelse Island."
"Troubling. What about our assets in that area?"
"We have none."
A mild curse. "Even more troubling. And Japan's Paranormal Agency?"
"They say it's out of their jurisdiction."
"Bastards. Fine, then. What about that rookie, the one that's never been on any assignments yet."
"Ruiz?"
"That's him. Get him a short mission brief and a prep, then get him over there as soon as possible. I want eyes and ears on this situation, fast."
April 7, 2007
Kingdom of MolMol, Western Desert
2248 hours, local time
A harsh, southerly wind blew across MolMol's western desert, propelling whorls of sand toward the northern part of the desert. The swirling wind was not quite up to the task of covering the sound of human activity in the area, as the rumbling sound of vehicle engines steadily grew and grew.
A sextet of four-wheeled light all-terrain reconnaissance vehicles roared over the crest of a small ridge, sand flying from beneath their tires as they slammed down onto the hard-packed sand half a dozen feet below. Their drivers demonstrating remarkable control of their vehicles, not one of the six LRVs lost traction or went out of control.
In the passenger seat of the lead LRV, a MolMolian sergeant lifted his hand and pressed it against the helmet he wore that concealed most of his face. "Spirit of Fire, this is Blue Six. We're closing in the recon platoon's last known location. No contact ye?"
"Blue Six! Blue Six, we're under attack!"
Shock writing itself across every visible part of his face, the sergeant scooped up a pair of binoculars sitting on the dashboard and held them up before his eyes, focusing in on the distant Todai ruins. He spotted movement from a column-like structure just at the entrance of the ruins, and focused on that location, quickly picking out the forms of two MolMolian soldiers running out of the structure.
A rush of heat blasted past the platoon leader as he heard an impact from behind him, followed by the scream of his comrade. He spun around, still moving away from the structure, and watched as his fellow soldier fell brokenly to the ground, his armor and clothing smoldering.
Knowing that he could do nothing more for the man, he turned away again and put all of his energy into running, knowing somewhere deep down inside that his efforts to escape were all in vain.
Moments later, his thoughts were confirmed as he felt another blast of heat just before something heavy impacted against his own back. Pain like liquid fire coursed through him in waves as he fell to the ground, the hard sand knocking the breath from him in a gust of air that sprayed sand up into his eyes. Ignoring the burning of the sand in his eyes, he levered himself up on his elbows, pulling himself along on his forearms.
He only managed a few feet before he saw a shadow fall over him. Rolling onto his back, he looked up at a powerfully-muscled man clad in turtle-plate armor and carrying a crystalline sword, which he was raising in both hands.
Back in the lead LRV, the sergeant watched helplessly as the armored man drove his sword down into the chest of the recon leader. A mangled scream sounded over the MolMolian battlenet, then fell into static.
As the dead soldier dropped to the compacted sand, Namusan reached down and grasped the corpse by the throat, lifting it up without any effort as the head flopped forward, allowing him to get a better look at the dead man's face. After a moment, he scoffed, and tossed the body carelessly behind him.
The corpse fell brokenly at the feet of Gensai, who glanced down at it for a moment before turning his attention back to his compatriot. "You've been getting careless, friend," he said calmly. "You know that the Marids still are pact-bound to serve the royal family here, and would easily have detected your magics that you were using to recall your armies."
Turning back to face the hitokiri spirit, Namusan lifted up his crystalline sword and rested it on his right shoulder. "All the better, then," he replied, then grinned. "The Marids will need to be dead anyway before we can begin the next step of this plan. What better way to do so than attract their attention to our stronghold, here."
"A truthful consideration," Gensai said, calmly folding his arms and looking out toward the oncoming MolMolian force. "Return to your preparations, Namusan. I will deal with these insects in a manner which will attract suitable attention." He lowered his left hand to rest on the hilt of his sword in emphasis.
Namusan raised his eyebrow. "In unchaining your Akaizou, even the heavens would notice." Turning away, he grinned again and clapped the smaller man on the shoulder. "Try not to overdo it."
Staring out at the oncoming MolMolian soldiers, Gensai removed his sheathed blade and held it up before him, snapping the chains binding the weapon in its scabbard with a flick of his thumb. Turning the weapon to the vertical, he allowed the black scabbard to fall from the sword's blade and clatter to the ground below. As the blade of the weapon was revealed, an almost-visible pulse of pressure burst from within the blade, spreading through the area and pushing the gathered clouds back a significant distance. The pressure wave also held the purpose of slowing time to a near crawl, allowing Gensai to make seven patterned slashes in the air, literally cutting the majority of the kanji symbol of 'Death' into the air.
He paused for a moment to look out toward the MolMolian military vehicles, then drew his blade across his body and struck horizontally, cutting the top line into the symbol. As soon as the character was completed, it flashed red once before a wave of energy burst out of the symbol, streaking outward toward the extremely-slowed MolMolian vehicles.
The energy caused no harm to the vehicles it passed, but when it came in contact with one of the soldiers, the leading edge of energy seemed to disappear inside the soldier, only to reappear out of his back, trailing a blue essence shaped exactly like the man it had been dragged out of. Dark motes of energy quickly attacked and tore apart these essences, leaving their previous owners slumped dead in their seats. No longer controlled by living hands, the vehicles careened out of control and crashed into one another and the rocks they were traveling between. Two exploded violently, spreading flames throughout the crash site and loosing a pillar of black smoke to rise into the air.
April 10, 2007
Hinata Apartments, Japan
1948 hours, local time
It was the beginning of spring in Hinata Hot Springs. The air was warming up, filled with the songs of birds and the falling sakura petals. The annual spring festival was less than a week away, something that all the tenants eagerly looked forward to. From atop the roof of the Hinata Apartments, the sound of a hammer pounding could be heard all over the building grounds as Keitaro finished pounding the last of the shingle replacements into place.
Leaning back on the roof and dangling his legs over the edge, he set the hammer on the roof and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his right hand. "Whew, that about takes care of all the major roof repairs," he said to no one in particular. Now all I've got left to do is fix up the boiler."
As Tama-chan flew up to the roof and landed on Keitaro's right leg, the Tokyo U student turned to look into the inner courtyard of the apartments, watching life go on as usual within the building. Su was dashing away from the kitchen, a stuffed burlap bag in her hands, exclaiming, "Wa ha ha! Hamburgler strikes again!"
Behind her, of course, Shinobu was stamping her feet in frustration, ineffectively calling after the foreigner, "But that food isn't even cooked yet!"
A short distance away, Kitsune was tied to a pole situated in front of a boulder, victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and thus chosen to be a target dummy for Motoko to practice her Zangaken Ni-no-Tachi technique on. "I don't need a haircut that badly!" the fox shrieked as the boulder behind her split in two on the heels of a massive energy explosion. Motoko simply grinned; she was picking up her husband's cockiness.
Keitaro looked up into the room shared by the swordscouple. Inside, he could see that Seno was playing Halo 2 on XBox Live again, and judging by the fact that the image on the screen was that of a blue-painted SPARTAN's head centered in the crosshairs of a sniper...Correction, make that a dead blue-painted SPARTAN dropping off the screen, meant that Seno had acquired his beloved S2 sniper rifle and was busy 'eating win sandwiches' as he put it.
Beside Keitaro, Tama had spawned a turtle-sized hammer out of nowhere and was busily pounding away on the rooftop as the Tokyo U student watched his friends go about their normal lives. "Looks like another typical day at Hinata House," he said, causing Tama to look up and "Myuh?" at him.
His wistful smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. I better hurry up and tell everyone about my plans, he thought. And soon.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, obscenely-loud music began to blare across the apartments. The words were in English, so only three of the occupants had any prayer of understanding them. They went something as follows:
"Innocent child,
how you thought you knew me,
understood my ways,
my dark needs,
the hunt is not the thrill I'm after,
I want the kill, the conquest,
to be your master,
wrap your arms around my pale skin,
it's too late to back out you're in,
on your knees and praise your new lord,
deeper now, and here's your reward,
take me to bed and rip me apart..."
In his and Motoko's room, Seno looked away from the TV to listen to the words, and his only reaction was to raise his right eyebrow and proclaim, "And I thought I listened to garbage," before returning to his game. Kitsune, Motoko, Shinobu, and Su all looked toward the noise with blank expressions; none of them knew enough English to understand the racy lyrics.
In the distance, a red convertible was approaching the apartments; the source of the music. The driver of the vehicle was tanned-skinned, with long white hair pulled back into a ponytail, a headband on his forehead, and sunglasses covering his eyes. He was bobbing his head and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song, not caring who heard it. As his vehicle reached the bottom of the stairs up to the Hinata, he spun the steering wheel, sending the vehicle into a complete three-sixty spin that brought the vehicle to a halt at the base of the stairs, dust springing up to obscure it from view.
The driver then stepped out, pausing to look up at the apartments for a moment. Then he exclaimed, "Tou!" and leapt sideways over the hood, split-legged, landing gracefully on the other side and beginning his walk up the stairs.
It was the sudden burst of noise rather than their meaning that startled Keitaro, causing him to shout in surprise, lose his position on the rooftop, and go barrel-rolling down into the hotsprings as if following the instructions of a strange rabbit critter to 'press Z or R'. He sat up quickly in the shallow pool, shaking his head to clear it of the ringing, and when he opened his eyes, he knew he was in trouble. Before him, naked as the day they were born, Naru and Mutsumi sat blinking in surprise at him. "Oh crap..." he uttered.
In the next second, Naru was on her feet, her fist cocked back and that look in her eyes. "Don't you ever learn!?" she exclaimed, loosing her infamous Naru Punch, even as Mutsumi shouted, "Wait, Naru!"
In the next instant, Keitaro was airborne out of the apartment grounds, leaving a stunned Naru standing in the hot springs, staring down at her clenched fist. Then her brain caught up with her body, and she gave herself one hell of a mental kick. "Damn, I thought I was over that!" she groaned, then closed her eyes and concentrated. The familiar sensation of warmth washed over her as her wings sprouted from her back, and she took off in pursuit of her airborne boyfriend, completely forgetting to clothe herself first.
Meanwhile, Keitaro had gone sailing directly out over the front face of the building, and like a plasma mortar round from a Wraith tank, was on a direct course with the mysterious man marching up the steps.
The man paused, looking up toward the apartments, watching the incoming Keitaro. Hmm, that's an incoming...something. And then the rapidly-approaching Naru caught his attention. Wait, is that...? Yes! I can spot a flash of naked female flesh from a parsec away!
From literally out of nowhere, he produced a Polaroid camera and aimed it past the spinning, speeding Keitaro, to the flying Naru. And then, through the viewfinder of the camera, he caught sight of her wings, and scowled. That, he thought bitterly as he lowered his camera, is an angel. What is one of God's chosen doing here, of all places? He sighed. Can't even get away from that accursed conflict, even here. Oh well.
He put away his camera and grunted, considering his options. They came down to two: leap, land on the spinning nerd, and immediately give away his skills, or pretend to be a Blue Team SPARTAN and take the hit.
"Oh well," he said, grinning again. "Maybe some sexy girl will nurse me back to health."
With that, he raised his arms and grinned, and a second later Keitaro impacted him at terminal velocity, leaving the mysterious man crushed into the bottom of the resultant crater, with Keitaro laying across him, both men seeming to have swirlies replacing their eyes.
A few moments after impact, Naru landed gracefully in a crouch at the perimeter of the resultant crater, folding her wings up against her back as she gingerly stepped down into the hole, crouching down again at Keitaro's side.
"Keitaro, are you okay?" she asked, genuine concern evident in her voice and features. She still hadn't noticed that her wings were about the best clothing she had on hand at the moment.
The Hinata kanrinin recovered almost immediately, blinking up at Naru from his inverted position. "Huh? Yeah I'm?" And then he noticed her current state of dress, or the lack thereof. A veritable geyser of blood erupted from his nose, launching him off the mysterious man to land plastered against the edge of the crater.
Confused at this reaction, Naru looked down at herself, and finally realized that she'd jumped out of the hot springs without even grabbing a towel. Her face as red as a stop light, she quickly crouched as low as she could, covering her chest with her arms and enfolding her wings around herself in order to cover everything she could.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was making their way down the steps; all of them coming to see the spectator sport that was Naru throttling Keitaro, something that hadn't been seen at the apartments in nearly a year. Seno, the first to the scene, looked into the crater, noticed the unknown man lying at the bottom of it, and intoned in a deep voice reminiscent of the Halo announcer, "Double kill."
Of course, the man wasn't stunned for long. He stood up, dusted himself off, and casually walked out of the crater. The first thing he noticed was the gaggle of girls that had arrived at the scene. He paused, looking each one over with a critical eye, and then brushed his ponytail over his shoulder so that not a hair was disturbed. And then he began to assess the girls, and group them into archetypes based on his vast knowledge of women and equally-vast collection of harem anime.
He pointed at Motoko. "Tense, man-fearing overtraditional holy swordswoman," he pronounced.
Her right eye twitched in response.
"Well, it used to be true," Seno commented, which earned him a backhanded smack across the mouth from his wife. "Ow."
The man turned to Kaolla, and did a double take. The princess, here? he thought in shock. Clearing his throat, he checked to make sure that the headband was still covering his forehead, then leveled his finger at her. "Undersized mad scientist. You could also double as the exotic child bride."
Kaolla grinned up at him, then held up a peace sign. "You got it!" she exclaimed, then paused. "Is a bride tasty?"
"A bride is not tasty," he responded, rubbing the back of his head and returning the peace sign. "In fact, if she is eaten, a bride would obj... Hmm, scratch that, she'd probably like it."
This resulting in a blushing facepalm from Motoko, and a self-satisfied grin from Seno.
Next he turned to Shinobu, and shook his head. Too easy. "Lolicon," he announced. "Innocent, blushing, cute, good cook. Wife wannabe."
Shinobu looked stricken by this pronouncement, her face reddening as her eyes watered.
"I'm sorry, cutie. You'll make a wonderful wife someday, but right now you're still a loli. But a cute one." Then he handed her a rose that he produced from seemingly nowhere, causing Motoko to briefly wonder if he shopped at the same Bag of Holding store that her sister did.
He paused at Kitsune, and seemed to consider her for a moment before smacking a fist into his open palm. "Gin-n-tonic futon brain," he said. "Mischievous mother figure. Probably a strong drinker."
Grinning slyly, Kitsune regarded him with one eye open. "You're quick, sugah," she replied. "A little too...mature? For my tastes, though."
"Owned," remarked Seno.
"And that's too bad, Fox-Face. I could've shown you a really good time. In many, many ways." He gave her a lecherous, seductive smile. "An older woman and a man with experience always make glorious music."
"Counter-owned," Seno said.
He next looked to Mutsumi and opened his mouth, then closed it. He scratched his head, frowned, then opened his mouth again and waggled a finger at her. "You need to stay away from white-haired men with really long swords."
"Oh, my," Mutsumi said, sounding about as concerned as the man on the moon. "You wouldn't happen to have a really long sword, would you?"
For a moment, he stared at her in abject shock. Then he recovered, smiled warmly, and said, "If you were any less sweet, miss, I'd give you a very different answer to that question. But as it stands, the answer I give you will be in proper context, and it's a resounding 'No.' I have a few swords in my collection, though."
Lastly, he turned to Naru. Pushing away his personal distaste for angels, he took a good look at her feminine body, and thought to himself, Focus on the body, man. The body, the figure. Categorize properly... She's the love interest of the main character... Such wonderful curves, must say that...
And when he finally makes his comment to her, it comes in the most understated, totally cool, calm voice as he points at her. "You are the largest-breasted unidentified flying object I've ever seen."
For a full minute following that statement, there was complete and utter silence. Then it was broken by the sound of uproarious laughter coming from the resident swordsman, who happened to be rolling around on the ground as well. Various other reactions included Motoko's blank stare, Kaolla's confused look, Shinobu's teary eyes, Kitsune's leering, Mutsumi's blank expression, Keitaro's widened eyes, and Naru's occasional twitching in place.
And then she wasn't there anymore. Keitaro let out a surprised noise and looked around in confusion at her sudden disappearance, but the rest of the tenants had seen this before, when Haitani had been unfortunate enough to draw her ire, and had been the first victim of the Naru Punch Mark II, Hypersonic Angelic Form. And it looked like this oddball was going to be victim number two.
In the next instant, however, Naru reappeared several feet behind the man, wearing a shocked expression, and his only apparent reaction to her attack was his hair slightly windswept. No, correction. A few clipped hairs floated down by him and he briefly flicked his eyes her way.
"I...missed...?" she was uttering in complete shock. She had never managed to land a standard Naru Punch on Seno after the first time she'd hit him, but she didn't think it possible that somebody could dodge her second-form strike, as fast as it was. She began to replay the events in her mind.
As she came at him, she saw his pupils dilate as he somehow, impossibly, managed to conform to her speed. Then time seemed to freeze, and in that instant she had felt a single touch on her shoulder, and heard a single word whispered into her ear: "Tag."
And then she was past him, left with the stunning realization that this man was definitely not what he seemed, especially since he evaded her fastest and most powerful attack with apparent ease. She turned back to stare at him uneasily, but there was definitely a newfound respect in her eyes.
For his part, the man was largely ignoring her, his attention on the resident swordsman. "And you!" he said. "I like you. You remind me of myself, except slightly less tall. And less tan. And, uh, with less car?"
"My ride's up there," Seno answered, jerking his thumb back to the landing entranceway of the apartments, where his red-and-silver ZX-6R Kawasaki Ninja sat beside Motoko's matching cobalt blue-and-black Ninja. "The red one. Blue one's hers." He nodded his head toward Motoko.
The man snickered. "Your wife has the bigger bike?"
"Bigger is easier to control," Motoko answered simply. "I'm still a novice rider."
"Ah," he said. "I see. A wise decision." And then something seemed to have occurred to him. "Well, I'm sorry if I've been rude. I'm Sabashii Kokuei. I actually wanted to come and have a nice vacation at a nice resort, but it looks like other than husbands, there aren't any men here." He looked to Keitaro, and motioned to Naru. "You are the young woman's husband, are you not? You seem too friendly with each other to be just friends or a normal cute couple."
As he said this, he smiled a disarming smile at Naru. That one that spoke volumes, as if to say 'I am a sex god, and you would forget every other man's name in about two seconds if I got my hands on you.' The same kind of smile that Kentaro was known to attempt, but fail utterly at pulling off.
Clearly, Sabashii's look would not amuse Naru. She growled low in her throat, tightly clenching her striking fist, but at least having the mental wherewithal to keep her wings folded around her body to cover her nakedness.
Keitaro, of course, was totally oblivious to the meaning of his expression, and simply responded, "Uhh...No, we're...ah, not married. We're just kind of..."
Shaking his head, Seno walked up behind the pair and smacked Keitaro on the back of his head, then turned to glare at Sabashii. "Hey, I went to a lot of trouble to hook these two up, and even more trouble to keep 'em together, ya little ratshit. So don't muck with it or I'll have to resort to forc-"
As he had been saying that, he'd dropped his left hand to his waist in order to thumb-flick his sword out the way Motoko had done to Keitaro when he'd first shown up. But he'd left his sword in his room, and was just now remembering that as he looked at the empty space where his sword normally would reside. "Bugger..."
Motoko shook her head. "Your threat value without a weapon is in the negatives, you know."
"Shaddap."
"And that's what you get for trying to steal my gimmick in the first place."
Meanwhile, a few feet away from the commotion, Haruka walked out of the nearby Hinata Tea House. She stuck a lit cigarette in her mouth, then walked over to the group. "What's with all the racket over here?" she intoned, her voice a deadpan.
Darkness had long since descended upon the gathering, and now a full white moon was climbing into the sky over Sagami Bay, seeming to paint in silhouette another new figure marching up the Hinata steps.
This figure was clad in form-obscuring clothing, thick veils of black with silver linings that covered the figure from head to toe, similar to the traditional burqa worn in countries that followed the Islamic faith. That marked the newcomer as a probable woman, and then slender shape of the tanned hand that grasped the rope handles of the woven bag slung over her shoulder also suggested this.
She stopped a few feet away from the group, looking around at all the commotion, and then bowed slightly. "Please excuse my intrusion, but, is this the Hinata S?" Her voice clearly marked her as female, and young at that.
Turning away from the little group that had gathered around Sabashii, Keitaro nodded to the young woman and sacratched the back of the head. "Yeah, yeah, this is Hinata House," he said.
She nodded again, and locked her eyes with Keitaro. It was definitely not the same kind of stare that Sabashii had given Naru; it was as if she were trying to look past the glasses and his bumbling nature, to see who Keitaro was on the inside. "I thank you. Are you the lord here?"
As she spoke, she dropped her bag to the steps and reached up to remove the veils. Once the veil had been completely removed, the tenants were shocked to find that the woman standing before them looked identical to the adult version of Kaolla that appeared whenever the moon was red, even down to what they now recognized as MolMolian royal clothing. The differences between the two were negligible: where Kaolla's eyes were green, this woman's were blue, and her hair was a few shades darker than the young alchemist's.
"I need to speak to whomever is lord here," she continued. "I have the appropriate finances, and wish to partake of the service of a room here while I attend school."
Of course, she failed to notice that the vast majority of the people nearby had been floored by the presence of Adult Su, considering first that it was a white moon, and second that Su was still in the back of their gathering. Well, everyone was floored except for Mutsumi, who remained eternally oblivious, and Su herself, who blinked for a few moments at her older counterpart, grinned widely, and then pounced, landing on the new girl's head with the standard wolf-whistle that usually happens when she does just that.
"What are you doing here, Nealla?" Su asked, shifting herself to sit on the girl's shoulders so she could lean down over her face.
The older girl, identified as Nealla, smiled as if this were not an unusual occurrence. "As I said, Princess, I wish to attend school in Japan, and decided that it would be easiest to seek lodgings in the same residence you did."
Haruka, likewise, wasn't floored. Her only reaction to the Su-clone was to take a deeper drag of her cigarette than was usual. She then proceeded to step over the twitching bodies of the rest of the tenants and stand in front of the two Su's. "Keitaro is the landlord here, but I generally handle most of the tenant finances since he's so busy with studying and upkeep on the place."
With Kaolla still sitting on her head, Nealla turned to Haruka and bowed again. "I see," she said. "How might I go about acquiring a room here?"
The end of the cigarette flared red as Haruka took a breath, then the older woman shrugged. "Room 203 is empty, so you can have that one," she said. "I'll print up a copy of the paperwork for you to fill out tomorrow, if you like. I imagine it was quite a trip from MolMol."
Nealla smiled faintly and bowed again, then retrieved her bag. "I thank you, Miss..."
"Urashima, make it Haruka." Then she turned toward Sabashii, evaluating the man closely. There was definitely more to him than met the eye, but it wasn't something she could put her finger on. But she wasn't stupid, and she didn't believe in coincidence. Some purpose or higher power had brought him here, as well as Kaolla's obvious body-double, and to Haruka that meant they were going to be needed.
Taking another deep breath, she prepared herself for the expectant backlash from her next statement. "Sabashii, you can stay here, too. We'll give you Seno's old room, 303."
Shock from all the tenants was indeed the reaction to that statement. Keitaro being the landlord was one thing; that was a binding legal matter that required him to live at the apartments. Seno? He had proven his worth as another line of defense during the Mecha-Tama crisis, and now that he and Motoko were married, there was absolutely no question. But now another new guy?
"I don't think that would be proper, Haruka," Motoko said. Her voice was even, unlike when she had first objected to Keitaro, which indicated there was actual reasoning behind her objection, rather than simply rejecting the idea outright on principle. "For one, the reputation of Hinata House as an all-girls' dormitory is already shot because Seno and Keitaro live here." There was a pause, and she hastily affixed, "Not that I am complaining, mind you. Second, while Keitaro's 'perverse acts' are a mere result of his clumsiness, and Seno never has displayed the behavior of a pervert-"
"Except in the bedroom," the swordsman interrupted.
Without missing a beat, Motoko backhanded her husband across the mouth and continued, "-this man Sabashii has openly demonstrated that he is a lecher. I do not think allowing him to stay here would be proper."
Naru's mouth worked open and shut as though she wanted to add her two cents, but she finally decided to not say anything and nod in agreement with Motoko. Haruka noticed. "Not going to give your usual tirade, Naru?"
The angelic woman shrugged sheepishly. "Motoko put it far more eloquently than I could have."
"Thank you."
Sabashii regarded the girls carefully. "Motoko, was it? And Naru? I assure you, ladies, that while it is true that you will be hard-pressed to find a more debaucherous man than myself, I am in complete and absolute control of my self, my urges, and my desires. I am more than capable of performing the perfect gentlemen to you people, and I would take this opportunity to humbly request a single chance to prove myself."
Naru and Motoko exchanged glances, then Motoko turned and gave her husband a pointed look. In response, he shook his head and pointed to the empty space at his hip where his sword would normally be. Reddening slightly, realizing she had forgotten that he had not brought the weapon with him, she turned away. "I am willing to give him a chance to prove himself."
Naru crossed her arms over her chest, which was already covered by her wings; she was almost in complete control of the necessary muscle movements required to make her wings do just about anything. "It's only fair that we give him a chance," she said in agreement, then spitted Sabashii with her fiercest glare. "But one mistake, buster, and you're out on your ass!"
The tanned man merely chuckled. "Such language for one of God's chosen," he said.
April 11, 2007
Hinata, Japan
1017 hours, local time
A black Nissan Cedric made its way through the streets of the hot springs town on Sagami Bay, heading toward the apartment building on the hill, clearly visible from every part of town. Inside, were two men; a driver in civilian clothes and another man wearing a black overcoat over a military-cut civilian suit. The second man held a manila folder in his hands and was looking through the files therein. This man was no kid; he looked to be about twenty-five.
"Seno and Motoko Nakakami," he uttered, glancing over the files gathered on the couple. "You guys have quite the file on them."
He glanced up, expecting a comment of some kind, but the driver merely nodded. Shrugging, he flipped to the next file. "Su Kaolla, er... Kaolla Su. Princess of MolMol, eh? Last time the CIA got close to her, she loosed some kind of mechanized turtles on the sniper team."
"Snipers!?" the driver choked, nearly plowing into the side of a building. "You were going to assassinate the princess?"
The foreign man laughed. "Of course not. The USMC was simply the closest on hand to help build up her dossier. My superior wanted a more appropriate team sent in, but the Marines were overconfident in their scouts."
The driver likewise chuckled, albeit nervously. "Well, sir, what you're holding there is what we've managed to covertly build up on them since the incident in Pararakelse last August. Most of it came as a result of that incident back at Halloween."
"Incident?"
"The residents of the apartments parlayed it off as a malfunction on the part of some mechanical monsters they had created for a haunted house, but we managed to sneak in a covert team to observe their actions and these 'mechanical monsters' they had been fighting off. There was something seriously wrong going on on top of that hill that night."
"I see," the man said, closing the manila folder. "Well, I hope I'll be able to handle them."
"You're Department 13," the driver replied, off-hand. "You guys are on par with the Va-"
"I'm new," the man interrupted. "Now how about we stop off at that noodle shop there, if it's allowed. I'm hungry."
"Are you for real about this?"
"Seno, I'm begging you, please don't tell the girls about this."
Shaking his head with a heavy sigh, the swordsman dropped a pamphlet about how to get around and what sights to see in the San Francisco area onto Keitaro's desk. "Fine," he said. "So what brought this on all of a sudden? Two weeks ago you were dead-set on walking into Tokyo U hand-in-hand with Naru. Now you all of a sudden want to go to America?"
The kanrinin shrugged slightly, turning the book by its corner on the desk. "I don't know," he replied. "I just feel like I'm not going anywhere with my life. I feel like this is my chance to get out and do something worthwhile for a change."
"Sounds like you need to sort your priorities. Go out and shake things up a little so you can figure out just what's important to you."
"That too, I guess. It'll be like what you did in high school, an overseas study program. It should be fun."
Seno nodded. "I enjoyed myself. But I didn't go to California. California's fuckin' crazy right now, dude, with all that shit going on about illegal immigrants and all the other political crap."
"I'm sure it won't be so bad," Keitaro said. "I'll probably be with Seta the whole time."
Shrugging, Seno turned toward the exit of Keitaro's room. "It's no sweat off my nose either way, but... you'd better tell the girls soon or there'll be hell to pay. And I'm not taking a fall for you this time, old buddy."
A short time later, that very Nissan pulled up at the bottom of the Hinata Apartment steps and the man stepped out, making his way directly toward the Tea House as the driver stayed back to gather the bags. On the Tea House steps, Haruka, who had been sweeping the steps, stopped to watch the man approach, puffing silently on her cigarette.
"You must be...Haruka Urashima?" the man asked.
She nodded a fraction of an inch. "You are?"
He bowed. "My name is Lorenzo Ruiz Michael Cabal," he said. At Haruka's almost-stunned expression, he hastily added, "I go by the nickname 'Jusuchin' or just 'Jusu.'"
Some spark of recognition or memory flashed in her dark eyes and she nodded again, more seriously this time. "Oh, so you're that guy." Her voice took an edge. "Is there some reason why the United States government is starting to think of us as a collection of freaks and monsters, why they have to send someone to spy on us?"
Lorenzo blanched slightly. "Ma'am, my assignment was already cleared-"
"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Haruka snapped. "Nor will the tenants, should they ever find out. For your sake, I pray that you either get on their good side very fast, or are very good at being a fly on the wall."
"So noted," Lorenzo said, unconsciously tugging at the collar of his suit. He nodded as though just remembering something, and continued, "I had heard that Hinata-S? is supposed to be an all-girls' dormitory...?"
Haruka chuckled. "It doesn't seem that way anymore," she replied. "You'll be the fourth guy to live here. We just got two new tenants last night, one of whom was a man. At least in your case, I've already warned the girls that you'll be the live-in groundskeeper, so they won't feel the need to complain about you."
"I thought my cover was a Tokyo U graduate student."
"Your major was never specified, was it?"
Lorenzo shook his head.
"It's East Asian horticulture and landscaping now," Haruka said with an almost-mocking smile as she turned back to the Tea House. "I suggest you start studying up." She rooted around inside for a moment, then came back out with a small envelope, which she handed to Lorenzo. "House key and your legal documents of residence," she explained. "You'll be in 202."
Accepting the package, Lorenzo bowed again and said, "I promise I will not cause any trouble."
"I'm not the one you need to worry about," Haruka replied off-hand, then went back to sweeping the steps. That simple sentence ended the conversation.
Put off slightly by Haruka's unexpected hostility, Lorenzo turned and continued up to the apartments, stepping inside the old-fashioned building. As he had been told was proper to do, he took off his shoes and left them beside the large collection of shoes near the door, then stepped up onto the main floor.
In the living room area, four figures were clustered around the TV, each of them holding an XBox controller in their hands. He recognized Kaolla Su, Seno Nakakami, and Mitsune Konno of them, but the identity of the last man eluded him; he must've been the other new male tenant that Haruka had referred to. The quartet was engaged in a vigorous multiplayer match on Halo 2. From the looks of things, and the way they were throwing tactical considerations back and forth to one another, it was apparent they were all on the same team.
"Su, you're close to the red base, right?" Seno asked.
"Yup, yup!" the princess replied.
"Okay, I'm over here near the teleporter. I want you to grab the Banshee and run some aerial recon for me. Kitsune, load up in the Warthog and see if you can draw some fire."
"That would leave you and I for fire support then, I guess," the other man said.
"You got it, Sabashii," Seno said with a grin. "Okay guys, this is the last set of kills, so let's make it impressive and really shut 'em down."
As the quartet went about with their game, Lorenzo just watched them for a while, during which time Mutsumi and Naru returned from their classes at Tokyo University. The angel and the pseudo-Ancient paused at the doorway, exchanging a skeptical glance at the presence of this man who was just watching their friends play Halo.
Naru decided she would be the one to say something. Channeling holy energy to her right hand should she need to rapidly form a blade of energy, she stepped forward and called out, "Hey, who are you?"
Lorenzo spun around, his eyes widening as he realized that Naru was the source of the gathering energy he'd sensed. It felt like the energy used by the paranormal division of the Vatican, holy in nature, but the power she was exhibiting vastly overshadowed even the strongest of cardinals. Now sweating bullets, he bowed in her direction, resisting the sudden urge to prostrate and cross himself at her feet.
"I'm sorry, my name is Lorenzo Ruiz, but I go by Jusuchin," he said. "I was hired here by Miss Haruka as the new groundskeeper."
Naru immediately relaxed, dispelling the charged energy and then smiling warmly at Lorenzo. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know. It's nice to meet you, Jusuchin, was it?"
He nodded. "Jusu works, too."
She nodded. "It was a good idea to get a groundskeeper," she said. "That'll make Keitaro's job a little easier."
The deep voice of the Halo announcer called out "GAME OVER" and the gaming quartet turned toward the entranceway, finally able to take their attention off the game. "Hey, is that the new guy Haruka told us about?" Kitsune asked.
"The Hinata seems to be getting quite popular recently," Sabashii said. "And more gender-diverse, as well. Perhaps it would not do to consider this place a girls' dormitory anymore."
Mutsumi tilted her head to the side and smiled her airy smile. "This place has always had a touch of destiny about it," she said whimsically. "Perhaps it's drawing in the people who are sensitive to it."
"But I thought you said that we were the last of the Chosen Heroes who were unaware of our destiny," Naru said, looking sideways at her friend.
"Did I?" Mutsumi asked. "Oops, silly me."
Cue collective faceplant.
Kitsune was the first to recover, standing up with a shaky grin in place. "Well, I guess we'll have to be lookin' out for more heroes to show up at our door. In the meantime, since we got all these new people livin' here now, we need to throw a good old-fashioned Hinata welcome party!"
April 11, 2007
MolMolian Royal Palace
2148 hours, local time
Darkness pervaded the wing of the royal palace that contained the sleeping chambers of the royal family, almost a tangible thing, spreading from room to room, as though actively searching for something. Or someone.
A black mist drifted along the sandy ground, pausing up against the walls of the palace as two white-clad palace guards passed nearby. They were suitably-armed for their task, each carrying a sheathed scimitar as well as an SFAR-42 5.56x93mm battle rifle, the standard infantry weapon for the MolMolian army. Mere palace guards, as important as they were, did not rate the more experimental weapons reserved for MolMol's elites.
As soon as the guards were past, the mist resumed its course as well, sliding up the wall of the palace to the third floor, where it continued up to drift along the ceiling of the outer wraparound corridor, to minimize the chances of it being seen. It could hear voices as it neared a corner, and slowed its pace to a crawl before creeping around the corner.
Down below, appearing to be on guard duty outside a particular room, were two of the vaunted MolMolian Royal Elite Guard. The two below were almost textbook examples of the Guard. The one closest to the door, who was leaning against the wall, wore his black suit immaculately, his shoes shined to a mirror's polish and not a speck of lint on him. His hands were covered by black leather fighter's gloves, and light reflected dimly from the number of earrings decorating his left ear, as well as the top of his smooth-shaven head. His eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses, but he was paying attention to his partner.
That man stood as a stark contrast to the immaculately-groomed Elite Guard. His clothes were wrinkled, shoes scuffed, suit jacket laid open, no tie, and his white shirt untucked from his pants. His unruly mop of flame red hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and adorned by a pair of goggles resting on his forehead. He was pacing around the walkway, doing most of the speaking.
"I'm tellin' ya, it's just creepy, yo," he said. "All this bad stuff going on out in the desert, so bad that these crazy-lookin' guys that are just screamin' not-quite-human at me show up, say some stuff to the King that spooks even him, and then they take off for the desert and haven't been heard from since. Isn't that just a little off?"
"I agree with you, partner," the bald man replied, his voice cool and collected. "It seems to be something that's outside even our talents, so it's best not to worry about it."
"Bad news is still bad news," the redhead said, leaning against the outer railing and staring out at the bone-white full moon. He smirked slightly; the Scarlet Moon was the princess' thing, so it was kind of fitting that the Ivory Moon was the sign of their fellow Elite Guard who served as the princess' doppelganger. "This business, it stinks of bad news for the entire kingdom, yo?"
A faint smirk crossed the bald man's lips. "If this thing decides to take a run at the royal family, it has to come through us, first. Shalua is guarding the King. With you and I watching Prince Lamba and Nealla over in Japan keeping an eye on Princess Kaolla, I think we're pretty well covered."
The redhead looked at his partner incredulously for a moment, then realized what was going on. His partner was choosing to put his faith in the skills of the MolMolian Guard, and believe that they could stop this threat should it get past the guys that went out into the desert. It was the only way to keep their sanity in situations like these.
Chuckling, he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, you're right, partner. Well, we won't be clockin' out early today."
If the mist had a mouth, it would have smiled cruelly, and probably laughed. Here they were, believing that they could safeguard the royal family from any threat that befell them, when the very threat they were concerned with was hovering over their heads. Without any further ado, the mist seeped into the room the two were guarding, approaching the figure lying flat on its back on the bed.
Once more, if the mist was capable of producing sound, it would have made a noise of satisfaction. It was none other than the crown prince, Lamba Lu, laying on the bed. The still-lit lamp on the desk nearby, and the various texts scattered about the room indicated that the prince had been researching something; the condition of the texts indicated that the subject was positively ancient.
That wasn't the mist's concern. The black, gaseous cloud began to solidify, and for the barest of instants, the cruelly-grinning figure of Kawakami Gensai was revealed in the midst of the mists, before the solidifying mist congealed into a black, gelatinous ooze on the floor. The ooze slipped and slithered up onto Lamba's bed, creeping up over his feet and up his legs, slowly covering every part of his body.
The ooze was halfway up his chest before Lamba realized anything was wrong. His eyes snapped open and he looked down to see his body covered in a black, slimy substance. As if sensing he was aware of its actions, the ooze surged forward, overtaking him at such speed that he barely had time to let out a short, bitten-off cry of shock before he was completely engulfed by the inky blackness.
Less than half a second after that sound, Lamba's door burst inwards and the two Elite Guards were running in, the redhead leading with a section of metal the length of his forearm in hand. The way the metal was designed clearly indicated it was an extendable weapon. Prepared to find a stealthy assassin attempting to take out the crown prince, the redhead drew up short, swinging his metal rod back in surprise when he saw no one else in the room besides the prince himself.
The redheaded Guard felt an impact against his rod, then heard a thud against the floor, and looked down to see his partner on the floor, his sunglasses askew, and holding his nose delicately in both gloved hands. "Uhh, oops?" the redhead remarked.
"Naaix, Xiaan, what is the meaning of this intrusion?" Lamba asked quietly.
The redhead, Naaix, fiddled with his rod between his hands. "Uhh, well, we heard you shout, Your Highness, and thought that an assassin had come for you."
Lamba nodded in their direction. "Your dedication to your duty, as well as your attentiveness, are commendable," he said. "However, it was merely a bad dream. My apologies for worrying you."
Xiaan stood back up and adjusted his sunglasses, fairly certain that his partner hadn't managed to break his nose again. "No apologies are necessary, Your Highness," he said. "As you said, we are merely doing our job."
The two bowed, and then retreated from Lamba's room, shutting the door behind them.
Once they were gone, Lamba grinned cruelly. "Ignorant fools..."
April 11, 2007
Hinata Apartments, Hinata, Japan
1936 hours, local time
As Lorenzo, Nealla, and Sabashii were well on their way to learning, nobody threw parties like the Hinata crew. Su, Seno, Kitsune, Keitaro, and Naru had put their heads together to produce the following obscene array of video gaming entertainment: two additional televisions, both thirty-two inches or better, three XBoxes, two XBox 360s, four PS2s, a Nintendo Wii, and a PS3. There were quite literally more systems than there were available televisions.
Seeing this, Sabashii, Nealla, and Lorenzo had all gone up to their rooms to retrieve their own television sets, and then the doling out of games and systems to TVs had begun. The main living room TV was secured to Kitsune's XBox 360 for the purpose of playing Halo 2. She, Seno, and Lorenzo had immediately dived into an XBox Live game. Su's TV was hooked up to her PlayStation 2, which was set far enough to one side where there was plenty of room for two DDR pads to be attached. To the surprise of most of the tenants, Motoko was the first to this game, and even further surprised the crew by challenging the notoriously-limtlessly-energetic Su to a set of songs.
Near the stairway up to the upper floors, a third TV had gotten Su's Wii, and Keitaro was currently playing Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on it. Naru was watching him play, impressed that he could handle the physical game so well.
Shinobu, Haruka, and Mutsumi were spread out amongst the couches and chairs, playing the Pirates of the Caribbean version of Life and munching the various finger foods that had been bought for the party. Sabashii was leaning back in a recliner, able to look up and see what any of the various party groups were doing, but he was focused on a device he was tinkering with in his lap.
A moment later, the relatively-controlled chaos of the party was interrupted by a loud crashing sound from out on the main landing. The crew turned to look out the front door and see that a white van was standing on its nose on the landing, having just barely missed Sabashii's car and the two motorcycles parked out there.
"It's the Setamobile!" Seno exclaimed.
"Setamobile?" Sabashii snickered. "I'll have to remember that."
After a few moments, the front door opened and Seta wandered in, bleeding profusely from a gash somewhere on his head. He had a large case in his arms. "Hey, guys," he greeted. "I heard you were having a party, so I thought I'd bring some stuff for you."
He set the case down and opened it, revealing several large bottles of sake. "A friend of mine got this for me. It supposedly dates back to the Sengoku era and is said to have come from the stores of Nobunaga Oda himself."
Even Kitsune, her hand already on one of the bottles, paused. "Are you sure it's okay to be givin' us this?" she asked.
Seta waved it off. "It'll be fine. Drink up, everybody!"
As glasses were being passed around to everyone, even Shinobu, another commotion started up as Su bounded down the stairs carrying audio equipment obviously reserved for karaoke. Motoko saw the hyperactive girl coming down the stairs, and blinked. "Wait, aren't you still supposed to be..." Then she turned and gave the 'Su' that she was playing DDR with a closer look. It turned out that she had actually been playing with Nealla that entire time.
The swordswoman glared at the doppelganger. "This is going to take some getting used to..." she pronounced, helping herself to a generous glass of sake.
Nealla merely smiled innocently and then walked away from the DDR setup, picking up a glass of sake before sitting in the closest chair to Sabashii and his tinkering.
"It's time for karaoke!" Su proclaimed, dropping the makeshift stage into the largest clear spot on the floor, then turned to grin at her friends. "Who's going to go first?"
"I will!" Mutsumi exclaimed. Her cheeks were already a rosy red, and she'd only had one glass of sake. Standing up unsteadily, she accepted the book of songs from Su and began to thumb through it. After a moment, she handed the book back to Su and pointed to the page she had turned to. "I want that one."
"Comin' right up!" Su affirmed, then turned to her audio equipment.
Somehow, when nobody had been paying attention, Su had managed to transform that clear spot into an appreciable karaoke stage, complete with a raised platform on which to stand, a microphone stand, the TV on which the lyrics were displayed, and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Party lights had been set up to either side, flashing varied red and green and blue and all the colors in between over the stage.
Mutsumi took her place on the stage and picked up the microphone, tapping it with her right index finger to ensure that it was on. A burst of static blasted the audience from the massive speakers that had likewise seemed to appear as if out of null-space. The ditzy Okinawan smiled apologetically to her friends.
"Are you ready, Mutsumi?" Su asked. "This song doesn't have an instrumental lead-up, you know."
Mutsumi nodded. "I know. I like this song, and know it quite well."
Su nodded in reply and began the program. Almost immediately, Mutsumi began to sing.
Hohoemu namida michibiku kaze wa
yasashii nioi nareta nukumori
Ima kagiri aru sekai to kuusai no hate ni
Kanjou taba ne hitomi wa nani o mitsukeru darou
As the light-techno instrumentals of the song took the center stage during a vocal pause, all of the other tenants quietly paused their games and took any form of seating they could, turning their attention toward the makeshift stage.
Mienai hoshi kokoro nokoshi saten no sora e to
Kikoenu you ni mienu you ni chiisaku hakisuteta
Ima naraba mabayui kako utte
Yuganda asa mo tsumetai yoru mo genseki ni kaeru
A wide, dazzling smile appeared on Mutsumi's face as she took a breath before diving into the refrain, as if the intoxicating affects of the sake she'd consumed had all but vanished.
Utsuro na namida yurusareru nara
kono mama zutto mamoraretetai
Ima hosoi hari ga hitotsu toki oikoshite iku
Yagate bokura no ue ni mo asahi wa noboru darou
The instrumentals once again took over, allowing Mutsumi time to catch her breath and bow in response to the appreciative shouts and cheers from her friends. To prove the fact that she had earlier said she knew the song very well, she spun the lyric screen on its axis so that the audience could read and sing along as well. Naru, also a fan of the song, was the first to join in.
Shikakui sora kondo koso wa tsubusarenai you ni
Ryoute nobashi chiisana sekai honki de oyoideta
Unheard over Mutsumi's singing and the music itself, Kitsune shouted something to Naru, who shouted something in reply, then the two stood up and jumped up onto the stage, joining Mutsumi in the song to provide the background vocals that the pseudo-Ancient was missing on her own.
Ima dake wa tomedonaku nagareru
Yowasa no shirushi sono netsu dake o kanjitetai no ni
Yumemiru namida hontou wa zutto
kodomo no mama de osanai mama de
Futtoyogiru kuuhaku wa kotoba de umeyou
Purasutikku no sekai ni asahi ga wa o egaku
More cheering and whistling came from the crew remaining in the audience, which quickly fell quiet as the music of the song dove down for a lower, 'quiet' sequence, before rising back up again for the finale.
Temaneku namida torawareru kara
kasanaru mae ni koko de sayonara
Mou ii wake wa iranai senaka de furueta
Sotto hiraita mabuta ni asahi wa michiru darou
With that, the vocal part of the song was over, though the music itself continued for another half a minute, barely audible over the cheering of everyone else in the room. Even the usually-stoic Haruka was smiling genuinely and applauding the girls' talents. Though with Naru it was to be expected; she hadn't had a run as the idol girl of Hinata for no reason, after all.
As the trio stepped down and accepted a round of drinks offered to them, Sabashii picked up the song book and flipped through it. "If you do not mind, I will take the next song," he said aloud. To himself, he quietly said, "I wonder if it's in here..."
"That was a kickass song there, Mutsumi," Seno was saying. "I heard it before as the background tune from an AMV for Armored Core 4, if I'm not mistaken."
"I like it," Mutsumi replied, her quiet, warm voice underscoring her living similarity to Aeris. "Somehow, I think it suits all of us."
Any reply Seno would have made was intercepted as Motoko calmly seated herself on his lap, took his face in both hands, and kissed him as though there was no one else in the room. The swordsman, surprised as he was by his wife's sudden desire for intimacy, managed to return the sentiment while slipping his arms around her waist.
"Ara ara, it's nice to see that they love each other so much," Mutsumi said nonchalantly, as though the sight of the swords-couple making out on the couch was the most natural thing in the world.
Naru, sitting next to Mutsumi, had recoiled slightly. "Wow, so much for her claiming that they keep their nookie behind closed doors," she muttered.
Then she felt something poking against her chest, and looked down to see Keitaro's right hand poking her breast from the side. She looked over to see his slack-jawed expression at Seno and Motoko's antics, then rolled her eyes and slapped her boyfriend's hand. "I'm not that drunk, Keitaro," she teased.
Well, that certainly got his attention. He recoiled away from her, rubbing his slapped hand. "Hey, just what do you mean by that?" he asked.
Grinning, Naru leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm just picking on you," she said. Then she gave him a frank stare. "But I mean it that I'm not drunk enough to let you have your way with me."
Keitaro reached over and wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, laying her head against his shoulder. "You know I wouldn't do that, Naru," he said, reaching up his other hand and brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "I would never take advantage of you. I love you too much."
Smiling contently, Naru wrapped her arms around him and snuggled closer to the dorm manager.
Meanwhile, as Motoko leaned back from her husband for air, the swordsman fought to clear his vision and looked up at her, noting that her cheeks were as red as his buddy Jesus shirt. "Ahh, hun, how much did you have to drink?"
The Shinmeiryu heir grinned and draped herself over her husband in a manner that made Kitsune proud. "Just the one," she slurred.
"Oh, shi..." In the next instant, Seno was on his feet, the semi-conscious but still-rambunctious Motoko held in his arms. "Well, guys, as we've seen, Motoko can't hold her liquor, and she gets, shall we say...feisty, when she's this drunk. So I'll spare you having your fragile psyches shattered, and we'll head on up to our room now."
At the foot of the stairs, Seno paused and looked back to the others, "I suggest that every song in the next...half hour be loud as all hell. Trust me."
Silence befell the room at that remark as the pair disappeared upstairs. Shinobu and, unexpectedly, Nealla were both redder than the sake had caused them to be at that turn of events, Kitsune was grinning her usual grin, and Sabashii was visibly resisting the urge to make a snarky remark.
Instead, he stood up and handed the song book to Su. "On that note, I'll take this song, please," he said, then stepped up onto the stage and took the microphone in his hand.
When the music began, it was so quiet that it tugged at the very limits of audibility, forcing the tenants to strain their hearing to the maximum in order to hear it. And then it crew in volume, became a recurring, pulsing beat accompanied by a strange cacophany of clashing instruments.
Naru was the first to realize that it was not instruments that they heard clashing, but swords. She looked around and saw the same realization had dawned on her friends' faces. Turning back toward the stage, she could now hear the faint sound of countless voices clashing in a war cry. It was like listening to a recording of Japan's feudal era...
The land was then young, I was fighting for it like everyone.
Ready to die for the cause, for my King, for my Lord.
Sabashii's voice burst out completely unexpectedly, accompanied by the harder rock music of the song, such to the point that the tenants recoiled from the sudden noise. They did not expect him to choose a song that had English lyrics, so only Seta, Haruka, Keitaro, Naru, Mutsumi, and Nealla could understand the words. The first verse had been lost upon them as they forced themselves to listen in a language other than their native Japanese.
You were my reason to live, to fight another day.
You were the only one for me, and you were only for me.
Another year I would be gone.
The war was leading us so far apart.
I built a house to keep you there.
Waiting for me, waiting...
The majority of the tenants who understood the lyrics knew right away that this song was not what you would consider a happy one, and even the English-ignorant Su, Shinobu, and Kitsune could easily pick up on the emotion riding through Sabashii's words. It was almost as if he was singing about a personal life experience.
No one remembers my face nor my name,
In a dream, I'd stay here forever.
Headstone on my grave, words carved in vain...
All these wounds only heal when I'm home.
The Taste of their blood in my mouth, and the scent of victory.
Scarred my soul for life, this man was not me.
Love is a game for the weak to play, they said.
I loved and love made me many times stronger.
Mutsumi, always the most empathic of the group, was the first to fail in holding back her tears. The emotion and pain in Sabashii's voice clawed at all their hearts, and it was only a matter of time before Mutsumi pressed her right hand against her mouth, barely cutting off a sob that was threatening to escape her, as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
Another year I would be gone.
The war was leading us so far apart.
I built a house to keep you there.
Waiting for me, waiting...
No one remembers my face nor my name,
In a dream, I'd stay here forever.
Headstone on my grave, words carved in vain...
All these wounds only heal when I'm home.
"Everything ends...Everything dies...
Now I know the Legends only lived in his lies"
My long and winding road, river and trees by the hills we lived on.
The ruins of my life I find, a signet ring on the ashes, I know my Lord betrayed me,
my reason to live was taken away.
I carry my loved one to the hills we loved, for the last time...
By now, there wasn't a dry eye in the living room; even Haruka was turned away from the scene, swiping furiously at her eyes in a heroic attempt to maintain her stoic reputation. Seta merely stood leaning against a support pillar nearby, a serious expression on his face. The professor-cum-archaeologist-cum-martial artist knew the sort of pain that Sabashii was singing with. It was something he lived as well.
I close your eyes, kiss you goodbye.
The only one who ever loved me.
I'm crushed inside, darling, my life...It shall end here..
At this, Keitaro reached out blindly, his vision blurred by tears, and unintentionally groped Naru's leg, trying to find her hand. Understanding his intent, she reached both her hands out, also groping blindly until she found Keitaro's hand, which she then clasped in both of her hands and squeezed tightly.
Headstone on your grave, words carved in vain...Now the darkness covers me...