Sachi Gosetsuke: I put in more effort in this chapter because of how I suddenly "disappeared" after school started. Believe me, school has definitely taken its toll on me. And I forgot shout-outs from last chapter's reviews!

Psychoblue: I nearly cracked a lung trying hard to laugh out loud at your statement.

Scarlet Child: I don't know why HIM would play at a carnival…just my crazy imagination XD And the fore line thing: I got that from The Butterfly Effect, so I guess that means she has no lifeline.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or it's characters, and Kenichi is the OC of Psychoblue. XD

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Ch. 8: Winds of Change

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The fifth tournament seemed to past by so quickly, now that I think about it. I never really had time to reflect on the tournament - but you'll soon learn why...

Before I left for the tournament, I trained non-stop, pushing my fighting potential to the limit. I was more than determined to bring justice to our dojo...

However, I didn't do it alone. Kenichi came to my aid, surprisingly enough. He was sorry for my father, and wanted to see how I was handling it. When he heard about my decision to enter the tournament, he was shocked. But he overcame it, and challenged me to a fight, to see if I truly was ready. During the time, I had been at the dojo as usual, and I was more than happy to take my anger and frustration on someone and pummel their face to the dojo floor.

I was on the ground in about ten seconds.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded. That was when our training began.

As I said before, he also wanted to train me so that when we fought, he would defeat me in the most honorable way possible, and to make sure that he would have a challenge and prove that he really was a greater fighter than I.

During the time we trained together, we became closer. Kenichi became my most trusted friend - despite our rivalry. We learned so much about each other than we did as we grew up together. I became lucky and proud to call him my rival.

I didn't see it before though...how quickly Kenichi had begun to change. He didn't seem to take notice as well - but it became very obvious after his father was killed...

We didn't know it then, but the winds of change were already blowing long before I left for the tournament. And when I had left...it would be the last time that I had seen Kenichi Masamune...

And when I would see him again...he would be completely different, and he would have broken his promise.1

Asuka's forehead was damp with sweat. She swiped it off with the back of her hand as she glared up from the ground at Kenichi who towered over her, and had once again pinned her to a draw.

"Asuka," he said disappointed, "You're holding back."

She quickly got up from the ground, glaring daggers at him. She hadn't been in the best mood since she found out who her father's attacker was, and especially after finally seeing her father in the hospital. What she saw was far different from the strong, confident yet gentle and kind man she had loved. He was unconscious still, and several of his ribs were broken. He had a gauze bandage wrapped around his head and a sling on his left arm - but what was even more serious was not only the cuts and bruises on his face, but the respirator that had to assist him in breathing.

"What the hell are you talking about? Of course I'm fighting back!"

Kenichi sighed. "Last week, you were blinded by your rage, and fighting carelessly, too mad and too preoccupied in smashing your fist in my face. Now you're holding back all that rage - along with something else."

Asuka blinked. "What?"

"Everything. Your potential. Your excitement. Everything needed in order to win."

Still puzzled, Kenichi explained. "In a fight, it's normal that you'll feel a little bit uneasy. But it's stupid to try only to reject and refuse these feelings."

Asuka nodded, her glare slowly fading. "Uneasy?"

He replied, "I understand that you are trying to hold back your rage so that you don't repeat the same fight when I first came to you in the dojo. However, when you finally face this Chinese man, you are going to feel rage. I know you. However, if you try to suppress this feeling, you will also reject something else."

Kenichi continued, "Sometimes, the path of the fighter requires letting in dark feelings, weighing them, and then letting them go."

Asuka grew silent. She heard that saying once before. But she was too young to truly understand what it meant. But now that Kenichi was repeating it this time, she felt like she finally understood, for her father had told her the same thing.

But how can she use this piece of information?

Kenichi began to pack up. "Why don't you think about what I mean, and clear your head a bit."

Without waiting for a reply from her, he was out of the temple.

Asuka was on the ground again, legs crossed Indian-style in the middle of the dojo floor. She thought about what her rival just told her. As she did so, the memory of when her father told the same thing came to mind.

"Otousan, teach me more!" Ten-year-old Asuka demanded excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. Their sparring session had just finished, and Asuka, as hyperactive as she is, was still on the balls for her feet for more action, whereas her father was ready to sleep.

He shook his head, giving a tired chuckle. "Asuka, I just finished with my class, and we just fought. I'm too tired. Isn't one spar good enough?"

Asuka pouted and crossed her arms, shaking her head defiantly. "No! It isn't! I need to train harder in order to become the greatest fighter in the world!"

He raised an eyebrow. "In the whole world?"

Asuka smiled sassily. "Ok, not the whole world. It's too big. But at least a better fighter than Kenichi."

Her father laughed heartily. "Asuka," he said. Still sitting cross-legged on the floor, he took his daughter into his lap. "You and Kenichi are more like each other than you both know."

Asuka shot her father a Look. "Otousan," Asuka said, as-a-matter-of-factly, "Kenichi is a boy. We are way different."

Her father chuckled softly once more. Maybe another time, he thought.

"C'mon, Otousan!" Asuka pleaded. "One more spar! Just one more!"

Sensei Kazama sighed. But it was not in the tiresome and exasperated sigh that most people gave her. "Asuka," he said, "Sometimes just fighting and practicing isn't enough."

Asuka grew puzzled. "What do you mean?"

He continued, "It is not just your fists and feet that help you to succeed in combat. Nor is it with just strength or just speed, or size and age."

"Sometimes, the path of the fighter requires letting in dark feelings, weighing them, and then letting them go. What they need is the determination…the thrill…and even the rage in order to win. They turn feel these emotions and turn them into something else…and succeed."

"…" Asuka was wordless. What did her father mean by "fists and feet" don't matter? Yes, of course, you need strength, and speed, and other stuff. But what was this "other stuff" he just referred to?

"…I don't get it Otousan." Asuka admitted quietly. "What do you mean?"

He smiled. "It's all right, little one," Sensei Kazama said, patting her head brightly, "You will learn when you are older."

Well now she was older, seven years older as a matter of fact. She still didn't understand entirely, and yet her rival Kenichi repeated the same words to her, and he was the same age as her.

But now she understood what her father and Kenichi had been trying to tell her, in perspective of the situation she was in: before she had been fighting blindly, her rage and anger controlling her. She knows now that they just hinder her in fighting; but while that's true, she was holding back what was most important to her, and exactly why she fights: thrill.

Though when the time comes to face Feng Wei, Asuka will feel rage; that will be expected no matter what. But she must learn was how to turn that into something else in order to win: the thrill, the excitement of defeating the man who almost took her father's life.

With that in mind, she knew exactly what to do.

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An hour later, Kenichi came walking back to the Kazama's Temple dojo. Hopefully Asuka is in a better mood to train, Kenichi thought. Well she better be anyway, if she still wants me to help her.

As he came closer to his destination, the more clear the distinct sounds of hands and feet cutting through the air became. However, the young fighter did not know whether Asuka training was a good thing or a bad thing.

Well, here goes, Kenichi thought, as he readied himself to push open the mighty large front temple doors – only to remember that they were broken and hanging off their hinges, wide open for the whole world to see inside the dojo.

As he stood in the doorway, he stopped, watching Asuka's figure practicing.

Her back was to him, and to Kenichi's surprise, instead of the quick, strong movements he was used to seeing her do when she trained, filled with concentration of imagining her opponent's head and crushing it, her movements were slow and smooth. Her entire expression was calm and relaxed, yet intense and focused on every motion she made – it was almost like a dance. She made quick and sharp movements with her hands and feet, her auburn hair swinging lightly on over and above her eyes. She did several smooth cartwheels and paused in her stance. Balance and agility. That was what she was trying to control.

Asuka moved gracefully and smoothly, as if in her own dream-like world, that it seemed like time had stopped for just that moment while Kenichi stood there, watching, in a trance at the scene played before him.

How did her eyelashes cast down her face like that, creating perfect black arcs that made her already breathtaking brown eyes striking? How long had it been since he last noticed how her lips looked softer and fuller, and so delectable when she grinned, the red curve of her mouth against her white, straight teeth?

And how come he never found Asuka attractive before? His friends and along with half of the school's male population always said so. She was beautiful, yes. He always had to admit that she was pretty good-looking for a tomboy. Pretty. That's all. But how could he have been so blind as to what she truly was (?): beautiful.

And he realized it.

Asuka was no longer the child-like schoolgirl that could easily impersonate a boy any time. And she probably never had been for a while. Though she kept her boyish attitude and sassy manner, and not to mention clung on to her naivety and big dreams, she had finally grown up, inside out, into what was a living combination of maturity and innocence. And she was different from the young girl he liked to challenge all the time, argue petty quarrels over, and so on and so forth; she was a young woman now in her own space.

And with that new revelation, his face grew hot and he felt a mysterious sensation in the pit of his stomach.

After mustering up his courage that he had, he walked up to Asuka and said, "Are you ready to train now?"

She stopped and turned to Kenichi. Asuka lowered her head, and more like to his knee rather than his face she said, "Kenichi, I had given a lot of thought to what you said…and you're right. I understand now."

"But now," she continued, "I…need your help. If you still want to help me."

In mock importance, Kenichi replied in a straight face to her, "Asuka Kazama, I would be honored to help you on the path to bringing justice upon the Chinese fighter."

Asuka grinned. "Great! Well now I just need to test my emotions and junk…starting with my anger, yes?"

She grinned, and slid into her fighting stance. "Ready?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and smiling rather seductively.

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"Baka!"

Sighing in annoyance, Megumi turned to roll her eyes at another teenage boy her age, who nodded in agreement. However, the two of them had not come to the ice cream parlor together. In fact, they weren't even that close of friends. The teenage boy was Kanaye, Kenichi's best friend, as was Megumi to Asuka (yes, a best friend; apparently all school teens had them here).

As you might have guessed it, Megumi and Asuka had spotted Kenichi and Kanaye together at the parlor and decided to join them. Instead, the tables turned and Megumi and Kanaye ended up as usually together in then end – whereas Kenichi and Asuka were engaged in an argument…as usual.

"For the last time," Kenichi said for the once more, "It's Europe and Asia, dammit!"

"No it's not!" Asuka said, glaring holes in Kenichi's face, "It's Eurasia. Get your Geo skills in place will you!"

"First of all, it can be referred to as both as I stated before," Kenichi said in an angry tone, "And second, not Geo skills, social studies skills."

"Where did you learn your Japanese?" Asuka demanded, "What the hell is social studies but government and politics and shit, not geography like World Geo!"

"This is the last time I let them sit together," Megumi whispered loudly in Kanaye's ear.

"Didn't you say the exact same thing back in 3rd grade?" he replied in question.

However, both Asuka and Kenichi did not catch that.

"You know what, I'm done eating ice cream here," Asuka said in a huff, standing up.

And like the gentleman he was, he slid out of the booth to let Asuka out…despite their heated argument just moments before.

"Yeah I'm going too," Kenichi agreed with Asuka, walking with her.

"Hey, you have any change on you (2)?" Asuka asked him, searching through her wallet.

"Yeah, here," he said, handing her money, "I'll pay. Do you want me to come by your dojo this evening?"

"Sure," she replied.

"Come on slowpokes," Kenichi said to Kanaye and Megumi.

Megumi gaped at Kanaye. Was it just them, or did those two bicker like an old married couple? And they sure had some shitty mood swings going on.

"You guys are worse then my parents," Kanaye said aloud, slapping his money on the table.

He and Asuka exchanged looks with each other and said together, "What do you mean?"

Kanaye and Megumi glanced at each other, and shook their heads. Hopeless.

And in about ten minutes when they reached Kenichi's house, the two were at it again.

Kenichi glowered at Asuka, not even noticing how their two friends had left awhile ago without saying good-bye.

"Why do you always have to be so Goddamn stubborn all the time?" Kenichi asked angrily, the reminiscence of their heated (yet trivial) argument ringing in his ears.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Because I can."

Kenichi mentally slapped his forehead. He changed his mind. She hasn't grown up at all.

She smiled smugly at him, seeing his angry expression trying to muster up a snappy retort and walked ahead of him. She stopped suddenly at the figure in the Masamune's doorframe, with a cold expression on his face, staring straight at Kenichi.

Kenichi sighed. "I better go," he grumbled, hurrying past Asuka.

"Ok," Asuka nodded understandingly, "See you at six!"

He didn't reply back.

She sighed and continued her way home.

Almost like her, one parent had basically raised Kenichi. While Kenichi's father was always forever gone away on "business," his mother was there to guide him, teach him, and train him to fight. And when his father was home on rare occasions, he was never the father Asuka always knew. But it wasn't what you may think; heavens no, he was never abused or neglected. It was just like living with a stranger at home.

Yet Kenichi trusted his father with all his heart. As a child, he looked forward to him coming home. After all, this was the man who had taught him to fight even better; the man who taught him to play basketball, his favorite sport; the man who forged his good-luck Masamune sword, something he carried with him at all times.

He looked up at him as Asuka did with her father, and in return of his special teachings and fatherhood, he gave him his loyalty and respect.

Lately however, his father had been very moody…the meaning of "discipline" had always been carved into his mind of course. Yet recently it seemed that he was always scolded and lectured, and special sparring sessions with his father had not been easy. Despite the respect he had given his father, he could not wait for him to leave for business.

But the reason for his father's mood swings could also be partly his fault. Lately Kenichi has had so much on his mind, jumping from college dealings to thinking up snappy retorts to Asuka, and to training Asuka and controlling his living dead hormones that she had awaken. But most importantly, it could be because of his lack of sleep.

Kenichi would shake himself to wake up at 5 AM to train in the dojo and stay up hours into the night well past one o'clock and then drink anything that had sugar and caffeine during the day…anything to keep himself from falling into one of his nightmares again.

It probably all started about a week or two ago; when Asuka's father was attacked. Or even when his feelings erupted like a violent volcano and suddenly he felt himself thinking like some lovesick teenager when he wasn't busy lecturing or arguing with Asuka. Either way, the dreams came, and he found himself waking from disturbing (yet pleasant) dreams of hot summer nights, talking with Asuka, laughing, flirting, and holding hands…and even some more impure thoughts that he forced himself to wake from, feeling sickeningly moist on most nights.

But his dreams became worse…In place of her dark brown pearls and auburn hair were red slits and blonde hair. Nightmares. Nightmares filled with screams, blood, pain, darkness, and death. Nightmares where he heard a strange voice calling…calling to him, telling him to follow him, go into the darkness…

He dreamt of ebony, mysterious and evil creatures with red eyes and talons killing innocents, young and old, men and women…and in the midst of the killings by what he called "demons," was a young man in a dark black trench coat, his hood covering his face. And in his nightmares he saw Tokyo city taken over by darkness, a blood red sun in the horizon, and the voice calling to him once more…and he saw a hideous creature that sent shivers down his back, with three red eyes and bat-like wings…but what scared him the most was that in this particular dream, he could hear Asuka screaming.

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"No way."

It was a hot summer not, well past nine o'clock. Asuka and Kenichi had finished their usual training that evening. They both were sitting at their usual spots on the dojo steps, talking.

Kenichi couldn't help but let out a grin. Another surprise for Asuka. She was so used to seeing Kenichi expressionless, cold, or just plain angry. But lately she had been seeing a different side to him.

"It's true."

Asuka gaped at him. "You're related to the legendary samurai Date Masamune!"

"I can't believe you didn't know it before."

Asuka placed her hands on her hips and made a face. "Well before, we spent most of our time fighting and arguing then talking about famous relatives."

He chuckled with her in agreement. "You're right," he said, leaning on the step with his hands behind his head, "We sure did fight a lot back then."

"Don't you mean now?" Asuka pointed out. "And we sure do annoy the shit out of our friends."

"And not to mention our parents."

"And teachers."

"And neighbors."

"And bullies."

"And elders."

They laughed together once more.

Another has come and passed. How strange it was that they had gotten to understand each other so well, way better than before; how easy they had become in each other's presence; the things they expected one another to do or say, even the little details like how Kenichi always raised his eyebrows a little and blinked whenever he was confused, or how Asuka eyebrows would meet in the middle when she was confused as well, or just concentrating on completing a fighting move.

But also how the only reason Kenichi carried a Masamune sword concealed in word like an iai sword, even though he never uses it was because it was a gift from his father and he carried it with him at all times for good luck.

Asuka was beginning to see Kenichi in a different light now. Instead of seeing him as Kenichi Masamune, her stubborn, egocentric rival who she vowed one day to defeat and perhaps make him get a life…but Kenichi Masamune, the noble, honorable young men, not only in excelling (she blushes to admit this) good looks, but also in justice like her…and she was liking what she was seeing.

The respect and credit she had for him had evolved greatly in the past few weeks…and soon she learned to trust him, and even enjoy being with him…completely different then before.

"Man," Kenichi said, his laughter finally fading. "When was the last time we actually enjoyed each other's living presence like this without wanting to kill each other."

"…Don't know," Asuka replied slowly, "But I wonder when was the last time you laughed like that."

Kenichi asked, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well…" Asuka said thoughtfully, "You're always so…serious. Determined. Like you have a lot on your mind. Even as kids you never really cracked a smile before."

Kenichi replied, "Well…I don't really mean to be like that. The way you describe me it's like I'm not human."

Asuka grinned. "Of course you're human silly! I mean it's just that you also seemed oblivious to your fan girls out there, giving them the impression you're too busy trying to think of a way to defeat me."

"True," Kenichi replied.

Asuka's grin never faded as she continued, "You know, you reacted the same way back when we first met when I said the same thing."

Kenichi made a look of disbelief. "Jeeze, how do you remember these things!"

"Hey, I remember all special moments."

Asuka's beam faded off, realizing what she said. But she became more at ease when Kenichi just smiled warmly off to space.

Imitating his position, she leaned back and added without thought, "Yeah, you should smile more too; I always thought you were cuter when you did."

She clapped her hand on her mouth and blush profusely, realizing she said too much.

CRAP! She thought, where did that come from?

Kenichi turned a little red as well, letting her words sink in. He allowed himself to glance at her slowly (without embarrassing her too much), noticing her head turned away, a mad scowl on her face.

He couldn't help but smile faintly. So even the great Asuka can still blush like that…Mother always complained not enough girls blushed.

Asuka moved her eyes casually back towards him again, accidentally catching his eye. He looked away in awkward haste, turning red. I'm glad that he still shows at least SOME emotion time to time, she thought, but it still feels weird…I never really see him doing anything like blush or smile. It's like a horse walking on its hind legs.

"I better…get going," Kenichi mumbled, getting up. Asuka gave him a puzzled look, getting up as well.

"Why? It's not too late out."

He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah…but I think it's gonna rain soon."

Asuka looked up. There wasn't a cloud in the ink black sky.

"See you tomorrow…Asuka."

"'Bye."

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That night, as Asuka crawled into her bed, she looked out her window. The quarter moon shown brightly out against the ebony night sky, with several tiny stars surrounding it, twinkling brightly in all its glory. The moon's reflection off the glass window gave off a doubled image, making it appear as if there were two moons.

This scene reminded Asuka of an old memory, not so long ago, between her and her father. He had been scowling her once again for fighting with Kenichi. Her father told her this:

"You can never truly understand a person before walking two moons in their shoes, Asuka."

When Otousan told me this before, I always thought that there wasn't anything else to Kenichi, Asuka thought, and that even if there were, his persona would be too complicated for me to understand. What did I say then? Oh yeah: Kenichi's shoes were probably uncomfortable. Ha.

And it is said that a warrior can only truly know another warrior painstakingly once they have faced together in hand-to-hand combat…yet me and Kenichi had not only known each other for years but have been fighting since elementary school, and yet we only get to know each other only now.

But…there's still so much to know about what goes on in that head of his…yet…I feel like we're so much closer now…even closer than friends…

Eck! What am I thinking? I just need some sleep.

So she turned to her other side away from her window, and drifted off to sleep, entering the world of dreams…and an old dream came to place…

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Over at the tall skyscraper of Tokyo Tower, a young man in his mid-twenties with sheer blonde hair in a scarlet ponytail, muttered an incantation, trapped in his own shell unaware that the demon within him was controlling him, as a puppeteer to a mindless puppet. As he continued in his monotone-doubled voice the incantation, the figure in front of him, cast away in the shadows, began to shake uncontrollably as the pupils of her eyes turned to fiery slits.

There stood towering over the figure a creature with bat-like wings, red eyes and purple skin…a creature so evil, so fearsome, that it was said that God Himself had banished his dark soul away to the depths of Hell…the creature was the Devil.

The Devil grinned evilly as he watched as the ancient symbols begin to spread throughout the mortal's body: eyes glowing red and with red blood, seeping down her face as if tears of horrific pain.

The man's voice grew louder, as the dark clouds in the sky began to grow; the blood-red sun (that gave off no such light) began to illuminate the sky with its vast crimson color throughout the black sky. The girl's screams couldn't have been louder as the markings on her glowed an eerie red, shining through her ripped tank top and jeans.

Her screams amplified as two horns pierced through her head outward, and her hands – no longer hands, but – talons – grew as well. As if to show the evil that was taking over her, her screams grew louder, yet almost as if in ecstasy.

And as the man's doubled-voice, crying with enthusiasm now as he began to finish the evil incantation, the process became complete as two, raven-feathered wings sprouted from her back.

And the Devil began to laugh in triumph…lightning flashed in the sky, and with each strike, thunder clashed and the purple creature changed into the victims of his power, with the same crimson red eyes.

CRASH: Kazuya Mishima, the same red eyes and purple suit.

CRASH: Jin Kazama, not laughing but glowering, only with red eyes also, his face half hidden underneath his hood.

CRASH: The platinum blond-haired man known as Jean Sorel, the only one whom Devil had not taken over but merely made him one of his minions.

CRASH: Devil's last victim before Asuka…His whole attire in a black trench coat, the hood shadowing his eyes, eyes which were glowing red as well. Yet at a closer analysis he showed of chestnut brown hair, peaking through his hood…and then lightning struck.

Underneath his hood was a pair of familiar sapphire blue eyes…

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One month later…

Asuka sighed, the wind blowing at her back, the dark tendrils of her hair dancing in the wind. From where she stood glued to the spot, a nearby tree's leaves rustled in the wind. Several of its emerald green leaves cascaded down to the ground. The cool breeze against the humid atmosphere continued to blow in a mournful tune within the desolate graveyard.

Everything had been going so well, Asuka thought sadly. Despite Otousan's accident, Kenichi's training had helped me so considerably. The tournament is a week away, and I'm finally ready to face Feng Wei. Kenichi and I have been getting along so great, and he had been becoming a better person as well…how could such a tragedy happen once more?

Asuka stared on as Kenichi kneeled down at his father's grave, steely blue eyes expressionless and grave. He had just finished a prayer for his father, yet he had not moved away just yet.

Kenichi's father had been murdered.

Upon hearing the news from Mrs. Sanada, Asuka rushed over to the Masamune's home, only to find it empty. After pacing nervously back and forth in the kitchen for almost the entire day, Kenichi showed up that evening, informing her of how his father had been attacked and killed during his business trip. And if that weren't enough, he had been killed for committing a crime.

For almost his entire lifetime…Kenichi's father had been a criminal. His mother finally confessed to him that he had been working with the Yakuza and had been planning to sell a large shipment of bio-weapons to numerous buyers around the globe. But a gaijin ninja eliminated him before the weapons had gotten out. The only reason his father had been involved with the Yakuza was because of "an old friend." His mother would not tell him who he was.

It was enough that the man whom Kenichi had trusted forever had been unjustly taken away from him…but that this very man he trusted and called "father" had been betraying his trust for who knows how long.

The funeral had been taken place in Osaka; however, afterwards Kenichi and his mother had taken his casket to Kyoto where he would be buried with his ancestors.

With permission from Mrs. Sanada, Asuka came with Kenichi for emotional support.

Kenichi slowly stood up, his gaze never leaving the tombstone of his father. And slowly, he finally turned away.

Asuka walked up to the grave and kneeled down to delicately place the single rose on the grave. She murmured a prayer as well and lit the white candlestick that Kenichi stuck to the ground. She got up and faced Kenichi.

With his back still facing her, she said to him, "I'm sorry for your loss, Kenichi."

He did not reply. So Asuka continued. "I…know what you are going through Kenichi. Not entirely of course…no one can truly know one's feelings over a lost love. But I understand how it feels to lose a father."

They were both silent for a moment. Only the mournful tune of the wind could be heard: the winds of change.

"No you don't."

He turned around to face her, glaring at her to block away his true sorrow. "You may have suffered a little when your own father was taken away from you. But at least you still have a father to go back to at the end of the day. You know nothing of how I feel Asuka…Your father wasn't murdered…you father wasn't a criminal…your father is still alive and you have an idea where his attacker is!"

Asuka swallowed hard. She had only rarely heard him yell like that before. His true wrath; not the annoyed whine-like cry I their petty arguments or even when he truly was angry with her. And when his full wrath came…it always made her shiver in fear.

He looked back at his father's grave. "I swear on my father's grave," he growled, "That I will take the life of his killer as his killer has taken his own."

Asuka turned white. "Kenichi, you can't be serious," Asuka said. Not Kenichi. Not the noble hero. Not the respectable fighter. She hadn't expected him to say that. Sure, Asuka expected him to want revenge; yet Kenichi was an honorable citizen, not a blind killer.

He didn't answer right away. "I had a dream about this…" he said whispered. "I really did. It all started like this: you and me at this graveyard, doing what we just did now. And then I saw it."

He faced Asuka. "I saw him die. I saw how that murderer killed my father. I had been having strange dreams before…nightmares…filled with darkness, and taint, and blood. Death."

"Someone is out there…Remember how I said to you before that there could be other worlds? Well someone is out there, in some other world, calling out to me…telling me to find that man…showing me the way…and I'm gonna follow him."

"Kenichi, you're scaring me," Asuka said in a hushed voice, unable to stop the shivers running up and down her back.

"Maybe you should be scared," Kenichi said slowly.

"Look Kenichi," she said stepping up to him, putting on her best glare, "This isn't you. You would never do this. You would never blindly follow "someone" especially someone who tells you to kill. You're a good person Kenichi, don't do this!"

Again, he doesn't answer right away, and now Asuka is really worried. "I'm gonna make him spill," he continues, as if she had never said anything, "And then I'm gonna find that "old friend" of my father…and make him pay as well."

"Kenichi –-,"

"He betrayed me!" He shouted. "He betrayed my trust, yet I don't know who I'm more mad at: him, his killer, or the person who dragged him into the Yakuza."

Asuka could feel her hands beginning to shake. This could not be happening…it just couldn't…

"You can't change my mind Asuka," he murmured past her, his voice a little softer. "I'm going to find them. I don't care how long it takes me, but I will have my revenge, just as you will. And when I find them…I'll kill them."

Asuka bowed down her head. The winds had not stopped blowing yet. Kenichi had already started to leave; yet she remained at her spot.

Oh Kenichi, she thought sadly before following him in silence, If only I could change your mind…but it is as impossible as stopping the winds from blowing in change.

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…And that was the last I saw of the boy I knew as my childhood friend: Kenichi Masamune.

1 - refer to the last chapter - a flashback.

2 - ok, I don't understand Japanese currency, so…yeah.

Baka – "idiot," "moron," etc.