Gekko no Senshi (Moonlight Warrior)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 15

The light rain pitter-pattered on her window as she yawned. Last night was blissful. She didn't understand her longing feelings towards Rihan but at least she didn't feel sad anymore when she thought about him; and that was a good thing.

She hopped down the stairs and walked into the kitchen with a big smile on her face. Tsubasa and Inoue looked at each other suspiciously. After breakfast was done, she went upstairs to brush her teeth and pick up her backpack.

Getting close to the school gates she met up with Yura and Kiyotsugu. The latter kept babbling about some new youkai sightings; Yura and Tomoe sweatdropped. He continued after the club had gathered around him.

"We are not going," Yura insisted.

"But Keikain-san this is important! A neck-less youkai was spotted near First Street!"

This captured Rikuo's attention. Kubinashi?

Tomoe looked at Rikuo's with a questioning face and he motioned a 'no.' Kana saw them staring at each other and decided it was time for her to take action. She wasn't in junior high anymore.

"I want to go."

Everyone looked at Kana as if she had grown a third eye. Even Kiyotsugu had to do a double take.

"Are you sure about this, Kana-chan?" asked Saori.

"Yes. Kiyotsugu, I'll go with you even if nobody else does." She seemed determined.

"Ok, then. We'll meet tonight at 6pm in the park."

With that the bell rang and everyone took their seats.

It was awfully awkward after the incident. Rikuo kept asking himself why Kana, who got scared easily, put herself in that situation. This thought kept gnawing him for the rest of the day. He vowed to ask her later.

School was done for the day. It was Tomoe and Yura's time to have classroom duties. As Tomoe cleaned the board (she was the tallest of the two) and Yura picked up the trash, they discussed:

"What was all that with Kana?" Tomoe started.

"I have no idea, Tomoe-chan. All the time I've known her, she's always been scared of youkai, but today I saw something different in her."

"Yeah, you are right. Now that I notice it, she doesn't talk to me as much as when I first came…" Tomoe trailed off.

"I've noticed that too!"

"It seems that ever since I've started hanging out with... Oh god…"

Yura turned around to see Tomoe's sudden realization: "What is it?"

"She's doing this because of Rikuo…"

This astonished Yura. "Why would she do it because of…. Oh I see…."

Tomoe nodded, "She likes him and Rikuo has no clue."

Kana was standing at the bus stop. I don't know if I actually wanna see youkai, but I know 'that' person always arrives… I also want to know what's going on between Rikuo and Tomoe. If I ask them, they'll both deny it…

As she was staring at nothing, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see the smiling face of Rikuo. She couldn't help but smile.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey Kana-chan," he replied. She stared at him for a few seconds before returning her gaze to the street.

"I meant to ask you," Rikuo continued, I have no idea why I'm nervous… "Why do you want to go see youkai with Kiyotsugu? I say this because you're usually scared of them."

"Because I'm tired of being scared and having to be saved every time! I'm not a scared little girl anymore!"

Rikuo just stared at her with big-saucer eyes. He has never, ever seen Kana like this. Not to mention that she was also flapping her arms and screaming. She never does this. What the hell got into her?

"Kana, I'm sorry but youkai are evil, it's normal to be scared. Who knows what they are capable of doing," said Rikuo, obviously knowing what he was saying.

"Rikuo-kun," her voice was more tender now, "I just don't want you to see me like a frightful girl… I just want to be able to stand up to my fears…"

"Kana-chan, c'mon you're my friend. You are who you are, no need to change it," Rikuo cheered up.

"Thank you, Rikuo!" He smiled back.

"Hey, hmm… I meant to ask you earlier… is there something going on between you and Tomoe-chan?" Kana continued, this time looking down at the floor.

"Eh?! Me and Tomoe, no!" Rikuo blushed red beet. Actually, my brother is into her…

But before he could even reply back, Kana took it the wrong way. Her eyes filled with tears and her first reaction was to take off running. Rikuo yelled for her to wait but she didn't stop.

What the hell just happened? Rikuo stared at her wake dumbfounded. He was still a little embarrassed by the question, but this was just plain weird. For some unknown reason, he became sad.

Just then the bus arrives and whisks him off close to his house.

After dinner was done, Tomoe helped to clean up the kitchen. She couldn't stop thinking about Rihan. Sometimes she found herself smiling whenever she remembered him holding her or even laughing at her. She also sometimes found herself frowning whenever she remembered him calling her 'monkey face.' She sighed repeatedly when she remembered the fight between Rihan and Rikuo. She wants to know more about him and his youkai family. Meeting them was an eye-opener, gave her a different perspective about youkai.

Being turned or transformed into one was not easy for her. She had no idea how to act around other youkai or people. When it happened, she had disappeared for several days. Her father sent search parties looking for her. He had thought that her disappearance had to do with the death of her mother, Tomoko. She was afraid of her father finding out about her dealings with youkai. She was afraid that she would be pinned with her death, so she ran away. It wasn't entirely her fault. This is how it happened:

Tomoe always wanted to be powerful. She was born a natural leader. She took action. It showed as she learned all different kinds of martial arts. She worked hard to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. She wanted to bear her family's name with pride. She wanted to be more than her father expected of her. She wanted to make him proud.

On her 5th birthday her father gave her first wooden katana. He encompassed in her the philosophy of using the katana as a means of peace and not of death, a means for personal development and spiritual perfection, just as his father passed on to him. It was the emblem of the Yatogami samurai. She perfected her kenjutsu, which is the science of the sword, at the tender age of 10. Being able to progress on to freestyle at such a young age downed her as a prodigy.

When she was 11, her father taught her the art of drawing the sword, the battojutsu. But being that she mastered it quickly, he made her progress to iaijutsu, which is much more complex, as it is the 'art of mental presence and immediate reaction.' It took her much more time to control her movements, making them smoother and cleaner. Cutting the opponent, removing the blood off the blade and then replacing the sword back to its sheath was her favorite part.

Darkness started to grow inside of her. At the moment, she didn't know what it was. Her innocent way of looking at it was that she one day will head the Yatogami family and she needed to be prepared. Her father had no sons, she was the only child and she needed to train to keep its standards; nobody was to mess up with a Yatogami. But soon enough, a certain youkai started noticing the young Tomoe: her skills, her smart thinking and quick mind.

At the age of 13, she started using the naginata as her main weapon. Her naginata-do, or her technique, impressed many people. She liked the fact that the pole gave her the advantage of using it as a support in order to kick her opponent, if need be. The naginatajutsu was mostly practiced by women and it was widely thought as a female style of fighting.

One thing she wasn't very good at was in kyojutsu, the art of the bow; in other words, archery. Ever since she was able to mount a horse, her father has instructed her mother, a master archer, to teach her the way. Even though firearms had replaced the bow as a weapon of war back in the 16th century, it was still taught in schools as a sport, which Tomoe's mother, Tomoko, taught. She had won several competitions in the past. Being that her mother was a gold medalist, it took a lot on Tomoe not to be able to be good at it. She was able to master several arts at a young age but she was unable to hit the mark. It took a toll on her relationship with her mother.

"Tomoe, breathe into the arrow, show it where to go," Tomoko stressed.

"Mother, I've heard it before… I do and it doesn't happen!" a 13 year old Tomoe whined.

"You are not doing it the right way," her mother continued.

"Mom I'm trying!"

"Unblock your mind. You are stopping it from hitting the mark. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"Because it's too hard!" she yelled.

"Lower your voice, child or I'll smack that face of yours," her mother said rather calmly.

"Sorry, mom," Tomoe hid her face under her bangs.

"What's going on with you lately, technique aside…" her mother inquired.

"I… I haven't being sleeping well these past few days. I've being having some weird dreams," Tomoe answered with her head low. Tomoko approached her daughter and said:

"Ok, this is what we'll do. You and I will go the Moon festival down at the shrine and have some fun. I think what you need is some distraction."

Tomoe's face lit up. She loved going to the Moon festival. It was her favorite.

"Care to tell me about your dreams?" her mother asked.

"No, it's not really bad, it's just that this weird lady with a mask keeps visiting me. I wonder where I've seen her…"

As soon as Tomoko heard that, she tensed up. She's heard countless stories of this despicable youkai, a kitsune youkai that harvests the bodies of young women so that she can gain possession of them. It is said that she has seven tails and that her ruthless powers are able to destroy an entire town in one blow. Tomoko was afraid her daughter would fall prey of this youkai. She warned Tomoe.

"Tomoe-chan, next time this woman visits you, tell her to go away and never come back to bother you again. Can you do that?"

"Hai!"

With that they resumed training. After they where done, Tomoe went back to her room to wash and get ready for tonight. Her mother had laid on her bed a new lavender kimono with intricately sown silver flowers. She was elated.

The Moon festival was a blast. Mother and daughter walked to the different shops, played some games, watched a show and ate some food. As they where heading back to entrance of the shrine, some mothers of students from the school Tomoko taught stop her to ask her some questions. Tomoko gladly made time for them. As the conversation drew off, Tomoe was getting bored and diverted her attention towards the stars. The moon shown bright as the stars danced around it. It was the perfect night, until…

Tomoe…

Tomoe turned around to where to localize the source of the voice. I've heard it before. But she looked around and couldn't find it.

Tomoe…

Ok, I'm not going crazy, I can hear it… she kept on looking until she saw movement near the well at the left side of the shrine's entrance. There were also some trees around it. She walked to it.

"Who's calling? Show yourself," she walked towards the movement. Dead silence. The hairs behind her back rose. This is not good; I wish I had my naginata or katana with me…

Even though she didn't have special senses, she could smell the bad aura in the air. She always carried with her a small dagger a general in her father's army gave to her.

"Tomoe-chan, my dear friend," Tomoe heard clearly. She felt her throat go dry and her ears shut. Her mind went into overdrive. The first thing she thought was to alert her mother. The moment she turned around a huge open fan stopped her.

"Tsk, tsk, that is very rude of you, Tomoe-chan. You can't just run off when your name is being called, now can you?"

It was the same sinister voice that kept plaguing her dreams. And for some weird reason, she felt attracted to it.

"Now that I have your attention, listen to me carefully. Before you go back to your mommy, I'll let you know this will not be the last meeting. I've seen you, Tomoe. I've seen your potential. I've seen how intelligent you are. I've seen how strong and capable you are… but you can be so much more than that. You are a leader. You want to become powerful? Follow me…"

Tomoe gasped as she heard all that. Is it really what I want? Do I really want to become powerful?

"I know what you're wondering. How can you trust me? Is this really what you want? Let me tell you something. No one will ever trust a little girl to become the Head of the Yatogami family. No woman has ever led the Yatogami samurai before. But you know what? We can change that…"

"W-what d-do you mean b-by we?" Tomoe stuttered. Her smooth voice felt enticing to her ears.

"I will help you become stronger and more powerful. No one will ever mess with you…"

"No one has ever messed with me. What makes you think they might start now?" Tomoe found the courage to expel.

"Ah, true… but you haven't had the chance to show them true fear…"

Fear. A four lettered word the signified only one thing: power. It also signified manipulation and control. The ability to instill fear in others opened up a whole new world, a world of control and domination… in other words, conquest.

Tomoe savored the possibilities. She wanted to be the best. She wanted to be feared. She looked at the masked lady straight in the eye and said,

"What do I need to do?"

A/N: Sooo this is the part of the story that tell us how Tomoe became a youkai... I'm going thru a writer's block right now, I'm almost done with C. 16 but I'm stuck in a part so I won't post for a while til I get thru it. A special thanks to my beta for her amazing job. Thank you guys for your amazing reviews! It means the world to me! Please continue reviewing!