Chapter 6: Plans

Tanya awoke early. The ginger-cat shaped clock on the table by her bed read 4:57 AM. She groaned and sat up. She was having more and more trouble getting sleep ever since that day she came home to find her parents dead inside their almost-burned-down house. Sighing, she pulled her Ensui out from under her pillow and stared at it. She hadn't gotten around to showing it to her brother yet. Sensei Megumi had said that Tokiya had an Ensui too.

A knock on her door made her look up.

"Come in."

Tokiya opened the door and came inside. "I had this feeling you needed me. Why are you awake? It's still early."

"I just woke up and I can't seem to get myself to feel sleepy anymore." His sister answered. She held out the object in her hands.

"Your Ensui?" Tokiya asked, fingering it. "It's a lot like mine, only longer, and without this groove in the middle."

Tanya snapped the Ensui cleanly in two on the groove line. "It's a double blade." She explained. He watched him look at it for a few moments.

"Be right back." Tokiya said suddenly, and he stood up and left the room.

He returned with his own Ensui in hand. He showed it to her. "Your Sensei told me yours is powered by fire. I use water for mine."

Tanya looked at him. "Can you show me?"

"First thing after breakfast." Tokiya promised her, ruffling her hair. "Now get some more sleep. We both had better enjoy these two weeks of winter break." He waited as she shoved her Ensui under her pillow and then he tucked in the blankets around her before leaving the room.

Tokiya headed for the living room, finding it impossible to go back to sleep. He slumped down on the couch and stared at the Ensui in his hand.

'Fire. Fire and Water.'

He shook his head to clear it.

'How can she wield a Madougou at the age of seven? Pyrokinesis. I might have another Recca on my hands.' He grinned wryly at the thought.

He turned to stare out the window, chin on his hands, and was still in the same position when the sun rose.

It was seven o' clock when he heard Tanya's footsteps come down the stairs. Her aura preceded her into the kitchen.

"Good morning!" She greeted him, stifling a yawn.

"Same to you." Tokiya removed a carton of milk from the fridge. "Let's have some breakfast."

She came over to him and he lifted her up to reach into one of the higher cupboards.

"You can pick out today's cereal."

Tanya laughed and put her hand in among the boxes. "You actually like Cocoa Pops?"

"And Oreo cereal."

"I thought you'd be one of those bran-flake types." Tanya pulled out the box of Cocoa Pops.

"I was." Tokiya set her back down and they went to go sit at the table. "But a certain purple-haired sea-monkey made me eat some of this stuff two years ago at a certain tournament." He doled out a bowlful for his sister before serving himself.

"Fuuko taught you how to eat Cocoa Pops?" Tanya laughed harder. "You've been stuffing your face with bran gravel every morning till a couple of years ago?"

"Not every morning. I don't eat cereal everyday." Tokiya spooned a mouthful of the chocolate crispies into his mouth.

Tanya laughed some more and started on her own cereal. Tokiya poured a glass of milk for each of them.

His sister stared at her drink with a thoughtful expression. "You said your Ensui is powered by water."

"Liquid." Tokiya took a swig from his glass. "In the Urabutousatsujin, I had to use my own blood once."

"What?" Tanya's eyes widened.

Tokiya swallowed. He just blurted it out. Why did it already so comfortable talking to her? He only met her yesterday, for crying out loud!

"You used your own blood?" Tanya's expression looked horrified. "You could have been killed!"

"Well, I'm stronger than you think, as you can see, I'm still very much alive." Tokiya chuckled.

Tanya still looked at him warily.

"It's over now. You probably won't see me use that technique." He assured her.

Tanya finally nodded and finished up her cereal. She stared at her glass of milk again.

"Liquid powered." She reached for the milk carton and held it out. "Have you tried milk?"

Tokiya had to laugh.

"I'm serious!" Tanya frowned at him.

"I wasn't exactly taught how to power it with milk." Tokiya laughed louder. "But here. As promised, I'll show you how I power my Ensui up."

He crossed over to the sink, turned on a tap and held his Ensui under it. A blade of ice formed, jutting from the handle.

"Cool!" Tanya came over and he handed it to her. She tried a few strikes with it. He stared at her, surprised.

'She really does know how to fight.'

"What?" Tanya stared at his expression. "Oh, hold on!" She fished her Ensui out of her pajama pocket. "I'll show you how mine works."

Tokiya watched, fascinated. She snapped her fingers and a tongue of flame ignited on her thumb, she broke her Ensui on the middle groove and touched the fire from her thumb on the tips of the hilts. Two blades of swirling crimson and orange formed.

"Impressive." He said, as she handed the two blades to him. "Sensei Megumi told me you were Pyrokinetic."

Tanya nodded. "I had to learn how to control it when I was five." She gave her brother's Ensui back to him. "Want to spar?"

Tokiya raised his eyebrows. "You want to spar with me?"

"Yes." Tanya gave him a challenging grin.

"You don't know what you've gotten yourself into." Tokiya grinned back.

Tokiya and Tanya faced each other outside in the backyard of their house. The younger Mikagami twirled her double blades.

"Don't go easy on me."

"I was about to say the same thing." Tokiya said, smiling slyly.

She suddenly lashed out, striking forward. Tokiya barely brought up his blade in time. He parried her strikes, stepping backward, giving ground.

She was good, he had to admit it. Much like his younger self. The only thing was, her aura of power was coming out in full force, making her weak moments vulnerable. He struck out and managed to slap one of her blades out of her hand.

She smiled and switched her remaining blade to her right hand and continued to drive him backward. Her strikes were getting harder to block, and she was speeding up. She nearly knocked his Ensui out of his hand on one hit and only his reflexive dodge prevented it from happening. Taking advantage of his position behind her, he chinked her last blade out of her hand, making her fall forward. He smiled at her expression.

"Care for Round Two?"

Tanya smirked, got up, and retrieved her blades."You're on!"

"BRIIIIIIIIIINNG!"

Both siblings turned their heads toward the house.

"Let's continue this later. I'm going to have to teach you a few things too, starting with how to hide your aura." Tokiya allowed his blade to melt and led the way inside. Tanya's blades disappeared in a flare of fire and ash. She reassembled her Ensui and followed her brother back into the house.

"BRRRRIIIIINNNNG!"

"Hello, Mikagami residence. Tokiya speaking."

"Morning, Mi-Chan. It's me."

"How on Earth did you get my number, Kirisawa?"

"Caller ID." Fuuko stated, matter-of-factly. "So, the get-together is on. Everybody's coming. Yanagi suggested this Friday, and I said I'd ask you if you were free."

"That's tomorrow." Tokiya mused. He glanced at his Tanya, who was looking at him intently.

"All right. Tomorrow then. Meet you all at Cream Explosion."

"Where?"

"One of the ice-cream places at the mall, Sea-Monkey."

"YOU IDIOTIC FROST MAN! STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

Obviously overhearing, Tanya laughed. Tokiya grabbed a cushion from the nearest armchair and playfully whacked her on the head.

"Okay, Cream Explosion it is. 4:00 sharp. See you tomorrow."

"All right. See you Mi-Chan. Say hi to Tanya for me. Are you sure she's your sister? She seems really sweet, unlike you, you insufferable moron. "

"Very funny. Bye."

Tokiya hung up and relayed Fuuko's hello to his sister. They both slumped down on the couch.

"What's Cream Explosion?" Tanya inquired.

"An ice cream parlor." Tokiya explained. "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine tomorrow. They're the rest of Team Hokage."

"I'll get to meet them?" Tanya's eyes widened happily. "Great! Sensei Megumi told me you guys won the Urabutousatsujin!"

Tokiya picked a up a photo frame lying on the coffee table and handed it to her.

"That was us during the tournament days." He pointed out himself and Fuuko and introduced the rest of the team: Recca Hanabishi, Sakoshita Yanagi, Ishijima Domon, Kaoru Koganei, Kagerou, and Ganko.

Tanya fingered Yanagi's image and stared from it to the photo of Mifuyu. Her mouth fell open.

"Yes." Tokiya said, before she could say anything. "She looks like Mifuyu Neesan, doesn't she?"

Tanya nodded, awestruck.

"You'll meet them all tomorrow." Tokiya reached over to hug her.