In the middle of a small shop, a young girl, maybe no older than sixteen, sat behind a small desk. Despite all the noises of different various animals, she found some way to read a book in the middle of her duties. The noises came from different exotic creatures from parrots, to lizards and snakes, to the average like dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters. There was the slight jingle from a bell that hung over the door, signalling that someone had entered. Not wanting to seem lazy or inattentive, the girl hid her book behind the desk before answering to the customers.
"Hello", the girl said cheerfully. "Welcome to First Animal Sanctuary, can I help any of you?"
The girl got a better look at the people who just entered. There were eight girl, some older than he, some obviously very young. It wasn't bad for business, but it was odd to see so many people at once.
"Hello, I'm Naru", one of the girls explained, "We're looking for Keitaro Urashima. Do you know him?
"Keitaro huh", the girl thought for a bit. "Yeah, I know him."
"You do", Shinobu asked"
"Yeah, good guy, he comes in here every now and then. I remember he bought our last Pine Martin here."
"You mean Skinny", Sara implied. "The little weasel thing."
"Yep, that's the one" the sore manager added. "He buys toys and pet materials here every once in a while. On Saturdays we have training sessions, you know like teaching dogs to sit and roll over, teaching birds to speak, all that. Keitaro visits sometimes and gives us a hand. I'm telling you that guy could almost speak the animal language.
"Right I'm sure", Naru added a bit sarcastically.
It wasn't that she didn't believe her, or doubt her. After all, Kanako could talk pretty well to her cat, and she witnessed Keitaro talking to Skinny. Plus there was Mutsumi, who somehow had a flying turtle living with them.
"Is there anything else I can help you with", the girl asked.
"Any other information about Keitaro would be a delightful help", said Kitsune.
"Sorry, that's all I really know about him".
"That's alright, I think we got what we came for", Kanako said as she marked "Animal Sanctuary", off her check list.
The black-haired girl circled the word "Library" on her list as they all exited the place.
"Thank You, visit us again sometime", the girl shouted to everyone else. Once they were gone, the young shop keeper continued back to her book.
Outside, Kanako lead the small team down the street.
"Are you sure we should be doing this Kanako" Shinobu questioned.
"Of course we must", Kanako answered. "You saw the pictures and cards, Keitaro is involved in the military. He could be in danger, or worse."
"I know it looks that way, but maybe he's not, maybe it was all cosplay, or a Halloween party", Mutsumi added in. "I couldn't see Keitaro hurting a fly."
There was a possibility to what Mutsumi said. Keitaro never seemed like the type to cause any harm to anyone. In her younger days, she remembered him being so kind, and gentle. Yet seeing him fight the other day, and last night's events with Motoko, that brought up a whole new set of possibilities.
"I know Keitaro isn't someone to hurt another in cold blood", Kanako said as she stopped in her foot steps. "But I know he would do anything to protect someone else. That's what the military does, they train to protect themselves, and others. You all know how tough and determined he was, how strong he looked last night. I think he just needed a way to deal with all the burdens in his life...that's too much of a strain on him."
"All of his burdens" Naru questioned, "What are you talking about Kanako?"
The adopted Urashima remained silent for a few seconds.
"Nothing, nothing, let's continue to the library."
The others followed in sync as Kanako kept moving. All that is, except for Naru. She assumed when Kanako said burdens in his life, she meant her...but something bothered her about that. Was Kanako not telling her something? Did Kanako know something about Keitaro that she didn't tell anyone? She was his younger sister, it wasn't too far fetched.
"Naru, are you commin", Kitsune shouted back to her friend.
Naru pushed the thoughts out of her head as she caught up with everyone else. Whatever was going on, they would know soon enough. The only thing that was on everyone's mind was to find the truth about Keitaro.
Before everyone knew it, they were at the library. It was nothing eventful, just a simple place to check out books from manga, to story books, encyclopedias, children's books, novels, and many other pages with words. They searched around at the front desk and through out the area, but found no person in charge. After a quick split up, they all reassembled in one of the isles.
"Anything", Naru asked.
However, everyone';s reply was either a no, nah-huh, or a shaking of the head. When all seemed hopeless, they heard a voice.
"Excuse me, up here"
They all looked up to see a man on a ladder.
"Would you mind passing me that blue book on the cart behind you?"
Being that Motoko was the tallest, she reached for the blue text-book, and handed it up to the man. He replied with a "Thank You, before shelving the book, and sliding down the wooden ladder. On the ground they noticed he had a lab coat that read "Manager".
"Are you the manager here", Naru asked.
"Yes, manager, professor, librarian, whatever you want to call me is fine.
"Okay, professor", Naru began to talk. "I was wondering if you could tell us anything about our friend Keitaro Urashima."
"Keitaro" the man asked scratching his head. "Sorry miss, I get a lot of customers here every day. Do you have a library card, or his card number maybe."
"Oh yes, here" Mutsumi handed the professor the card.
He pulled out a small gadget from his pocket, and swiped the card within the machine. He handed the girls the card back as the information was processed.
"Okay let's see" he said. "Keitaro Urashima. Last check outs have been, "The Art of War, "Demons of the Past", "Japanese Mythology", "Coping with Loss: For Dummies", "Pine Martin: Zoology", "Cheetah: Zoology", "Martial Arts: The Guide To Self Defense", "Military Training: Beginner", "Weapon Mechanics", "First Aid: The Written Guide", The Art of Self-Reliance", and "Children's Story Time". No late dues, no current check outs. Huh, your Keitaro is one busy guy.
This was a lot of information to process. What did it all mean. It would be different if certain types of books were checked out, but it all seemed to be so random. The library wasn't much help, but it was better than having no new information.
"Thank you for your time", Kanako added as she continued on with her list.
Shrugging off the whole events like nothing happened, the professor continued to place the books in their right spot.
Looking down on their list, their next place to visit was a track field. They had to look at Keitaro's outfit from his picture to know what school to visit, but here they were now, "Rainya, Home of the Cheetahs"; or so their mascot implied. Although they could very well blend in with the crowd as transfer students, the girls of Hinata Sou wanted to avoid drawing any attention to themselves. The easiest path was to go around the edge of the school's fence until they found the fields. There was a swimming pool, a tennis court, a grassy football arena, and just what they were looking for, the track field. With their new objective in sight, the girls followed Kanako to the track, other than Kitsune as she flirted with the other athletes. Naru would have to pull her away in order to move along. When Kanako first stepped foot onto the track, she had to quickly move in reverse. Three younger boys sprinted past her, and would have hit her if not for Kanako's quick reflexes. Using a little more caution, the small group continued walking until they reached the coach.
"C'mon Nason, pump those arms" the coach shouted across the arena.
"Umm, excuse me", Shinobu piped in.
The coach turned around to face the other girls.
"Sorry girl", the coach said with an accent saying he was from Kenya. "The deadline for try outs was Monday."
"No it's not that", Kanako corrected, "We have a few questions about Keitaro if you have a few minutes."
"Keitaro", the coach said as if a light bulb lit over his head. He shouted back to his trainees, "Alright, take a little break and get some water."
As the students paused their work out and drank some fluids, the coach returned his thoughts back to the girls.
"You wanna know about Keitaro huh?"
"Yes", they all said in unison.
"Is there anything you can tell us about him", Naru asked politely.
"Man, Keitaro was beast", the coach said enthusiastically. "He ran all four years of highschool both cross-country and track. He wasn't captain, but oh man he was awesome! I remember in his second year of cross-country, we went against the Suikage high, Keitaro was out there! He started in the back, second to last! He's keeping a slow pace, nice and easy. Then when the hill shows up, he starts kickin it! He's passing up guys left and right, one at a time. Our captain finished first so we had a high score. Then Keitaro is battling this guy from Suikage for second! No one's letting up, he stays right on this guy's tail, and when he's about six feet in front of the line, Keitaro puts a last spring in his step, and beats the guy by a single foot! He was, amazing in that race! Another time was..."
"Coach" Naru cut in. "Focus, please. We just need a little bit of information regarding Keitaro. We can talk about the race afterwards."
"Right, I'm sorry", the coach apologized. "It's just when someone brings up Keitaro.."
The coach pumped his fist in the air, obviously excited by Keitaro's glory days. The other girls sweat dropped a little bit.
"Anyways, Keitaro was one of our best runners, because he had four things. The first being speed. Second was endurance. Third was stamina. Finally and most importantly, Keitaro had will power. When he first arrived, his speed wasn't that special, just barely above average; but I worked hard on him. Before I knew it, his speed was unbelievable. We called him Rainya's Cheetah. To accomplish this he had some pretty high endurance. I mean you could drop a brick on him three stories above, and it wouldn't phase him.
Naru sweat dropped a little bit more. She had a bit of experience knowing how tough Keitaro was. Maybe this was how he became so used to hard blows and surviving.
"With him being able to take a lot of punishment", the coach continued, "He built a lot of stamina. A key to cross-country is not really running until you're tired out. It's being able to keep going even though you're tired. Keitaro could best even the captain when it came to longer workouts. The last thing I can say about him was that he was really determined.
"Really" Naru asked.
"Yeah", the coach answered. "That's what I liked so much about him. It didn't matter how beat down he was, he still got back up to try again. He wanted a scholar so badly. He used to say something about getting into Tokyo U, and a promise girl. That's kinda what drove him on most days."
The girls were touched by this. It sounded like something from a hero's story, about a boy determined for a girl and a dream. Naru sniffed a little before answering back to the coach.
"That's so sweet."
"It is", the coach agreed. "Well, that's all I can really say about him other than the stories about his races and league meets."
"That's okay", Naru responded. "Everything you've told us has been useful. Thank you for your time."
"No problem."
The girls thought this was a real eye opener, as they walked away. Keitaro was determined, that much they knew. Seeing him in this light made everyone feel that maybe there was a chance to getting him back after all. These next few places to visit would tell them things they needed to know.
The next place was a farther one to visit. It was near the forest area, kinda near the holy shrines. The bus was only allowed to go so far before the streets ended, and it was all dirt path. The next mile of traveling was done on foot.
"So where is it we are going next" Su asked a bit excited.
"The card said it was called the Oni-Zakura Dojo", Motoko added in.
"Is it another sword school", Sara spoke up for once on the road.
"I don't know. Our sword clans kept in close contact for centuries. If it is one, then maybe it's a dark sword clan."
While they kept going they heard a deep noise. It sounded like a crowd shouting in sync. No it was more than that. Each time their heard the shouting, it sounded like, "Heyaah!" The voices repeated on and on, getting louder as they ventured forth. The road stopped after a small turn about near the trees. What they saw amazed them. It looked like something from Ancient Mythology. Ahead of them were people in martial arts uniforms doing arious things from training in a group, one on one duels, meditating, and balancing poles.
"Uuum Naru", Kitsune tapped her friend's shoulder. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
"I think so", she replied without looking.
The view before them was absolutely astonishing. Being on a running team was one shocker, but it couldn't compete with this.
Looks like I added another chapter. Some of Keitaro's past has been explained, but I'm saving the best for the next few chapters. Hope you all stick around and post some reviews. Bye-Bye!