Teen Titans New Gen Presents- Tokyo Knights-

/

Chapter 38: Jump Up High and Touch the Sky

/

Ami gets a big ego boost and shocker from her new friend Ichiro. Who knows what's bound to happen, especially when Dick Grayson has word from an inner "voice" that he needs to act quickly fir his child's sake. Find out if Raku overcomes his fears and escapes with the others.

/

Jorogumo lain in contemplation as Ageha comforted the evil mind of her adoration.

Saturday was out collecting dirt, and Kokkuri two point- 0 was busy slipping through the doors to Takahara's old lab to visit some of her last contracted. Mainly, a deadbeat scientist that needed it most of all.

"The staff has not all gone to lunch." Kokkuri came in disguised as a lab assistant. Her white blonde hair stood out, though not a soul questioned the new methods of Kohaku – san upstairs.

"The model I built was established. Tens if thousands of my creation – our, creation, will go out to the stores before February first. Once they do, we will have the control Shoji foolishly never applauded. Kohaku sees in me, a real mind. I can –

"Will you finish what you start, my puppet?"

Kokkuri reintroduced the visions of the way Shun had never planned it. Project Daylight had been broken apart once by Countermeasure Blood moon going haywire. He'd asked fir Desert - kon, yet Kokkuri was the fox hybrid girl all along. Stringing him onto his path now, was Kohaku – dono. He wouldn't still have his soul…

"You want it back? Then, why not take it all?" Kokkuri siphoned his mad energy to feed her queen. Her contracted ally, Jorogumo. He lolled out his tongue before finding he had to wipe his jaw of some saliva. "Ah, must be time for lunch. I'll find myself just right without an extra hour here."

Next, was the black dog, Eiji and Kaede – chan. Kokkuri nodded as the staff seemed to wonder less and less if the mind in charge if this project was physically harming himself with too much overtime.

It knew it would be rough, yet break ups were natural, and foxes didn't mate for life. The real face of Kokkuri had no real gender, so swapping dance partners took a toll. She needed to eat, and demons needed to feed.

Besides.

Jorogumo had Raku, and Iyori to pester dry.

And Kohaku, had he not figured it out yet.

"Let's have you hydrated. This place is stifling, darling." She cooed as her female self pulled Shun away to take a break. Breaking him woukd be a grueling process once the board list all control of the state Tokyo was already in. The police would have nothing, and Jorogumo would get her ultimate wish with the help of two powerful "sources."

/

Ami bit into some toast while pulling on a long over the knee sock. Her haurcwas up in one pony while the other still had to be made. "Twin tails are for toddlers." Ichiro said as they took themselves to the kitchen. "Is Yume – san at work?"

"Yep, just you, dad and Jackie. The fixes went to see Kazuya with something I dunno." She shrugged, knowing her pups were wild children. No leashes should be required if it helped with keeping abreast if any new info.

"Jackie and I were going to look at the planetarium for her studies, and you might wanna get out of the house."

"I'm in witness protection, aren't I?" Ichiro pulled a glass from the shelf cabinet as Ami hummed a thought aloud. "Hhuuuum….yes, but! But, Dad is a cop. He has some jurisdiction as long as Kazu just lightens up. You won't be with useless bumpkins. You have magic, right?"

"Only through my father's family. I don't know what kind." Lied the shorter teen. "In fact, I don't know if leaving this place is such a great plan." Well, dad can't stay here'and let us go …We're minors!"

"Almost sixteen and still a wimp?"

"Huh?"

Ichiro clicked their tongue and turned away. "Nothing. I….I'm getting dressed. I'll think about it."

"What about breakfast?" Ami called up the steps as Ichiro ran right by, not even giving his new friend, is she was a chance…

/

Jackie was tying up her braids to let them settle as she saw Ichiro grumble towards the toilet. Looking over the ledge of the stairway, Ami was sighing again.

Again.

"He hates me, really?"

"He don't just hate you, he's a victim a circumstance. You know how Raku was the first time –

"He was a big mush, but…they remind me of how Ava used to be." Pouted the miko - off - the - clock.

"Well, then you know they went through a lot and don't wanna bring up the bad parts."

"The police are still all over and no leads, yet! What if something…it feels, weird. Like they remember me, but I don't really know them?" Ami walked a hand in a tilt like a see saw, Jackie hummed and tilted her head to the thought. "Huh, but you know how it is. Spirits or humans, you don't act like you can read their hearts without their permission. I know you wanna do the right thing, but if they wanna stay, I can do the trip with you –

"NO!" Ami jumped up and shook her head. "We can't lose so much time when you have to go back in a few days!"

"A week is a long time. And I can delay two days, tops. My college advisor said I'm good online of I just work it out –

"No, way….you're already in?"

"The junior, well, that program where they ship you off once you become a graduate? Yeah. I'm almost seventeen, a year before you go full sixteen in the spring. Don't you remember?"

"I…" Jackie was a year apart barely, and Ami…she had to tell herself they still had time…all the time.

No, Ichiro wouldn't ruin this. "I'm going to call my dad. And, Kaede can show up later. She's back in class?" Ami tilted her blue eyes up at those hazel brown by the steps.

"To save face, and you're gonna go back." Jackie was loud enough that Ichiro heard it all. "You know playing hooky is not your kinda game. I know you'd worry about giving your all an then, what about Uncle Richie and your mama? Mine in worried sick about me. You never…" She stopped, seeing Ami twiddling her thumbs already from the backlash to her confidence.

"I still have to save Iyori – chan!" Ami whined back. "And…and the school –

"Not a big thing for Ami, but the higher ups might tell you to stop dragging your feet."

"You're such a grandpa, yourself –

"What did –

Dick pulled open the door to the porch as the two threw eyes at each other. "Fine. I'm gonna go on that little adventure to the aneurism, but you're staying behind to watch out for your friend."

"The only reason I wanted…why? Jax? Am I that bad a girlfriend to you –

"You can't grow up when people need you, and we…" Jax rubbed her arms as Ami's eyes began to run rivers.

"We need to take a step back and prepare for what's right for us. You've got a future all there, but I know mine. Up in space, I can warn the whole JLA of any invaders and…I get to do what I love. So, you wanna be a magical mama? Act like it and protect people you know need it more than your girlfriend right now."

Jackie went up the steps as Ichiro was coming out. They'd heard…and, was this, her relationship with the other American teenager??

/

Dick didn't say a thing. He remembered when he and Kori, or Babs, had a thing that needed a break. It might be high time…

"Wait, Ami." He put a hand to her cheek as she turned back to him, her blue looking too real like his had when Bruce was his rock.

The apple really didn't fall far. She had his eyebrows, not her mother's. Anna had the red locks and Aiden had the hazel green and dirty blonde. Ami, looked just like him, all the way from that face and back, but she was more her mother in heart every day. She bled for people under the childish remarks and guilt.

"You're having your first real break, and it's not always forever –

"In – I. In …th- the – the c- c comics…it always is!!" She bawled out while in her dad's arms a second more. "Daddy, Jackie said that my trying to be….a hero, is going to come between us. Right?"

"No, she said that you act as if you never…well, we grow up into different people and right now, she's giving back in her own way. Nasal is hard to get into. You have to know that she took off last summer to try and get her grades to match and her own grade was upped to even be nearly a graduate before you or Raku. Well, he's a work in progress. You know she cares, but you get upset. You get all mixed up, and I get that."

"ADHD." Ami muttered. "Just say it. You gave me a curse."

Dick bit his lip then almost chuckled at the idea….yet, it could be. But as Robin, he was anything but obsessed and focused.

"As a kid, but it grew into the anxiety and fear I know. And you, I'm always going to be here as long as I can stay –

"You can though, because…."

Dick shied from her habd at his arm. "I, you know…how?"

"I, saw what you did by the train. I thought about why mom won't talk about your past with Mr. Wilson a whole lot and then it clicked. He's still a nemesis and he –

"I'll tell you my story later, but right now? You need to find Jackie and tell her that you'll be here with Ichiro doing what heroes do best. She's the kind of person that wants you to be open and honest, but you're afraid to tell her you forgot? Right?"

"I…lost track and then, then Ichiro and that dumb spider ruined my time to relax with my bae!" Ami groaned. "She is soo cool about all of what I end up flipping out over, and well I don't want my fear to push her away, the same way you almost did to mom and aunt Babs."

Dick blushed and looked out the window, thinking Ami could read minds somehow. "We….it was a long time –

"Dad?" Ami frowned. "I know we don't have a lot of things to say aren't alike. You're my dad and everything I am is because of you and Raku getting things this way. Even though…well, I'm glad. He needed a family. You and mom, you did the right thing."

"You'll be happy to know then. John, he found them." Smiled Dick. "I was going to send them here but right now they are with Kazuya for a cleansing. He insisted."

"WHEN??" Ichiro swiftly nade it around the corner. "Was…was it from a flying demon, because she is responsible for everything…." Lied the boy in disguise. "I need to tell you, your sane enemy is our enemy as well the cult worshipped something that had eight legs, many eyes."

"No way…she got to you??" Ami gasped. "Dad! Can we tell everyone this? Please?"

"I'll do that, you…just stay here. Don't leave this house."

"Dad?" He slipped out the porch door as Ami wondered what her father was hiding.

/

He flipped the call to Shoji right away. "Ami is only aware if some things but I think…you need to meet with Ichiro. They know about Jorogumo and I'm worried Kazuya knows more than he's letting on."

~ He is, we spoke already.~

Dick's face snt cane as soon as Iyori's bane swapped wkth the other younger boy's. "Really? They just…crap, what about the barrier?"

~ Yume and the others put enough up as long as they don't leave until the lair of that monster is found. We also can't let anyone in who can shape-shift its form. I'm coming over, as Verra. Iyori won't find me a threat and I can keep the barrier up longer. ~

Dick nodded. "What about Slade and Rose? I called and she told me she'd keep them preoccupied while I worked on a way to get my daughter back. I'm thinking that these events have to be linked somehow."

~ In a way, they may be. I'm going to look into that with a spell or two, but for now? Stay. Put.~

Someone was bringing them closer. Someone that wanted things to get weirder than they already were. Dick clicked off the line as he paced, while Ichiro saw the expression and too soon, went out the front door before anyone could see to stop her. Ami ran soon after, the barrier soon losing its protection through a small gap. Saturday did his best to change at will and even summoned a spider to spy on the lot. This was going to be too easy…and he'd even find out where the young prince was being kept silent by that rugged European magi.

His true leader was not the spider, bit the one he'd come to warn and invite to live back in a place very familiar to their time.

Very soon, the sum would set and then, a new chapter would unfurl past the pages of this sordid telling.

/

Slade made the arrangements to see them back to his place in Germany a bit. To rest, to get the hell away from Grayson. But first….

He turned abd jabbed an elbow at the person snooping behind him as she ducked and still, he got her by the wall.

His own kid.

"Rose." He snorted. "You're behaving badly at your age."

"Didn't you learn…the last…time? Minors, are trouble…"

"Anna is an adult. Twenty or so. So? She needs a guide, and it won't be anyone else with how I know she can't handle the pressure. She's bound to pop."

"Because she's never done it for herself …make plans, without…"

"She's a fearful brat and she needs a firm hand. Maybe, she won't want to leave once I tell her the perks of this job." He let Rose go as sge got her breath back quickly with a cough. "Damn! You literally never think, you…you think she'll be your Belle and deal with getting locked up?? You're so damn sorry that you never made up with Nightwing, I get it."

"I promised at any cost that I would protect him and his children. And that, was something I never broke. Aiden got through to save Raku. Ami was spared from losing herself to her sister's hatred and anxiety of loss. Or what about you? You clings fir the good times, the job. The thrill-

"It's all I know." Rose growled out."

"Well, guess what, princess?" Slade smirked. "It's all she ever was taught. By Sarah, by me. No one else gave Anna her strength. She owes every ounce of her life back. Ten – fold."

"ASS HOLE!" Rose shouted. "She needs freedom to be free, not to be sone goddammit caged present abd you know that. If you really care about those kids, then…stop it." Rose shook her head with a tremble. "Stop doing this to us…why won't you, please?"

"I have a deal to keep with Autur, and If that breaks even a cracked diwn the center…I won't get to see it. What they'll do."

"They? Y – you…mean?"

"If sge is as dangerous as Raku, then yes. She'll be erased by time and the very fabric. That's why I'm going to beg them if I have to. Just to stay here, for that reason."

"No, you want to live. That's the reason. You, you want to. And Dick…you don't want him to fight this alone, being like us." Rose sniffled. "You…literally, cared to the ends of the planet fir that fucking man, but he's not yours. Not your responsibility. Not your kid –

"Anna chose this, and I gave her a reason to stay."

"SAFE." Rose enunciated with quoted – air marks. "To stay, safe. With you. Not , from you. You get what I'm saying?? You're going to have a Terra problem all over again if you-

Rose stopped. "You…fuck….god damn, it!!" She shouted and pointed at her dad. "You DID! You said it, didn't you?? That's it!" Rose stomped down the hall to Anna's room as Slade waited on behind her footsteps. Stomping as a tyrant elephant.

"Rose."

"Shame on you, you big dumb…I didn't tell you by the way." She sniffed and took off to the knob, bringing it back.

"That I'm wor-

They froze, only to see Ageha, what had Anna bridal style in her arms. ~ You should have kept different plans, my dears. This one, is fresh meat for my mistress.~

/

So, the story changed?? Iyori is out in the open. Kazuya and John are working together. Dick is aware that Ichiro isn't who they say they are. Ami is having relationship troubles. And what about Slade and Rose being not so eye to eye on keeping Anna against her will?? What is Slade not telling them?? Find out!!