Ratnakar's face turned slightly red with anger. But he was not giving up that easily. “Test me and see if I am able to keep up with you. Then decide,” he said to the man, who was now eyeing him carefully over his raised mug. “I'll be in the alley way in five minutes. I will see you then.” He got up and walked quietly out of the tavern. But instead of turning and going straight to the alley way, he went past the alley and around the second building. He placed himself behind a large bush and watched the door of the tavern. Sure enough, the man followed him right outside and headed straight to the alley.
Ratnakar smiled. He would easily be able to beat this man if he were this stupid.
Ratnakar moved around the back of the building and made his way to the other side of the alley. He peered around the corner of the building, watching the man standing there, facing the tavern's front, his back to Ratnakar. The young man proceeded swiftly, and stealthily, up the alley. When he was behind the man, he struck quickly at the back of his knees. Before he even knew what hit him, Atagi was on the ground and Ratnakar was standing over him.
“If I had wanted to, you'd already be dead,” he told the man. Atagi simply lay there for a moment, and then in one lightning move, he threw out a kick that caught the boy square in the abdomen, flinging him into a pile of trash against a wall. Atagi got up and stood over the boy, who was already trying to get out of the trash pile.
“You got in one lucky shot. It will never happen again,” Atagi said, raising one eyebrow. “However, the fact that you got in a shot at all is impressive.” He offered a hand to help Ratnakar up. At first, the boy scowled up at him, but he finally took the man's hand and stood up next to him. “However, I'm not sure if it's impressive enough for me to waste time training you. You must know how to fight, not just how to ambush someone and get in a sucker punch.”
Atagi turned and walked back to the tavern. Ratnakar heard a mass of men call the man's name as he entered the building. The boy stood there for some time then headed down the street to see what other trouble he could find to take his anger out upon. As he walked, he decided that he would come back to the tavern every single day until Atagi agreed to train him.
After a few blocks, he found himself in the middle of some extremely rundown housing. Rats were scurrying around the ground in front of him and it stunk. He saw women rustling here and there, doing laundry, cooking, and some rummaging through trash. Not one of them looked as if they were doing well. He continued to walk and saw children playing and some just sitting sadly on steps; all were dirty and starving.
As he rounded a corner, he began to hear the sounds of a struggle and a girl yelling for help. He ran toward the commotion and found four older boys had cornered two identical twin girls at the back of an alley. One boy had one of the girls pinned against the wall and his hands were nowhere to be seen. The girl was crying and begging him to leave her alone, while two other boys held the other girl a few feet away. The last boy was egging them on, waiting for his turn at the fun.
Ratnakar picked up a board that lay at his feet and took a running leap at the boy by the wall. One quick smack to the back of the skull and the boy crumpled to the dirt in a pile. The other two boys were startled and let the girl go, preparing to fight this newcomer. The fourth boy looked uncomfortable and quickly darted off like a coward.
“Hey, get the hell out of here, kid,” one told him, even though they were younger than he was. “We was here first and these two are ours.”
“They belong to neither of you,” he said and shoved the board out, smacking one square in the sternum. The other lunged at him, but he brought the board up and hit him in the chin, dropping him instantly. The first boy looked at his companions on the ground and held his hands up.
“Okay, okay, I'm going,” he said as he held his gut and walked off.
Ratnakar looked around to find the girls huddled in the opposite corner of the alley from him. “I'm not going to hurt you,” he said. “Are you both all right?”
Scared and dirty, their clothing torn and their hair ruined, both girls nodded. They were both stunning, with short black hair and deep dark eyes. Their faces were exactly the same, yet amazing at the same time. He was taken aback at their beauty.
“Where are your parents?” he asked.
One shook her head. “No parents.” The other picked up the sentence, “They have been gone for a year.”
“Gone?” he asked. “Gone where?”
They both shook their heads this time. “We don't know,” they replied in unison, which was slightly creepy. “We woke up one morning and they were gone,” the one who had been against the wall said. “We have lived in our house alone ever since,” the other said. “These boys found our home and found we had no adults there,” the first one said. “They came in the morning and broke the door,” the other said. “We were caught by surprise.”
Ratnakar sighed. “Well, come on then.” He motioned for them to follow him. “You can't stay here. They will be back when they think I am gone. I have a safe place you can stay. No one will hurt you there.”
The girls looked at each other but didn't move.
“Okay, let's start with this. My name is Ratnakar. I'm the … uh, the leader of a group here in town. We have a house that is safe. You can stay with me there. I won't hurt you. No one will hurt you there.” He paused. “What are your names?”
Peering up at him through their disheveled black hair, the first one replied, “Kiku.” Then the other one replied, “Fujioka.”
He smiled. “While those are beautiful names, they don't fit you, do they?” He thought for a moment and a brilliant idea came to him. “From now on…” He pointed at Kiku. “You will be my Karma.” Then he pointed at Fujioka. “And you will be my Fate.” He offered his hands to them and they reluctantly took them. “I will train you so that you never have to be in this position again, my girls.”
The girls relaxed slightly and smiled at Ratnakar. They nodded and the trio began to walk back through town, past the scum-covered streets they had lived in, toward the farm house and a new life.
Chapter Five
The ceremony was long and he was bored, but he pretended to be interested. He said the words, he bowed the bows, and soon he was bestowed as the rightful daimyo. When the formality was over, he escorted his mother through the door of their manor house and finally was able to close the door on the pomp and circumstance of the day. Immediately, his mother turned to him.
“You need a wife, Akio,” she said. “You are now the lord here. You need a wife and babies. You need an heir.”
He looked at her, his jaw slightly dropped open. “What? Mother, please. This can wait.”
She shook her head. “No. No it cannot. I have already begun to interview some of the higher ladies in town for you. Three will be here tomorrow morning, four tomorrow afternoon.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed. “Mother, please. Not right now.” He rubbed his face. “I am in no mood for this or for women of the town right now.”
She grabbed his arm. “I am not asking, Akio. You need a wife and you need one now. Being the daimyo, you must have a family and heirs. Heirs must be trained to carry on should you...” She paused as her voice broke. She didn't have to finish. He understood what she meant.
He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Okay, mother. I will meet the ladies tomorrow, if it will please you.”
She smiled warmly at him and hugged him close. “Thank you son.”
As they pulled away, he told her that he was tired and was going to retire for the evening after a short walk to calm his nerves. He told her that he did not want to be disturbed and would be coming and going through the back so no one would see him. She started to protest, but he laid down the rule that he would only meet the ladies if he had this evening to himself. She nodded in agreement to get her way.
In his suite, he changed into less formal clothing and strapped the Hi No Tamashi to his side. On the porch, the
evening air was cooling slightly, and the temperature was perfect for a walk in the woods. He headed through the back of their property and left through a small gate. He forbade the guards from telling anyone he had left, even his mother, and disappeared down the small path into the rocky hillside.
He walked for a bit, making his way toward that crevice that Satomi had showed him. He had not stopped thinking about that place since their visit and had been feeling a strong draw back there ever since. After about an hour, he came upon the special place and felt the same electricity in the air. The grass and trees seemed to be waiting for him.
Jumping down into the crevice, he moved to the large, circular spot in the ground once more. A glinting piece of something caught his eye this time and he knelt down to investigate it. Covered in moss, a small piece of metal, like a lever, was barely noticeable. It was the same metal as his family sword.
Feeling the need to touch it, he grabbed the rod and pulled. The ground beneath him shuddered slightly and he stumbled backwards as it began to move.
Right in front of his eyes, a hatch opened into the round area on the ground. Dark at first, lighting slowly came on inside the hatch, a welcoming glow that he could not resist. Slowly, he stood up and positioned himself in front of the crack, trying to get a peek at what was inside. A tunnel of purplish-white light lay out in front of him but he could spot no candles. He could see glimpses of metal around the edge of the tunnel, where it met the grass. The hatch door fully opened above him, waiting for him to enter.
His brain screamed at him to stop, not to get inside the tunnel, but he was pulled to do so by some inner force. He could not stop his feet from moving forward, and before he realized it, he was in the beautifully lit tunnel and the hatch was closed behind him. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw that the walls were a bright white, with flecks of purple and black thrown here and there. There was also writing along the middle of the walls, about halfway up. Some areas of the writing were raised and appeared to be buttons of some sort, but he dared not push them.
His senses pulled him deeper into the tunnel and he came to a fork. The tunnel now went to the left and to the right, but also ended in front of him with a large white door. The entire door was ornately designed, with strange writing and symbols all over its face. As he considered the door, he recognized several symbols as being ones that were engraved on the base of his sword. He pulled the Hi No Tamashi from its resting place and studied the symbols on the sword against the ones on the door. As he moved the blackish-purple metal toward the door, he heard noises on the other side.
The door swished open almost silently, revealing a large, open room beyond. He stepped through the doorway and it closed behind him. He turned, almost in a panic, but then felt warm and safe inside. In the middle of the room was something that resembled a chair and he walked to it. The same symbols present on his blade were here as well. He frowned. It was too odd that this white room would bear symbols that had been on his family sword for decades.
As soft energy touched his face and he spun around, looking for someone next to him. There was no one else. The energy again brushed against his face and he saw, for an instant, the air in front of him moving slightly.
“What is this magic?” he whispered.
“No magic,” came an answer from out of thin air. The voice seemed to come from all around him, but was soft, like a caring woman's voice.
Akio startled, but fought to maintain his composure. “Then, what is this? What is this place?”
“Sit and I shall show you,” the voice said. “You carry the symbols on the weapon you wield. You are the one we have waited for.”
“Waited for?” Akio turned around, trying to find the source of the voice. “What do you mean? How did you know I would come here?”
“We did not know,” the voice said. “We only hoped.” It paused for a moment. “Sit,” it repeated, “and we shall show you. We shall help you on your journey.”
After a moment of hesitation, Akio finally sat in the white chair that seemed to grow out of the floor like a stalagmite in a cave. As he sat, he realized that the chair was extremely soft, even though it appeared to be stone or metal. He ran his hands along the sides of the chair, feeling how smooth and soft the material was under his fingers. As he did so, several symbols lit up on the arms of the chair, which surprised him.
In front of him, the wall went from a white color to showing him the forest outside. It looked as if he were right there, outside. He couldn't believe it. “How... what is this? How do I see outside through the wall now?”
The voice was quiet for a moment. “This screen will show you about us; it will show you where we came from.”
“We? There are more of you?” he asked.
“No longer more of us. No longer any of us. We are simply a part of this ship now, hoping to find the ones who can help us stay alive in history.” The voice was sad.
“No more of you...” Akio said and trailed off. “Show me what you are.”
The screen in front of him changed from the forest to a night full of stars. Then, by magic, the screen was traveling through the stars, which were streaking by so fast he could barely keep up with any of them. Finally, they slowed and a round orb materialized in front of him. The orb was blue with purple swirls that moved constantly, always in a dance with each other. It was beautiful.
“This is our planet. This is where we come from,” the voice said. “It is very far away, millions of light years from your planet.”
“Earth?”
“Yes. Earth. Your planet,” the voice responded. “This is our planet, Utroth. It is no more.”
“No more? What do you mean?”
“Utroth was destroyed by another race that came only for war,” the voice answered, and it showed the planet suddenly surrounded by massive vessels that floated in space like gigantic boats on the Riben hai, the big sea. Glinting metal shone brightly in the sunlight, and Akio was enthralled by what he was seeing. Then the ships moved, and they moved so fast that he was not ready for it. It startled him as they zoomed in toward the planet, each ship releasing a stream of green from their front, all focused on the planet below.
Suddenly, a mass of smaller ships ejected from everywhere around the planet. Millions of them zoomed past the large ships and past his point of view. He even ducked a few times as he was worried they would hit him. He had lost the fact that this was a screen and the events unfolding on it were not actually happening in front of him.
As the smaller ships continued to zoom from the planet, the blue and purple of the planet began to change. Streaks of red, orange and yellow appeared everywhere. He knew instantly it was fire. Then, in a startling display of light, the planet exploded, sending pieces of land, rock, and more hurtling through space. The screen went blank. “Our planet is no more.”
Akio sat there for a moment, breathing heavily at what he had just witnessed; truly disturbed by anything that could destroy an entire planet. “Then... how did you get here?” he asked.
“We were one of the ships that escaped,” the voice said. “Millions of ships fled, but also many were defeated. Most of our race was annihilated. Those that made it through the blockade were spread to the furthest edges of space, and we have never seen each other again. We have lost contact with them. We may be gone forever.”
Akio was silent for a moment, considering the impact of an entire culture, an entire planet gone. It blew his mind in a way that deeply changed him inside. He could feel the weight of the world, his new role, and all that came with it, bearing down on his shoulders. “What can I do to help you?” he asked suddenly, looking back up at the screen, which was now solid white again.
The voice did not respond right away. Instead, on the screen popped up some symbols, some he recognized, some he did not. “What are those?” he asked.
“These are pieces of our language,” the voice replied. “These are words of power for us. Words that provid
e abilities to ourselves and those who know how to use them.”
He stood and approached the screen, studying the symbols there. “Why are you showing me them?”
“You are the one we have been waiting for,” the voice said, a note of hope in it. “You are the one with the fire soul.”
“The Hi No Tamashi?” Akio asked, astonished.
“Yes.”
“But, I just gained this weapon. It has belonged to my father, and my grandfather, for decades. I don't understand why it wasn't one of them that you were waiting for,” he stammered slightly. “There is nothing special about me.”
“But there is,” the voice responded. “There was something in your grandfather as well. He came to us, to this place, and we gave him the metal for forging the fire soul. We taught him how to make the weapon. We taught him our practices so the weapon would never break, never dull, never fade. It will always be absolute power if wielded correctly.”
“Absolute power?” Akio whispered. “No one should have that responsibility.”
“No one person should,” the voice agreed. “But there should always be one person who can.”
He was confused. His eyes narrowed slightly, considering what the voice said. Then he asked, “Do you have a name?”
“It cannot be pronounced in your language,” the voice replied, “but you may call me Aichu. That is the closest pronunciation that I have found.”
“Aichu,” he repeated. “Nice to meet you. I am...”
“Akio,” the voice responded for him. “We know. You are the one we have waited for.”
“How did you know my name? How did you even know about me if you cannot leave this ship?”
“Many decades ago, your grandfather, Takeaki, came to this place. He visited our ship many times over the years and we taught him much. He also taught us much, such as your language. He also spoke of your family over the years as well. We felt when he passed from this life. We are sorry that his body is no more.”
Samurai 2.0 - Destiny: A Harem Fantasy Adventure Page 5