Part 1: Scene 7


“hah, don’t sweat it kid, you should better focus on something else, what’s fighting done for anyone, me and my brother lost everything to men who fought, kids fight these days, so quick to release an arc, an ace or even a spade for the most stupidest thing like wanting to know who had a better or stronger fighting spirit, can you imagine that, kid, I know you must have it rough…”


“rough? You don’t understand what it feels like to be me, do you know what people see when they look at someone like me, I have seen hate and anger burn in people’s eyes over a bread crumb in their dumpster for me and my family, you don’t know what it feels like, at least you have a fighting spirit, you have an opportunity to defend yourself, me? I was born without a fighting spirit, do you know what that feels like, I can’t even defend myself nor to talk about my family, everyone laughs and calls me the boy who can’t fight and so they treat me like an outcast, like a dog, so I am going to prove to everyone once master haido accepts me as his student and I am going to give it my all and become the greatest fighter in the whole of japan, believe it!”

ichigo concluded.
“Master haido, hah does anyone still get accepted into Master Haido’s dojo, I heard he is a real scam artist who swindles wannabes and makes sure they fail the acceptance test so he wouldn’t have to take anyone in,” mau asked.


“Master haido is not a fraud, he hasn’t had a student after samurai ten-kai because nor has been found worthy, I am going to be that worthy one, I know it and you can believe it!”


“alright kid, whatever you say but the only thing I believe in right now, is that I need some sleep,I hope you got someone who is coming around for you but if you don’t, don’t worry my brother will bail us out!” mau said finally.


************


“huh, why should we bother with a reply, is not like he pays us any better than the others, just forget about him?” one of the sea port official said to his comrade as they took their leave from a brothel.


“I know but this is fuyu we are talking about, you do realize he did help us with that little favor the other time, we do owe him, you know that and fuyu can be so unpredictable,” the other complained as they walked home.


“hah, just forget about him but something else has been bothering me, the ship, who really does it belong to?”
“beats me, I don’t know, we have absolutely no information on who or what’s the purpose of that ship, I guess its out of our pay grade, someone must have been paid a huge sum to cover up the entire thing,” the other stressed.
“hmm, fuyu is not going to be happy then,”


“hah, he can go to hell for all I care,” the other reminded half drunken.
They arrived at a point and suddenly halted, somehow they had realized someone had been following them right from the moment they left the brothel.



They turned slowly to their stalker and suddenly they realized what danger was in store for two drunks on a lonely, quiet path.


Poison released an arc of her fighting spirit (viper persona) which swept the two officers off the ground in a venomous fume attack so deadly it melted the bones of its poor victims even before they landed on the floor.


The putrid mess of flesh, organs and bones laid like a smear on the floor as the fume disappeared. She had done her job and needed to report back to her employers as soon as she could.


*************


“what is it?” Toni asked as kento, payne and katsuo suddenly walked up on him whilst he starred at the open sea during the cool night’s breeze.
“It’s been taken care of,”


“(scoffs)excellent,its time we set our plans into motion, payne, send the invites, kento you know what to do, katsuo, find the soldiers,” toni gave his command.


“what are you going to do?” kento asked toni, as the others dispersed, each with an assignment that required their perfect execution.


“(scoffs) I am going to pay someone a visit!” toni replied with a wide grin.


*************


“can’t sleep, can you, its okay, I felt like that my first night here but the next day I knew I had to return, to be away from my brother for a little while and away from his food was everything and now, we take turns to enjoy the sweet and peaceful scenery these cells provide us”


mau responded, he had seen the kid combat his nightmare and just when he thought the kid was winning, he screamed out; out into the real nightmare, a cold, lonely dark cell.


“it’s not that, something feels different tonight, I don’t know what it is, my nightmare, It was …” ichigo said restlessly.


“here, maybe this can help you sleep…” mau quickly pulled an arc of his fighting spirit (firefly persona) making his hand glow a variety of colors in the dark, it seemed beautiful and mesmerizing; enough for ichigo to take his mind off whatever nightmare that had awoken him suddenly.



But somewhere beneath the notorious and dreadful places sakai port village was known for was where the real crime bosses came together to discuss their deeds, alliances and settled their disputes and even more watch a game of death in the pit; where the crime bosses showcased their best fighters in an all out brawl to the death, the most popular and feared of these bosses were Arashi Arinobu, leader of the Iron gang, Futoshi Akito, the leader of the black pirates and Akitsugu Hidenori, the leader of the yakuza gang.



Their fighters battled perilously and valiantly in the pit, their fighting spirits sparing no arcs, no aces or spades, wreaking and shaking the very foundations of the pit as wild and crazy laughter filled the drunken air until payne walked into the pit, a vicious and dangerous smiling hanging on his face as the fighters stopped for a moment; confused as to who he was; a question everyone else seemed to have as they watched him, clean his shade and replace it on his face for a quick second.
“hey, who are you and what do you want?” Akitsugu asked calmly, irritated by the western looking freak.



“me? I am many things, an artist, a poet, an orator, a lover of pleasure and leisure, a lover for…”


“what do you want?” Akitsugu continued; undecided if the strangely dressed man was a threat, fool or a nobody.


“to be honest on a second fine thought, I deem it too sad and disappointing to be standing before you all, assuming that I have the rapt attention of crime bosses(scoffs) you guys are just a bunch of pathetic, lowlife dirt bags!” payne spat out angrily.



Such audacity and rudeness in the face of men who easily took lives for much lesser insults spurned a chain reaction of violence that seemed to only please payne.


He make quick and easy work out of the three fighters in the ring without breaking even a sweat and without releasing his fighting spirit in quick seconds and then went on to beat mercilessly as many that jumped into the pit and by the next fifteen minutes, payne was cleaning his shade once more; this time he had wiped the entire pit clean of all the fighters.



“that’s enough, no one here will fight you, tell us what is it that you want to tell us,” Akitsugu asked; this time, attentive and yet scarred of the horror and almost impossible feat just one man could accomplish without the aid of his fighting spirit.



“my boss, thinks you all can come to an agreeable term where you can decide to leave sakai port village for life or choose to work under him, personally I think none of you are worth doing a deal with, I can just take you all…”



“enough of your insults, I will not sit here and be disrespected, I am the leader of the iron gang and I am not afraid of anyone…(jumps into the pit, sword drawn)…your head will do fine in my collection,” futoshi waved his sword at payne who had nothing but a smirk on his face.


Akitsugu had wanted to deter his comrade from a battle but there was something special about futoshi, he was unlike any fighter, he was infact quite a formidable opponent even to him and of course this was only possible because of futoshi’s dual fighting spirit, a rare occurrence, if he in a battle would stand a chance against such a foe as payne, it could be possible futoshi could help him analyze his chances.



“come on then, what are you waiting for?” payne taunted, urging his attacker to come for him and such audacity could never be allowed to slid.



Futoshi released an arc of his first fighting spirit(elephant) creating an almost invincible armor over his body and then a second arc of the second fighting spirit (crab) reinforcing the first arc.


“interesting, we have a dual but are you ready to duel with that sword of yours?” payne laughed, maniacally as he unleashed his fighting spirit with a crackling and deafening sound that shattered the air around the pit with electricity, his fighting spirit towering over him; a monstrous and scary electric eel.


Futushi smirked and dissolved the tension between them in an instant, choosing to lung forward at payne, drawing his sword and slashing towards payne who dodged hardly without a fuss, letting futushi sweep the air clean.



“good I was just checking, so why don’t we just take it to the top and find out how formidable your worthless shit truly is?”
payne released his arc, his eyes glowed in bluish electric streak, his entire body seemed to lost composure and want to lash out with raw power yet there he had complete control.



The way he smiled. Starred and moved, this could only be someone with great mastery over their fighting spirit, akitsugu thought as he watched.
“come on then, come test what real power feels like!” payne dared futushi who was taken aback momentarily yet like a fly to a bulb, futushi’s ego was his own undoing.



He charged at payne who moved in a flash out of the way letting futushi think for a quick moment that was his arc but hardly had the crime boss turned to swipe quickly again before payne instantly unleashed an immense amount of electric current at him out of nowhere, like a roaring torpedo to a target. The impact sent a revolting and deafening shockwave that wreaked the entire pit to its core and when the dust cleared, futushi’s arc had managed to survive the impact but barely as futushi struggled to get up.



“(grunts), unleashing a strike at your opponent when his back is turned is something I expected (scoffs) but thinking your little sparks could courter my dual arc…” futushi stopped; his eyes set on his kitana that had landed a few feet from him and then returned his focus on payne who watched him with keen interest; would he strike him if he attempted to get his weapon or what? Futushi wondered as he composed himself and began to approach his sword carefully.


“am bored, a duet with drunken French girl in bar would be laughable but this is just so unappealing and uninteresting, is this all you can do, really?” payne teased.
Futushi raged by payne’s words made a clever foot work, sliding to cover the distance, picking his sword.


Kwakoom!


The sword had given a powerful and terrible electric explosion, whose shockwave seemed to rival the previous and once again the dust settled quickly except this time, futushi’s arc had been unable to dispel the electric shock.


“how!?” futushi’s words hung on his mouth as he fell to the ground slowly; electrocuted.



“it was quite simple you see, with a dual arc shield there was no way I could directly make a hit on you except I exploit your arc’s weakness…”
“so that blast, wasn’t…”


“of course I wasn’t going to try to kill you so easily, I like to study and experiment, that’s where the fun is, but it was so easy to find your arc’s weakness which was in fact your weapon,”


“you figured out that when I wrapped my hands around my kitana, I was also unknowingly creating little gaps in between my arc, that could be exploited but how did…”


“how did I release an ace you ask? (scoffs) well I never did, my arc lets me concentrate my fighting spirit arc in any medium and let it reap when I please, like the perfect grenade, I merely made you to think I was shooting lightning bolt at you which you then assumed was my arc but in reality, I was merely shooting a a projectile with my arc, in the end you didn’t even try to impress me, such a pity and a waste of power,isn’t it?”


Payne stopped to laughed manically as he towered over futushi’s unconscious body.


“you should consider working for me, I have got people up in the ….”


“save it, I have got a busy night ahead!” payne stopped akitsugu’s seduction as quickly as it came.


“well, I am interested in meeting the mysterious man who you have sworn loyalty to, I must commend him.” Akitsugu remarked as payne took his leave.

Somewhere along the outskirts of sakai port village, the compound of master haido takamura stands, quiet by night as it is by day.
The lone samurai and master of the ten tiger martial spirit, lived in solitary and peace.


Haido awoke from his sleep, his keen sense of hearing had awaken him up, with one hand wrapped tightly around his kitana, he found his way quickly to his training dojo for it was almost common for common criminals and burglars to try and evade his home in hopes of looting something precious or just about anything that could be sold for a few coins but come as they might he was always there to defend his home.


“I don’t know who you are but I will give you just one chance to take your leave, same way…” haido stopped, no it couldn’t be, could it be, no, no certainly it couldn’t be, he thought as he took a step back, the figure towered over his wing-chun dummy, yet his shape, his physique,his golden hair, even his smell was familiar but then he reviewed his face.


“Daizen, it’s you!” haido said; his voice never betrayed to show his certainty and toughness until that very moment.
“Master, (scoffs and begins to pace around) I can see you haven’t changed a bit,”


“(thoughtfully with one hand ready to draw his blade) What do you want here? I told you twelve years ago…”


“you told a little boy to leave and never return back, you told daizen haruichi he would never master the ten tiger martial spirit, you turned your back on your most prolific and talented student over a stupid incident, I am not that boy anymore…”


“(angrily) you killed a boy out of anger, there is no place for such anger in the ways of the ten tiger martial spirit philosophy, letting you go on would have been a spite on my honor as the protector of the ten tiger martial spirit, you brought disgrace and shame to this family…”


“family? (scoffs as he begins to work his hand around the wing-chun dummy, his movement gracefully, powerful and mesmerizing) family was what I called you after my family was murdered, family was what I called you when I begged you for mercy for days outside this wretched house, you talk about family, yet you denied me my right to the spirit of the ten tigers (he stops and walks closer to haido, who doesn’t move, out of fear and uncertainty), it was good seeing you again master haido, I hope all these years you have found more worthy students to pass on the spirits you denied me,” daizen concluded, choosing to walk past haido.
“what do you want? What is it that you want now you are back, is it revenge, we can end it here, is it…”



“with all due respect I want nothing from you, your students maybe but not you, you serve me no use and japan, master haido, what I really want is japan, all of it!”


daizen had gone out of view leaving the darkness once again empty but no sooner had haido turned his back to leave did he begin to hear a soft crack and then nothing, he turned quickly to find his wing-chun dummy shattered and destroyed, his eyes widened for a moment, did daizen just pull the 1st tiger martial spirit?, no it couldn’t be, he hadn’t been focused on his hand movement but there was complete mastery and efficiency the way he moved it; such he could have been proud of.


Haido starred thoughtfully for a moment, this certainly spelt doom for the whole of japan, daizen had cleared demonstrated power even without showing power; power he feared if left unchecked if not rivaled would mean the end of japan, there was no way he could sit and not try to do something but isn’t that the reason daizen had come to him, to dare him to try and stop him in the first place? He sighed regrettably as his mind wondered slowly back to the past, mistakes made, atonement almost impossible yet he had made up his mind to seek redemption the only way he knew.


*************


“it seems like you slept soundly, that’s good but kid we got to go, the police don’t want us anymore, we are both getting out of here!” mau announced as ichigo stretched and yawned; he did have a good night somehow.


“what are you two still doing here (opens the prison cell door) you two better get out of here, this station is about to get a lot busy and I don’t want nuisance like you two causing trouble for us!”
“what? What are you saying, what happened?” ichigo suddenly remembered his weariness the night before.


“gang wars erupted yesterday, there is news that crime boss futushi onaga was killed yesterday in a battle, the recourse of that was a bloody war between the street gangs in sakai over futushi’s region,”

“kid, we better get out of here, I have to go look for my brother,” mau stressed.

Part 1: Scene 7: B


Ichigo kicked the door open and exclaimed, "Talk about no one missing me at all!"

But his excitement quickly turned to concern as he saw Sosai and his siblings in front of him with looks of sadness on their faces. "What's happened? Where's Teigen?" Ichigo asked anxiously.

But the sadness in their eyes, he realized something bad had obviously happened.


They reluctantly paved the way for him to where teigen laid critically ill and his legs looking terrible and gory for they looked broken and shattered with a bone or two protruding from one side or the other, he was unconscious, ill and in great pains.


“we put all that we had together, it’s still not enough to get him to the local healing place…” sosai said sadly.

Ichigo said nothing, his eyes poured his emotions as he bent over teigen and for a quick moment, he disappeared out of sight, only to appear with his savings.

“we have to get him to the clinic, we can’t leave him like this (stretches his bag of money to sosai) take it, let’s go,”


“no, I can’t, the money, that’s everything you have been…”


“I don’t care, I don’t care about all that, what good will I be, if I become the greatest fighter and I am unable to look after my family, I won’t let anything happen to any one of my family,”

ichigo replied with sheer determination that almost made sosai smile.


“then you all take him, there is something I have to do, ichigo, there was a fight between yui’s gang and pit, teigen and the others were coming from baker ba’s place when yui’s gang rounded them up, teigen tried to fight back but he was no match, one of them did this (sosai paused for a moment) it was shin, shin did this to teigen, apparently he had been nursing a vendetta against teigen after the game,” sosai paused and smiled as warmly as he could at ichigo and the other orphans.



“I failed to protect him but I won’t fail to avenge him, you go on without me for a little while, I will join you guys, find nurse aiko, she owes me a couple of favor, she will attend to teigen with that much money, take care of the kids while I am gone, ichigo and don’t forget what I always say to you and everyone of you here, you all are stronger together, always.”


Sosai scoffed and took one longing and satisfying look at ichigo and his family, he was certain whether he was able to carry out his mission or not, that ichigo was going to be a better father and protector to them all than he ever was for there was something about the boy, though he had no fighting spirit yet he was a fighter and not just any fighter a pure, kind hearted and righteous one.

Let's wrap this up, folks!

Part 1: Scene 7: C



************



Three days had passed since sakai became a war ground for street gangs yet it was almost a normal occurrence which everyone seemed accustomed to, fights happened everywhere, bodies laid across the busy streets yet it felt like nothing but a few things had changed, Akitsugu and others had rather become silent and almost passive in his dealings, the mysterious ship was still at port and everyone had guessed the new, mysterious crime boss’s headquarters had to be the ship,yet no one had ever seen him except for the likes of kento, katsuo and a certain mysterious girl who wondered from time to time around the market.


“kid, I am sorry about your friend but honestly we haven’t seen anyone like that so far, sosai isn’t one to just take off and disappear and yui’s gang have been almost out of sight ever since they took over futushi’s region, pit and his bunch of lackeys remain to be the only one spreading chaos and causing trouble around,”

baker ba said as ichigo and teigen’s sister and some other orphans came to get the leftover the baker had promised them.


It had now been four days since futushi’s death and sosai’s disappearance, ichigo had managed to get teigen’s in treatment but the grim news came from nurse xi just some hours past midnight; teigen would never be able to use his legs again to work.


“you and the others go stay with teigen and let him have some of the rice cakes, I will go around and search for sosai a bit before checking up on the others back home,” ichigo directed teigen’s sister and the others who took their leave momentarily.



Ichigo had been so careful as to hide his sadness and disappointment about the way things had fared so far but as each day passed and the absence of sosai grew far noticeable by the orphans and his struggle to fill the boots left, he was beginning to crack and show despair, he said little and wasn’t to be cheered very often by words or the antics of the others even teigen’s words failed to uplift him; poor soul blamed himself for everything that had happened.



“thank you baker ba but please if you hear anything about the yui’s gang, I heard they used to ship off kids and people out of the village, if anyone hears anything please let us know, will you?”
Baker ba nodded dolefully and bidded ichigo farewell, who walked into the street unsure of where to go or who he was going to see, he hadn’t been looking or was far into his thoughts when someone brushed past him in a hurry, it was the smell of flowers that whizzed past his nose that made him stop and turn to look only to catch a mere glimpse of her before he was rudely pushed aside to the ground by pit’s gang numbering over five and then he realized she was been chased.


Who was she? Why was she been chased he wondered yet he felt the darkness inside of his heart, the sadness and doubt give way for a moment, so he did what he always did.


************



“what else do you go now?”
“yeah, little bird do you want to grow wings and fly away?” another taunted as they came slowly at mizaki with devilish intent.

“how about you give us that necklace, those shoes, those earrings (pauses to think) does anyone want the dress too?” another asked as mizaki watched, unperturbed or worried by what was happening.

“look at that she is not even afraid…”
“leave her alone, she doesn’t have anything to give you, her father is a police officer, If you touch her, pit is going to get it!” ichigo suddenly appeared between them after leaping down a house to cause a blockade between mizaki and the gang.

“huh” mizaki said, her thoughts flared up by the actions of this kid who seemed no better than one who needed rescuing himself.


The gang seemed to have bought ichigo’s words for a moment for pit had warned against the gang going against the police and their family members in fact it was a known and accepted rule to avoid police officers and their family.
“wait a minute, I know this trick, ichigo must be lying, how do we know she is not some silly brat ichigo is trying to play hero for?” one asked suddenly.


“what (scoffs) why would I do that? Me play hero? I would never play hero but really if you touch her the police is going to come for you all,”


ichigo swore as mizaki’s curiosity grew, it was unprecedented she was going to be rescued by a tiny, insignificant weary boy at a time like this, what are the odds he would still be standing in the next few minutes, what are the odds he would not turn to try and rob her himself, what are the odds! Her mind went through and through every possibility that could occur at the moment but it fascinated her to watch him try.


“ichigo you had better be telling the truth or else we are going to come give you a dose (stares at ichigo’s and finds a bag of leftover rice cake) hand it over ichigo!” the gang member replied.

‘oh no.’ ichigo hadn’t remembered to hide his stash before playing hero as he muttered a bunch of incoherent reasons as to why the gang didn’t want it so did their anger pump their fists and kicks.

“get him boys!”

They caught ichigo and gave him a good beating and in the process destroyed the leftovers.

“stupid brat, now look at me, I am all sweaty again, I better go take a swim, what say you all?” one member asked the others as they walked away, satisfied.

“49!,,49!!(grunts)” Ichigo got up slowly but steadily once they had left and as he began to steady himself up so did mizaki walk past him and out of sight.

He wanted to say something but it was too late, she had gone out of sight.
He stood up and stretched his body, thankfully these boys were the newly initiated members; he could tell by the way they kicked, where they kicked and threw their punches and where he needed to protect as those kicks came.


“you are welcome!” he said dully casting a disappointing look at the bag of spoilt leftovers that laid on the floor.
“here, thank you!”

“what!( jumps and takes a step back) he hadn’t expected it but there she was behind him with two bags of rice cakes which she dropped before him.

“how did you…where did you…I just saw you (breathes heavily) how did you do that?” ichigo asked.

Mizaki smiled cheerfully and released her arc and he could just see the golden crane fighting spirit tower over her before dissipating away and right there, she flew up and away into the skies before ichigo’s eyes who stood amazed and stunned, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Part 1: Scene 7: D


**********
“Is it really him, oh I can’t believe it, what story awaits?” a passerby said as many found their way to the sea port where a small canoe was slowly been starred to the docking area.


Of course there was no single man who could easily pull a crowd to themselves except one man; Ten-kai, the foreigner swordsman.


It almost seemed like many years ago when he first arrived at the port village dumped by the docking area; the bastard son of a western sailor man who refused to accept the boy nor his mother. His features exposed his western lineage.


He was destined to roam the streets like the rest of the dumps sakai had gotten used to seeing daily but there was something about ten-kai, he was a talented fighter who solemnly depended on their martial art spirit rather than their fighting spirit, he was a relentless and courageous little boy who stood out with his acts of bravery, bravery that had soon caught the eyes of master haido who groomed the young boy into one of the best fighters to emerge from sakai port village but this wasn’t why ten-kai was famous around sakai port village, it turned out that at the time that ten-kai never finished his training with master haido.



On the night before his last and final lesson to become truly a swordsman and the haido’s true successor of the ten tiger martial spirit, sakai had gone up in flames, a ruthless crime boss who had gone mad and was now on a rampage, killing and causing chaos in the village and couldn’t be stopped by anyone for he was an anomaly bearing a tri-fighting spirit, hence almost impossible to stop.


Haido had forbidden him to leave but ten-kai paid no attention he did however promise to return, return which he did and many who watched this battle between ten-kai and the crime boss spoke of its legendary and how ten-kai seemingly put down such a foe and his men down even without once depending on his fighting spirit, this was the true legendary of ten-kai the foreigner.


“who is that?” payne asked from the ship where he and kento watched the villagers welcome ten-kai.

“a swordsman,” kento said without interest.


“interesting, could he be the one I have heard about since our arrival, the swordman who took down the tri-fighting spirit maniac?” payne asked.
His response did however strike kento who turned to look for a moment and decided this wasn’t worth his time.


“what does it matter to you, you should..."


“I know, stay clear off the local gangs but I am really dying for a piece of action,”


“a piece of action led to the death of a crime boss and an unrest that sparked gang wars killing many, a piece of action almost put our plans into jeopardy, you should be careful as not to go against the boss’s order next time,”

kento replied indifferently, eyes on his blade as he cleaned it with much care and attention.


Payne had wanted to say something, it was almost certain he would say something but kento was a kill-joy, he was no fun at all to have around.


“I miss katsuo, where is that old bag of bones anyway?” payne asked.


“he is on his mission, you see him, when he completes his mission, now, enough of the questions, go check up on mizaki and report back to me,” kento said.


“hah(sighs)you are such a sore for sore eyes, I wonder what you were like before all this!” payne said, quickly taking his leave.


Kento did stop for a moment, his mind travelled quite a bit on the words of payne, where had he been before now, was he always like this, what did he do before now, what and who was he?, he stopped, unconsciously he had allowed the blade to cut him, he starred at his own blade for a while and rubbed slowly the cut, which healed almost in an instant.

************

Part 1: Scene 8



Pit was still enjoying a bowl of noodles at one of the unfortunate structures that was within his territory; hence free meals for gang members.


When someone ran in, he looked tired, dirty and unrecognizable and seemed to have caused everyone to stare including pit who was rather offended by the offensive odors this strange kid was giving off.


“what is this, hey you had better…”

“boss, its me, remember me, you gave me an assignment and now I am back, I completed the mission!” the scrawny figure came very close to pit who kicked the annoyance out of him to the ground.


“watch will you, whatever it was that I sent you, I am sure it’s not as expensive as the clothes I am wearing or my breakfast which you have ruined completely by your presence (stands up) now what is it that I sent you again?” pit asked.


“well you asked me to go and observe some men who looked suspicious and I did (excitedly) boss you would never have guessed what happened next (his stomach rumbled) boss, I haven’t eaten anything since I escaped mountains,”


“the mountains, what have you been…(impressed), hey (calls out to the fear stricken restaurant owner) serve him a bowl quickly, can’t you see the boy is starving,”


“thank you boss, I promise you, there is a whole lot of news you are going to want to hear,” the half starving and half excited boy reassured pit who smiled dully.


It wasn’t till after the boy had consumed four plates of noodles he first gave signs of satisfaction; a loud belch that was capable of been called an arc.


“go on, tell me now, tell me, what you have been up to,” pit pushed, his imagination running wild.


“okay boss (licks the plate clean happily), okay boss (belches), you see after you had told me to follow them, I did but they caught me and threatened to take my head off but I called them bluff they were more confused and unsure of everything and I realize I could sell these people for a few silver coins if I wanted but I didn’t because you asked me to follow them so instead I told a lie, I told them I was just a kid in need of alms and those fools bought it up quickly and then I had the idea of sticking closely with them so I offered to help them, they looked like they needed information or were searching for something already I had realized they were soldiers from the capital city, it was so obvious now, if I could help them they would give me a fee and they agreed, they show me this map, a very old map..wait(he stopped talking suddenly and dug his hand into his underwear and produced a rather dirty and smelling piece of old worn out cloth where some sort of map was drawn on) yes, this is, I stole the map on the night of my escape, anyway I was no map reader but I could make out the mountains so I took them to the mountain twins who offered to take them up…”


“enough of all this stories, what is in the mountains!” pit asked anxiously.


“boss, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you but there is a temple, we found it, the twins didn’t even believe their eyes but the soldiers didn’t seem impressed it was if they knew it was going to be there and boss there is something in the temple the soldiers want, I heard one of them call it’s name by mistake, everyone was sleeping but he and one other were talking about it, they called it the soul dweller, they say it is a powerful relic capable of absorbing and harnessing a person’s fighting spirit, imagine that, imagine if we got our hand on such a relic and sold it…”


“shut up and tell me the rest!” pit grew more impatient now.


“well, the soldiers have been trying to get the doors of the old temple opened but it hasn’t been very successful, you would think for an old temple it would be easy but the doors have refused to bulge which made the twins believe the temple must be cursed or something, they left the soldiers after getting paid and I decided to take my leave to come let you know, they will not be leaving the mountains anytime soon, they are bent on breaking down the gates I tell you boss,” the boy replied as pit wondered for a little while.


“you are going to go back,” pit finally said.


“what, boss, go back but they will kill me, they will …”


“and I will do even worse to you if I find you anywhere else,” pit said with such viciousness that drew the boy backwards.


“take a messenger bird, make sure you let us know what is going on over there, is that understood?”

the frightened little boy merely nodded cursing his luck having to run into such a terrible and dangerous person as pit, who disregarded his acts of bravery and loyalty by sending him back.

Part 1: Scene 8: B





************



That night was cold and windy and for the many homes whose roofs did nothing but stood helpless watching its deficiency exploited by nature, it was their occupants that suffered the most, thankfully, mayor akimasa sat comfortably in his luxurious home but this didn’t stop him from feeling the effect of the cold; this cold was different, it spoke of the threat of a new power that was now threatening him and all those who had once held sakai’s destiny in their palm; many had come and gone yet this very one made his nightmares last a little bit longer each night he slept right from the very moment he saw him.



“they are here,” fuyu said opening the door for those that were expected; Akitsugu and Yu.


“gentlemen, thank you for honoring my invitation,”

“why have you called us up here, if this is some sort of trick…”

“I assure you master yu, that this is not some trick, clearly you have claimed futushi’s territory fair and square and we recognize you which is why we invited you too as this matter concerns us all,”

fuyu stepped in quickly, he hadn’t been able to predict how the meeting would turn out to be of if they would even honor it but there they were, Crime boss arashi had fled sakai port already relinquishing his territory to akitsugu earlier on, so his absence was quite understood.


They sat for a moment in silence, yu on the other hand helped himself to as much expensive drinks as he could, he had never seen the inside of the mayor’s house till that moment and he had vowed to take advantage of it.


“what do you have in mind, certainly we cannot accept his terms, and each day draws nearer to the final day we are expected to give a final answer?” Akitsugu broke the silence.


“I assure you if we had no answer we wouldn’t have invited you two, we have recently come upon some information about the identity of who we are dealing with, I will let fuyu give you all the details,” the mayor replied.


“while I wait for information from my informants in the capital city, I have managed to find out something else, something much closer to home, the girl, I have reasons to believe she is Mizaki haruichi,”


“haruichi? You mean the same…”

“yes, the same haruichi,” fuyu insisted sharply.

“how do you know this,” akitsugu asked suddenly, his tone seemingly changed.

“my spies have been paying close attention to her and the places she has been visiting, she frequents two places, a flower store where she buys wild cherry blossoms and the burial hill where itomori haruichi and his wife are buried, which has led me to conclude the one called toni is actually daizen haruichi,” fuyu said confidently.


“of course, it makes a lot more sense now, so is this a revenge plot?” akitsugu asked.

“if it was then you know who should be dead by now, however the boy has his eyes set on conquest, I believe he intends to make a base of operation out of sakai but that would mean we have to accept his terms,” fuyu replied.

“what do we do then, an open war would yield nothing, his comrades have proven to be quite formidable, they might be just as powerful as ten-kai or master haido himself,” akitsugu dared say.

“excellent, it then means we can qualify their strength (fuyu stopped and returned to the door, which he opened, revealing master haido and ten-kai) and who better to teach the boy his place than his master and his finest student,” fuyu concluded as master haido and ten-kai walked in.

“what, since when did master haido…”
“I can assure you firstly, we share no alliance beyond making sure sakai is safe, if I had my way, I would…”


“Ten-kai, it is enough, we are here, we must listen to what they have to say,”

shushed ten-kai’s attempt to courter whatever notion yu had started getting.
“Master haido, it is an honor, to have you join us,” akitsugu said with a grin but haido ignored him completely and merely took his seat alongside ten-kai with an unusual calm demeanor.


“master haido, I had started to lose hope that you would show up,” fuyu said quite relieved.

“(sighs) 1000 times,” haido said out of nowhere.

“1000 what?” yu asked, seemingly the most confused.

“(scoffs), daizen would practice every technique even those meant to be punishment, he would practice them over 1000 times, he would only stop once he was able to surpass the breaking point of each technique, what daizen wants and does, only have one word in common, and that is perfection and mastery,”


“but that’s two words, you just said perfection and mastery, why did you say one if you were going to give us two?” yu asked foolishly; he was ignored almost immediately.


“when daizen goes for something, he goes for the very best that thing has to offer, he will bleed sakai dry of all it has to achieve his goal so believe me when I tell you that I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t see a need to be here,”
haido was reassuring.

Part 1: Scene 8: C


“then let us enjoy this little alliance while it lasts,” fuyu concluded.

“what is the plan, seeing you have the likes of master haido and ten-kai, I am suddenly eager to see this play out,” akitsugu replied.

“then we are going to need you to help us with something, I have been able to infiltrate the ship through its many sailors and it appears there are only three of them we need to be worried about, daizen and his two comrades, master payne and his colleague called kento, the third has been absent for some time, the sailors think he might have been sent away but that doesn’t matter, with master haido and ten-kai ready to help us, I think we can make our stand clearly known to this boy dictator, I have also sent messages around for more men but we have a problem, since we can’t let the emperor know of what goes in here, weapons will be hard to get from overseas to equip the men in other words I can get more hands but someone else has to…”


“ I may just have the perfect answer to this, some weeks ago, my men hijacked a mysterious ship, they had initially thought were drugs, it turned out to be weapons, enough for a small army, it was our luck, I had been planning to find a buyer so I left it on the sea, hard to track that way but if I give the order, we can have the ship at sakai port in due time,” akitsugu revealed.


“then it is settled, I provide the hands, you provide the weapons,”


“daizen is my burden, I alone will deal with him” haido said abruptly, catching ten-kai off-guard who was about to say those same words.


“may I be excused, then!” ten-kai said, his voice betrayed his calm demeanor as he took his leave quickly yet none said anything.


***********


“I should fight him,” ten-kai said, he had managed to break the long silence that followed them from the mayor’s house even back home.


“it is not your fight besides you are…”


“not ready you say, I know but someone has to stop him, I can stop him if you let me try,” ten-kai said pleadingly.


“(thoughtfully), I have made a lot of mistakes in life, daizen is the only one that still haunts me even till this day, you are not ready for this fight, I will not lose two for the sake of one,”


“I know I failed to be a completer successor, I know by the mantras of the tiger, I do not deserve to master the tenth tiger, you thought me out of fear and despair yet you thought me, this fight I intend to fight, isn’t about me or you master haido, it’s about the honor and virtue of the ten tiger martial spirit,” ten-kai said.


“ I am proud to have brought you this far, fine, when you get your chance, make your stand and I will be there to watch you win ,” haido revealed.


At this point, it was certain that haido would never let him go toe to toe with his so called former student, daizen haruichi yet he had made it a vow that if he did get his opportunity come that day, he would take it, if he couldn’t prove anything to haido at least he would prove to this daizen, he was the better student and better fighter.


And as Ten-kai had given up on the matter and had taken refuge in his old room to battle with his own thoughts, someone off shore dreams about something strange, yet beautiful.

“hey, what are you doing there, lying and starring at the skies, baker ba will be upset with us if we don’t get the nets set up in due time,” teigen queried ichigo who had given up on his attempt to set up the nets; he never really did like fishing or anything closely related to the profession.


“(sighs) don’t worry about baker ba, I am sure we will get the nets in before others arrive besides this is a secret spot only pit gang know of but seeing how busy they have been, I think our nets will be left safe and secure however way we put it besides it;s not that he is really expecting us to get any fishes for him,”


Ichigo reminded teigen who was now in a much better shape, aided by clutches.

Part 1: Scene 8: D



“wait a minute if you know all this, then why did we come out to sea, you aren’t much of a swimmer or a sea lover really,” teigen’s sister asked.


“oh, I get it, it’s her, isn’t it?” teigen suddenly revealed; quite certain he had laid his finger on what truly was happening.


“ (quickly sitting upright) what? What are you talking about (feeling embarrassed), I didn’t come out here to see anyone (exclaims)or anything or…”


“(laughs loudly)hah big brother, I knew it, it is the rice cake girl, isn’t it?”


“(laughs awkwardly) well maybe but don’t get any wrong idea now, I only want to tell her thank you, those rice cakes were really excellent, it seems baker ba has been holding back the good stuff all these while, don’t you think, how come people don’t leave the leftovers that are actually tasty?” ichigo asked.


They laughed and then there was silence again and as the moon shone brightly, ichigo couldn’t help but wonder where sosai was and how he was doing, he reached out for the flute and began to play a tune, one of sosai’s favorite.
“you are playing it all wrong,” teigen’s sister bemoaned.


“hey, you try to play it, do you know how hard playing this can be?” sulked ichigo, he continued playing for a while until they felt they had seen something ; a steady hump like ripple approach their canoe.


“what is that?” teigen asked out of fright.
“its surely sosai’s ghost who has come to take ichigo away for such heinous flute playing,” teigen’s little sister added.


“hey, shut up you two (takes the paddle in hand and prepares to defend the boat) don’t worry, if anything…”


Mizaki jumped out of the water, her arc had already been released long ago unfortunately ichigo’s shock had threw him off the ship and into the cold water.
“help, I can’t swim, I don’t want to die so young and fragile,” ichigo shouted as hysterical as he could which the seriousness out of his plea.


“what? It’s rice cake girl,” teigen revealed.
Mizaki floated towards ichigo and quickly helped him back to the ship who made suddenly realized how awkward the entire scene had turned out to be.
“the flute…I heard it, you played the flute,” mizaki asked like one in a trance; her focus solemly on ichigo.


“(unease with her attention) ehm yes, I do all the time, do you want to hear me play …”


Mizaki grabbed the flute from him and floated out of the boat into the open sea and there she began to play the flute.
It was the most beautiful thing they had all heard and as she played, she released her ace and all the fishes in the open sea listened to her.


“look, look, look at the boat, they are jumping in,” teigen’ sister said excitedly as fishes jumped out of the sea and into the boat while she played.


“oh no, it’s a nightmare, so many fishes, I am going to dream of this moment for a week or two, please stop playing,” ichigo cried out like a baby as the others basked in the moment before she eventually stopped.


Their haul was so great a catch, they decided to throw some out of the boat and many more out of the net.


She returned the flute back to ichigo, a little smile on her face, somehow, playing seemed to make her mood a bit light.


“wait, don’t go yet (ichigo said sharply as she began to float away slowly) please, I wanted to say thank you, rice cake girl!” ichigo said.


She scoffed and nodded politely and then flew away, ichigo watched until she saw her fly into the golden tiger ship.


“atleast you know where rice cake girl is now, you can stop dragging us to the open sea now,” teigen’s sister remarked seeing how love struck ichigo was.


“what? Drag you to the sea (scoffs) have you seen what you are currently sitting down on, that’s more haul of fish than baker ba has seen in his life, now he has to pay us in sweet rice cakes henceforth, no more leftovers for the orphan gang!” declared ichigo.


“oh great, you finally give us a gang name and you decided the worst possible name, well you have outdone yourself this time!” teigen’s sister replied in a manner that made them all laugh.


*************

Part 1: Scene 9




“hey, what are you doing you insect head (knocks him on the head)”
Pit was already getting irritated by the lack of courage in the face of uncertain; uncertain such as trying to break into the temple of the village scholars.

“sorry boss but there is a reason the scholars live far away from sakai, they say they cannibalize anyone who dares enter their temple, I swear many don’t come back,” one protested fearfully.


“oh shut up, pit is not scared of anyone, you guys are terrible choices for a gang, no wonder yu is having us eat the dust off his shoe!”


Pit’s miscalculation had given pit the slip as the gates hadn’t been locked hence an awkward fall that got his gang laughing hysterically.


“I am gonna deal with whoso…(pauses)”
Before his eyes laid the badly torn up and shredded bodies of the scholars laying around in plain view; such a horrible scene.

Pit got up, scarred straight out of the blue, likewise his gang.

“who did this, what could have done this?” one asked.

“it has to be a monster,” another suggested.

“you all should shut up and go look for anything that can tell us more about the older temples up in the mountain, if anyone…”

“they burnt majority of it before I could lay my hands on it, however one did escape, I was hoping he would return but it seems unlikely…(katsuo walks out of the temple, dragging a gold and red chest, smeared in the blood outside; eyes settled on pit and his gang,)… you all must be friends of the little rat that tagged along with the soldiers, he talked about you guys and how much you know about what Is in the temple (sighs) not good for business so I will have to kill you all as well, do not resent me for dying!” katsuo said letting off the box to fall and then jamming his knuckles into his palm with a dark smirk.


“what? Hey who are you…”

“shut up!, can’t you see something is off with him (thinks thoughtfully) we should split up and run,” pit fearfully said, he had sensed something purely sinister about this character that stood before them.


For the next seconds as katsuo walked down the temple’s aisle there was silence that stung the air threateningly as pit tried to think of what action to take next; fight or flight.

“boss, we can take him, there is nine of us and just one of him with our combined attack, I doubt he would be able to…”

“would you just shut up and let me think, look at the bodies, this guy is no joke, it is as if he is certain we won’t even put up a fight (frantically) that’s it! I am out of here!” pit screamed in sheer terror.

“at this age, I was reaping skulls out of bodies, your cowardice amuses me, wrong choice!” katsuo charged forward releasing his arc of his fighting spirit: the rhinoceros.

His speed took them by force and by surprise leaving just pit and a few others merely escaped the arc, katsuo crashed three others into the gates which collapsed under the force of katsuo’s charge.

Part 1: Scene 9: B



Pit panicked and pushed his gang members right into katsuo’s path as he scrambled to look for an exit.

“I am the boss here, you all go and stop him!” pit yelped as he crawled his way, his gang showed more bravery deciding to fight for their life.

Katsuo picked a pillar and threw it at them, the result was a bloody smear of internal organs and bones splattered everywhere.

“you send your own men to their death (spits) you are no leader only a coward,” katsuo said, dusting the dirt off himself as he approached pit slowly.

Pit quickly took his stand and tried releasing his arc but his fear made it impossible for him to do it, he trembled and mumbled incoherently and no sooner began to wet himself.

“Are you going to cry after that? (Irritated)” katsuo asked as he drew nearer.

“Will…will you let me go if I do?” pit begged as he stood there, paralyzed with real fear.


As katsuo drew closer he took a quick and decisive turn, leaping out of the way of an arc that shot sharp needle like projectiles at him.

And as the dust settled, katsuo realized there was someone else; perhaps a worthy and far honorable fighter.

“Go, find leave us but remember you owe me now if you survive this, you must look at after ichigo and the orphans, I save you today, tomorrow you will have to do same for the orphans, tell ichigo that i am sorry about everything,” Sosai said; this time, he looked a lot better in his old empire body armor and his hair cut.

“Go (to pit) a life for a life, soldier, honor his words, his life for your life, a debt has been paid,” katsuo said returning to the scene once again.


Pit picked himself up, he had seen sosai but he looked nothing like the drunken, dirty and old sosai, he actually looked like a fighter, brave, more brave than he could ever be, perhaps the story were true about him.

“I won’t forget this, thank you, thank you!” He ran past sosai, tears in his eyes.
“you, I was wondering if we were ever going to hear from you again,” katsuo said dully.

.“I can’t let you go with the chest,” sosai took his weapon and drew his stance.

“(scoffs) what is this? First, you were the one who sold us the intel, then you failed to deliver, then you disappeared, now I have to retrieve this…(katsuo thought for a moment) oh I see (laughs sarcastically) oh, the boss, so this is why we are here (he turned and starred at the chest) you brought us here!” katsuo grinned.


“(takes a bag of money out of his armor and throws It at katsuo) that was what you paid me, take it back, leave the chest, go back to your leader and tell him you didn’t see anything!”

sosai said as threateningly as he could even though this made no impact on katsuo.


“(scoffs) you are honorable, I give you that,” katsuo said, releasing his arc. “I will make your death quick!” katsuo charged forward as did sosai.

Only one was certain of their triumph.

***********

”this little miss has paid everything, you all can eat to your fill!” baker ba announced happily to ichigo, teigen and his sister who sat with mizaki.
“wow! this is better than the banquet I had in my dream last night!” ichigo’s hot stream of tears was uncontrollably as baker ba laid the various meals down on the table.

Teigen’s stomach roared with righteous hunger, begging to get a taste of the dishes.

“what are we waiting for, end of the world?” teigen’s sister roared as she let her face sink into a hot strawberry pie happily; all this excited mizaki, who watched happily, her oddly weird friends seemed to bring a little bit of fun into her life.

“Hah rice girl, I owe you one, don’t worry, I will repay you this one thing when I finally become the greatest fighter in japan with or without a fighting spirit, believe it!” ichigo said as huge lumps of fried buns slid down his throat without restraint.

“huh, Greatest fighter?” mizaki asked quietly, her eyes took one cautious look at ichigo, it was then she realized what I drawn her to him, he looked like daizen much younger and innocent, many years ago, she swore this was daizen, always too eager to prove his worth, always too eager to prove he was going to be the number one, the greatest fighter in japan, she had shared in his dreams until his dreams turned dark.


Even now she wondered what was going on in the ship, kento had told her to take a walk as ordered by daizen without any of them spying over her like they always did; this was contrary to her brother’s over-protective nature over her, it did mean one thing, something big was going down on the ship or soon to go down; something really big, she imagined.


“hey rice girl, what is this? Come have a taste before these animals lick clean the entire table!” teigen’s sister announced, drawing her attention to ichigo and teigen’s eating spree.

Mizaki smiled cheerfully took a cup of ice cream, she wasn’t going to bother herself over her brother, there was a time she kept up late and wondered about his whereabouts and his dealings with the other three but time and time ago, he was there for her and she was there for him.

Part 1: Scene 9: C



**********


Daizen, kento and payne took their seats opposite fuyu, yu , akimasa, akitsugu and master haido and ten-kai. The table stretched far and wide such that it akitsugu and his colleagues must have felt comfortable enough to react if anything would happen yet the air was almost steel, their hearts pumped with unease and their eyes failed to show their courage.


Then the servants served wine and an host of assorted of snacks and food which none of the guest except yu ate happily for it was his policy never to see good food go to waste besides in a matter of few seconds he would need all the strength to fight these maniacs, he thought.


“I guess we should begin, shall we?” fuyu asked taking a stand.


“Eh, you just have to wait a little moment longer, we need to deal with trash first,” payne grinned as everyone’s eyes suddenly fell on yu, who realized what had happened.


Yu’s eyes rolled up instantly, he turned pale as he formed uncontrollably from his mouth before he collapsed, face down into his food.


Akitsugu and EINOSUKE stood up in panic yet fuyu’s calm demeanor and his words brought down back to their seat.
“what about the other one?” kento asked, starring at shinji.


“if you want the people of sakai to bow to you, you will need a street gang,” akitsugu replied.

“(scoffs) if that is what your idea of power feels like then you have been deluded, (stares at ten-kai and master haido) I must say I am not surprise to see you try to stop me, I have been looking forward to it, now we discuss!” daizen stopped to roll a document and a pen from his side to fuyu. “sign and get the hell out of sakai before night falls!” daizen commanded.


And almost suddenly, the doors, ceiling and windows burst open, as men trooped in with weapons.

“(laughs) you speak of delusions yet you are the one who is deluded, you think you can walk in here and order us around, you, a little orphan boy, no better or different from the rogues on the street, now it’s you who have to beg for your life!” EINOSUKE suddenly proclaimed.


Yet haido and ten-kai had sensed this false sense of security and boldness that had enveloped the mayor.

“am sorry mayor, but I am afraid you have gotten this whole thing wrong,” fuyu explained, his betrayal began to ooze as he walked out on the group, he and shin.


“what, what is this?” akitsugu asked confusingly before daizen began to laugh hysterically for a moment.


“you betrayal, you set us up, didn’t you?” EINOSUKE asked, his confidence slid down the rabbit hole as quickly as it erupted.


“years and years, I have served you and years and years, you have let your greed and corruption get the better of this town, you forget you would be nowhere without me, you have treated me as though I am a mere servant, I have watched you sell sakai to miscreants, foreigners (eyes ten-kai) and rogues for greed and power (draws a knife out) well, no more!”


No one had noticed but shinji had the while been edging closer to the mayor from beyong, fuyu’s last word were his command to carry out the planned attack that had brought him there.

Shinji ran his blade right from behind into the chest of EINOSUKE, who screamed and collapsed to the ground.
“wow! I like this!” payne screamed in ecstasy as EINOSUKE slowly gave way to his death.


Daizen signaled the men who almost immediately disappeared from sight just as fuyu and shinji disappeared from the scene.

Now the battle ground was drawn, three against three it seemed at that moment.
“so it has really come to this moment, if this is it, then let’s do this!” akitsugu exploded into life, shattering the table with his fist, he took his stance , exposing and bearing his kitana tightly.
“I leave him to you then!” haido nodded with eyes on kento.

Daizen took his stand, his muscles bulged out with intensity, his gaze mesmerizing yet threateningly like a cobra, majestic yet powerful.

“what are you waiting for, come show me what you have learnt!”

Part 1: Scene 9: D


The space was wide and seemed ready to entertain the onslaught that had began to rear its head in the minds of the fighters yet no one made a move, kento’s more than any seemed even unwillingly to make a move; a bleak and doleful expression hung on his face, his eyes seemed tire just starring at master haido who was anticipating every move the creep would make.

But it was payne who got the ball rolling, taking flight and bombarding the entire scene with bolts of electricity as his arc glowed from above, his face wrinkled with wicked excitement as akitsugu and the others parried, dodged and found covers.


Ten-kai took the battle up, he reared his kitana aiming for thrust with a degree of swordsmanship that could only be praised yet daizen leaped out and countered with a kick that cut clean the air over ten-kai’s head.


The two jumped back, squaring each other, eye to eye, muscle for muscle, skill for skill.


Same thing haido and kento were already doing and even though they hadn’t started fighting, they had already fought a long and tiresome battle in their mind with no winner in clear sweat as none broke a sweat.


“I guess there is no need delaying this!” haido said, his breath heavy as he took his first stance, bearing his blade.
It almost seemed kento did smile but anyone could be mistaken, the character before haido was quit a strange yet formidable one.


Haido came calling with his blade, his footwork were unparallel and gave kento no time to think, he struck and cut clean the air.


Kento appeared in his hindsight, his right foot aimed at haido who managed to slid just under and away into safety.
‘how is that impossible, he just vanished into thin air without releasing his fighting spirit!”

haido twisted his blade his hand and leaped back, his opponent seemed not in a hurry to show much of what he could do yet haido could feel his heart beat with every step kento made towards him.


“I have heard good thing about you, the village call you there hero, I think your defeat better suits a crowd, don’t you think?” daizen said with a smirk as he observed ten-kai.


“you misunderstand…hah!”


Ten-kai’s words hung in the air as daizen charged at him, he moved so fast and silently that he appeared as a blur sending shockwaves to the surrounding with his steps, daizen delivered a gut-wrenching powerful punch that ten-kai managed to parry with his sword; the resulting force threw ten-kai out of the ship, shattering the metal body work and leaving a wide gaping hole in the ship and for a moment everyone stopped fighting.


Daizen glowered with intensity as sweat evaporated off his body like steam on hot plate, he smiled wickedly at haido and leaped out of the ship in one jump.


“you think you all can take him down? (laughs sarcastically) well you better bring everything you have got because if you would have to go through me first!” payne said, shooting bolts after bolts as akitsugu parried and dodged hoping to get one good strike at the psychopath.
“such power, how did he?..”

haido muttered, he had only seen a little bit of daizen’s power yet he knew what would befall ten-kai, this was no time to be wasteful of time so he made his first real move.

“1st martial spirit, silent tiger!”

Haido took one swift move that matched kento’s disappearing feat, thrusting the sword forward which went through kento’s stomach. Haido twisted deep quickly ensuring the deed was done as kento threw up his blood.

Meanwhile ten-kai had already regained his composure, his clothes ripped by the mere force of that one show, he stood bare chest.

“why don’t we take this up a notch and show me what the master has really taught you!” daizen asked with crossed hands as he looked with boredom.

“(scoffs)sure!” ten-kai replied, he drew in one long breath and made a different stance.

“4th martial spirit: Tiger’s paw!”

“oh, now we are talking, with this move, each and every part of your body becomes an extension of your blade, even your shadow can cut slice through metal!”

daizen nodded with satisfaction as he reared one hand up as a guide and the other for a strike like a pro boxer. “come on, then!” he shouted in excitement.

Part 1: Scene 10


************
Ichigo, mizaki and the others were still having a field day on snacks when the first shockwave made them halt everything.


Then the news started circulating fast and in no time, ichigo and teigen’s sister were leaping from one roof to another as mizaki flew teigen past them towards the fight.


Haido lept out of the ship only to be side struck by kento who once again appeared out of nowhere, the blow sent haido rocketing to the ground.

A few minutes ago had taught kento, he had a real problem after watching kento drew out his blade and tossed it right back at him with a cold smile.


“what are you?” haido asked, frustrated with a mind divided and an attack plan that wasn’t working whilst akitsugu charged forward, he released his ace and multiplied the surrounding with clones of himself.


“you know they can’t hurt…” payne’s received a stab to the shoulder from one of the closest clone and a spinning kick from another that made him stagger backwards.


“fighting spirit: Royal squid ace: tactical tentacle!” akitsugu announced as his clones took various stances as if they were all alive and indigenous.


“whatever, that was a lucky shot!” payne’s anger boiled the air as his eyes lit up with electric.


He charged forward shooting more bolts recklessly and without care as many more clones began to strike and hurt him.


‘soon, very soon, I will get my one opening and he will fall!”

akitsugu reasoned amidst the chaos, somewhere in the distant he could see kento just staring at him for a brief moment, this startled him, it was as if he was listening to his thoughts.


Kento delivered two audacious kick simultaneously to haido who rolled and crashed into a heap.


“impossible!”

You couldn’t have known I was going to come that way!” haido breathlessly said as he staggered up.

“2nd martial fighting spirit: fury of the tiger!” haido roared with a thunderous voice sending a rush of wind across the scene.

He charged forward, his speed almost seemed replicate of daizen’s previous move, his plan was simple, with this move that threatened to break the sound barrier, it would be impossible for kento to regenerate as he sliced and diced him into nothingness.


“you are finished now!”

haido maintained as he got closer only to be smashed into the ship’s wall by a spirit projected fist that appeared out of nowhere, he could almost see kento wrapped inside an almost invincible spirit shell; his fighting spirit, if he had not been knocked out of his martial spirit, he wouldn’t have seen it but he did and this revelation did answer the questions that haunted him.

“brother!” Mizaki screamed the minute she drew near and spotted her brother who was trading blows and kicks with ten-kai wrecking the surroundings with mild tremors and shockwaves.


“wha? That’s ten-kai, hey! They are moving so fast, we can hardly keep up with their movements!” ichigo shouted at the top of his voice from a safe distance.

Part 1: Scene 10: B



Ten kai’s labored breath got heavier as daizen was clearly not an average fighter, he gave blow for blow and kick for kick yet there was no doubt he still held back his full power, even more than he did, he dropped daizen for the first time with a heavy hook breaking the tangle.

“(laughs)come on, enough of the play now, no more holding back, let’s fight now!” daizen’s sweat turned into gas as his entire body began to heat up, his muscles seemed even more intimidating now, he took his stance
“9th martial spirit: strong tiger!” ten-kai thundered.

“now that’s the spirit!” daizen roared with excitement.

“wow! wait is this not the same skill ten-kai used to wipe away the anomaly with three fighting spirits in one single go?” teigen asked.

“yes, oh no, rice girl’s brother won’t stand a chance now!” ichigo realized.
“maybe,” mizaki replied, her eyes on her brother who seemed to be having a great day.

“huh, maybe?”

“yes. Maybe it will be enough or maybe it will not be enough but my brother vowed that he is going to be the greatest fighter and so all his life he travelled around the world fighting the best fighters around the world, brazil, England, India, Russia, Germany, Thailand and sixteen more and no one has defeated him yet, maybe ten-kai will or may not but either way my brother is only happy fighting the best!” mizaki said, her sadness made her words heavy as ichigo took note.


Ten-kai went full crazy, his speed past the sound barrier, his strength multiplied, his body seemed to absorb whatever came it’s way and daizen did come his way as heavy blows and kicks rained countless in so quick successions, the violent shockwaves began to tear the environment just as payne released his ace and rained down bolts of electricity that wipe away every single clone same time; same time akitsugu had made his move, quick and precise, a stab to the back yet payne’s craftiness paid off.

He released a spade so quick a sucession that akitsugu didn’t release he had fallen too cheaply for payne’s bait.

He got too close to see it but there it was, payne’s fighting spirit swallowing up payne and smashing akitsugu’s head to the ground with a fist but that wasn’t akitsugu but a mere clone who puffed out of existence.

“ugly, here I am!”

“what?” payne’s startled expression as he spun around to find akitsugu was meant with akitsugu’s sword penetrating payne’s fighting spirit and striking gold; payne’s heart.

“it’s over!” akitsugu’s word came with a relief on his face, payne bowed his head as his fighting spirit began to break and shatter.

“(laughs) did I not tell you that if you want to get to daizen you would have to bring the best you have got!” payne smirked as akitsugu leapt back out of confusion.

The wind became colder than usual as they twirled around payne, even his fighting spirit began to take form pulling the sword of his chest.

Around the ships at the port, the water seemed to respond violently to the call of payne’s transformation , even the clouds began to turn dark and heavy.


“you can reveal your fighting spirit now, I know what you have been doing, I figured it out now, you have been camouflaging your attacks until now but I can assure you I know better now!” haido said tapping into the spirit field, sensing the intense vibration from within and around kento.

“kento smiled dolefully and switched his fighting spirit in one quick move, revealing his fighting spirit: the chameleon.

“9th martial spirit, strong tiger!” haido called, he charged forward in berserk mood, kento released a spade of his fighting spirit and did the unthinkable.
“10th martial spirit, the dance of the tiger!”

Part 1: Scene 10: C



His fighting spirit morphed into an half man and half tiger, his senses increased towards infinity, his powers went through the roof, his speed stopped even time for a moment giving him just enough opportunity to land a resounding and thunderous choke slam to haido, the punch defiled time so much that haido’s crash to the ground, stole ten years of his life.

Haido was defeated in one gut wrenching move he himself had only managed to pull just one time in his life.

“what you failed to realize is that my fighting spirit gives me the ability to access the fighting spirits of others, cloning and using their most powerful attacks against them!”

kento broke off his fight spirit watched haido slip into unconsciousness, there was no need keeping the old man alive yet daizen had asked him not to kill the old man in battle but there was more, his fighting spirit did detect something strange about the martial tiger spirits, something else, powerful and dangerous, something that pointed to the fact that there may be other levels of the tiger mantra haido couldn’t or never learnt to master.


“what took you so long!” payne said, his feet on top a badly charred corpse of akitsugu with a dark and ominous cloud hanging over his head.

“daizen asked that we keep them on ship for as long as he wanted, we have done just that,” kento reminded.

Payne released an arc of his second fighting spirit: starfish, which almost in an instant healed him of his wounds, not many knew but payne was tri-spirit master. Eel, starfish and shark with complete mastery over five levels of each spirit.


“I am going to watch daizen, you should come to,” kento said.


“(yawns) eh, it is going to be boring as usual, I am hungry and dirty, it’s time for tea and a little refreshment, the boss can take care of himself, you of all, knows that, lucky guy that ten-kai, he gets to see what real power feels like” payne yawned as he walked away.
In the distant, kento could hear the tremors caused by both ten-kai and daizen, he smirked, payne was right after all.


Daizen landed a bone breaking and chilling blow to ten-kai who upon contact delivered a deafening and thunderous kick to daizen’s face, the impact threw both off but ten-kai returned swiftly, the 9th martial spirit’s greatest feat was the ability to absorb damage suffered by the user.

Ten-kai unleashed two powerful energy strikes with his kitana that swept its path off anything that stood therein except daizen who parried the first and took a direct hit from the second went rocketing into a dozen buildings.

“oh wow!” ichigo screamed as opposed to mizaki whose concentration was unbroken.

“hey ichigo!”

Ichigo turned around to find pit, which made him shriek in fear, such a bad timing for a beat down, he thought.
“eh, we didn’t do anything, we are just…”
Pit ran up to him and embraced him in a smile which startled everyone especially ichigo.


“I am sorry, I am sorry ichigo about how I treated you all these times, how I beat you up, chase you down, beat you up even more times and chase you a bit more then take everything you have and then beat you up some more!” pit confessed as tears ran down his eyes.
“hey pit!”

Both ichigo and pit suddenly stopped, they recognized this voice.

“shinji!” teigen called out, his anger made his face look wrinkled.

Shinji seemed to be the new leader of yu’s gang as he arrived the scene with a lot of gang members.

It was obvious, he wasn’t here to have a chat.

“you, I am going to deal with you!” ichigo muttered, aiming a fist at shinji who smirked with such indignation that exposed ichigo’s inability to carry out the threat.

Part 1: Scene 10: D


“what? You, shinji, who would have thought you had ambitions, I am going to deal with you!” pit threatened taking the centre stage.

“(scoffs) you all are nothing to me, it’s why I have personally come here to warn you all to step down and stay out of my way, irrespective of who becomes the new leader of the underworld here, I have been assured a place among the elites and no one will stop me!”
“that’s a lie, you are going to pay for what you did to my brother, I won’t stay away and I won’t back down, now tell me what you did to sosai?” ichigo burned with anger.

“uh? Who is sosai?” shinji asked, this angered ichigo who charged with a care at shinji only to be shut down by a hook to his jaws, ichigo went flat to the ground.

“oh, you I won’t spare you now!” pit said, he released his arc and charged forward only to be stopped half way by ichigo who rose back to his feet.

“this is my fight,” ichigo said, raising up his guard and an arm ready for a fight whilst his nose ran red.
Daizen dust off the dirt off his body as he walked out of the collapsed unhinged, his eyes wore a bit seriousness as he approached the centre stage once again.

He took his stance and performed half of the 1st tiger and performed an alien martial spirit that seemed to work perfectly well, his hands turned gold.

“I call it the fists of silence!” daizen grinned, his muscles bulged with more intensity and even the air seemed to obey the movements of his hands.
How was this possible, he had just watched someone combine two martial spirit to make an hybrid mantra, how was this even possible, ten-kai wondered.

“I guess you are finally showing me some respect,” ten-kai noted.
“respect? Do you really think so? (laughs)”

“well then, maybe its time, I show you what I can really do then!”

Ten-kai’s growth all these years hinged on his ability to readily use whatever means necessary to get the job done and he had just one ace (not literally) up his sleeve.

“11th martial spirit: eternal tiger!”
“impressive!” kento remarked from where he watched secretly.
Daizen’s eyes lifted his concern as ten-kai’s form changed into something,he had only seen in paintings hung up on master haido’s dojo wall.

“so there are more, silly old bastard!” daizen remarked.

Teigen produced nine spirit arms bearing spirit kitanas that swirled with power and might.

Ten-kai’s steps burnt everything in its path as he flashed his swords against daizen so did daizen reach ten-kai’s jaw with a cut clean golden upper cut that threw the swordsman up into the air only to be slammed into the ground by daizen who was so fast enough to catch his leap into the air and deliver a thunderous and powerful kick to the chest.
Ten-kai went to ground, his mantra broken, his body unable to absorb any more damage, the 11th martial spirit was ill-timed and his inexperience seemed to have had the worst effect on his body.

Ten staggered up as his body began to change to solid gold.

“what is happening to me?” he managed to ask.

“you are my trophy now, ten-kai!” daizen remarked as his hands returned to normalcy.

ten-kai smiled dolefully, he was metamorphosing into a golden statue, the process was painless yet he knew he had been defeated by daizen who never did show his true power.

Part 1: Scene 11


“Someday, someone will make you lose!” ten-kai managed to say further before he turned gold completely.

“hey, ichigo, wake up!” pit tugged ichigo who had passed out after losing horribly to shinji.

“umh, did I win?”

“if I said yes, would you stand up and come with us?” pit asked.

“(coughs) no way, I think I broke something else, not the one you usually break though, this is worse, you will have to carry me on your back!” ichigo bemoaned.

“hah, just my luck, first, your girlfriend flies away as soon as shinji pommels you to the ground and then I have to carry you, curse my luck!” pit faulted his ill luck.

“rice cake girl is gone?”

“oh yes and you should see this, ten-kai has been made more expensive than he really is, he is been made into a stature of 24 carat gold, very expensive display of power if you ask me,” pit remarked.

“what? Ten-kai lost?”

“he didn’t just lost, his master lost, akitsugu lost, yu well lost, the mayor lost infact we should call this town lost port town, we have no heroes now!” pit said as he dragged ichigo onto his back.

Ichigo took a look at the golden statue, in the distance, he could see the ship sail out of the port, he wondered if he would ever see the rice cake girl again.

“hey your girlfriend, what is her name anyway?”

“her name?...”

There ichigo roared with depression and sadness, how could he forget such an important thing.

As the ship sailed out of the port, daizen watched the amount of damage he and ten-kai had caused, he smirked and nodded satisfactorily to himself.

“I found it,” katsuo called out from behind.

Daizen turned to find the chest in katsuo’s hand.

“is that it, the fist of the nine snakes?” daizen asked.

“according to what I found, it seemed to be, with its power, you will be unstoppable!”

Daizen took up the chest and flung it overboard, letting it sink deep into the sea much to the surprise of katsuo, kento and payne.

“good, now I know for certain, nothing can stop me, Now, let's go conquer japan!" daizen grinned as they headed for capital city.


THE END PART ONE


ICHIGO CAN’T FIGHT WILL RETURN.

Really amazing Series. I love it, and want to try the cosplay of ichigo on this halloween. Currently collection ichigo sword for my cosplay.

WriterX:
Part 1: Scene 11


“Someday, someone will make you lose!” ten-kai managed to say further before he turned gold completely.

“hey, ichigo, wake up!” pit tugged ichigo who had passed out after losing horribly to shinji.

“umh, did I win?”

“if I said yes, would you stand up and come with us?” pit asked.

“(coughs) no way, I think I broke something else, not the one you usually break though, this is worse, you will have to carry me on your back!” ichigo bemoaned.

“hah, just my luck, first, your girlfriend flies away as soon as shinji pommels you to the ground and then I have to carry you, curse my luck!” pit faulted his ill luck.

“rice cake girl is gone?”

“oh yes and you should see this, ten-kai has been made more expensive than he really is, he is been made into a stature of 24 carat gold, very expensive display of power if you ask me,” pit remarked.

“what? Ten-kai lost?”

“he didn’t just lost, his master lost, akitsugu lost, yu well lost, the mayor lost infact we should call this town lost port town, we have no heroes now!” pit said as he dragged ichigo onto his back.

Ichigo took a look at the golden statue, in the distance, he could see the ship sail out of the port, he wondered if he would ever see the rice cake girl again.

“hey your girlfriend, what is her name anyway?”

“her name?...”

There ichigo roared with depression and sadness, how could he forget such an important thing.

As the ship sailed out of the port, daizen watched the amount of damage he and ten-kai had caused, he smirked and nodded satisfactorily to himself.

“I found it,” katsuo called out from behind.

Daizen turned to find the chest in katsuo’s hand.

“is that it, the fist of the nine snakes?” daizen asked.

“according to what I found, it seemed to be, with its power, you will be unstoppable!”

Daizen took up the chest and flung it overboard, letting it sink deep into the sea much to the surprise of katsuo, kento and payne.

“good, now I know for certain, nothing can stop me, Now, let's go conquer japan!" daizen grinned as they headed for capital city.


THE END PART ONE


ICHIGO CAN’T FIGHT WILL RETURN.

Ok

Normals

Good

Yh

Yea