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YST Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Book 4 - Summary

Chapters 3 - END

Solely because writing out the full story exhausted me, so I went ‘forget this’ and summarized the thing. Enjoy. It’s now in English. whew~

- SUMMARY OF EVERY CHAPTER'S EVENTS -

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) SUMMARY

Published by Keibunsha Novels

Character designs by Enzan Norio Art by Ushyuu Miki Story by Yoshie Kawahara

Chapter 3 - Era of the Oni

After the attack on Yakushi's mansion, the damage was fixed and it was as if the attack had never happened. Nearby in the heart of the city was a place where many houses of rich people were at. In the middle of these was a single large garden space. Yakushi meets the retired emperor here, then walks into a nearby house where they quietly sit down and talk. She says that she is glad he's feeling better, but will be glad when he regains power and becomes the emperor again. He says that he will never become the emperor again. Having power as the emperor is one thing, but being able to help people live better, more peaceful lives is the wiser way to be. His brother is now the emperor and it is fine. Besides, the retired emperor was already exhausted having had so much work to do when he was the emperor. If he were to become the emperor again, it would be too much work. Too exhausting. Also, before this latest illness, he already suffered from many illnesses when he was younger. He was never 100% healthy. Instead, they (the retired emperor and her) should live in a quiet, nearby city and live out the rest of their days in peace and quiet. This gets Yakushi extremely upset. She loves him very much. She wants him to be emperor again so she can have the power she wants. Why does not he not understand this?! She's completely ignoring what the retired emperor is telling her that he wants. She's sticking to what she wants and nothing else will do. She begins to cry. He hugs her. He tries to comfort her by telling her a story about an ancient emperor that wore shining armor. This 'shining emperor' was very, very strong. This shining emperor wearing armor appeared only because the world was a horrible, terrible, scary place and innocent people prayed for help. This shining emperor removed all of the evil from the world to make it peaceful and happy. Because of this armor wearing emperor, this is when the world began. Or, so this is how the story is told. Yakushi hears this and, instead of hearing this as a fictional story, she thinks this story is real. She leaves the retired emperor and returns to a temple located outside of the capital city. There, she flirts with the priest in charge of the temple, that way she'll get the answers she wants a lot easier. Aas she asks about the emperor with shining armor. Some years earlier he'd worked on a scroll talking about that very topic. He finds and shows her the scroll and it shows a shining white armor. She's not impressed by how it looks, because the paper is very old and the art style is not new and beautiful, but this goes to prove to her that this is real. She reads text written on the side of the paper. The prayers of those who fear evil will make this warrior appear. This warrior collects the power of living things. She asks the priest to tell her how to make this emperor with the shining armor appear. He says that the story only describes it as 'screams and prayers of help from scared people will make this warrior appear'. This gives Yakushi a new idea. She will use her Oni to change the Earth from a nice place to live. Instead, it will become a living hell and that armored warrior will have to appear. When he does, she will order her Oni to steal the armor. Then, the retired emperor will have the armor and become the most powerful person in the entire world. As the priest escorted Yakushi out of the temple and to her vehicle, Kose was quietly sweeping the floor nearby, watching and listening to everything.

Back in the city, Yakushi and Oni are in an empty room where they can talk alone. He is clean, dressed in armor, and looks more civilized, but anyone can see that this is a terrifying man and someone to be afraid of. She asks how the recruitment of warriors is going. If she is going to turn this world into a living hell, she'll need more than one warrior at her side. She will need an army, and Oni will be the leader of that army. Oni says that there are no skillful people he can use. Yakushi says he'll have to tolerate it for now. They need numbers to make this work, even if they're not the best or strongest warriors. Knowing that she can't continue to call him 'Oni'. He has to fit in with everyone else, and that requires a proper sounding name. As they talk, a memory surfaces in Oni's mind. His name is 'Arago'. When he was living out in the wild countryside, he lived alone. He had no idea who his family was, if he even had a family. Where he was born. Or even his own last name. The longer he was around her and here in this city, the more of an influence it was having on him. The less stupid and silent he was becoming. He finds it amusing how a 'woman' reacts to hearing his name, and his tone angers her. She scolds then dismisses him from her presense.

A month later finds Arago in charge of his own military group. Yakushi managed to get Nakanari, her brother, into a position of power. He was the only person that Arago answered to when it came to this. This military group is charged with keeping the capital city safe. Over time more men had come forward to join this group, thinking that they were going to help keep the precious capital city safe from danger and evil people. However, only four people truly stood out as suitable warriors. These four directly served under Arago. Everyone else served under these four warriors. Shinsei, Yokuseki, Takekuni (Ryou look-a-like), Akimitsu. Their latest order was to go out to the wetlands near the capital city and take care of the thieves living there. It was night time and anyone out here would be fast asleep, making an attack easy.. A full moon over head was their only light. Arago led the way. They were all on horseback. They quietly approached a rough and poor looking settlement. The four men spoke quietly as they surveyed the area. It didn't really look like any sort of secret hideout for bad people. Even if they were terrible people, this was no way for anyone to live. As they tried to decide how best to approach, Arago charged forward on horseback to stomp across and begin destroying the poor looking huts. It didn't take long befor confused, screaming, and frightened people came running out of the huts. The four were absolutely shocked at Arago's actions, and doubly shocked to see that, instead of bad-looking, evil people scurrying out of the buildings, these looked like poor people. Old, grey haired people. Pregnant women. Little children. People who posed no threat to anyone. Arago wasted no time in using either his horse to stomp down and kill people, or his sword to cut through anyone within reach. Shinsei was the first to react, racing forward on his horse to stop Arago. This only got his horse kicked and Shinsei knocked to the ground. The other three hurried to their comrade's side, echoing Shinsei's cries to stop. They used their horses to block Arago's horse, but this didn't stop him. He dismounted, then ran after people, slaughtering anyone who wasn't fast enough to get out of his way. Which included a feeble old man and then a small child. The four warriors felt sick at what they were seeing. Once the survivors had managed to scatter and hide in the darkness, away from where Arago could reach, that's when the large, muscular man stopped his ruthless attack. He got back up onto his horse and didn't see at all bothered by the brutal massacre or by how his four leading soldiers were reacting. One of them called Arago out on what he'd just done, but he shrugged and acted like it was nothing important at all. Whether they were thieves or poor people, worthless lives were still worthless. They were breaking the law and this was their punishment. And, that was that. He mounted his horse and led the way back to their barracks in the capital city. The four silently followed along behind, but once they were back within the city's borders, they headed straight for Nakanari's office to talk to him. They told him about what had happened and, instead of supporting them, he was as nonchalant as Arago was. Nakanari didn't exactally agree with how Arago had decided to carry out punishment, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Worthless lives were still worthless lives. 'Their fate was their own fault'. Besides, Arago did what he thought was best to keep this city safe. End of discussion. Akimitsu asked what should be done about the dead bodies, but Nakanari really didn't seem to care. Leave them were they fell. Nakanari left the room and the four young warriors were in complete agreement. Nakanari and Arago were completely wrong. What Arago did was very wrong. What could they do? Report them to the emperor? Takekuni pointed out that they couldn't do that. According to the information he'd gathered, Nakanari was Yakushi's brother. Yakushi was very close with the retired emperor. And Arago was said to be the personal guard of Yakushi. Even if they went to the current emperor with this information, it would be a wasted effort because of how connected they all were with one another. A single word from Yakushi to the retired emperor to the current emperor and no disciplinary action would be taken. This is when Takekuni decided to be honest about his identity. He told them about how he was really Nosuri. About the clan of Kaosu. About how Kaosu was going to try and help, but, for now, they needed more information before they could act and do anything. He would leave his meeting and report to Kaosu. Until then, the young men had to patiently wait. They agreed, then parted ways. Nosuri hurried out of the city to meet with a young woman, a member of his family. This was a good thing because the young woman had managed to work her way into not only being a servant of Nakanari and Yakushi, but being the one person in charge of all of their servants. She reported that Yakushi had left to visit a nearby temple and pray for the retired emperor's health to improve. The only thing is that this particular temple had a reputation for preforming curses and casting spells if the people who came there were willing to pay a high enough price. Nosuri thanked the young woman for the information, then went to the temple. He needed to find evidence of anything that could show Yakushi was trying to harm, not help, the retired emperor. He successfully snuck into the temple and began looking around for anything out of the ordinary. He discovered a hidden room where a priest was preforming a weird spell, making a creature emerge from the flame of a candle. Before Nosuri could find out anything else, a night watchman monk stopped him. However, instead of any big, noisy fight, it was clear that neither person wanted to fight the other. Instead, they ended up talking. The monk, sharing that he is Kose, tells Nosuri that a month ago he'd tried to run away from this temple because of the bad things that were happening, but that he, instead, found a new friend named Kaosu. The only reason he returned here was to be a spy and gather information. All to try and put an end to the bad things that were happening here. Nosuri tells Kose about who he is, and that he's also here to help get information for Kaosu. They both thought it was funny and wonderful how they, two complete strangers, out of every person in this entire world, both know Kaosu and were currently working to help out their friend. With a new friendship forged, they work together in the temple to find any evidence of Yakushi's wrongdoings. Soon enough they find an altar with bits of spellpaper on it. On the paper was clearly her handwriting. They find a small wooden doll dressed in very fancy clothing. This was meant to represent the retired emperor. The body was covered in many scratches. In its chest is where a hole had been dug out and several needles were sticking into it. There were also small bones nearby this, as well as a lock of cut hair. This is exactally what Nosuri had been looking for.

Chapter 4 - Opening Eye

Both Kose and Nosuri felt troubled by what they'd found, and understandably so. They wished one another good luck and stay safe, then parted ways. Somehow Nosuri had to find Kaosu and show this to him.

Far out into the mountains and the forests, Kaosu had returned to the hidden village after Kose had left. That's where Onjiyou had told Kaosu that his training was finished. There was nothing else that he could teach to Kaosu. Kaosu how had to leave and confront his destiny out in the world. Kaosu thanked the old man, then, with Byakuen at his side, left the village. He had a vision about Arago, and feeling his evil presense made both Kaosu and Byakuen feel nervous. They walked through the forest and Byakuen eventually led Kaosu to a lake that was hidden deep in the forest. This was unlike any lake he'd ever seen before since all of the animals gathered here were peaceful. Animals that would've been enemies and tried to kill each other out in the world were peaceful here. He had a nice night of sleep, then awoke the next morning to see that the lake had changed. It looked cleaner, brighter, shimmering in the sunlight.

In a nearby village of Kaosu, a man rang a bell. Everyone became very excited. "Kaosu has finally awoken". They hurried to make their way to Mitama Lake. (Yes, THAT lake. The lake where Shuten, Nasutei, and Jun found the Inochi no Magatama (Jewel of Life).) (Note from the translator : The only thing I can figure that makes any sense is because they're all a part of the clan of Kaosu, they're aware of each incarnation of Kaosu and when his powers activate / 'awaken'. Though the author never explains this. AT ALL.)

Kaosu and Byakuen stood on at the edge of the lake as the water changed, then moved. It revealed a hidden temple that had been under the water. They went into the temple and the first thing they saw were suits of armor lining a hallway. They entred into a room with a golden shrine to see a single suit of armor there. When Kaosu moved the armor, somehow knowing this was reserved for him to use and wear against the evil he would soon face, he found the Inochi no Magatama (Jewel of Life) resting on a small space in the golden shrine. He took the armor and left the shrine. Once outside, he was greeted by the people from the clan of Kaosu surrounding the lake, as well as lots of different animals. They were aware of him and were ready to celebrate his awakening. Kaosu had returned to his home village and managed to get a good night of sleep after his people celebrating his awakening. The next morning he was woken up by Nosuri's return. The leader of the clan looked over the little wooden doll his friend had brought back. It was difficult to believe anyone would go so far to do something this horrible. Nosuri explained, to the best of his understanding, that Yakushi had made her way to the retired emperor's side solely because she wanted to seem so loving and devoted to him and his wellbeing. Little did he know that the source of his health problems was Yakushi herself.

Back in the city, the Oni's reputation had only grown, and this was, by no means, a good thing. Word had spread of the savage attack in the dead of night. It was at the point that no one dared to go outside at night, for fear that the Oni would suddenly attack and slaughter them without a second thought. With Oni's reputation growing and getting more fierce, so, too, did Yakushi's self-confidence grow. It was as if whatever weakness she may have been seen as having, solely because she was a 'woman' were vanishing from sight. Due to Yakushi quietly pulling the strings in the background, working to get her brother more power, he was becoming more greedy. Sure he could try putting forth the effort to do it himself, but why bother when she was already doing so much on his behalf to further her own plans? Because of her ambitions, Yakushi's evil ways were only pulling her more and more into darkness without her even realizing it. It would only be a matter of time before she would stop existing and only pure evil would be in her place. As for Arago, what little information that had been gathered didn't do anything to make anyone feel better about him. Arago had been born into poverty and was like little more than some feral dog attacking, killing, and managing to live by eating human flesh.

(Note from the translator : Yes, you read that last bit correctly. Directly translated from the original Japanese text. HE. KILLED. PEOPLE. AND. ATE. THEM. blech... )

The only reason why he was even seen as a human was down to Yakushi's influence and dressing him like a proper person. Putting him into a more civilized enviroment. Though that didn't really do anything to change the beast of a man that he was. A long time ago he'd met a monk who had tried to help him be better. Arago was taught words, shown how to have a better life, how to understand other people. However, the monk couldn't stay and eventually left. This left Arago as being neither a man or a beast. Perhaps he was something of them both, in the end.. In the end. Arago had to make up his own mind and live his own life the only way he could. For him, this was the right path. This was the only path. There was nothing else for him. A part of him had wanted to see that monk again. Every time he killed, he'd been hoping the monk would appear soon after. A familiar, kind face. But, no. So, this is what it was. His life was to instill fear into people and kill. Just as this was his life path, so was Kaosu's path to lead his people into a world of peace. Light and Shadow. Two opposites. Eventually, they would have to meet.

After Nosuri had left Kose at the temple, Kose had decided to follow after. His first thought was to return to the waterfall where he and Kaosu met. He was disappointed to not see his black haired friend anywhere near the water. Out of ideas, not familiar with the area, and having no intention of aimlessly wandering about in these woods, he placed his hands into the waterfall and concentrated on his friend. Maybe, by some miracle, this body of water was somehow connected to Kaosu. Maybe his desire to see his friend would be transmitted. Surprisingly so, it worked. He could hear Kaosu's voice telling him that there is a village nearby on the other side of the mountains. Following the instructions, and hoping it wasn't simply his imagination or some daydream, he soon found himself entering a hidden away little village.. Much to his surprise, he was greeted by the village people and Kaosu had told them to expect Kose's arrival. Kose was clearly surprised and marvelled at how awesome the people of Kaosu's village were. Before he could dwell too much on this fact, Kaosu appeared nearby in the doorway of a hut, and wearing an impressive suit of armor. Before they could talk, an older woman walked up to Kaosu and gave him a sword. He accepted it and said that he would protect this entire family just as he had done from the most ancient of times. As long as evil exists, he would be there to stop it. Kaosu sheathed the sword on his hip, then Kose and Kaosu, with Byakuen close behind, walked into a nearby shrine. Everything seemed normal, up until the point that the shrine began to glow and shine. Then the trio began to shine as well. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, they vanished from sight and the glowing came to a stop. Everything looked like it had returned to normal. (aka Kaosu, Kose, and Byakuen teleported somewhere else.)

Chapter 5 - Right and Wrong Determination (Correct and Incorrect Determination)

In the capital city, the emperor had arrived and, in a room of a very nice building, was holding a meeting with the retired emperor and all of the lords. Yakushi and Nakanari were there, too. The emperor announced that Nakanari's military group would have more men added to it, and then be split apart so there would be a smaller police division to patrol the city and keep everyone safe. This meant more power for the already-greedy Nakanari. However, unfortunately, the emperor had made up his mind and said that the capital city would now be a completely different location and be called 'Miyanaka'. This make Yakushi upset. This was ruining her plans. To make matters worse, the retired emperor, and by association, Yakushi, too, would be excluded from any further meetings like this. The retired emperor said he was fine with this and happy to live a quiet life, but Yakushi was having none of it. She tried to look really sad and make the retired emperor change his mind, but it doesn't work. Suddenly, Nosuri stood up from the back row and walked forward. He presented the retired emperor with the doll he had found in the temple. The retired emperor saw the writing, the scratches across it's surface, the hole in the chest, and the needles stuck into the hole. To add to this, Tomoaki approaches next. He'd been investigating as well. He'd found a very old and somewhat small box that belonged to Yakushi. In it were scraps of various cloth, some loose, some sewn together. Some pieces being the exact same cloth and sewing pattern that the emperor's wooden doll was currently wearing. The retired emperor went from feeling betrayed to absolutely angry. The woman he cared so much about had worked her way into his life, put a spell on him to make him ill, and, to him, been pretending to pray for his wellbeing when, the entire time, she was the one making him sick and weak. The emperor ordered Nakanari and Yakushi to be arrested, but Yakushi fought back. She struggled and managed to escape from the guards. Outside, she ran across the street to Arago and told him that the people in the building were going to harm her. He had to protect her. Akimitsu, one of the four men who had been serving directly under Arago, was the first outside of the building, sword in hand. He rushed over to Arago and Yakushi, intent on not letting her escape, even if that meant fighting against this beast of a man. Arago withdrew his sword to fight. As he swung his sword down, Akimitsu was quick to move out of the way, but Yakushi was not. The sword came down and cut Yakushi's head, splattering his face with her blood. He withdrew the blade, but didn't flinch or even show any signs of remorse. More people had exited the building. Nakanari had witnessed the scene and ran away screaming. Tomoaki and Shinsei hurried after Nakanari as he was climbing up onto the roof of a nearby building to escape. Tomoaki shot a single arrow at him, the arrow landing in his thigh. Unfortunately, this threw him completely off balance. He fell from the roof and died when he hit the ground. Arago took several steps back from Yakushi's dead body and laughed. He then aimed his sword at the retired emperor. Without a word, making it clear that he would be the next to be killed. Akimitsu jumped in the way, followed by Nosuri, using their swords to hold Arago's sword at bay. For the moment, stopping any attack from happening. Tomoaki and Shinsei quickly join in to stop Arago as the emperor orders the gates of the city to be shut. The gates securely slammed shut. The doors of buildings were closed and locked. The capital city was now under martial law and no one would be allowed out. Arago shoved the four warriors away from him, freeing his blade. He moved fast, running down the street and being chased by soldiers. However, the longer he went, the more exhausted he became. Speed and endurance were not what his body was built for. He couldn't go into the building where the meeting had been held. He couldn't get out of the city and flee into the nearby mountains. He'd gotten lucky and managed to lose the guards who'd been chasing him, but, all too soon, he heard a man's voice talking to him. A familiar voice. Kaosu appears to Arago and the large man recognizes the figure to be the same monk that had come to him so long ago. Kaosu tries appealing to the humanity within Arago, saying that he doesn't have to be an Oni. He doesn't have to be some blood thirsty monster. He can still choose to turn away from this kind of life, from seeking power. Kaosu is standing in the same street as Arago. After everything he's been through, Arago refuses to listen to reason and draws his sword on Kaosu. At that moment, a pure black force flew through the air, swirling around Arago. He asks for darkness to take him and says that he's not a person. He's not a man. He is a monster. He's not afraid. Suddenly, the dark force showed its true form as a spirit. An old, thin man wearing the tattered robes of a high ranking monk and pale, greyish blue tone to his skin. It's clear that this person is nothing from this world. He introduces himself as Badamon, bowing to Arago with respect. He's a spirit that comes from a world of evil and who knows of Arago's evil ways. He says that Arago is the being powerful enough to become emperor of that world. Arago asks how he can accomplish this. Badamon is a spirit. Arago is still very much so alive. Badamon shows a creepy smile and says that he can make Arago into a being like him. The power from the world Badamon comes from can surpass the power of 'life' and having a physical body. Arago smiled in return. That's all he needed to hear. Badamon summoned energy from everywhere, the ground, the sky, the water, making everything appear to sizzle and explode as energy gathered around Arago. A lightning bolt shoots down and, suddenly, massive hoard of dead mean can be seen on the ground, crawling towards Arago. They are now his servants, attracted to his power, his greed, and his desire. Another bolt of lightning strikes and suddenly Arago finds himself wearing a huge suit of black armor. Badamon explains that this evil armor is just for him. It was created to combat the menace that is "Kikoutei". Arago takes a moment to look over himself, seeing that he's no longer his human-sized self. He's much larger and the armor that's completely covering his body reflects the beast, the warrior, the monster that he was as a man. The mask guard is blood red, there is ghostly white flowing hair on either side of the front of the helmet, and the dark, menacing grey of the armor reflects the dark and evilness that he represents. A final bolt of lightning strikes and Arago finds himself surrounded by an armor of soldiers. HIS soldiers. HIS army. A sharp rumble of thunder is heard, dark, ominous clouds can be seen in the sky, blocking out the sun, and a heavy rain begins pouring. With Arago in the lead, he wastes no time travelling through the city with his army laying waste to everything in its path. Like some weird, horrible tsunami, the soldiers destroyed houses, slaughtered people, leaving nothing behind but destruction. Men, women, young, old, it didn't matter. Anything in his path would be cut down. The emperor's soldiers tried to fight back, but it was completely useless. No matter how the emperor's soldiers struck, attacked, or cut into Arago's soldiers, they didn't fall. They weren't injuried. Nothing was stopping them. The emperor completely shut down the section of the city that held this invading, other wordly army. Any innocents who remained alive either stayed hidden and out of sight, or made a mad run out of the city to escape Arago's army. Despite several different attempts, the soldiers proved to be unstoppable. The four young men who'd been serving directly under Arago, having seen the atrocities he'd committed, now fought against him alongside Kose, but nothing seemed to work. They poured oil on the grould then lit it, hoping a line of fire would stop their approach. No. They fired numerous arrows hoping that would stop them. Again, no. The emperor's soldiers piled up sandbags at the closed gates, half for protection, half in another effort to stop the invaders. Nothing seemed to be working. Tomoaki reported this disappointing news to the emperor, but the emperor tried to reassure the young man. The enemy they were facing wasn't from this world. There wasn't anything left for them to do. Nothing left but to pray. It's at that very moment that Kaosu, wearing his armor and with Byakuen at his side, appears amid the rain and walks towards them. In unison, Nosuri and Kose happily call out to Kaosu, letting everyone around know that this was a friend, not an enemy. Nosuri couldn't help but cry a little bit. Here stood his childhood friend, his best friend, who was also the leader of their entire clan, was also THEE Kaosu of legend. That young boy had become this amazing man, this warrior ready to fight to protect, and save, this world. The warriors, the retired emperor, and the present emperor all felt a great sense of relief at Kaosu's presense. Nosuri took a moment to speak with Kaosu, giving him several beads. He says that they are special beads, made from a sacred tree that the clan has been protecting for a very, very, very long time.

(Translator's note : It really doesn't go into detail here, but my best guess is that Nosuri just handed Kaosu the 'beads' that would later become the crystal spheres that will house the 9 armors.)

Kaosu accepts the beads, thanking Nosuri for being here, then tucks them away and out of sight. Being as prepared as he is ever going to be, the emperor's soldiers allow Kaosu through the gates along with Shinsei, Tomoaki, Nosuri, Akimitsu, and Kose.

(Basically, Kaosu + Nosuri (Ryou look-a-like), Shinsei (Shin look-a-like), Kosu Shuusetsu (Shuu look-a-like), Tomoaki (Touma look-a-like), and Akimitsu (Seiji look-a-like).)

Each of the five young men shout at Arago's soldiers. They're determined to defeat this enemy. They'll save this city. They'll save the people. No matter what. Somehow this gives them the power, the strength to inflict damage on the soldiers, cutting into the armor and making the bluish grey smoke escape, rendering those injuried soldiers completely useless. Even Byakuen got in on the action, leaping forward with bites, scraches, and slashes, doing as much damage as his human counterparts. Kaosu participates as well, using his sword to cut down numerous soldiers. Finally, at long last, instead of seeing this seemingly endless army of soldiers, Arago appears at the back. He was no longer human. No longer recognizable. He was now nothing more than a huge armor made of iron. The armor seemed to emit a sort of pressure on everything around it, including the young men. However, they're quick to regain their footing and shout at Arago, asking if he's even human any more. If he sold his soul to evil. If he really wants to kill people. Their reply is Arago's laughter. He doesn't care about this city, about the emperor, or even the country. He has exactally what he wants and everything else beyond that is worthless. The young warriors charge at Arago, telling him to wake up, trying to plead with anything left inside that may still be human. However, their attack is in vain. Arago throws them back, the strike throwing the sword clear out of two of the warrior's hands. Kose attempts an attack with his staff, now made of iron and not wood, but the attack is easily repelled by Arago's incredible armor. The staff is thrown so violently away that it escapes Kose's grip and stabs deeply into the stones that line the ground of a nearby alley. Arago laughs at their failed attempts. The five band together with a single, unified attack, only to be thrown down to the ground with no real effort on the demon emperor's part. Kaosu steps up and launches an attack at Arago, cutting into the armor with a single slice, looking into the eye holes of the face guard but, to his shock, the only thing he sees inside is darkness. Within that darkness he can feel numerous, vengeful dead spirits present there. Arago shoves him away. Instead of anger or fear, Kaosu finds himself pitying the demon, the Youja, emperor standing before him. Standing before him was what use to be a poor man who was lonely, who struggled just to survive in this world. Who had to become a monster simply to remain alive. In that moment, old, forgotten, vague memories flashed through Arago's mind. The monk he'd once known. The monk who had given him the name of 'Arago'. 'Arago', meant to be immortality. The immortality of all things in the universe. Something to represent happiness, to represent the beginning of precious things. The memory turns to the monk screaming, and then is gone. Arago is screaming. He's holding the sword above his head. As he brings down the sword, instead of cutting through anyone, or even Kaosu, only the sound of a beautiful bell could be heard. He dropped down to one knee and Kaosu said that the armor was an evil purgatory armor. Arago calls him an idiot, then demands to know his name. Kaosu refuses to say it. Arago says he will return to this world one day and have his revenge. The power of his armor will guarantee this, then he collapses onto the ground. Defeated. Kaosu stands over Arago's body, saying that this world never belong to him, then plunges his sword into Arago's chest. Reddish smoke emerges from armor, flying into the air and out of sight. As the five young men cheer, the emperor's soldiers cheer out as well. It stops raining. However, Kaosu can still sense evil within the armor, despite Arago's spirit having left it. Kaosu looks at the remains of Arago, the now-empty armor left behind and comments about how this should be a warning to all humans. Basically, greed and evil is bad. The present emperor and retired emperor stand beside Kaosu to inspect the armor, pressing his sword into the armor, but everyone is surprised when, suddenly, the armor's head springs to life and begins flying around. Then, it flew into the sky and vanished. Probably to follow Arago's spirit, where ever it had gone to. All that remained behind now was a giant suit of armor without a head. Nosuri is worried, both of the emperors are clearly afraid, and Kaosu decides that the only solution is to break apart the armor, then seal each part away. . . somehow.

Several months pass by. Kaosu had taken the armor and been working on breaking it apart, reshaping each piece, instilling a precious virtue into each one, then magically sealing each piece into the sacred beads (crystal spheres) Nosuri had given to him before the fight began. The virtue magically instilled into each separate piece of Arago's armor would help make these a weapon for good, no longer a weapon of evil. Benevolence. Justice. Gratitute. Knowledge. Trust. Loyalty. Filial piety. Respect for one's elders. Endurance. If the head of the armor hadn't flown away to join Arago's spirit, there would have been a tenth armor. The virtue for it would have been 'courage'. With a virtue magically instilled into these armors, they would help the future warriors be stronger than evil by making the strength of their heart, of their spirit, of their virtue something that is in the armor itself, and would be a characteristic of that warrior's unique personality. The nine new armors were complete. Sky, water, earth, light, darkness, dreams, power / strength, medicine, and fire. Each one would represent a natural ability all its own, so, whether used alone or alongside the other armors, it would be a force for good. To keep the skies safe, Tenku. To protect the water and all that live in it, Suiko. To protect and manage the land, Kongo. A light that will protect and help manage the Earth, Korin. To protect the light and manage the night, Yami. To keep your dreams safe from evil and scary thoughts and manage your fantasies, Gen. To heal injuries and soothe the body, Doku. To lead the others and help to remain on a good path, Oni. To protect the weak and show compassion towards others, Rekka. With this, the evil armor of Arago was purified of its evil and, now, has become a protector. Unfortunately, one problem remained. That last piece of his armor. The helmet that flew away. Arago may be defeated for now, but he was still out there. He still existed. . . somewhere. One day he would, without a doubt, return. Although this wasn't his personal desire, Kaosu surrendered to the fact that he now had to be directly involved with this physical world. He had to keep a watchful eye on what humans did and be ready to intervene and act, to find suitable warriors for these armors when the time came. Although the world of humans (i.e. the physical world) and the world of spirits were two separate places, the fact of Arago's life and transformation, that there were people who'd been using dark magic for evil things, like Yakushi, this had only proven the fact that these two worlds were no longer separate. There was a crack in the boundaries between these two worlds and this would be dangerous for everyone. Kaosu was only one person. He needed to remain in order to protect them. Going forward, now more than ever before, the clan of Kaosu was needed to help out mankind. He struggles with what to do, not sure how to help. He asks aloud "Kikoutei, what can I do? How can I possibly protect both worlds?" This is when Byakuen suddenly begins to shine brightly then splits apart into two separate tigers. One is white, the other is dark grey and wearing a suit of beautiful, prestine white armor. The metalling clanking of metal filled the air and the temple was bathed in golden light for a short time. When the light vanished and he opened his eyes, five of the crystal spheres rolled to his feet, each one momentarily shone a single color, displaying a kanji. Benevolence, justice, gratitude, wisdom, trust. He paused a moment and realized the other four crystal spheres were missing. No matter where he looked, they were nowhere to be found. This was Kikoutei's will. Kaosu was directly in charge of these five armors, to keep them safe and wait for the time when Arago would return. That's when he'd find a suitable warrior for each to wear. They would protect the Earth. The four remaining armors would protect the spirit world. Looking at the two tigers, now more than ever it was clear that the two words, as different as they are, were balanced opposites of one another.

Kaosu gave the armor of benevolence to Nosuri to guard and protect. After a few years Shinsei left the area with his family and moved to the east. Eventually becoming instrumental with the Kamakura Shogunate (a Japanese feudal military government of rule that ruled from 1185 to 1333), and eventually leading to the family bearing the name of "Mouri". Akimitsu was entrusted with the armor of gratitude. A few generations later his family took on the name of "Date". Tomoaki was entrusted with the armor of knowledge and remained in the capital city. His family eventually taking on the name of "Hashiba". And Kosu Shuusetsu, who was entrusted with the armor of justice, returned to his family home for a while, then moved up into the mountains of the area, becoming a veterinarian. Alongside that, he'd also foster young kids and help teach them how to live a good life. His family eventually taking on the name of "Rei Faun".

It took a while before the whole uproar over Oni's antics in the capital city began to fade from people's minds. It helped that this area stopped being the center for Japanese politics and was no longer where the capital city was.

Over in the other world, the world of spirits, the Youja World, weakened and, for the time, defeated, Arago fell asleep in the darkness. Although his ambitions had been stopped and his new, terrifying body of armor had been ruined by Kaosu, time had allowed Arago's power to return. When he woke next, he was ressurected as the Youja Emperor Arago. It took very little time after he awoke to become stronger and stronger. He created his own city in the Youja World, one that imitated the capital city of Heian-kyou. A place for him to reign over that was completely his own. With Badamon knowing how to move between the Youja World and the Human World, he was extraordinarily helpful to his Youja Emperor, helping him gather more and more power, and, eventually, being instrumental in allowing him to find his four Mashou. Shuten Doji. Anubisu. Rajura. Naaza. Although that is a different story to be told for a different time.

In a vision from the future, Kaosu saw Arago's return. The floating castle in the sky. The ominous dark clouds. War would come. Until that time came, the nine armors would have to remain in their respective worlds. Until that time, he would have to keep a watchful eye on the Earth and the humans. Try to keep this world a good place, even if it wasn't perfect and tranquil. For now, though, peace had returned and people could be happy again. Kaosu took his clan's armor with him and decided to travel across Japan dressed as a monk. He would confront and deal with any spirits from the Youja World that happened to appear while he waited for Arago's return.

Epilogue - Where The One Village Becomes Eternal

Late at night, sparkling stars in the sky, somewhere far off in the mountains, the wonderful sounds of ringing bells could be heard. Deep in the forest of the area was an open grassland. Everything was peaceful and quiet. On an old, small, wooden stage, Kayura wore a samurai costume and was dancing in time to the sound of the bells. Small bells being tied around her wrists and ankles. She was the only one left behind to celebrate this festival, to dance in its honor. So, dance and celebrate she will. Now knowing all of the memories and history of her clan, she is free of her role as a replacement for Kaosu. She can be allowed to be a free girl in this world. The calm, reflective surface of the lake had shown her all of these precious memories. After so long, after so many things had happened, finally the two worlds had been returned to their original forms. Kayura, unlike Kaosu, no longer had to live for a long time to prepare for the return of any Youja. The only thing she has to do is protect the memories of her clan and of Kikoutei. If and when evil would dare to appear in this world again, Kaosu will be reborn again. With no need for them, the guards from the Mitama Lake's temple returned to the temple. The Inochi no Magatama was set back into its rightful place in the shrine of that temple. The lake burying the building, its power, and its secrets from the rest of the world.

(Note from the translator : The story includes that the crystal spheres / armor spheres / kanji spheres, whatever you want to call them by, were also buried within the depths of the temple, but, after the whole thing with Kikoutei Densetsu and MESSAGE, we all know that that's not possible. Five of those nine armors were destroyed, so no way for their respective spheres to still exist. So... yeah... you can definately tell this was written before MESSAGE was released.)

This night markes Kayura's departure from a warrior, from being needed as a replacement for Kaosu. This is the first day of the rest of her life, and her chance to live a normal, peaceful, nonmagical life. So, here in Asuka she danced. With a heart full of gratitude to everyone who had helped her, supported her, and for everyone who had to live through horrible battles, able to only find a life as a Youja, this was all that could be done. A simple dance in order to honor and show respect. A good distance away at Mitama Lake, the bells are faintly heard. Deep within this hidden temple, embedded into the wall are the ten beads. The nine that housed Arago's reformed armor pieces, and the final crystal sphere that was never used. At the entrance of this room is a statue of a sacred tiger wearing armor. Sheathed on the sides of the armor are the swords of Kikoutei. In the darkness, a small movement of pure white light moves around then out of the statue before vanishing into the darkness without a trace.

The End

Otogaki (Afterword / Postscript)

(Note from the translator : This is basically Yoshie Kawahara talking about 'I hope you liked this story, despite me being an amature writer', 'in my opinion, the story ended when the TV series ended and the armor wearing warriors are no longer needed', and 'thanks to everyone who's supported me in my life while I've worked on this book!'. The end.)

"I hope this show has an impact on you and gets a special place in your heart." No matter what project I write for, this is what I pray will be in the reader's mind. This is what it was like for me with Samurai Troopers. However, with this, it sure seems like this series was a big hit and the prayer was successful. As for me, I started writing this book, but it was fairly unexpected. I'm someone who's a novelist for anime shows, but I wasn't expecting to end up making five books for it! I'm pretty sure that all five books will be available soon in bookstores all around the country, in case you were wondering about that.

This book took several tries before I ended up settling on the story. When I got to that moment, all I could end up saying was "Finally!". To date, this was the most difficult story I've had to write. I mean, sure, there's the story itself, but there are a lot of things from that time period that I only have middle school / junior high school knowledge about. I'm sure that if an expert on that time period reads this book, they'll be able to find every last bit and piece that I got wrong about it, and that the story might even be sort of disorganized.

I like history well enough, but I don't know every last detail about it. So, the contents of this book are my own theory about that particular time. I'd like to think that this is an interesting story. It deals with the beauty of the mind and the heart. The Japanese tradition associated with the word "Samurai". It takes place in a world that's full of traditional beauty. A place and time that should be protected and cherished. Even though I deviated from the aesthetic and beauty of the era, I'd like to think that this story ended up being a fun read. Besides, if a story is all about how pretty and lovely and peaceful everything is, that's not much fun. Sprinkle in a bit of drama, adventure, and danger, ah, see? That's when it becomes something more exciting to read. Alongside that, there's another aspect from traditional Japan that I worked into this story. The natural world, for as dangerous as it can be, is also a beautiful and wonderful place. Something to be both feared and awed. Something that people should have a great reverence for. This is something that history and culture has shown about our ancestors. They had equal parts fear and respect for the natural world, something that we here in the modern age tend to lack.

However, that's just my opinion on the matter. I've gotten letters from many people who noticed this and, I'll admit, I was pretty happy about. (I didn't expect so many people to write me about this story! This story that such an amateur, like me, wrote. If you're one of the people who sent me a letter but haven't gotten a reply yet, I'm sorry! Please, be patient. I'll get around to replying to every last one of them!)

As for the story, from this point onwards, please, feel free to think about the future of Kayura, about the future of the five Samurai Troopers, in whatever way you like. However, in their world, the way I see it is that the era of war and danger, the times that needed those armor wearing warriors to defend the world, that ended when the television series ended.

At this point in my life, I think I finally understand what it means to exist as a human being, a person who lives in Tokyo and no where near the countryside. My dad was also born here in Tokyo. He likes paintings, climbing stuff, the natural sciences, and stuff like that. So, when I was a kid, we'd go out to the countryside where kids can be allowed to climb stuff, fall off of them, even going to visit the sea in summertime. My personal recommendation about that is you should totally go. Don't wait around. The view and enviroment is worth it. All of the flowers and various insects I saw along the way were like something out of an educational picture book. I was never much of an artist, but that didn't stop me from going outside to sketch the flowers and the scenery alongside my father. Even picking up random stones and seashells to bring home as souveniers. I remember that, one summer night when I was laying clothes out on the clothesline, I looked up into the sky and saw one star in the faded constellation overhead. It brought back those rich childhood memories. Thanks to my dad, I guess I could be seen as an unusual sort of son. I love to stick my hands out and cut through the wind. I enjoy going out for a hike and soaking in the great views of nature. I love getting to go to the beach and walk through the waves and the wet sand. It's a little strange, but in a good way, to know that how my father raised me, the things I experienced as a kid, will, in some form, live in through these novels I've written. Though I think that my feelings probably seem weird to parents who've brought up their kids knowing nothing but city life and robotic pets. They'll never get to know how wonderful getting to be outside in nature, away from all of the steel, concrete, batteries, and technology, can be.

This series of books I've written for the Samurai Troopers, I love it. I kinda wish I was allowed to keep writing more for these guys. I'll feel a little bit lonely to leave this series behind, but I'd like to think that I've helped create a new path for them. Sometimes I would like to imagine getting to meet them, being able to write something new and create a whole new world just for them. If nothing else, when you're in a bookstore and see 'Kawahara' just know that I wrote that and remember me. Please.

I plan on letting this series go, saying my final goodbyes to the Samurai Troopers, and moving on with my life after this.

Last but, most certainly, not least, to those of you who were so kind and helpful, giving me useful and constructive advice, Mr. Shioyama, Ukai-chan. Mr. Danna, everyone who's sent me a letter of encouragement for these stories, I want to say to each and every one of you, thank you for everything.

Kawahara Yoshie

April 5, 1990

Final Note From The Translator

Hey there, dear reader!

First up, thanks for taking the time to read my humble little translated version of this book. It's been a very, VERY long process for me, but I'm glad I was finally able to finish this. To find out about the past of Kaosu and learn that Arago was once human. (Still can't get over just how violent Arago was, though. And the fact that he ate human flesh!!?? Yuck!!! I knew he was a bad guy, but, dang! That puts a whole new perspective on him.)

Second, sorry that I wasn't able to yet provide you with a full detailed and translated version of this book. I ran out of energy, but still wanted this book to be DONE. So, I went the easier route and summarized each chapter. I know it's not perfect, and, one day, I do hope to resume the fully detailed version of the story, translated into English, and release it for everyone to read. For now, however, this version will have to do.

Third, for the love of God, if you at all appreciate the fact that this summary exists, that this story exists AT ALL, then, while it's still available, go buy an official copy of this book. As of 2019, it's still available to be bought via

Amazon www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00VR8X3US/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=adrenalize04-22&linkId=93bdd2364754d793b52a3c16001c3e2f

and Adrenalize.co.jp adrenalize.co.jp/list04.html

I know, I know, you're probably going 'But, This stuff is in Japanese! I can't read Japanese!'. Neither can I, but spending about $7 / 6.40 EUR / 9.30 Canadian to buy a digital copy of this book to officially show that there are fans that are still around and still wanting to read these stories is kinda worth it. Right? I mean, it's no guarantee that SUNRISE will release any new stories for our favorite armored boys, but, hope is ever eternal.

Last but not least, thanks again for your interest in this story and wanting to read it. Thanks to Yoshie Kawahara for having written this. Thanks to SUNRISE for having made and released this anime series.

Now, go on, shoo! Go take Yoshie's advice and go outside for a while. Get some nature around you and go pamper yourself! You deserve it!

See you in the next book I translate for this anime series!

#yoroiden samurai troopers #ronin warriors arago talpa kaosu the ancient one byakuen whiteblaze book 4 shin kon hen early dusk volume

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travellingmonk · 5 years ago

Text

YST Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Book 4 - Summary

Prologue - Chapter 2

- SUMMARY OF EVERY CHAPTER'S EVENTS -

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) SUMMARY

Published by Keibunsha Novels

Character designs by Enzan Norio Art by Ushyuu Miki Story by Yoshie Kawahara

Prologue

Arago has been defeated. The world has returned to a peaceful way of living. Kayura is in Asuka, Japan, a very peaceful, quiet place, following a feeling.

The feeling takes her to a specific lake. The same lake where Shuten, Nasuti, and Jun found the Inochi no Magatama (Jewel of Life) at. She begins to have memories of her past, before Arago kidnaps her. Healing the trauma he caused. Then, she begins to have visions of the ancient past. From when Kaosu was a young boy and long before Arago became the armor wearing spirit he was. (The 'visions' are in the form of the chapters in this story.)

Chapter 1 - Ominous Cloud

A very long time ago the emperor of Japan had become very ill. He had to surrender his role as emperor to his brother. This gave him the title of 'retired emperor'. A woman loved the emperor very much, but was not his wife, fiancee, mistress, or girlfriend. This woman was named Yakushi. She was very smart and cunning. She had worked hard to become close to the emperor and knew that by being close to him, she could have power. With him having become sick and weak, then no longer being emperor, this ruined her plans to have power. She was very rich and wore expensive clothing, but was not happy if she could not have power via the emperor. She began to take the retired emperor to a temple outside of the capital city of Japan to try and make the retired emperor better. Prayers were said. A mysterious, suspicious nun said a spell. The retired emperor had begun to get better, but this was a slow process. Yakushi decides to return to the capital city where she lives. While on the road, this road is far out into the quiet countryside, a large, muscular, scary-looking man appears. He attacks without warning. He kills several of the guards surrouding Yakushi's travelling car. The large man is about to attack Yakushi when he directly looks at her, is stunned by her beauty, and immediately stops his attack.

Yakushi can see beyond the blood splatter and scary appearance to see that this man, if he would obey her, could be useful. She invites him to be a part of her group. He silently accepts. She asks his name. He remains silent. She gives him the name of "Oni", a word that means 'ogre' in Japanese. This word means 'a hideous giant of fairy tales and folklore that feeds on human beings', 'a monster', or 'a dreaded person or object'. A very fitting name for this extremely intimidating and scary-looking man.

When she returns to the capital city, Yakushi has supper with her brother Nakanari. They are in a room alone and eating. She talks about her plans for power. Nakanari knows she is very beautiful and extremely intelligent. They are two very different people and, sometimes, he wonders if one of them isn't adopted. Nakanari asks about her 'Oni'. What sort of man is he? Who is his family? Where is he from? What has he done with his life before now? Yakushi says he worries too much, but he knows better. He calls on a servant of his and orders the servant to dig up information on Oni. Anything. Everything. The servant nods obediently and quickly leaves. Yakushi says that Oni seems like a very stupid man, despite his incredible strength, stature, and ability to kill. She could have him standing at her side and intimidate anyone who dares to try interefering with her plans. Nakanari warns her to be careful about talking with these things with anyone else.

Meanwhile, a handsome young man walks into a forest village with a white tiger.

The people are very happy to see the young man. His name is Kaosu. It has been a very long time since he was last here in his home village. The people are happy to see him. Unfortunately, he has bad news. Evil has begun to appear in this world and he has to stop it. Nosuri (he looks like Ryou), Kaosu's best friend, says that he will go with him. He will not have to face this evil alone.

Chaper 2 - A Flash of Brilliance

The very short summary is that the capital city is a big, beautiful, peaceful place that everyone wants to live at. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to live or have a job in the capital city. These people must live out in the countryside where robbers, thieves, and murderers live. This has made the people scared, angry, and jealous of the people lucky enough to live in the city. It is not uncommon for these people to try and attack or kill the rich people of the capital city. A part of the city is not finished being built because it is swamp land. This is not safe land for building or living at, but bad people live there. The people who live in the city try to live their best life, but they, too, are afraid. Afraid of the people who live outside of the city. To make matters worse, religious people had been getting corrupt. Instead of helping people and living a peaceful life, they have been accepting money to say prayers to God and Buddha on behalf of the common people. Some of these religious people have also begun practicing evil magical ways and saying spells to harm other people. All for money. Whlie he was still the emperor, he had tried his best to make sure politics were completely separate from religion and those corrupt religious people. It was not easy. Soon someone else would come to the capital city and continue his goal, but there was no way to know how successful this would be. Or even if this new man would care. A young man is spying on the capital city of Japan. He is one of many rebels that want to strike at, and take down, the rich people living in the city. The spy hears two men talking about Yakushi's Oni. He is big, scary, rides a black horse and that the horse has blood red colored eyes. Soon, a man fitting this description rides through the street. The spy is scared by the appearance of this man. He is very scary to look at. He is much bigger than any other person he'd ever seen. As the Oni gets off of his horse and escorts Yakushi from one building to her mansion, the spy prepares himself. Very close by, a group of rebels aim their bows and arrows at Yakushi's mansion. An attack of arrows is sent through the air.

Ten years earlier in the mountains, Kaosu was a boy. Even for his young age, it was very clear he was much more smart and knowledgeable than the people around him. One day his father takes Kaosu to a hidden village in the forest

where an old man is waiting for him. This will be his teacher. The hidden village will be his new home for now.While in this village, Kaosu will be taught and learn many things. Many important things. Kaosu asks why the name of this hidden village, Kaosu village, is the same as his name. His teacher, Onijyou, explains that, a very long time ago, there was another man. His name was also 'Kaosu'. He became the leader of his family. Then, he became the leader of a clan of people. These people were very important. They could sense things about the world, and could help guide people to live better, happier lives. When Kaosu was born, a sacred white tiger appeared. This was very important because this white tiger was not only a scared animal, but was also the guardian of the clan of Kaosu. The day this boy was born, that tiger appeared and greeted the baby. The baby was very happy to see him. No fear, no crying. Only joy. This is how everyone knew this baby was 'Kaosu'. After Kaosu settled into life at the hidden village, his first lesson began. Onjiyou walked Kaosu out to a nearby cliff. The cliff was above a river. Kaosu's goal was to get water from that river. "How" he got this water didn't matter, as long as he was able to get water from it. The boy was left alone. After many days and many failed attempts, Kaosu realized that the sun made water evaporate and rise. That formed clouds. Clouds that would rain. This was still water from that river. His first lesson was complete. His second lesson was to go to the nearby mountain and wrap a band of cloth around the top of a tree. This tree looked like the mountain itself. Before Kaosu could get very far, Onjiyou whistled loudly. People? Spirits? whistled back at him. Then, it began to rain. Kaosu sought shelter in a nearby cave but the floor was weak. He fell through it and landed in a deep hole. Three days and three nights passed. Kaosu could not get out of the hole. It was very deep, very dark, and he was very lonely. He was injured and cold. He was certain he would die here. Several people from the village quietly spied on Kaosu during this final night. They were worried and wanted to help Kaosu, rescue him, but Onjiyou said 'no'. This was an important lesson that Kaosu needed to learn. They could not interfere, even if they all desperately wanted to. This was when Kaosu surrendered. There was no escape. No one would rescue him. He would die here. Alone. Suddenly, he was floating in the sky. He was in space. It was very pretty and there were many colors and many stars. Suddenly he could see a dark crack in the sky. He was seeing the world and the dark crack was evil making its way into this world. Beginning to corrupt it. Kaosu was soon back on Earth, but he was experiencing the heat of lava, the refreshing coolness of the ocean's water, the welcoming enviroment of a forest. Suddenly, everything became too bright for his eyes. He closed his eyes and suddenly realized the light was gone. Looking around, he recognized this location. This is where he began his latest lesson before falling into the hole inside of that cave. He suddenly didn't feel hungry, thirsty, tired, or injured. All of his injuries were gone. He was perfectly fine. No. Better than that. Much better. Uncertain if that had been nothing more than a dream, or some weird twitst of reality, he began his second lesson. Again. However, this time a large white tiger appeared at the side of a beautiful waterfall. This is where Kaosu met with the sacred white tiger, Byakuen. Immediately he felt a familiar bond with this animal. It was no common animal. This was an old, precious friend. With Byakuen at his side, Kaosu returned to the hidden village. Onjiyou was very surprised to see this, but very happy, too.

10 years passed by. Kaosu had gotten older. He had learned many important things and experienced many things. One day, while having nothing to do, Kaosu went for a walk in the forest. He hunted a few birds to have as a meal, placing them in a satchel he wore, then walked to the river and was attacked by a monk. The attack was short-lived. When the monk saw that Kaosu was a person, and not some wild animal, he began to apologize.

He introduced himself as Kose Shuusetsu ('Ko-say' he looks like Shuu). He had abandoned his life at the temple and ran away, but became very, very lost in this forest. He was starving and, when he heard Kaosu approach, thought the young man was a wild animal he could attack, kill, and eat. He apologized for his actions. Kaosu forgave him, then proceeded to clean, cook, and share his food with Kose. Kose was very glad about this. Kaosu helped Kose feel better about himself, and reassured the young man that, even if he couldn't make a living as a monk and be able to help people, this world is a very big place. There are lots of options available to him. They walked for a while through the forest and found an old man having a meal beside a very large tree. The old man was happy for the company. This is where Kose, happy to have more to eat and drink, talks about his life. He came from a large family, but they were very poor. He didn't feel comfortable in the city, and had trouble fitting in anywhere so, he decided to become a monk. However, while living at the temple, he saw the temple leaders doing very bad things. Bad things that religious leaders should never be doing. His fellow monks saw and knew that these things were happening, but chose to completely ignore them. Kose had become so upset that he couldn't tolerate being there any more and ran away. After Kose had fallen asleep, Kaosu and the old man talked for a while. Kaosu didn't understand why the world outside of this forest and his village were so troubled. Why did they get caught up in these evil things? Didn't they know better? The old man explains that people are, basically, greedy. The more greedy they are for something, the more willing they are to do things. Bad things. Evil things. All because they want more of this one thing, they are willing to compromise every aspect of their life to have more and more of this one thing. Even if this means other people have to suffer, be injured, or die because of it. They had forgotten who to appreciate what they have. How to live and love life as it is. Kaosu, being the leader of this clan, has the responsibility to help remind people if how to live better lives. How to not give into this greed. The next day arrives and Kaosu asks Kose to teach him how to fight. They walk back to the river and this is where Kose showed that he was very skilled at using his wooden staff as a weapon. Kose agreed and they had a sparring session. This ended only because both of their staffs had broken apart and were accidentally flung into the river. With the sparring session finished, they talked again. Kose had left Kaosu with many things to think about. One being, he needed more information about the outside world if he was going to take any positive action to try and help it. Kose agreed to return to his temple and act as a spy. He would gather precious information and report it back to Kaosu.

#yoroiden samurai troopers ronin warriors arago talpa kaosu the ancient one byakuen whiteblaze book 4

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travellingmonk · 5 years ago

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Shin Kon Hen / Early Dusk Volume Book 4 - Chapter 1

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Published by Keibunsha Novels Character designs by Enzan Norio Story by Ushyuu MikiScans English fan translation provided by the hard work of 2005, 2016, 2019

Shin Kon Hen / Early Dusk Volume Book 4 - Chapter 1

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Character designs by Enzan Norio Story by Ushyuu MikiScans

- > Chapter 1 - Ominous Cloud < -

The land was once pure and beautiful. The air having the delicate aroma of a wonderful flower to it. The seven colors of the rainbow lifted up people's hearts. There was a good quality which seemed to fill the land. The people who lived here were peaceful and quiet. Now, back in this time, when a person died, they couldn't help but to feel a little bit like they are abandoning some part of themselves. There is a boundary, a line between two different worlds. One world is a peaceful one that we know very little about, and the other one is the world that we live in. Reality flows back and forth effortlessly between these two places, although many people aren't aware of this fact. Everything that passes from that world into this one has only a limited time to exist in the physical world. Once that time is completed, they leave their physical body, and return to where they came from. Then, when it's time, they return to this world in a new body. This is just the way things work. However, there are some people out there who don't want to let go of their currenty body. They only want to remain here in the 'natural world' for as long as they can. They try to do this however they can, black magic, curses, etc., only becoming more unnatural in the process. The reason why some people do this is usually because they don't, or are unable to, have harmonious relationships with other people, and have gotten use to living in such a negative that way. Not to mention that they probably have a physical weakness in their physical body, only making life even more difficult for them. The only thing that really happens when a person like this tries to hang onto life like this is that their physical body becomes ruined, even worse than before. Negative upon negative only creates something ugly. In the far past, a great force understood this dilemma very clearly. In an effort to protect both sides, this great force made a boundary between both realities, splitting one reality into two. The people who fear "death" hold onto an unncessary fear and craving to live. Despite knowing that they should die, they, instead, use incantations, dark witchcraft, and magical techniques to extend the time of their physical body. However, doing this only damages their spiritual self when the boundary, 'death', appears before them. One day, for some unknown reason, another boundary appeared. A tiny, delicate distortion created a small crack. This crack was more than enough to begin straining the physical boundary and allowing unhappiness to flow from another place. What once was beautiful and peaceful here soon started to become corrupted, damaged. Things of beauty became gaudy and ugly. People's hearts began to be ruined. Little by little, everything in the physical realm was beginning to become corrupted and ruined. Ignorance was setting into the people. All of this was only beginning to set the stage for something far more dangerous. A time of great tradgedy was coming there's no way anyone could possibly prepare for it.

Now we go forward, maybe several hundred years, maybe several thousand years.

Deep inside of a temple, a sick emperor is hidden away within a quiet room. The room is dark and lit by only a few candles. With this sickly gentleman is a "mysterious" female monk who's saying a complicated spell over him. No one seems to understand what she's saying or even what language she's using. This spell is calling out to the boundary, calling out to death itself, to withdraw from the sick emperor's presence. The woman is dressed as a Buddhist priest. The outfit resembles that of a monk, yet, unlike other monks, the outfit is interwoven with threads of gold and silver. (Now, if you know anything about monks anywhere, you should know that they don't dress in expensive anything. Only in simple cloth. For a monk or priest to be dressed in anything other than that, especially gold and/or silver is very unusual.) The emperor is dressed simply in an ancient ordinary kimono and hakama (men's formal divided skirt). In the dim light is another woman. Unlike the other two, this woman is dressed in luxurious silk clothing. Her long black hair shadows her face. She's sitting on the floor on a small rug. The rug has raised patters that are interwoven with expensive threads. As one moment passes onto the next, everyone watching the monk could see her small, crimson colored lips silently saying the encantation. As the spell comes to an end, the woman looks around with a doubtful appearance. "This day," she mutters, "is like so many others." She lifts her voice, clear enough for everyone in the room to hear her. "Everyone, say a prayer for this day. Let us hope someone hears us." The luxuriously dressed woman seems to move without a sound despite the layers of cloth. She wonders if the gods, the spirits, the elements, whatever powers that exist, heard their request to help restore the emperor's health. The monk tries to reassure the woman. "If it's any consolation, the emperor is showing marked improvement and he is almost recovered from his ailment." The woman replies. "The short distance from the capital to the emperor's home and then to this shrine, many people have come to a decision. The people serving the shrine have a secret-" She doesn't get to say anything else from the monk interrupting. "I don't believe that there is any destruction coming out way. The stories are wrong and everyone along the road seems to come here only to pray to be rescued. This only increases the attention this temple has recieved." She covers her mouth as she laughs, amused at the irony. "People can pray to be rescued if they want, but a troubled person always looks to be rescued. They will always view the role of a monk as someone who can rescue them from their troubles. Even if that's not at all possible." A doubtful smile comes to the monk's face as the emperor's wife enters the room. "You know, it's said that, one day, the emperor won't be healthy any more." The monk tries to hide her own fear about that statement with a laugh, but the expression on her face says different. "It's said that the heart of a wife can pick up changes within her husband," continues the emperor's wife, "and that she can tell that her husband is getting better. However, I worry that the hearts of the gods aren't swayed by our words." The monk replies. "I'm not sure. The people have power, and power can change the hearts of the public. However, when they fear the unknown, that fear can be consuming. Since power can change the public, then all of those prays for the well being of their master, their offerings will simply be bounced away from their destination simply because of their own fears. Rather unhelpful if you ask me." Despite the satisfactory feel in the air now, the monk lowered her head because she knew that this peaceful age was not going to last too much longer. At this time, nobility was the very center of their culture. Being noble and generous in spirit is said to be the elegance and heart of an age for the people. However, living in elegance like this is barely possible simply because only a handfull of noble people centered their goals on this ideal. There was a huge difference in how the people of Japan lived. The people inside the capital all seemed to live peacefully and kindly with love at their fingertips. Meanwhile, the people who lived outside of the capital were painfully poor. It's almost like the people lived in a foreign country for as much of a contrast as there was between them. Outside of the capital, because life was always so difficult, there were skirmishes happening almost all of the time. The blood of poor, sad people, people who had never commited a single crime, were flowing because of it. Despite this going on, the people inside the capital tried to keep an attitude of calmness about themselves. Such disputes killed many people and resulted in a difficult time for those who lived in the other reality, waiting and wanting to return to a physical body. This could barely be considered a survival, and yet, some people managed to survive. Despite there not being any guarantee to make a safe living. It just seemed like it was a tightrope walking act to simply survive from one day to the next. It was only a matter of time before these people, to keep living within this place, had only one choice before themselves. In the capital is where people would obtain power, the only place any more where elegance and love seemed to reside. They had to go to the capital and obtain power for themselves so they could live in peace and comfort. No more threats of violence or death on a daily basis. The people have ambition, but never seem to aim for a true destination. They know they want power so they can have comfort and peace, but they don't know how to get that power. Sadly, many people who do this don't carry out their ambitions with a purpose. This results in miserable, ugly, and sun bleached corpses littering the once-beautiful fields. This elegance the people have only barely experienced, to continue trying to just live, many times it's lost to the fact that these people are only trying to protect their own lives. The people outside of the capital curse the people who live within the capital and their peaceful way of life. This has made them angry and would even make them go so far as to try and attack and kill the people in the capital at any possible chance they get. The angry people would even go so far as to kill individuals who aren't even concerned in this kind of situation. This seems to be the biggest problem right now. When this happens, many of them end up having a wicked heart and try to get a profit however they can so they can have power. Even it if means killing other people to do so.

In the past, shrines and temples were in darkness. They were threatened by people who wanted to steal whatever was inside them. Not liking the disorder that came from politics and religion being together, the emperor moved the capital from one location to another, and planned the separation of politics from religion in an effort to restore order. Well, ever since then, the people who worked out in the fields, and who still wanted to visit the shrines and temples, had to have a strong desire to go. For them, it was really far away. And yet, the people still continued to visit the shrines and temples. This resulted in a successful separation of politics and religion. However, there was a down side to this situation. Despite the separation, there were still temples and shrines who were driven solely by profit. The corrupted people who ran these places had to continue to draw in people so they could continue making a profit. This resulted in those corrupt people willing to do dangerous things like chants, sorcery, and dark witchcraft so they could continue to live in elegance. If the present state of affairs was to continue being good for everyone, the corrupt people of the shrines and temples would have to find something different for the people to want to hold onto. Instead of their fear of death, the people would have to acquire a similar belief, being just as contemporary. People, for a long time, would assume that visiting the shrines and temples was a way of honoring the heart of country. In return, this would make them happy. This seemed to be a way of self happiness that many people were searching for. To make this appealing, the corrupt people would have to specify certain individuals to be a sacrificial offering. Perhaps the person chosen as an offering would be beaten or tortured, but the corrupt people saw this as a way to borrow power through using cursing and dark witchcraft. Of course, without power coming from outside the temples and shrines, no one is aware of the actions of these corrupt people. Some time ago, having a little bit of trouble praying, the noble lady and the mysterious monk left the capital. They appeared to be the only living creatures travelling along the dirt road. This road rests between the outside of the capital of Kenchin and the rest of the surrounding land. Early afternoon was setting in as the duo were riding in the rather luxurious carrage down the quiet, lonely road being pulled by a cow. The vehicle was fairly comfortable and roomy for the two women, as well as the driver. The driver sat in front of them, steering the strong, black, invincible looking cow who was pulling the load. A flag with seven colors was attached to the front of the vehicle, and the vehicle itself had thick cloths covering the front, top, and sides of it with beautiful patterns set in it. All of these going to make for quite a comfortable ride. There was also a small group of people walking behind it for the noble woman's protection, and, also, for luck. This all displays the fact that the person in the carrage ahead of the people who are walking is someone noble. All the while the noble woman was looking around at the passing surroundings, everything being quiet and peaceful. The vehicle's wooden wheels left visible tracks in the road as it continued to move along its path. Everyone was completely silent. The people following along behind the cow car kept a close watch on the surrounding trees and tree lines for any signs of danger. The trees seemed to appear and disappear between the openings in the thick cloths covering the vehicle. After a long ride in silence, the noble woman, keeping her eyes out on the silent fields of grass, spoke up. "How can people tolerate being punished this way? To live outside of the capital in such a desolate place? It's so. . . repulsive." The monk ignored the woman's question. "This vehicle is moving so slowly. It even seems like it's making a sluggish sound." The noble woman directly looked at the monk. "How do people live out here? It must be horrible!" The monk didn't bother looking at her. "The sun would be setting soon and that this side of the land is rather dangerous." "Don't worry about that. I'm sure we're perfectly safe as we are. We have people all around us. No one would dare try anything." Suddenly the driver of the carrage makes an abrupt move and says something, facing the noble woman. At the same time, the people behind the vehicle all take up defensive stances as it comes to a complete stop. The cow stops completely in its tracks and twists its neck to the sudden shift in attitude. Its almost like the beast is aware of the new sign of danger in the air. Hooting and screaming cuts through the air as a man comes out onto the highway with the sole intent of destruction. A very large and well built man appears on the road. The people who were protecting the emperor's wife meet the stranger with punches. They're fully intent on keeping her safe from harm. A big fight ensues between the stranger and the protective people,. It's painfully clear to see that, not only is this stranger at LEAST a good foot taller than most, and way more muscular than any other human being, but that he's also incredibly strong. The way he fights and moves is, for lack of a better word, simply gorgeous. He initially had a sword in his possession but, during the fight, it broke apart. Despite this, the huge stranger continued to fight the guards, managing to defeat them, managing to kill several in the skirmish. (Note from the translator : I won't go into detail about that fight. Blech. Just know it was bloody, rather graphic, some people's limbs got ripped off, and lots of dismembering occured.) There didn't seem to be any reason as to why the stranger suddenly jumped out and started attacking. Maybe he simply held a grudge to anyone who passed by. Who knows? After he managed to get past the protectors, he approached the carrage and flung aside one of the large cloths covering it. More than likely, fully intent on attacking anyone who was inside of it, just as he'd done to the guards outside. Inside, however, he revealed the emperor's wife, very shaken and screaming at the stranger for a long moment. Seeing her there, he just stood still for a long moment, almost like he was surprised or in shock. The blade of his broken and blood drenched sword from the attack still gripped tightly in his hand. His pupils dilated from the rush of adrenaline. After hearing the fight going on, and then seeing that huge and somewhat blood spattered man before herself, it would be easy to assume that what he'd done to the guards, he'd do to her as well. Just as suddenly as he'd attacked the guards on the road, he'd stopped. There was an expression of blank surprise on his face and, soon, a sense of calmness came over them. For a long moment the two looked at one another in silence and staring at one another. She noticed that this huge stranger wasn't dressed very well. In fact, what he wore practally looked like a raggedy bag or a large dust cloth that was picked up somewhere. It was fully revealing his bare but strong arms and legs. (Think of it sort of like a short robe with no sleeves that was tattered, extremely dirty, and now soaked in blood.) It almost looked like this guy was some sort of demon. He was covered in blood. Hair a mess. Dressed so poorly. Demon or not, he certainly didn't look very human. He was in very stark contrast to the fair skinned, beautiful, expensively dressed, delicate looking woman. He slowly backed up. One step. Two steps. Three steps. His feet meeting the ground unintentionally roughly. His dark eyes lowered to his blade, seeing just how dirty it seemed to have become. In a low voice, almost as if he had suddenly turned into some sort of very kind person standing before her, he spoke. "Is this the road to the capital?" The survivors or people who'd yet to have engaged with this brute of a man in his rampage, stood there, confused and shocked. They thought for sure that this seemingly bloodthristy thing was a demon, not a human. As far as they knew, demons never spoke the human language. One of the men speaks up. "Y-yes. It's a good road for travelling directly to the capital. That is, except for the obstacle currently in our way." The man impling that this beast of a man was said obstacle. However, he was choosing his words carefully. With someone like this, who knew what had initially set him off, or if he would snap and resume his attack at the wrong word spoken aloud. The woman speaks up next without an ounce of fear in her voice. In fact, she sounds rather confident and self assured. What she says next absolutely no one was prepared for. "Tell me, stranger, would you like to ride with us to the capital city?" Everyone present was left in a state of shock at this. This woman, this noble, rich, elegant, beautiful woman is offering this lower ranking person, this murderous beast to ride in the carrage with them? One of the men speaks up, look up at her with the shock and pure bewilderment clear on his face. "Ride... with someone of a lower status?!" What his words didn't say, his tone clearly implied. This wasn't simply unheard of, this was not done. Ever. The blood covered man isn't sure what to make of this offer, already not meeting her gaze. He turns away from her, beginning to back away when she speaks up again. "Wait." Her voice is soft and inviting, like water to a bone dry desert. He stops, feeling conflicted about this whole moment. None of the rich people he'd seen in his life had ever spoken to him, muchless invited him to anything. And here she was, this woman, the single most stunningly beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his entire life, was talking with him. "Please," she says, "forgive my impoliteness." He can't help but to turn slightly, looking back at her with his dark eyes. He watches in silence as she draws in a deep breath, then stands up. "For as big and strong as you are, it's clear that you protect this place, all of the fields around here quite efficently. I was watching you fight my men just now, and you are very strong." Her mind is going a hundred miles a minute. It's easy to assume from his attire and overall appearance that he's probably got the intelligence of a cow and could very easily be useful to her. "Well," she verbally nudges with a smooth, inviting tone. "What do you say? Do you want to ride with me to the capital?" He turns to directly look at her, their gazes locked, and he nods once. "Good," she says in return, sitting back down. "I'm afraid that there's no room in here for someone as big and strong as you," a fact made very clear to anyone who even looks at the vehicle. It was a roomy enough space for three regular sized adults, but this tall, muscular, blood splattered man would easily take up half the space himself. "However, feel free to walk along with my group of guards. I'm certain they won't mind another in their space to help keep me safe. Driver, go ahead." The driver silently nudges the cow and it begins walking. The carrage resumes its slow and steady forward pace. The guards, well, the ones who survived the encounter, fall into place. The man walking alongside them, but there being a very clear space none wanted to encroach on when it came to the stranger. The sun was beginning to set in the sky and the woman settles back comfortably into her seat, feeling rather pleased with herself. She speaks clearly, her words aimed at the towering man in her group. "Tell me, what is your name?" There's a long silence that follows. It's not clear if he lacks a name, or doesn't even know what it is, but his silence speaks for him. He basically has no name. "Hm. Well, seeing as how you have no name, and you are very strong, very big, I think I'll call you Oni (ogre). Yes. That does sound appropriate for someone like you. As for me," she turns around, moving aside one of the cloth curtains to directly look at him, "my name is Yakushi." It was later that evening when Yakushi and her brother, Nakanari, are found in a quiet, small, dining room-like area all to themselves. The room itself was lit with a few small lanterns and the air was warm. The smell of their meal deliciously lingering in the air as they ate. "So," he begins, effortlessly picking up a piece of meat with the end of his chopsticks as he looks across the table at his sister, "I caught sight of your new arrival earlier this evening." He pops the meat into his mouth and watches her smile. "Yes, he is an interesting thing, isn't he?" It's obvious that she's quite amused by the current topic of conversation. "You do know that my end goal is to become the single most powerful woman, right?" He nods, nudging at another piece of his meal with the tips of his chopsticks. There's no rush to finish this meal and he takes his sweet time with it. "I do." "Well, I'm already in good standing with the emperor himself, even if his health is rather poor. This actually works quite nicely in my favor." "Yakushi, you need to be careful. You're my sister and I care about you. I'll support you in whatever you want to do, but we don't know anything about this Oni of yours. Where does he come from? What is his heritage? What has he done with his life before now?" She quietly laughs at him. "You're being too cautious. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were afraid." "It's a good thing to be afraid. It keeps a person alert, aware, and attentive to things they'd otherwise not know about." Setting down his chopsticks, he lifts his hands into the air and claps twice loudly. This summons a servant to him. "You. I want you to look into the past and background of this 'Oni'. Find out whatever you can about him and report back to me the moment you find out anything." The servant nods his head obediantly, his face serious, then hurries out of the room. Nakanari looks back over to Yakushi, who now appears deep in thought. "When the emperor dies," she says, thinking aloud, "the capital city will probably be moved back to Hiraki to celebrate this event. No doubt the Oni will manage to show up there." She reaches across the table and pours more liquor into her older brother's cup without him saying so, only stopping when it was full to the rim. She continues, more trying to work out her plans, rather than gauging him for any useful input he might want to share. "I wonder how best I can make use of such a magnificently brutal beast of a man. Simply looking at him instills fear and intimidates even the strongest man. It's clear he's fond of me and I can use that to my advantage for as dimwitted as he seems." He groans, showing he's not exactally approving of how this his unfolding. Although they're siblings, it's difficult to tell that Yakushi doesn't have a royal or noble bloodline running through her veins. She's got stunningly beautiful good looks, an incredible level of intelligence, and has even risen to a pretty impressive standign in the Imperial Court. She's even managed to work her way into the emperor's good graces enough that she's won his favor. "I know you're reluctant about all of this, Nakanari, but the Oni's presence is necessary. When the day comes that I grab that ultimate power for myself, I'm going to need him right at my side to make sure I can achieve my goal." Her self-confidence is quite different than his own. Whether or not he likes it, they're related and nothing in the world could change that fact. She continues talking and he decides the best thing to do, for now, is to quietly drink. He lifts the cup up to his lips and takes his sweet time drinking the liquid. The raven haired beauty doesn't miss this. "You're prudent. I'll give you that much." She sits back comfortably, more intent on the conversation rather than the meal before her. "Unlike so many other people, my aim for power is much stronger and more steady. They've tried to get power in the capital, and failed. No doubt leaving them jealous and bitter. Having Oni at my side will offer me a great level of protection from them. After all, I've seen how others have reacted to his presence thus far. He may be dimwitted, but there's no denying how imposing and threatening of a figure he is." Nakanari sighs, setting down his chopsticks and directly looks at her. "Despite how well laid out your plans are becoming, I still believe that it's necessary to keep things private. It never hurts to be cautious, you know." It's unclear if this is suggested for her own safety, or solely because he's not comfortable hearing about the details of her developing agenda. Elsewhere the next morning, deep in the wild countryside is a mountain that's covered with full, green, vibrantly alive trees. Along the side of the mountain is a young man walking down a worn path through the woods. It's clear that this path has been travelled many times and is well worn. Soon enough the young man came upon a small village that was hidden away in the woods. It only takes a few short moments before the people of this tiny village come rushing out and begin warmly greeting the young man. The young man's name is Kaosu. He was born in this village some years ago. On the day of his birth, right away his mother knew just who he was. It wasn't too many days later that a white tiger with brown eyes made its appearance in the village. This was a animal guardian, a sacred beast. Not only that, but he was the guardian of this village. He would appear from time to time, being seen taking his time wandering through the village. Aside from the tiger's peaceful behavior and calming presense, what set him apart from all other tigers is the fact that his eyes were brown. On the day of Kaosu's birth, this tiger had gone straight to the baby and lick his pink little cheek. Neither the baby nor the tiger seemed the slightest bit uneasy or afraid of the other. It was almost as if they were two age old friends. This impossible to ignore sign is all the people of the village needed to confirm the fact that this baby was Kaosu. THEE Kaosu. The person they'd been waiting for. The old legends spoke of a time when a great evil would appear. Kaosu, this man of legend, the one they'd been praying for, had been born into a village, but this, one of many like it, was set apart from the rest of the world. As unimpressive as these little villages were, they, and the people who lived in them, were special in their own right. They were called the people who 'guard the light'. Very accurate wording, considering the role these people played in the world. Unknown to the world itself and other people. A long time ago, originally, there was one village. However, as with anything, time passes. Families grow bigger. More space was needed. And, so, the people of the one village spread out to make several small villages all scattered across the sides of the mountains in this area. Once every year, all of the people from these villages would gather together and celebrate. With Kaosu's return to his home village, for as joyous as this should be, he came with unpleasant news. It was as the legend had stated. There was evil building up and getting ready to make its appearance in this world. Nosuri, Kaosu's childhood friend, came to greet him and, like everyone else present was upset to hear about this news. Despite knowing this would eventually happen, because the legend said so, it was finally made 'real' by him having stated it. It was no longer a prophecy or thing of legend. This was real. This was happening. Nosuri came up to Kaosu and clapped a hand onto his friend's shoulder. "I'll be come along with you to help in whatever way you need." Kaosu offered a warm smile in return, resting a hand on Nosuri's. "Thank you. With what I know of the things to come, I'll need it."

#yoroiden samurai troopers shinkonhen shin kon hen book 4 translated english

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travellingmonk · 5 years ago

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Shin Kon Hen /Early Dusk Volume Book 4 - Chapter 3

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Published by Keibunsha Novels Character designs by Enzan Norio Story by Ushyuu Miki

Character designs by Enzan Norio Story by Ushyuu Miki

-> Chapter 3 - Era of the Oni < -

Despite the attack on Yakushi's house and the attackers having retreated into the nearby swamp lands, it took very little time for things to return to normal. Yakushi and Oni had managed to take cover in her mansion only seconds before the attack had begun, so neither one had been injured. The arrows embedded into the walls were removed and the walls themselves repaired to no longer show any signs of what had happened. If it had been almost anyone else, they would've been left upset, flustered, scared that another, larger attack, would come. Yakushi, however, shrugged it off. It's not like she wasn't expecting jealous people to try something, or any of the nasty people who resided in the swamp lands. This was par for the course and she'd be damned if she let it slow her down or hinder her quest for power in any way. Two full weeks had passed since that day. Deep within the heart of the city, in among the most beautiful area of the city with luxurious houses lining the street was a large, lush garden in full bloom. In the surrounding houses is where the most famous people and the nobles lived at. For all accounts and purposes, this appeared to be a beautiful and calm atmosphere to find oneself in. Sunlight poured down to invigorate the plants of the garden. A pond that had been built there to accentuate the space. Aside from being a garden, it also served as a rather fancy passage way between numerous buildings in the area. On this late afternoon, a beautiful woman with long black hair can be seen making her way through the space. Her clothing is very expensive looking but, curiously, she's not dressed as expensively as what she normally is. Yakushi carried a tray in her hands. A single white porcelian bowl with a lid was set on the tray. The humble looking items in contrast to her stunning looks, clothing, and dyed red lips. In the garden with her is a tall, thin man wearing a straight, unimpressive-looking coat. The instant the man saw her, he walked faster in order to meet her." Yakushi," he greeted with a genuinely happy smile. Seeing a woman as beautiful as her always made his day better. She smiled back at him. "Retired emperor, it's nice to see you. It's not often you make an appearance outside like this. Let's go back inside. The wind feels cold." He nodded in agreement and followed after her. Once they were inside a nearby building, having the place all to themselves, Yakushi sat down, taking an extra moment to make sure that her clothing was smooth and with as few wrinkles as possible. The retired emperor, a man who appeared to be somewhat young at first glance, but was, in fact, quite an older gentleman, smiled warmly at her, admiring her beauty. Last year after he'd fallen ill and needed to stay in bed, he gave up his role as the reigning emperor, allowing his brother to take command. After all, what good is an emperor if he spends his days in bed and asleep, instead of tending to the issues of his land and people? It was impossible for him to handle the hard work required, and the only solution was to let someone else take over, withdraw himself from society, and focus on trying to get better. Or, if worse came to worse and he died, he could pass on knowing that a suitable replacement was already in charge. Throughout it all, however, Yakushi had been at his side and he loved her. In Yakushi's opinion, he was much too young to have retired, even if he was sick. The retired emperor slowly sat down next to Yakushi and sighed. "I have to admit, I've been looking and feeling a lot better thanks to your prayers for healing and protection." She turned those deep brown eyes up to him and it was hard for him not to feel loved. "I'm glad to hear that. I did my best to make sure I prayed every single day to the gods and hoped they would hear me." "Seems like it worked. I appreciate it." "Indeed. Just you wait and see," she said as she removed the lit from the bowl, revealing soft, steamy, fresh food. "One day you'll be perfectly healthy and strong again." He nodded once as a thanks and took one of the items to eat. Yakushi sat quietly watching her favorite man in the world. This man that she enjoyed taking care of and genuinely cared about. If anyone were to look at her, they'd think she was, without a question, more beautiful than any noble person or townsperson who lived in this wonderful, luxurious city. It wasn't due to her carefully applied makeup or her beautiful clothes. Her physical appearance aside, she's the sort of woman who greatly loves this guy. It was the sort of love that a young child would have for a parent. The innocence of one so incredibly young and untainted by the evils and cruelty of the world. Whenever she was with him, anyone could see just how she felt about him. And, yet, she still had that dream of power. "When you're strong and healthy once more, let's go back to the capital city. I want to serve you and be at your side when you're the emperor again." He'd been in the middle of taking a bite of the food and actually paused at her statement. After finishing, he looked at her, a bit puzzled. "Yakushi, you've said that a lot of times, but each time I've told you that this is how things are now. I gave up being the emperor. I live here now." He turned to directly face her. "From now, this is how I'll be living the rest of my life." "But, you're still so young!" she countered. "Once you've overcome this illness, you'll be able to get back to work like you use to do." "I was already having health issues long before this hit me," he explained. "Even if whatever I'm suffering from now gets cured, I don't have the strength like I use to. I won't be able to handle all of the hard work that would be required of me. Besides, my brother is a good replacement from what I've seen. Whatever needs to be tended do, he's got this. I'm satisfied with my decision." "What good is all of the praying I've done to God and Buddha if, once you're all better, you don't even bother taking up your previous role as the emperor?!" She looked at him, feeling upset. For a woman who was so beautiful, raised to be well-educated and physically attractive like some sort of prestigious princess, she had more passion that a lot of the people he'd met over the years. "I will admit that the thought of becoming the emperor again would be nice, it's simply not something I'm fit to do any more. Having to deal with all of the politics involved, ugh, it's a headache. The higher the position someone has, the more noise that gets made. The easier it is to say careless things and hurt people's feelings." The tail end of that statement a gentle warning for her to watch what she says. "I'll never have the chance to regain my previous position and, as much as I appreciate you wanting that for me, and all of the prayers you've said on my behalf, this is simply how things are now. How about this? How about we go and live over in another city. Set up a residence there, move in together, have a nice life. That wouldn't be such a bad way to live, would it?" Yakushi looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes, her bottom lip trembling, more from anger than any sadness. For as much as she loved him, she knew better than to tell him about her personal motivations. The only reason she wanted him back in power was so she could have power, too. What good was she, how much power could she possibly hope to weild, being at the side of some retired emperor? She wanted- no. She NEEDED him to be the emperor again. Why couldn't he understand this!? He embraced her and gently patted her back. All that he had ever known Yakushi for was a beautiful woman who loved him and only wanted the best for him. "I know you only want the best for me. I know I was born into this weak body, so, forgive me for having been such an inconvenience to you," he said gently and apologetically. She began to cry, his words not doing much to help her feel better. For as upset and frustrated as she was, she couldn't fault him for having that sense of pride. He was a greater man than most who lived in this era. As emperor, he wasn't in it for the power or the prestige. He used his position to help people. To make things better. Well, to try his best to do so. One man could only do so much, even in the highest position in the country. On the other side of things was Yakushi. This was a woman who was as shrewd and intelligent as she was beautiful to look at. He could look at a lesser person and knew what was going on in their mind. Alongside this, she's also the kind of person who can't hold it against someone who follows their heart to do something truly good. She came from a family that has a pretty well known name, and her beauty was known throughout the entire city. It's not like she didn't have the opportunity to choose any man she wanted, including any that would become a famous man of the city. She wanted someone better than that. Someone who could see a single individual and their abilities, not get swept up and distracted by their appearance. She wanted someone who she could dedicate her family and her entire heart to. This is what she'd wanted out of the retired emperor. Then again, for a woman as proud and noble as Yakushi was, she was hindered by the fact that she was a woman. For someone to have such a sharp intellect and keep mind as her, she hated compromise and it seemd like everywhere she turned, that's what was being expected of her. It was a challenge and she hated it. The only way this could be changed was to get the emperor to change it. How could she do any of this if this blasted man refused to want to become emperor again? Pulling away from her, the gentleman gently took hold of her chin and raised her tear-streaked face to look at him. "Yakushi, what if I told you about an emperor from a very long time ago used his powers to define this very world we live in? It's said that this was a shining emperor from the ancient days." She blinked. Never before had she heard of this and it absolutely fascinated her. "An emperor can shine?" Wiping away the tears from her eyes, she intently listened to him. "It's said that long ago, long before God or Buddha had shown up in ths world, this world was a horrible place. People would fight and die all the time. Many, many people. Just before the world fell into eternal darkness and evil ways, the people who'd managed to survive all of that violence were afraid. So afraid that they prayed to heavens for help. For salvation. That's when it's said that an emperor dressed in glittering, shining armor appeared. This emperor single-handedly drove out all of the darkness and evil from the world." "It's said that the revelation of this emperor was what brought about the true beginning of our world." "Emperor," muttered Yakushi, "dressed in shining armor. . ." "And that the one who wears that armor has the power to guide this world and all living things in whatever direction they want. People and animals are said to receive life through the power of this shining emperor. That all of us have the ability within us to shine like that emperor. Isn't it a great story?" It looked as though the young woman was a hundred miles away. "Hey, what's the matter? Was it a disappointing story to hear about? My mother told it to me when I was a little kid, so, maybe it's not that good of a story after all?" She looked back at him with a smile. "Disappointing? Not at all. Think about it! An armor that can shine! That's great!" "The story says that the shine of the armor is the result of all those people who wanted to protect themselves. They wanted to live and be at peace. As if it were the physical embodiment of all their hopes, prayers, and dreams for a better way to live." "What if we were to get a hold of this armor?" Yakushi asked him. "Think of how much power it could give. It'd make you stronger than anyone in the world." He shook his head once. "No. The way you're thinking makes it sound like the only way to have power is my standing on top of and trampling other people. A human being is a living thing and will eventually die. Living a life made only by standing on top of others isn't a good way to live. Too many people get hurt all for the sake of one person's ambitions. Trying your best to live peacefully alongside others is a much better way to live. I want to live in a way that helps to protect people-" Unfortunately, little did the retired emperor know that his words were falling on deaf ears. She'd become absorbed by the thought of this radiant, shining, powerful armor that everything else seemed meaningless. Who wanted something like living in peace when they could simply wear a shining armor and be powerful enough to rule over everyone? And if this was an armor that only an emperor could weild, then, certainly, her beloved retiered emperor could somehow have access to this without even knowing it. What if there was a way to make him tap into that power and bring forth that armor to wear? If he got that armor and wore it, he'd be the single most powerful person in the world. No one would dare to stand against him . . . or stand against the woman at his side. After a while the retired emperor left her presense and returned to his own home nearby to rest. The next day found Yakushi visiting a nearby temple to partake in her usual daily prayers. Today, however, things were different. Once her usual bout of prayers were finished, she went to the priest in charge of the temple, wearing her best smile to flatter him. They were in a room together, all alone, that offered quite a nice view of the spacious courtyard outside. The priest closed the door behind her and found it a chore not to be completely taken back by her lovely appearance. This wasn't the first time he'd ever seen her, but it seemed like no matter when he saw her, she always looked amazing. "Tell me," she began, standing over by the window and looking outside, "do you know anything about an empror? A shining emperor?" "A . . . shining emperor?" he echoed. "Yes. I was recently told a story about an ancient warrior who was dressed in a shining armor. That he appeared a very long time ago." She looked back over his shoulder at him. "Back in the days when so much of the world was devoted to evil, one person wore a shining armor and chased away all of the evil in the world. That this armor shone like the sun itself." "Kikoutei." That one poetic word for the sun. He'd heard it before. "I believe I've heard of it, now that I think about it. From time to time we get scrolls here that need to be copied because they've been worn down with time, or new copies made for more people who need them. I remember seeing one scroll that depicted a scene of war with just such an armor on display." "What?! You have?!" Yakushi spun around on her heel and hurried over to him. Her sudden approach and invasion of his personal space took him completely offguard, making him involuntarily blush. "Uh, y-yes. If you give me a m-moment, I'll find it for you." He quietly left the room and entered into a nearby room where shelves of scrolls were kept at. It took him a few minutes of going through the scrolls before he found the exact one he'd been searching for. With it in hand, he returned to the room, heart rushing in his chest, and laid the scroll down onto a simple wooden desk. As he opened it, just as he'd said, a scene of some war was displayed on the paper. Then, there in the middle was a single warrior wearing white, shining armor. Two long swords held above his head.

(Translator's note : Yes, I know the above picture doesn't show this armor holding swords AT ALL, muchless over its head, but I wanted to work this very old style and official painting into the story. So... yeah. Enjoy!)

As Yakushi looked at the image on the paper, it looked a lot more shabby than she was expecting. She'd imagined something beautiful and regal and . . .not this. Then again, this was a very old picture and painted with a very old fashioned style. It was probably beautiful. Written along the side in dark ink were the words, 'The prayers of those who fear evil will make this warrior appear. This warrior collects the power of living things'. The priest watched as the young woman carefully looked over the image, half examining it, half wondering if the image or words had some special extra meaning for her to reveal. "Miss Yakushi," he began, "if I'm not being too forward, why are you interested in this old fairy tale?" She turned those deep brown eyes of hers onto him, they showing that she felt an excitement and fire over this. "If someone would be able to get a hold of this armor, of this 'Kikoutei'," a chill ran up the man's spine as she spoke, "able to harness the power of other people, then that person would be the single most powerful person in the world, right?" He looked at her, completely bewildered and astonished by her very unexpected question. No matter how you chose to look at this information, be it real or a fairy tale, if someone were to get their hands on this armor, they'd have the power of God or Buddha's incarnation. That would make the person wearing the Kikoutei armor rival to God himself. "M-Miss Yakushi, what you're saying. . ." He had no idea of her true intentions. How could a woman so regal and beautiful be anything but majestic and wonderful? . . . right? There's no way anyone except her brother would be aware of just how ambitious of a person she is, or how much greed she felt for power. The longer he looked at her, the more he felt absolutely bewitched by her beauty. Due to the time they lived in, so many of the priests had become greedy. Because of this fact, they weren't humble or afraid of anyone any more. They knew they held power over the people, and the people truly felt like they were powerless against all of the bad things currently going on. For some, this even made the priests a bit arrogant. No one would dare to question them if they wanted help. As Yakushi took a step closer to the priest, not even a full arm's length apart, she directly looking into his eyes, he didn't feel greedy or arrogant. One watching this scene play out would almost think that she was hypnotizing him. In a tone as smooth as silk, she spoke again. "Are you able to make this warrior appear?" "I-I-" he swallowed hard as she took another step closer. "The story goes that only the screams of fearful men can call on this armor. If this world is filled with evil, people will cry out in fear. They will scream and pray for someone to help them find peace." "I see. So, if I could fill this world with evil, then the armored warrior would have to appear," she mused, more as a spoken aloud thought, rather than directly addressing the priest. She smirked in a mischevious way. Not that long ago, she'd aquired Oni and he made it clear from the moment he appeared that he had no problems spreading evil. He would kill, intimidate, and strike fear into any and all who dared to lay eyes on him. With him under her command, it wouldn't take much effort to force the people of this land into a fear-filled state of mind like cattle awaiting the slaughter. With Oni's help, she would plunge this world into darkness, make it into a living hell, and force the armored warrior to appear. Once he did, how much effort would it really take in order to get that armor and use it to her own ends? She could already bend most anyone to her will if she flirted enough. Then, ah yes, then her beloved could wear that armor and become the shining emperor. She easily imagined the retired emperor wearing that armor, looking at her with a great smile of love on his face. All for her. Her attention was brought back to the present at she looked at the priest. Cheeks flushed red, pupils dialated, it was clear to see that her beauty and natural allure practally had him wrapped around her finger. The only thing he wanted to do was love her, make her his own, feel the love she had all aimed only at him. In reality, he'd completely fallen for her and he had become hers. If a woman could make a priest feel this way, certainly it would be no problem at all making the shining warrior surrender his armor to the retired emperor. She took one of his hands into her own and slowly, delicately drew one of her fingertips across the back of his hand, not once breaking her gaze. "Thank you for your help with this. Can I depend on you to keep saying prayers for our cherished retired emperor once I leave?" "Yes. Yes, of course. Whatever you want, I'll happily give to you," he somehow managed to say as her touch made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and his heart beat faster. "Good. I should take my leave now. I have other things to tend to before the evening comes to an end." "Yes. I understand." He took her by the hands and led the way downstairs and into the main hall of the temple. "Please, on your way back home, be careful. Now, more than ever before, it seems like robbers are cropping up like weeds around here. I'd hate to see anything happen to you." "Thank you for your kind words. I'll be careful." "Here. As extra protection," the priest added, "I'll send this young man to the entrance of the city with you," indicating the somewhat heavy-set young man with short blue hair and matching blue eyes. "I'm sure this extra presence will help stave off any potential attackers since each one of the people who serve this temple are trained in the way of martial arts." "I see. I accept your offer," she said, getting into her carrage and settling down on the beautifully decorated pillows inside. As the cow-drawn carrage began to move forward, the monk wordlessly obeyed and walked alongside it. Of all the people this could've been in the entire world, this was Kose Shuusetsu. There was a full moon overhead, illuminating everything with a soft sort of glow. Instead of making everything feel serene and peaceful, instead, everything seemed to now have an air of something suspicious hanging about. Maybe it was due to this strange illumination that Yakushi returned to her home without a single incident. Maybe that's what kept the 'monsters' at bay that night.

In a large room, the windows boarded up to allow as little light as possible to enter, candles were set all around and lit. The flame from one of the candles swayed in the wind, making the otherwise stable light seem to sway, ever so slightly. Yakushi was in the room with the muscular, towering Oni standing in front of her. Quite unlike the first time they met, he now stood before her in black armor that was specifically made to fit his body and, beneath that was hunting clothing that was known for being strong and durable. His black hair was smooth and slicked back, though it was unclear if the color was due to it being his natural hair color, or if it was so dirty that nothing could wash it clean. His eyes were sharp and clear. This man seemed to radiate an attitude of someone who's been on the battlefield before, and has no problems returning to it. He certainly was the type of person who stood out among all of the fancy houses and people who lived here in the city. Despite the size and high difference, Yakushi looked up at him without an ounce of fear or hesitation. "Have you managed to find many skillfull people to add to your ranks?" "Not yet," he replied, his strong, deep voice feeling cold to listen to. "People around here seem weak. Even less have any real desire to fight or shed blood. To have men strong enough to bring about war, the ones here aren't good enough." "Yes, yes, yes, I know that they're weaklings," she said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "But you're going to need a lot of people who are suitable but, for now, anyone who's willing to fight should be good enough. Are there any around here like that?" He was quiet for a long moment. "In that way, it's good enough. I have managed to find a few people, telling them that I'm gathering people to help create a new role. For there to be a protective security force to keep the outlying city borders safe." Yakushi walked across the room and sat down on a chair, setting one elbow down on the armrest, then placing her chin against her palm. "You need to make a surname for yourself. Really make a name that, even if people don't recognize, they'll learn to know it instead of making strange guesses about who you are. Even if it's a completely fake name, you need to have something." She looked over Oni from head to toe. Sure he was an extraordinarily large man, but looking at him like this, no one would think he's an Oni. He looks like litle more than some person who beats up people and likes spending more time on a battlefield than he would around peaceful people. It was clear as day that he wasn't like other people, and, if given the correct set of circumstances, he could easily gain fame as a ruthless warlord. From everything she'd seen of him so far, he didn't have the mentality to carry out something so intricate and planned. And yet, at the same time, it's like he radiated some kind of strange nobility. Something that set himself apart from everyone else. Something that struck as much awe as it did fear into anyone who looked at him. Maybe she could use this Oni to her own will. Shape him into what she wanted. Make other people believe that he, alone, was so strong and cunning. He would be the key to destroying ths entire reality and bringing her exactally what she wanted. She chuckled at the thought. First thing was first, though. He needed a surname. Something different than what anyone else in the city had. "Let me think," she muttered. "What would be a good name that anyone would immediately associate with being protective? A good, strong name for you to have." Oni had no real inclination to speak or offer any possible suggestions. What would he know of any families or noble people who lived in the city? He hadn't even known his own name when he met her on the road. As she mused to herself, it's almost as if her silky smooth and intoxicating voice was beginning to shake free fragments of memories he'd long since forgotten about. Somehow listening to her voice was having this curious affect on him. Suddenly, from out of the blue, a single word came to the forefront of his mind. "Arago." Yakushi blinked, looking directly at his face. "Hm? You say something?" Speaking loud and clear for her, he repeated himself. "Arago. I remembered that just now." She lifted a single eyebrow. Well, it certainly was a word she hadn't heard around here before. Giving herself the time to let that word roll around in her head, she eventually said it aloud. "Arago. It does sound like a strong name. . . as if it has some sort of noble air about it." "I. . . think . . . it is what the most precious thing in this world is." The beautiful woman nodded once with a satisfied smile on her face. "Well then, from now on, that's what you'll be known as. 'Arago'. It's strange, but I like the way that sounds. As if it belongs to a man who will maintain the security of the city at all costs." The more she thought about it, the more amusing it became. Arago, someone who people would look to for protection would end up being a horrible man and becoming a monster of nightmares. No one would have a clue. Arago's sudden, short laugh caught her offguard. "What's so funny?" She sat up straight to look at him. "It's funny seeing how a woman reacts to my name." For the first time since she'd met him, he'd taken her completely by surprise. Although he hadn't, exactally, said anything rude or insulting, there was something in the tone he was using that sounded exactally like he was purposely being rude and, moreover, didn't regret it. She stood up from her chair and glared at him. "Don't you be rude to me! I picked you up off of the roadside when you were little more than a filthy, blood-covered beast! I've given you a place to stay, food to eat, clothes to wear, even working to get you into a position of military power. If you're that disrespectful to me again, I won't be able to forgive you!" Though she hadn't come right out and said it directly, the threat looming in the air was clear enough. If he pulled that kind of tone again, she'd kick him out of her service, out of the city, and dump him back in the wilds of the countryside where she found him at. It was an interesting exchange, considering how powerful and threatening Arago was. He'd slaughtered men without a second thought. Who's to say that if he was in a bad enough mood, that she wouldn't suffer the same fate at his hands? Then again, there was Yakushi, this delicate, lovely looking woman standing up to him as if he was nothing more than a mouse to be killed under her heel. "Don't you dare forget that I am your lord. I'm the reason you have anything you currently have, and the reason why you will be leading the way to an entirely new era. Keep this fact in your heart from now on." He nodded once to her and she couldn't help somewhat regretting trying to treat this Oni as a regular man of the city. He was something else entirely. Who knows? Maybe he had no heart at all in that chest of his and couldn't feel a thing. Brushing her long hair back over her shoulders, regaining her cool composure and standing up straight. At the end of the day, it didn't matter what his name was. Her first goal was to get him to kill the current reigning empror. Didn't matter how. He simply had to die and get out of her way. With no descendants and only the retired emperor still around, he would have to regain his previous position. With him dead, people would be thrown into a state of panic. That's when she'd be waiting for Kikoutei to arrive. Yes. Yes, that sounded good enough. "You're dismissed." Without a word, he exited the room, leaving Yakushi along with her scheming thoughts. As he made his way outside, he'd already forgotten the fact that he had long since been unable to remember anything of his past. Some time ago, this Oni was called Arago. He'd crossed paths with a travelling monk for a short while. To the best of his ability to remember, this monk was the only person he'd ever known to have treated him as a human being. Not some peasant to be pitied, not some blood-thirsty beast to be feared, but, just a guy. He looked up at the sky and wondered how long he'd been all alone out in the world for. How long had he been a beast instead of a human being trying desperately to simply survive from one hour to the next? There was no way to know for sure. Some things in his mind were still absent and he had no idea how to access them, or even if there was anything there TO access. Maybe none of that was at all relevant. After all, here he was practally living in luxury and not feeling like he had to react like a wild animal at anything that moved in his line of sight. What should his rough past matter when he had all of this?

A month had passed since that day. Thanks to Yakushi's brother, Nakanari, stepping up and putting in a lot of effort to help bring the first phase of his sister's plan into action, Yakushi's armed men came to be recognized as a competent military division. Just as she'd planned, they were tasked with maintaining the security inside the city's walls. It took a bit of time, but with Arago, this towering, large, muscular man leading the way on his pure black horse, worthy men who practiced the martial arts appeared to join his ranks. The only downside is that there were only four men who really stood about the rest as any sort of warrior. Those who wanted to join their cause but weren't as skilled are who served under these four men. Arago was the one who would lead the way. Four men directly served him and would follow his commands. The remaining ones served those four. It wasn't really the full fledged army that Yakushi had been aiming for, but, hey, everyone's got to start somewhere. Maybe this drop in a bucket would bring about more people, more warriors, more soldiers to join their cause in due time. Or, who knows? Maybe this was just the right amount to bring about the hell on Earth that she wanted. The four young men who served Arago were :

(Translator's note : Sorry for the interruption. Just wanted to make it clear that I'm not great with Japanese names and that I'm largely guessing at which is the first or last name. For the sake of ease, let's just say that the names I use in the story from here on out are the names they're called by. I leave it up to you to decide if it's their first or last name. Also, since it seems like these four play an important role? in the story for now, I'm adding in some physical traits so I'm not just calling them by their name or 'he', since that gets real old REAL quick.)

"Oe Shinsei". Black haired, brown eyes, and had made it loud and clear that he was best suited to be a leader of men. "Nana Yokuseki". A young man with brown hair, matching brown eyes, shorter than the other three, but who was a brave and quite the martial artist, despite his young age. And then there was Akimitsu. Blue green eyes, black hair, and who had a strong sense of justice and what was right. "Tomoaki Tenshou". Black haired, blue eyed young man who was a master of the bow and arrow. He came from the Wakasa Prefecture and was able to use swords. This had recently earned himself quite the reputation over in the city of Amitsu. Unlike the others, this young man had encountered Arago once before and immediately sensed that simply the presence of this great man named 'Arago' had something useful to offer in the coming years. He wanted to be a part of this. Using his bow to beat the doors of Yakushi's mansion, he did this solely to get Arago's attention and to be a part of this group. As expected, he was chosen to be one of the top men serving in Arago's Tokyo Metropolitan Security Bureau. Now you can see a little of the measure of this man as well as his purpose for the city. Along with this there is one particular young man who is a part of this group. His name is 'Fuji Takekuni', however, in reality, he's Nosuri, Kaosu's childhood friend who infiltrated Arago's group. What better way to gain information about an enemy than to infiltrate their ranks, right? This had seemed like the most logical approach to learn about 'Oni' and to try and, somehow, prevent Yakushi's scheme from becoming reality. One of the first things the security forces did once they were officially allowed to operate, was to deal with the people living just outside of the capital city in the swampy areas and who had caused so much trouble for the civilians. The night sky was well-illuminated by a full moon overhead. Arago and his four subordinates moved carefully on horseback. They were all dressed in dark clothing. Even in this soft glow, it was difficult to see any of the men moving about. The security forces had decided to strike late at night when most everyone was fast asleep. As expected, this would take the criminals completely by surprise and without any real time to mount a defense. The first move was to take cover, use whatever shadows existed to their advantage, and watch. They had to make sure the odds were in their favor and not be walking into some kind of trap. All of the men were silent. They all watched as one of their own made his way up to the gate of the house and scouted the area. Sure enough, in this small patch of the wetlands, there were people living here. There were several buildings, barely more than huts from the look of things, thad had some families living in them. This wasn't any place people would be found living in unless they had no other choice. They couldn't register as residents of the city so. . . what else were they to do? Even then, by the laws of the city, this isn't a place where anyone was permitted to live. Although this was currently the time for harvesting crops, some people still came to the city in search of work. If they couldn't find work, there's no way to make a living, no way to get food. They and their family would die. More people got turned away and refused work, than those who got hired to do anything or goods bought from. "What do you think?" Yokuseki quietly asked one of his comrades. Shinsei replied. "I don't know. This doesn't really look like some secret hideout for people who go around stealing stuff, muchless attacking and killing people." Akimitsu looked away from his two comrades and back towards the huts. He felt sorry for the people who felt like they had to live out here. Living out in the middle of the countryside under the threat of attacks had to be living in a swampy area like this. They'd come out here with the intent of finding a den of thieves and blood-thirsty murders, ready to attack anyone who dared to approach their territory. Not . . . this. It looked more like a tiny settlement where people were trying their best simply to survive and get by from one day to the next. "I agree," the black haired, blue eyed Tomoaki stated. "So, what do we do? Sure they're living in an unhealthy place, and they can't come live in the capital city-" Before he had the chance to finish that sentence, the sound of a horse neighing cut through the otherwise quiet, dark night. Soon followed by the sight of Arago plowing through the huts. Anyone watching could see the weak buildings give way with too much ease, knowing that there were people inside. Screams could be heard cuttign through the air. All four of the young men's faces showed the shock and bit of horror at the scene unfolding before themselves. "Arago!" shouted Shinsei, emerging from his hiding spot behind a tree. "What do you do!?" Everyone was taken completely offguard and stunned by what their leader on horseback was doing. There was no point in staying hidden now. Either Arago didn't hear them, or chose not to respond because he didn't care, he continued the unprovoked attack. His rampage through the small area and wasting no time mowing down the ramshackle buildings left no doubt in anyone's mind that there would be no survivors from this. There were cries from nearby as people from a few, previously unsee, huts emerged from their little homes to find nothing but the sight of a slaughter unfoling before them. A woman cried in pure fear. Children stumbled outside alongside their parents to see what the commotion was. An old man, a mother with a baby, even a pregnant woman caught sight of this and tried to flee. All of it was in vain, however. Arago, powerful horse underneath him, deadly sharp blade held over his head and ready to slash anyone apart, made certain none of these people would leave here alive. Shinsei shouted as he raced up to the scene of this massacre. "Mr. Arago! Stop! These people aren't dangerous!" He had to stop a short distance away due to how his leader was behaving. He drove that horse like it was crazy and didn't do a thing to ease up on the reins. Hearing Arago's laughter as he ran his blade through a young father who was trying to escape with a young child only made the brown eyed young man's stomach tense up into a knot. Akimitsu, unable to stand by and watch this horrid scene any longer, charged his horse forward and aimed right at Arago. His strong sense of justice wasn't about to let this carry on for a moment longer. Arago looked like he'd gone crazy and had no desire to stop. Akimitsu bodly rode his horse directly in front of Arago's own horse. Just like that, Arago's horse reacted, letting out a shrill sound as it came to a sudden stop, not wanting to crash into the other man's horse. "Guys, we have to stop him!" Akimitsu called out. "Let's get in his way," Yokuseki agreed, kicking his heels into his own horse's side. "Akimitsu, move before you get injured!" The blue green eyed young man didn't move his horse from in front of Arago's. Arago, panting sharply, more from the thrill and excitement than from exhaustion, snarled at his subordinate. "Stop being a coward!" he barked, pulling his horse closer to Akimitsu's before lifting a foot and kicking the neck of the younger man's horse. This wasn't enough to knocked the horse off its hooves, but it was more than plenty to make it rear up and throw the young man off. He hit the ground hard, but the pain didn't register. Everything that was going on, and the Adrenaline shooting through his veins at that moment seemed to be doing a good enough job at keeping any pain he might be feeling at bay. The other three young men gasped at the sight. What sort of leader would attack one of his own?! None of them could understand what was going on in Arago's head. "Akimitsu, you okay?" Shinsei asked, watching the man get to his feet, looking more angry than hurt. "I'm fine," he replied before glaring at their leader. "Arago!" This made Tomoaki and Takekuni stop their horses only a few steps away. The villagers, if you could call them that, that had survived so far and managed to, by some miracle, not get trampled or sliced open, watched at a distance. Some were too scared or surprised to move, others had fled for cover behind nearby trees. "Stop this right now!" Akimitsu shouted at Arago. "Feh," Arago huffed, looking around himself to see the onlookers. "Seems like I missed some." Completely ignoring his soldiers, he dismounted and shifted the grip he had on his sword. He began to run at an old man, lifting the sword over his head and letting out a fierce war cry. "GYAAAAAHH!!!!!" One would almost think that the sword moved only through thin air as it slashed downward. The old man's body falling to the ground a second later let everyone know that Arago had not missed. Without an ounce of pity or remorse, the large beast of a man swung his sword, killing a child. The four young men's mouths dropped open at the sight of this madness. "This is like some sickening level of hell playing out before us," said Yokuseki, feeling sick at the scene. "When is this going to stop?" he asked, more to himself than to anyone else around. As what few survivors remained fled into the darkness and out of the reach of the sword-weilding Arago, all four of the soldiers felt some kind of sick and angry at what had just happened. They were victims of this completely unreasonable punishment. Arago had acted like they were nothing more than pieces of meat to be cut down where they stood. There was no judge or jury, no sentencing or arrests. This had been nothing more than an execution. No... it was something worse. This is something human beings shouldn't do. Ever. This was the work of a madman. Shinsei shouted at their leader. "Arago! How could you do that?! Those people had nothing to do with what happened! And-and you just slaughtered them!" Arago walked back towards the four, fresh blood dripping from his sword. Akimitsu placed a hand on the side of his horse's neck. It would be sore, but fine otherwise. "They're little more than farmers! They're not savages or attackers." he barked at the other man, feeling hot with anger. As horrible as this was, the completely unnecessary slaughter, as Arago made his way back to his four subordinates, he seemed to be much more calm and rational. How could someone who worked for the government be like this!? Dragging the broad, flat side of the bloodied sword across his thigh, wiping away the blood, he stood before the four young men. As he flipped the sword over to do the same on the other side, he spoke. "Why are you all making such a fuss about this? It's like listening to you complain about someone killing bugs. If they can't contribute anything useful to society, then there's no reason for them to exist." "What?!" Takekuni blurted out, too angry to think of much else to say. "It-it doesn't matter if they're contributing anything or not!" Akimitsu snapped at his leader as he got back onto his horse. "They're still human beings!" Arago sheathed his sword and looked up at the small group of men with a faint smile on his lips. It was almost laughable how different their perceptions of this was. Who knows? Maybe Arago was simply insane. With a sharp whistle, the large, muscular, blood splattered man called his black horse to his side. No one said a word as Arago mounted his horse, then led the way back to the capital city. No conversation, no complaints, not a single sound from any of them. Only the horse's hooves walking across the ground provided sound. The entire ride back, the young warriors couldn't shake what they'd witnessed. Such a tragic, unspeakable massacre and this kind of deep-seated anger in the pit of their stomachs would stay with them for a long time. By the time they'd returned to the military club's yard, the young men were more than ready to tell Nakanari, Yakushi's brother and the person in charge of the military department, about that evening's event. Tomoaki, Shinsei, Akimitsu, and Takekuni all stood in a closed, well-lit room with Nakanari. They'd let him know what had transpired out in the swamplands nearby and just how they felt about it. Much to their shock and dismay, the older man's reaction wasn't what they were expecting. He offered them a nonchalant sort of smile and shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about it. After all, those people were inferiors to us. Those peasants entered that area illegally and chose to stay there. Their fate was their own fault." The four young men were absolutely stunned to hear this. "What the hell did you just say?" Shinsei exclaimed. Nakanari's expression barely changed at all, despite the involuntary insult. "Idiots will eventually end up as robbers and thieves living out in the middle of nowhere. Who's to say that they wouldn't have eventually ended up exactally like that and attacking poor innocent civilians of the city? From the sound of it, it sure seems like Arago took care of that before it had the chance to become a problem for anyone. In the end, as long as the city and its residents are safe, that's the only thing that matters." Akimitsu balled his hands into tight fists at his sides. The blue eyed Tomoaki placed a hand on his comrade's arm, silently telling him not to react. Things seemed like they were going from bad to worse. If Nakanari had this sort of attitude towards what was basically the murder of innocent people, who knew what sort of punishment they'd get if Tomoaki's anger got the better of him and he struck the one person in charge of this entire group. Tomoaki spoke up next. "There's a limit to how much a person is able to see. I mean, hell, we saw him kill an innocent little girl tonight!" Nakanari turned his dark brown eyes to look directly at him. "Then I say, commit what you saw to memory. That's the sort of punishment that anyone who stands against this city, its laws, or tries to attack any one of us deserves. Maybe if word of this spreads, less of those people would be willing to break the laws we've set in place." "What about all of those dead bodies?" Akimitsu asked. "We can't just leave them out there to rot. It's not just disrespectful, but those decaying bodies could bring diseases. Shouldn't we, at LEAST, go out there and bury them?" This seemed to have riled up Nakanari. "Burial!? For those peasants?!" he shouted, almost sounding as if he was reacting to a personal insult thrown at him directly. No. Just say they fell asleep and leave them where they lay. Tell people they were nothing more than sinners and leave it be at that." Tomoaki stepped forward, the only person standing between Nakanari and the other warriors in the room. His body was tense and he was trying hard to keep himself in check. "So you're honestly going to stand here and say that what Arago did was correct?" Nakanari sighed heavily. "I'm not saying he was entirely correct the way he carried it out, but, I'm also not saying he was wrong to do so. He did what he felt he had to in order to maintain the security of this city. Of our home here." "Okay, we get it," Shinsei said. It's clear that their view of the situation was different than their own and nothing they said was going to change the minds of Nakanari or Arago. "Thanks for listening to us." Nakanari nodded once then left the room. Tomoaki waited until he was sure the man was out of earshot before he punched a nearby wall from how angry he was feeling. "What is going on around here?!" He turned to face the others. "Is this really suppose to be the city's 'new and grounbreaking' politics at work? Helping to change things for the better and bring about peace? Our leader is going out and murdering people, and the only person he answers to doesn't see a problem with anything he did. What sort of peace could that possibly achieve!?" Shinsei was the youngest and most friendly of the group. This brown eyed young man, who anyone would had the strongest sense of justice and what was right out of their entire group, was probably the most angry of them all. Sure he wanted to bring about peace, and was upset when it came to anyone who threatened that, but this? What happened tonight wasn't right. It wasn't fair. Nakanari and Arago were wrong. Everyone in their small group was in agreement about that. They'd all dreamed of a bright and wonderful new future for their city. By being here, they were going to be a part of history. Something they could take pride in, even when they were old and gray. It was only on this night that they saw how wrong they were. "I don't know," Shinsei said. "From what I saw tonight, Arago seemed more like that Oni guy I've heard rumors about." The young men all looked to him as he spoke. "You know, that really large guy that rides a horse darker than the night sky, and who slaughtered a bunch of Yakushi's guards. I thought Arago was a strong man and would be a great leader. Now . . . I'd almost say that Arago was the Oni or something." "Yeah, but," began Akmitsu, "that whole Oni rumor is just that. A baseless rumor. I heard he was some grotesque monster that Yakushi picked up alongside the road and that would kill any enemy that dared to approach her. Arago doesn't look like that. There's no way they could be one in the same . . . right?" It's not like nearly everyone in the city hadn't been talking about this mysterious 'Oni' character. Some had gone so far to say that they'd seen with their own eyes this blood-stained ogre-like beast escorting Yakushi into the city a few weeks back. Takekuni exhaled heavily, silencing everyone as well as getting their attention. He looked at each of the young men with a serious expression. As if there was a weight on his shoulders. "There's something I need to tell you all." He sat down on the edge of a wooden table nearby, crossing boths arms over his chest. "My name isn't Takekuni. I'm called Nosuri and what I'm going to tell you next is extremely important." From there, he told them about what he knew of Arago's history and of his clan. He wouldn't swear them to silence about this information, but as serious as this all was, it went without saying that this was precious information. The sort of thing not open spoken with or gossiped about unless they only wanted to make matters worse than what they currently are. Shinsei and Akimitsu were clearly stunned by the revelation, though all of the young men were surprised. A clan of people helping bring peace and guidance to the world? The Oni heralding into an era of darkness? This 'Kaosu' character being the entire world's only hope for stopping it? It was different than anything they'd heard of in their lives, but, in a weird sort of way, it felt like it made sense. Sure, things weren't all flowers and rainbows before, but they'd all noticed an increase of bad things going on over the years. Progressively getting worse without any real cause as to why. If it was all due to the Oni's presense. . . "If what you're saying is true," Akimitsu said, "really true, then that person has already gotten into this city's highest military position! He's too dangerous to leave there!" "I agree with you," Tomoaki added. "We're suppose to be out in the world preforming a service to protect the people, help make things better for everyone. Not going out into the dead of night to massacre innocent people who were asleep in their homes, just because they're not 'registered' in the city. It's all different kinds of 'wrong'. And then to hear Nakanari basically saying 'oh yeah, what Arago did is no big deal' just pisses me off even more. What sort of person even says that horrible sort of thing?!" The young men nodded in full agreement. Takekuni spoke up next. "I hear you. For Nakanari to have appointed Arago into such a high ranking position then barely batting an eye hearing what he'd done, things are probably worse than I'd figured. To be supporting such activities is . . ." he exhaled heavily. It was difficult not to feel a firey sort of anger about this whole situation. "There should be no excuse for recommending or excusing the slaughter of exiles just because someone of a higher rank says so. We have to stop this from going any further. However, what if it's worse than we think? What if there's no one in a high ranking government position who's willing to stop this? What we do is basically going to end up being useless. We might put a stop to Arago, but there's no way we can stop the wave of what's already coming." "How in the world," Shinsei asks, "could someone as horrible as Arago get to be the leader of this military group? Weren't there others before us who saw his behavior and wouldn't have tolerated it long before now?" Akimitsu is the one who supplied the answer. "The way I heard it, Nakanari was the one who put him in that position. There wasn't any sort of progression to get the rank he's got." Takekuni offered what information he had. "Yakushi and Nakanari are siblings. She's close to the retired emperor. Sure she's out of the whole political scene, but who's to say that she doesn't still have some amount of leverage in the government because of her relationship? I can't imagine it'd take very much on her part to have convinced the retired emperor to put her brother in charge of this whole operation, then Nakanari left to make whatever decisions he wants, even if they're poor ones." "That's messed up," Tomoaki grumbled under his breath. Akimitsu shook his head once. "What's the driving factor behind all of this if that is the case? Why would Nakanari ever want someone like Arago in charge?" Takekuni shrugged, resting both hands behind himself on the table and leaning back a bit. Taking a moment out to try collecting and organizing everything he'd learned thus far. "Do you think anyone in a higher rank that Nakanari knows about any of this?" Shinsei asked to no one in particular. "I doubt it," the blue eyed Tomoaki replied. "I'd like to think that if someone was, they'd have removed both men from the positions they've got right now. Unless they were as corrupt as these two. Ugh. I don't even want to think about if that's the case," he grumbled, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. As it stands, it was impossible to know for sure if anyone higher up was aware of any of this, or if anyone outside of this room could even be trusted with this sort of information. "Nakanari," Takekuni said, "is a member of a family with a whole lot of power in this city. Furthermore, behind him is the retired emperor. I don't think there's anything we can do right now in order to fix this situation." Akimitsu gritted his teeth, balling both hands into fists. It was bad enough to be on the front lines of this, but hearing that only seemed to make things worse. "What're we suppose to do, then?" Yokuseki asked, sounding frustrated and exhausted. "Keep serving Arago and pretend like none of this is going on? Follow his lead and be expected to slaughter innocent people just because without a second thought? Ignore the fact that everything seems to be getting worse?" "No," Takekuni, or, rather, Nosuri, said, getting their attention. It was in this very moment he realized that there was a shared feeling among them all. A sense of solidarity among these four warriors. They all had a sense of justice in their hearts. It was in this moment that something completely new had been forged. "We may not be able to directly do anything yet, but that doesn't mean we're out of options." As far as he could piece everything together, the horrible beast called 'Oni' was actually Arago. Yakushi had picked him up and brought him to this city. She probably made sure her brother was put in charge of this group of warriors, as well as making sure her 'Oni' was placed right at the forefront. But why? What was their end goal? "Give me a bit of time to get everything together and speak with my clan about this. We'll meet up again later and take it from there. Alright?" The four young men nodded. It wasn't much, but it was the beginning of something. That, in and of itself, was better than being left to their own devices and being angry at a situation they couldn't do a thing about. They all left the room and went their own ways for the remainder of the night. Nosuri making his way outside of the city a little ways to talk with a fellow clan member who was coming into the city. The young woman had been left in charge of watching Nakanari and Yakushi's servants. So far nothing out of the ordinary had been noticed. Yakushi had departed on her usual trip to a temple in a nearby city to offer up prayers for the retired emperor's health. The catch was, the young woman had noticed that the temple had gotten itself quite the reputation for preforming mysterious curses to those who were willing to pay a high enough price. He thanked the young woman for the valuable information then parted ways. After getting himself some black clothing to wear, in the dead of night and under the cover of darkness, taking advantage of what few precious hours remained before daylight would return, Nosuri made his way to the temple as fast as his horse could carry him. Silently he snuck into the quiet, dimly lit temple. Certainly anyone around would've long since been asleep by now and, hopefully, he wouldn't have to worry about running into anyone. Making his way down one of the wooden hallways, making sure his footsteps were as quiet as possible, he made his way to where the leader of the temple's office was. Logically speaking, it would have to be the easiest room to find to accomidate the single most powerful person on the property. If there was any proof to be had, or any exchanged letters with Yakushi, maybe that could help shed some light on this whole situation. As he continued down the hallway, ever so faintly he could hear something frightening and unsettling. It was a sound that, for most any normal human, wouldn't have been heard. For Nosuri, however, being a member of the clan of Kaosu and having much more heightened senses, he could hear something that could only be truly described as a creepy roar, as if it was somewhere far away and faint. Such as the roar of demons echoing from the core of the Earth itself. It didn't make things much better considering there was a slight stink to the air. It was difficult to identify what it was, but it made his nose scrunch up against it. It was something he had never been exposed to and, secretly, is something he genuinely hoped he'd never have to smell again after this night's activity. As unpleasant as it was to be in this building, things only seemed to grow worse feeling the closer he got. His initial goal may have been to get to the main office of this temple, but he felt pulled towards the large main hall, instead. The place seemed to be the darkest part of this entire complex. The place where a spooky voice seemed to resonate within. Looking up at the tall ceiling overhead, only pure darkness greeted him. Any logical human brain would be saying nothing but the night's shadows were there. He being more than any regular human, and sensitive to more things, knew many bad things had the potential to be hiding there. Moving through the vast room, tuned in to any noises at all, he soon found himself down on his hands and knees and looking behind an altar. Through a few thin gaps between the wooden floor boards, candle light spilled forth. Placing an ear close to one of those spaces, sure enough, that's where the sound of some eerie prayer was being said. Looking down through one of the small gaps, he could see the priest of this temple sitting on a bed and casting a spell of some kind. The longer he watched, the stranger it got. He watched as the flame of one of the candles in the priest's room began to move, flicker, and act in a way normal fire never should. It swelled in size, taking the appearance of a face, no, many faces of different people, then to that of some grotesque bird-like monster. Then, it moved from on top of the candle, made its way across the room without lighting anything on fire, and sat on an altar near where the priest was at. Nosuri moved over to a different gap in the floor and was able to see more pieces of the room's interior. A human skull was seen nearby. Papers with spells written on them. Objects that looked much too similar to voodoo dolls. Sitting up, he happened to look at the back of the altar. There was the image of some sort of sacred god or Buddha, Nosuri honestly couldn't tell in this low light, a bowl of sesame seeds, an offering of some kind, perhaps? And some unfamiliar inscriptions carved into the stone of the altar itself. This whole place seemed to reek of ill intentions. If Yakushi had been coming here, then she must be coming here, repeatedly, knowing full well this was an evil place. Any good, logical person would've been avoiding this place like the plague. Quietly standing up, he figured that there must be some way that priest comes out of that room using some hidden passageway. It would be incredibly reckless if that priest had left easy access to that room for anyone to stumble across. He made his way out of the main hall and began walking through a separate hallway looking for any secret signs, passageways, levers, doors, anything to hint at hidden secrets. It was in the midst of this that something, or rather, someone, took him by surprise. "You DO know you're in a temple, right?" came a young man's steady voice. For as bad as the enviroment felt in this building, oddly enough, Nosuri didn't feel that much immediate danger from the other person. He turned around to see a monk standing in front of him. He was a young man and looked a little fat, but he held a wooden staff at the ready and aimed at Nosuri. Sure he looked young and not exactally fit and trim, but under those monk's robes, it was as good a guess as any that he was probably well built and was confident in using his ability of weilding that staff as a proper injury-inflicting weapon. The young man narrowed his eyes at the intruder. "You don't look like any of the field robbers we've got around these parts. What're you doing in this temple?" Nosuri raised both of his hands in front of his chest, palms facing the monk. "My name is Nosuri. I'm sorry for the intrusion at such a late hour. Please, forgive me." It was an incredibly curious and strange exchange. The monk smiled and it was as if, on some subconscious level, there was an understanding that neither was a threat to the other and both wanted to avoid a useless fight. The monk rested the staff at this side, keeping one hand on it solely to make sure it didn't fall over and clatter to the floor. "Eh. Not a big deal. So, what brings you here in the dead of night?" "To be completely honest, I'm searching for something important. Information, if I can find it, that is." He rested both hands at his side as well. "I see." The monk walked back into the main hall, Nosuri following behind, more from curiousity than anything else. He approached a small stand that was reserved for food offerings to the great Buddha. "Good luck finding anything like that around here." "Thanks. Just so you know, I don't have any intention of starting or wanting to be in a fight. I'd like to avoid that if at all possible." "Eh, don't worry about," the monk said. "I'm not much of a fighter at heart, either." He brushed his fingertips across a few of the food items left in the bowl of the stand, carefully looking over the items. "That's a relief to hear. Hey, you mind if we just sit and talk for bit?" It seemed like a crazy thing to ask. "Sure. Not a big deal to me." He picked up a small roll of bread from the bowl, barely larger than his own fist, and took a seat on the floor. Nosuri decided to have a seat as well, though his mouth dropped open when he watched the monk take a bite out of the bread. Something that was meant to be left as an offering, not a snack food for hungry monks. The young man couldn't help a chuckle from escaping. After swallowing, he explained. "Ah, heh, sorry about that. I'm usually on night duty around here and if I'm on patrol with an empty stomach, well, heh no one's going to be getting a good night of sleep with my stomach growling up a storm." Nosuri had to try and keep himself from making too much noise as he laughed. Yeah, it wasn't really a good thing to be taking food from an offering bowl meant for a god, but he couldn't exactally blame the guy for a noisy, growling stomach in the dead of the night. "I understand. And," he leaned over to whisper, "don't worry. I won't tell anyone." This got a big smile from the monk, glad to see the intruder had a healthy sense of humor. It was a weird scene. These two, who should've been enemies and fighting by now, making more than enough racket to wake up everyone in the nearby vicinity, and, yet, here they sat on the floor being okay with one another's presense. "Why do you live here?" Nosuri asked. "This isn't really a good place to be, and you seem like you're still a young and energetic sort of guy." "It's tough living out in the world. When I left home, I was completely overwhelmed by everything I came into contact with. The only viable solution I managed to find was to come here. I know that this place isn't a paradise and it's got its fair share of problems, but . . . it's good enough. Oh, the name's Shuusetsu, by the way. Oh, I mean, my Buddhist temple name is Tetsuhide." He sighed heavily, taking another bite from the bread. "I know this place is rotten. It's not perfect, but I chose to walk the path of Buddha. A temple like this seemed as good a place as any to do that." "I see, I see," Nosuri said, nodding. "About a month ago, I'd gotten sick and tired of being here among all these corrupt people and rotten temples, so, I decided to escape. Lo and behold, I found my way to the mountains of Yoshino and got myself completely and totally lost. I thought for sure I was going to starve and die out there. I mean, nothing but forest everywhere. It's not a thing like around where people live. Buddha or something must've been watching out for me because when I was on my last leg and about to die, this mysterious young guy appeared out of nowhere and saved my life. Shared some of his food with me. Nice guy. Oh, heh I'm rambling. Sorry 'bout that." "Don't worry about it. It's okay. Did I hear you right? You said 'Yoshino?" Nosuri queried. That's out where one of the clans of Kaosu lives at. The monk nodded. "I had all but given up on life, especially one as a monk, but the young guy I met turned me around and helped me out. We spent some time together, even met this really, REALLY old guy. He seemed pretty nice and even shared some food with me, too. After all that, he told me to come back here and give it another try. Even if everywhere around me are bad people, I shouldn't give up on my life path if it's really what I want to do with my life. I should stay true to my heart. Along with that, he mentioned something bad and I wanted to help him out. So, here I am." Nosuri couldn't help but to sit up straighter. If he didn't know any better, he'd think this monk was talking about Kaosu and his teacher. There was only one really 'really' old guy who lived up that way. Had Kose crossed paths with Kaosu? It made him feel a bit excited to think that this monk, one out of a million chance, might've crossed paths with his own childhood friend. And, here they sat, in the dead of night, in a corrupt temple, talking almost as if they were age old friends. "That sounds a lot like what I'm trying to do," Nosuri admitted. "I'm trying to find evidence of a person's evil intentions." "Oh!" Kose snapped his fingers, maybe not having been entirely listening to what the young man had just said. "Kaosu. That was the guy's name. Been trying to remember it this whole conversation." Nosuri's surprise caught Kose's attention. "What? What's wrong? I say something bad?" Nosuri chuckled once. Out of all the people this guy could've crossed paths with. . . "Well," he started to say with a smile of disbelief, "I guess there's no reason to hide anything now." Kose perked up a single, intrigued but confused eyebrow. "Seems like, as unbelievable as it seems, we both ended up on a mission from Kaosu." Who knows? Maybe this was, somehow, the mysterious guiding powers of Kaosu hard at work. Different men, different lives, but paths that were meant to cross one another. "Thanks, by the way, for not wanting to beat me up when you found me here. Not sure if I already said so, but it's appreciated." "You're welcome, and I'm glad I didn't as well." There was a long, quiet moment between the two as the situation began to settle in. Who would've guessed that Kaosu had been a part of both of their lives! "You know, come to think of it," Kose said, "if you're looking for something suspicious, I caught word of a secret hidden prayer room around here. If you're looking for evidence of bad stuff, I'm sure that room's got it. That would probably be best meeting place for them, too, if they're planning bad stuff." "I think I found that a few minutes ago, actually. Under the floor boards behind the altar I saw such a room." The young monk huffed disapprovingly. "Can't say I'm too surprised to hear that. Oh, also heard of rumors that mentioned ordinary prayer rooms lining this main hall but who even knows how 'ordinary' they are in a place like this." "I've seen a bit of that a bit ago. I think the priest has done something terrible." "I've heard enough. I've got to put a stop to it right now!" "Whoa! Wait a minute!" Nosuri scrambled to his feet as Kose stood, taking his wooden staff in hand. "If this is a temple that Yakushi has been coming to, a woman who is close to the retired emperor, you can bet that she knows what's been going on around here had has this place protected from anyone trying to change its ways. It'll be impossible to stop any of the corruption or evil things going on unless we've got evidence, hard proof of what's going on." "Well then, let's get to looking for that evidence. No time like the present." He looked around the room and, nearby he found part of a burned piece of paper laying beside an altar. On the altar was a small pile of ashes. "Hey, I found something." Nosuri hurried to Kose's side. "It's got the name of the retired emperor on it." Nosuri gently took hold of the piece of paper, holding it close to a nearby candle to see it properly. It was part of a tag that priests used to preform rituals and spells with. They were normally disposed of in a fire until nothing at all remained but the ashes. This wasn't something good priests were known for dealing with. As Nosuri examined the paper, Kose used the end of his staff, in case the ashes were still warm, to gently push the small pile of ashes about. Nosuri happened to look up just then. Both of them saw some wooden carvings, bad little replicas of people lined up but not clearly seen for what. Next to them were some small excavated bones that neither man wanted to know where they came from. A small piece of very fancy and expensive looking cloth, a cut of man's hair, and a small wooden doll dressed in a kimono. The doll was covered in countless scratches. Without a doubt, one thing was made incredibly clear this night. They'd found evidence alright that nothing good was going, and that it involved the retired emperor.

#yoroiden samurai troopers #shinkonhen shin kon hen book 4 book4 translated english

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travellingmonk · 5 years ago

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Shin Kon Hen / Early Dusk Volume Book 4 - Chapter 2 - A Flash of Brilliance

- > Chapter 2 - A Flash of Brilliance < -

Book title : Book 4 * Samurai Troopers * Shin Kon Hen (Early Dusk Volume) Character designs by Enzan Norio Story by Ushyuu Miki

(Note from the translator : The following section talks about the capital city, how great it is, how far it extends, and how safe the people who live there feel. aka, it's big, diverse, pretty, well-decorated, and, in general, a nice place to be. However, a section of it is incomplete because this use to be a swampy area. In addition to that, in that area, bad guys live there, so it's not a safe location. It does get a teensy bit rambly, so if you want to skip past that, just scroll down until you see the * * * * * and proceed reading. However, if you are interested and want to read these details for yourself, continue reading from here.)

Heian-kyou was a city that, although there were lots of plans before, and during, it's building phase, those plans withered away. It was originally a diverse place full of of brilliance. A nice place to keep a watchful eye on, like a person watching a very interesting board game. The city of Kyoto was a rational move to turn into a capital which used a mountain basin to its advantage. This place was fantastic. When a person entered the city of Heian-kyou the construction and design was similar to that of a fish. At the very end of it, the city would taper off into the tail end, just like the back fin. From there the metropolis region extended onwards from both sides. The plan was that it was be built as follows. You would enter through a magnificent red gate. There you would see a long, narrow main street which extended down into the capital city. The capital city was divided into two. Sakyou and Ukyou. In Ukyou, there were been weeping willow trees that were along the sides of the road and were only along the main street. In Sakyou, there were special temples called 'Nishidera'. They are all about feeling pride about the pledge the people keep and this was a special place for the arrival of high ranking people. Basically, if you were one of the noble people, or were really rich, this was going to be your first stop. Meanwhile, the administration section, called Setoki, is located in the center of the main street. Lots of people live in the capital city, including aristrocrats. There's also a residential street on the north side. That's in the back, across from the four way main street. However, all of this beauty is a little bit deceiving with its symmetrical beauty. There are a lot of damp, swampy places in Ukyou. This is the reason why the completion of the city couldn't be finished and why it was left abandoned.

* * * * *

Although this has had to endure public attention, there was no way you could miss the stark contrast between the brilliant city and the untamed wilds of the swampy area, most people had simply learned to live with the incomplete places. Another disadvantage of this untouched area is that these sections of wet land are very dangerious, and that air of danger hangs around, despite all of the prosperity that was around the people. Inside this capital city, there was a cry for war. These upset people, who heard of lavish gifts that were given to the capital city and were upset that they weren't getting a piece of that action, secretly gathered together. In a small corner of Tokyo, these people became known as Magai and were little more than a den of theives. At night, no matter how dark it was, there in Heian-kyou, there was no where that remained in darkness. Although you couldn't usually spot the items creating light or where, exactally, they were, they created a warm glow of illumination, keeping any darkness at bay. There's an old saying that goes something along the lines of 'once a hawk falls out of the sky and dies, this is a sign of evil being present in the area'. This is mentioned here because a monster, of sorts, exists in this area. The darkness fills people with evil words and horrible actions. This is a sign that the era of peace is coming to an end.

Here in the capital, there's a family known for and quite proud of their kimono designs. Not that they're lacking in beauty by any means, but, even in these modern times, they're still able to make original designs that dazzle and awe people. Which is a pretty big deal. Alongside that, there are plenty of aristocrats living here, so the art of military affairs is pretty well nonexistent. Because of this, and because of the age they live in, its understandable that they feel scared. They can't fight against the encroaching evil threatening their way of life. The people watch with worry as fierce warriors who live in the rural areas aim their anger and aggression at the capital city. Because the fear of death has settled into their minds, its not unusual to see them wandering around with a rug, rich with intricate designs and made with thickly woven fibers, tucked under one of their arms. Its only by some miracle that the people have managed to survive. In all of this chaos, its not unusual for people to end up being poor. Within a group of fierce warriors there's a faction that was formed rather recently. They're called the Seki group. This violent group is looking for the warrior that serve Yakushi (and Yakushi herself who serves the retired emperor Tooru). A young warrior by the name of Tomoaki Amo sits on a nearby mountain, giving him quite a nice bird's eye view of the city. He watches the people very carefully. He left the state of Wakasa a short while ago and went into the capital city for a pleasure trip. Wakasa isn't very far from this new capital so the trip wasn't long or exhausting to make. The violent warriors, jealous of and angry at the people living in the city, know that there's no secret design laid out for them to succeed, for them to live well in the capital city. However, in this capital city, Tooru, who is at the center of any and all administration related duties, had been in charge of building this magnificent city. To hear that he was nearby was enough to make a person's heart race with excitement. The countryside was filled with beautiful, youthful people, and, with him being a young man, made it easy to blend in. No one would ever suspect Tomoaki of being anything other than just another peaceful young man. At one time, he, along with many other people, lived in a place called Hirasaki. It's a very small place and, in order to reach the nearest village or settlement of people, it was a tough climb through some rugged terrain. Then again, even when one did manage to get to another village, the village was small and there weren't many people living there. However, despite there being so little signs of civilization out there, such as shrines made with gold and silver like the capital city would have, there's no map of this valley. No way to know where one is going or where they can find anything. It certainly didn't make for easy living. Tomoaki looked down at the city. This particular perch gave him a vantage point that made him feel like he could command the wind itself that passed through the land. He was certain that if he tried, he could even get a view of the sea in his home village. He'd always thought this way about this one particular spot. It was somewhere any person could stand and feel incredibly powerful. Far below him in the city, a young man is walking around Suzaku-oji, a boulevard in the old streets of Kyoto. As he makes his way through the crowds of people he hears a rumor floating about. There's talk that people have succeeded in overrunning the mountain-filled state of Yamashiro. Not an easy undertaking for anyone. Yamashiro is a nice enough place to visit, however, it wasn't wise to stay longer than a night or two in a temple there. No one really wanted undue attention in such an area. It didn't help matters any that there weren't any guides or teachers at all in these areas to educate the people on anything. Or to act as a warning to anyone passing through of the dangers present in any places. Everyone was self-taught and learned whatever they knew all on their own. Living this way was fine enough if you were a person who enjoyed solving puzzles and and analyzing various situations. If you weren't, this could cause problems and accidents. However, this was simply how life was. The only records being kept of anything at all was the government keeping track of the money flow. As Tomoaki looks around, taking his time to watch the people below for signs of anything interesting, he noticed that a good bunch of the people are old. They were as various as the different aspects of the city itself. Having been self-taught and doing things on their own, most not having a proper enough mindset to figure out puzzles an the like, trying to live or make a living was difficult. Especially trying to navigate the complexities of living in the capital city and the politics that were always happening. Many times they'd end up becoming a monk or a nun, simply because it was a much easier, and less thought-involved way to live. Then again, on the other side of things, it's not like going into a religious faction made things any easier. There were plenty of politics going on there, too, and people making a profit from the namesake of deities. This is why the emperor was going to separate religion from politics. It was too easy for corrupt people to take advantage of others, saying 'we'll say this prayer on your behalf to the gods' or 'we'll say this magical spell that will cure your ailments' only if they get money out of it. This was only hurting more people than it helped. He was trying to get all of this sorted out before Shou Takashi of Tokyo came to take over Tooru's admistrative position. Who even know how well-informed or honest that Takashi would even be in regards to his matter. Best to get this all done and sorted before that change happened. Tomoaki crossed both arms over his chest as a gentle breeze blew through the area. It's not like any of this information was news to him. To be honest, it's actually what he was expecting to find. He proceeded to make his way down the mountain and closer to the city. It didn't take long before he began to be within earshot of people talking about different things. Yakushi was being mentioned. The sort of person she was, how pretty and elegant she was. How she had gained favor with the emperor, etc. He could hear someone else commenting about how a rich man might act and be seen as whimsical, but in a place like this, with everything that was happening, it was easy for his heart to be full of worry. The peace of this land was being eroded away and it seemed like nothing was going to stop that. Tomoaki quietly approached the backside of a building and peered around a corner. His ears keen to listen in on more conversations. The more he could learn about what was going on, the more prepared he could be. "If its to protect her personal belongings, isn't Toneri and other guards enough to handle the job? I mean, they ARE send from the emperor himself to do that." "Sure, if this was someplace like Tokyo, but it's not..." the person's words falling silent caught Tomoaki's curiousity. He could see several people looking across the way at someone. The young man stood up straight, extending his neck and standing on his toes for a better look. He gasped at what he was able to see. A big, muscular soldier came riding down the road on an impressive black horse, as dark as the night sky itself. He was bigger than anyone the young man had ever seen in his life, and was extremely intimidating to behold. It's surprising to see a horse able to so easily accomidate the man, but it's almost like they fit one another quite well and that the man's size and weight didn't bother the horse at all. As if this sight itself wasn't something else to see, Tomoaki noticed the almost blood red color of the horse's reins, which seemed to match the color of the horse's eyes. It was almost painful simply to look at. Never in his life had he ever seen such a beast, and a part of him really hoped he wouldn't have to ever again. A chill raced down his spine at that moment. As he sank back to standing normally, he could still see the large figure towering above everyone else as he made his way past. He had the sort of air to him that would make a soldier concerned that there were more people like him charging into the city ready to do who even knows what horrible things. It certainly wasn't a sight that allowed people to feel calm and happy. Doing his best to stay in the shadows of the alleyway between the buildings, Tomoaki tried to get closer to see if anyone knew why this huge stranger was here. Maybe he was a courrier to some neighboring country or had an important message to deliver. "Hes so scary to look at. Is he even human?" one man asked to another. "From the look of him, he's definately a person who became a soldier of the capital city. Did you know," said the other man, leaning in close and speaking quietly, "it's said that he eradicates any sort of magic." "Really?!" the first man gasped. "If it is this gentleman is like that, then any man would be wise to be afraid of using magic at all and keep a low profile the entire time he's here." "Do you know anything else about him?" "Well," the two men were facing one another, completely absorbed into their hushed gossip, allowing Tomoaki the perfect opportunity to effortlessly listen in and not be noticed. "I don't know his name, but he's referred to as a military man that Yakushi has embraced and keeps close at her side." He couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable he felt, his gaze drawn back to the horse. It had come to a stop in front of a building across the street. For as big, powerful, and fear-instilling as it was, the horse seemed to stand practally unnoticed by other people in the immediate area. Like a needle hidden among a pile of rice. The big man got down from the horse, was greeted by Yakushi, and proceeded to cross the street with her. Tomoaki made his way from where he'd been hiding and entered out onto the somewhat busy and bustling street, managing to blend in with the crowd of other people who were out and about for the day. Unlike the other people who were in the city that loved to talk about anything and everything, Tomoaki was silent. He heard others muttering something about 'it would come soon'. 'It' what? A memory flashed through the young man's mind at that moment. 'You have to follow where ever he goes. . . unfortunately, it may end up being that this man's future will remain unknown. . . ' Not so far away, one young warrior held steadily onto a bow and several bows. In that moment, the gates of Yakushi's mansion were struck.

Some years earlier, when Kaosu was only a 10 year old kid, he could remember that there was a deep divide between the moutain's forest. His father was a woodcutter. Going into a mountain's dense forest was an everyday thing for him. The older man, even from when he himself was a little kid, had done the same thing. The area has a great variety of different kinds of trees, most of which always sold quite well since people require the wood for warmth in cooler months, and cooking the rest of the time. He knew the area very well because of it, but, having the forest and moutains divided that deeply was something that had never happened before. With such a deep divide and getting so cleared out, it was bound to end up as a clear mountain path for anyone who lived there or who passed through the area. Sometimes this would include wild animals, too, taking advantage of the cleared terrain. Although this bothered the boy, he knew full well that his father didn't cut down trees to become a murderer of little animals or destroy the land. There was a bigger reason for why he did this, and this was the first day that Kaosu really showed that he was different than everyone else around. For quite a while now, Kaosu had been showing more and more interest in the world around him, as well as a knowledge about things that most full grown adults didn't possess. Sure it'd been clear that Kaosu was different, right from the first day he was born, but it only became more pronounced the older he got. Today, his father had invited him out on a walk into the forest. The boy was glad to go and enjoyed the surroundings but after almost half a day of walking through the woods and quite a great distance away from his home, he didn't understand where his father was taking him. The man eventually came to a stop at what seemed like a thick wall of foilage. "Ah, here it is," he muttered with a smile. He knelt down and pushed aside a bit of the greenery to reveal the small entrance to an overgrown pathway. If one didn't know exactally what they were looking for, this area could easily have blended in with anywhere else. No one would've ever imagined to think that a pathway was here leading to . . . who even knew where. He placed a hand to the side of his mouth and made a 'hoo' sound, similar to that of an owl. Kaosu watched in silence, puzzled but intrigued by his father's behavior. After a moment, a voice responded with a similar sounding 'hoo' followed by the sound of rustling plants. Someone was on the other side pushing away the plants. Sure enough, after a few seconds, sunlight poured in from the other side to reveal a short, older man with greying hair standing there. It was in that moment that Kaosu realized that everything had suddenly fallen quiet. The sound of the wind had died down, no chirping birds to be heard. It was strange, and almost felt as though time itself had come to a stop. "Follow me," his father said, then led the way through the opening in the foilage, holding the plants aside as Kaosu did as he was told. Soon enough they were through to the other side and standing up. "Onjiyou, it's good to see you," greeted the old man as Kaosu's father respectfully bowed to him. "It's good to see you, too," the old man said in return with a respectful nod of his head. "I see you've brought your son with you this time." Kaosu's father nodded, stroking his son's head for a moment as he looked down at him "I have. Kaosu, the time has come to you to live here for a while. They'll teach you about many things that others cannot." He knelt down so he and his son were at eye level. "Learn well while you're here. It will all be important for you later on when you're older and out in this world on your own." "I will," the boy said. Kaosu's father smiled at him, then rose to his feet and proceeded to leave. Although the boy didn't entirely understand what was happening, he trusted his father. If his father trusted this old man, then he would, too. It's not like he didn't already have a feeling deep inside of him that he was different than everyone else, and was told many times over the years that he's important for this world. This was simply the first step into becoming the person this world would need. He knew he wouldn't see his father again for a long time, his family, or his home village, but, while here, he'd strive to do his best. For as wise as he was, he was still just a 10 year old kid and he'd miss the only life he'd ever known up until now. Kaosu drew in a deep breath and looked up at the grey haired older man. "Don't worry, my boy," he said reassuringly, "you'll get to see your village and family again, soon. For now, let's get you settled in. We've been waiting for you to be ready to come here for quite a long time. It's nice to finally meet you. Welcome to the village of Kaosu" "Thank you. It's good to meet you, too." Just that short of an exchange seemed like it lifted a bit of weight off of the boy's shoulders. It's not like him being here would be a permanent thing, or that he'd become an outcast. Far from it. "Come with me," he said, and began walking. Kaosu quietly walked alongside Onjiyou, taking in his new surroundings. Despite just having been in the depths of the forest, this area had open places with comfortable looking houses. Trees grew all around in such a way that the area felt in balance and harmony. They weren't too clustered together, nor were they greatly spaced apart. "From now on, you'll be living here with us," he indicated to the few visible people who were currently out and about at the moment. A few walking and talking side by side, a few others tending to their own little gardens. "There will be many things you'll need to study and learn about. I'll be your teacher from here on out, even if I am all old and wrinkly," he said, his tone warm and friendly. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. It's what I'm here for, after all." Kaosu nodded his head, staying quiet for a moment longer before looking up at Onjiyou. "I have something to ask you. Kaosu is the name of this village. . .but, that's my name, too. Isn't it kinda strange?" "My, now, that's a curious sort of question to be asking this old man. Well, Kaosu isn't so much an individual person's name. I mean, it IS, but, it's also not." He exhaled before continuing, stopping his walking tour to look directly at the black haired, brown eyed boy. "This is a very special place. To put it simply, all of the people here, myself included, belong to the clan of Kaosu. This village? This village is the village of Kaosu. However, "Kaosu" is also," he gently poked the boy's chest, "you. Now, you see, a very long time ago, in the ancient times, an entire famliy took on the responsibility to help this world. To quietly guide the people to be better, nicer, kinder. Also, to help protect them from bad feelings and evil actions. The people who were currently alive, as well as the people who were yet to be born. This role of ours hasn't changed." A gentle, warm breeze blew through the area, rustling the leaves of the trees. "As for your name, well, there was a leader, a man, a very long time ago who was born under the sign of a miracle. As he grew older, it was more knowledgeable, insightful, and good-hearted than everyone else. He's the one who saw everything that was happening and chose to help the people. It's his family that we are a part of and his name that we carry. On the very day you were born, there was a miracle that happened. That's how we knew you were special. That is why your name, his name, the name of this clan and this village, are all the same. You are Kaosu." "Wow," breathed out Kaosu. "To add onto that, there's an old legend that says when a child is born and a miracle happens, this child will be Kaosu." No one had ever told him all of this before, and, understandably so, it was quite surprising to hear about. And yet, at he same time as he was surprised and in awe by this information, it felt 'right'. As if some part of him that had been missing had finally come to light. Things made sense. The old man was amused, watching this kid's reaction. There was nothing quite like seeing that light of 'It makes sense now!!' go off in someone else's eyes. Even at such a young age, it was remarkable to see how fast Kaosu seemed to understand his namesake. It was a pretty big topic to mentally grasp, even for an adult, but for a kid? Well, it's not like this was any ordinary child. This was Kaosu. THEE Kaosu. In this one moment, Onjiyou truly felt as though this boy could be entrusted with everything he knew and be able to handle the weight of all that knowledge. After showing Kaosu to his own little hut, a simple yet comfortable bed already waiting for him, the old man said that Kaosu could take it easy the rest of the day. Wander around, look at the village, greet the other people here. They would begin his lessons tomorrow. As the afternoon passed to night, the stars out and twinkling in the dark sky, Onjiyou looked upwards. An era of "magic" was about to begin and this would be a completely new experience for everyone. It was up to every individual person to decide just how they were going to get through it. This would take many years but, when compared to Kaosu, this would all seem like an extremely short period of time. Then again, this is the moment the old man had been waiting for his entire life. When the next morning came about, after having some breakfast, Onjiyou and Kaosu headed out to a nearby area. This would be their first day together as student and teacher, where he'd tell Kaosu to do something, and he'd execute whatever it was without question. After all, there was only so much he could explain. Sooner or later, life experiences would be needed in order to experience, learn from, and grow because of. This was only day 1. "Today we begin your lessons, Kaosu." He'd led the way through a bit of forested area to a cliff. They stood upon the edge of a sheer verticle rock wall that, far below, held flowing water in the middle of a valley. The boy carefully peered over the edge to the glistening, clear water below. "The area of water below is called Tanikawa. What you must do is get water from there." The brown eyed boy looked curiously back at the old man. They were high up on a cliff. The area below showed no signs of easy access to anywhere that water flowed. How in the world was he suppose to get water from there? There were no paths or walkways, the cliff face looked too smooth to get any hand or foot holds, and they hadn't even brought a container of any sort along with for him to retrieve the water with. The old man smirked in a playful sort of way, knowing full well what was going through the boy's head at the moment. "Yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that there's no direct way to get that water and we didn't bring any tools to get it. I will tell you this in order to help you." He shrugged slightly, in a nonchalant sort of way. "As long as you get water from Tanigawa, then any way you do it is fine. Good luck," he said with a smile, then turned and began walking away. "I know you'll figure it out!" Kaosu's brow furrowed, watching the old man walk away. That makes two people who'd up and left him behind in the span of only 24 hours. Not even that long, in fact. He sighed as the old man walked back into the forest and out of view. He stood closer to the edge, looking down again and giving careful attention to the area. Clearly there had to be some way of getting that water. Should he try climbing down the rock face? He gave himself plenty of time to really look for any possible hand holds to use, but there simply weren't any to be taken advantage of. Maybe there was some way to climb down into the valley itself and get to the water that way? No... that wouldn't work either. The place was more like a huge crevasse, rather than some lush, green, welcoming valley anyone could easily walk through. How about if he tried scooping up the water by tying a long a long rope around something. . .? The trees around him had fairly good sized leaves and nuts on the branches. Yeah... that'd work. However... he didn't actually have a rope to use. Then again, a few vines tied together could make a useable rope for this. After getting the largest nut he could and hollowing it out, grabbing several vines and tying them together then around the nut, he had a perfectly good scoop. Sitting at the edge of the cliff, he proceeded to lower the creation down, but one thing became quickly apparent. It was barely noticed this high up, but the further down one went towards that water, the harder the wind was blowing. The scoop was soon completely unstable. Lifting it back up, he placed a stone inside of it to keep the scoop weighted down, but that barely seemed to change the results. Even if the rope was more than long enough to reach, and a heavy enough stone inside of that tree nut, that strong, consistent wind pretty well guaranteed nothing would get down there Even if, by some miracle, he actually managed to get that nut down into the water, the wind would whip it around the moment it began its ascent and dump out every last drop. Frustrated, Kaosu sat quietly on the edge of the cliff, arms crossed over his chest and his face showing he was deep in thought. There HAD to be a way to get some of that water. One day passed by, then another, then another after that. Each day Kaosu went out to that cliff and wracked his brain trying to figure out how to get some of Tanigawa's water. Every evening he came back, got something to eat, slept, then went back out the next morning. Several days had gone by at this point and he'd noticed that there was always a strong wind blowing up from the bottom of the valley. An updraft. If a kite was there, it would always be in flight and never come down. Sometimes, as he'd noticed, there were clouds that rose from the valley below to become tiny drops of moisture. Those, in turn, formed clouds that would release rain. It was on one afternoon that it was sprinkling, Kaosu having taken shelter under the thick growth of leaves from a tree, that he felt lonesome. He was out here, all day long, no one to talk to or interact with. It was only him and this challenge. He sighed, resting his head back against the tree trunk when the old man's words echoed in his mind. 'As long as you get water from Tanigawa, then any way you do it is fine.' That didn't seem like it helped him at all. There was no way to even get at the water. He turned his gaze upward, watching as water droplets lazily dripped off of the leaves. "As long as you get water from Tanigawa," he muttered, suddenly realizing that the whole water rising as a cloud, then raining, was still Tanigawa's water, "then any way you do it is fine." He smiled and felt invigorated. That's it! That was the answer! He got a bowl from the village then hurried back out to that same spot, letting the sprinkling water fall into the wooden bowl. When it felt enough had been gathered, he went straight for the old man to show him. Onjiyou smiled and nodded his head once in approval. Took the kid a bit longer than he'd been expecting, but he eventually figured it out. Sometimes, the solution to a problem isn't a direct approach or doing all of the work himself to get results. Observation and patience were important. The next lesson didn't sound overly difficult. The old man, who was sitting in front of a bonfire, explained it simply. Go connect a band to the top of a tree. The top of a tree that just happens to look like the peak of a mountain. The tree will be found somewhere on the mountain that's covered with lots of trees. As Kaosu headed for the mountain with trees, he noticed someone disappear into the shadows of the trees nearby. Sure, okay, that was odd, but there honestly didn't seem to be any signs of danger around here. If there was anything dangerous, certainly Onjiyou would've warned him about it. The boy flinched at the unexpected and loud whistle the old man made. Kaosu paused, about to look back at him when what sounded like many roars cut through the air in response to the whistle. All coming from the top of the mountain. Were those tree spirits or something calling back!? The boy was about to ask Onjiyou what that was about, but when he turned to look, the old man was already standing up and walking into the forest. The exact moment he was out of sight, it started raining. Hard. The downpour so heavy it made being able to see more than a few short feet ahead almost impossible. Could he have run back the way he'd came and return to the village until this rain passed? Yes, but there's one problem. It was obvious that this wasn't some freak of nature rain storm. Somehow Onjiyou had made this happen. Or, more specifically, made it happen to challenge Kaosu. As the slope of the moutain started running with water, almost enough to make the boy slip with each step, the best thing he could do was find shelter and figure out this latest challenge. He found a nearby cave and rushed inside, glad to be out of that drenching downpour. His relief was short-lived. Barely more than a few steps into the dark, cool, dry cave the floor suddenly gave way beneath his feet. The was no warning, no sounds of crackling stone or sifting soil. One minute he was on solid ground, the next, he'd found himself falling. It had happened so suddenly that he didn't even have the time to cry out. The next thing he was aware of, Kaosu groaned as he returned to consciousness, laying stomach down on a cold, stone floor. As he slowly pushed himself to sit up, coughing a few times in the process, he wasn't sure if a few seconds had passed, minutes, or hours. Sitting up and taking a few deep, slow breaths, ignoring the throbbing and pain he felt running through his body, he took his time looking around himself. His brown eyes had adjusted to the dim light well enough, but it's not like there was really anything to see. Way up at the top of the hole he could barely make out sunlight. The old man had probably stopped the rain and now everything was calm and brilliantly sunny once more. He could hear water slowly dripping somewhere in the hole with him. A little bit of the rain from earlier had probably managed to find its way into the cave and drop down, little by little, into this hole. From what little he could make out of the hole he was in, the walls didn't have anything jutting out. Nothing for him to use as any sort of hand hold. No way to climb out. Only one way in, one way out. Looking across the floor, he was able to see a few animal bones scattered about. Seems like he wasn't the only one who have lost his way and found themself at he bottom of this pit. He took time to check over his body, seeing what places hurt, what places didn't, if he was bleeding or not. As far as he could tell he was okay. Sore in quite a few places, but, no bones sticking out from his skin, no trails of blood able to be felt. No doubt he had a few cracked bones, but nothing he wouldn't live through. Gathering himself mentally, he stood up, then proceeded to run his hands across the walls as far up as he could reach. He hadn't been able to see anything specific, but had managed to grab onto a few slightly sticking out rocks from the wall. This ended up being a fruitless endeavour since he barely got more than a foot or two higher and felt nothing else he could grab onto. He was quite stuck down here with no way out. This was it? Was he going to suffer the same fate as these animals? No. He had to escape. He HAD to escape. But... He looked upward at that overhead hole again. He had to escape. With a tired sigh, he laid his back flat against the wall, still looking upward. His latest lesson / challenge was to go find a tree on a moutain. He hadn't thought of bringing any tools along with. Just go, find tree, put band on tree top, and done. It was a straight shot from that bonfire to the top of the mountain, even with all of the trees in the way. How could he have expected any of this to happen? He mulled over the possible solutions. Climbing the walls was clearly out of the question. Nothing to grab onto. There were animal bones and loose rocks down here but, that was no where near enough to help him get even a quarter of the way up to that opening in the ceiling. What else could he do? There wasn't anything in here he could use and the walls were solid. He couldn't even use anything down here to strike the walls with to make holes he could use to climb out with. Sliding against the wall, he sat down in a sore, defeated lump. Hours must've passed. The faint sunlight that was at the top of the hole had given way to darkness. There was no light at all. He could've called out to the old man, to any of the villagers and hoped they were close by enough to hear his voice but. . . it was useless at night. When daylight poured into the cave again, from what little Kaosu could even see, that is, he cried out for help. The only answer he got was his own echoes. The day passed into night again and he was still all alone at the bottom of this hole. This is where he went from feeling sad and alone to feeling angry at being stuck. He had to drink yesterday's rain water, which had accumulated into a small puddle. By now he welcomed the tiny fragment of sunlight that actually managed to be seen at the top of the hole. Not about to give up, he tried again at the walls for anything he could use, grab onto, take advantage of. Unfortunately, the same conclusion as before greeted him. He huffed and panted after his latest try, forehead resting flat against the rock wall. Tears stung his eyes. If he really was this Kaosu of legend, if he really was this miracle child who's suppose to grow up and help save the world, then shouldn't he have gotten out of this stupid hole by now? If he was so important, wouldn't the villagers have mounted a search for him? He groaned, half in frustration, half in pain from his numerous bruises, scratches, and whatever cracked bones he now had. Night fell again, leaving the boy all alone, plunged into pure darkness and without any way out. However, unlike the other nights, this one was different. Several people had made their way to the cave and stood at the edge of the hole. By some form of magic, they were able to see into the darkness to see Kaosu. One of them whispered. "Can I help him now? If this keeps up, he's going to die down there." Another one replied in as much of a whispered tone. It was Onjiyou. "No. Let's wait a bit longer. I'm certain he'll figure this out." A different person spoke up, they all doing their best to speak only in whispers. The last thing they wanted was to ruin this lesson or give him false hope. "We can't just stand by and watch this go on. There's talk that an Oni is already in the capital city. The great evil that the old legend warned us about is already starting to show. We can't let Kaosu die. If he does, then there will be no way to save this world from the dark era." "I know, I know. Let's try and have some faith in the boy. He IS Kaosu, after all. One more day. If he hasn't figured it out by then..." he trailed off. He really didn't want to step in. This was crucial. Kaosu HAD to figure this out by himself. Otherwise it'd be like a parent picking up a child and carrying them everywhere, instead of letting the child learn to walk on their own. Three days and three nights had passed by now. What little water remained at the bottom of the pit had long since been gone. Kaosu sat on the floor, legs spread out, arms resting at his sides, and looking like he was some child's abandoned toy left propped up against the wall. The boy was hungry, exhausted, sore, and just wanted out. He'd reached his limit. He looked upward to see that same tiny amount of sunlight at the top of the pit. 3 days. 3 days had come. He knew that once that light was done, he'd be dead. A human could survive for only so long under such conditions. For a little kid, having survived even this long was probably a miracle in and of itself. Or maybe a curse? Being stuck down here in the pure, unforgiving, cold darkness of this place certainly didn't seem like a nice place to be alive in. He closed his eyes. Despite how he felt, there was a weird sense of peace about this moment. He'd felt angry, abandoned, alone, forgotten. . . and yet, somehow, all of that had fallen away to this moment. It was in this moment of quiteness that something Onjiyou had said earlier came to mind. "In this big, natural world, something like the power of an ordinary human being seems insignificant. Me, a regular human being, can't go against the natural time span or abilities of my life. If I were to try, I'd become corrupted and no longer be a human. However, if you possess a natural ability to do something, and make use of it, you would not be corrupted. Besides, you ARE Kaosu, after all. You're not like the rest of us." It was a rather peculiar thing to mention. There was no lead up to it, nothing he'd asked or mentioned would've sparked such an out-of-place comment. So . . . why did he say it? Everything Kaosu had seen of the man up til now had taught him one thing. That old man never acted, talked, or instructed without there being a good reason behind it. His mind wandered a bit, thinking about the ambient light shining in from the opening at the top of this pit, as well as the darkness in this place he was stuck in. The darkness in this hole would never meet the outside world, and, yet, darkness is still here. It's always supporting the light. The radiance of light exists because the darkness is dark. Kaosu allowed his mind to drift, letting all the feelings, aches, and pains of his body melt away until it was like they no longer existed. Maybe in this dark place, he wondered, his body might disappear into the darkness, never to be seen again. That's when something new happened. There, in the darkness, behind his closed eyes, he could see shining stars. As if he were floating in the air and no longer a part of anything. He opened his eyes, only to realize they were already open. He bilnked and realized that, in fact, he WAS floating. High in the sky. Looking around, everywhere he could see a galaxy that was made of seven different colors. It was beautiful beyond measure and like nothing the night sky on Earth could ever hope to display. "Wow," he breathed out in awe. He looked down at his feet and, instead of any ground, there was light. It was small and weak, so tiny in comparison to all of the darkness around it, but it was there. He focused on that tiny little bit of light and watched as the darkness gave way. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself floating through that light, through what seemed light softly illuminated clouds. He looked upward and, among the beautiful, multicolored galaxy, he could see a rip. A black crack. He didn't entirely understand what he was seeing, but one feeling was clear as he looked at it. He felt disturbed and upset. Whatever that black crack was, it was very wrong. Very bad. He pulled his gaze away from the darkness to look down only to be immediately struck with something burning an intense red. The boy found himself standing on a rock and watching as the ground was scorched with boiling magma. This was a fierce sort of heat, and nothing he knew could be compared to it. Laid out in front of him, the rocks were glowing red and flames were occassionally flaring up from the magma as it came into contact with new things. He silently watched the magma move, covering the ground. Like some sort of animal, this glowing, firey thing proceeded onwards. The ground, the plants, the forest, villages, people... nothing was spared. Everything was swallowed up by fire. When baring witness to the immense power of nature like this, one can only bow to its incredible strength. No matter how a person lives their life, we can't forget that we're nothing more than living things and that the raw, unbridled power of nature itself is something we are powerless against. Watching all of this, being exposed to the searing heat, Kaosu's throat felt dry and he felt hot. Too hot. Almost to the point it hurt. "I want water," he muttered without thinking. "Just a bit of water..." His desire, his deep-seated want for refreshing, cool water was so strong that, in an instant, he splashed down into cool water like a rock dropped into a lake from above. He was momentarily taken away by the difference and focused only on how refreshing and cool the water felt. It had embraced every last centimeter of his body, making him feel invigorated. Kaosu opened his eyes and realized he was in the water. Deep under the water somewhere. He wasn't struggling to breathe or desperate to swim up to the surface. He could breathe as easily as if he were still on land. He chuckled with a smile, looking around himself as a small school of fish took their time swimming past him. Maybe they didn't see him, or didn't see him as a threat. There was nothing to indicate that they saw him as a threat at all. What in the world was this place? It seemed so vastly different than the world of heat, magma, and fire he'd just been in. The water was refreshing, cool, and wonderfully blue. This was the mother of the sea. The place that all living creatures came from and that produces life on the waves for everything living in the water and out of it. The waves. . . Just that fast, he found himself standing on top of the water itself. Waves came and went. He couldn't help but feel like the repetition of the waves was like the breath of some living thing. He lifted his gaze and saw the open ocean in every direction. It's crystalline blue depths stretched from horizon to horizon. "Wow," he breathed out. He'd never been outside of the forest he'd been born and raised in. He'd heard about the ocean from stories, but to see it, to feel it like this was beyond what he could describe. As he stood there, quietly watching it all, this exposure expanded what he knew of the world. It was so much bigger than he could've imagined. And, to think, everyone is only allowed to play for a little while in the hands of this huge, expansive, magnificent world. The sun was shining down onto the ocean, making the top of the water seem like it was glittering and amazing. Kaosu figured that if a person stands in the light like this, with the sun shing down onto them, that they'll be illuminated in the exact same way. That, on some level, they'll be a shining, glittering, wonderous sort of thing. People, animals, rocks, trees, even the dirt itself. Everything shining with the sun's radiance. It seemed like, no matter what of kind of history the people create, things on this eternal stage are the exact same. On that same note, as long as this stage exists, life and people can make history. The sound of crashing waves and the sparkling of the light seemed to increase to the point it was uncomfortable. He narrowed his eyes, raising a hand to his eyes as a shield from the light. Even like this, everything still seemed to shine with brilliance. In that moment, it's as if someone had increased the light. As the entire world seemed to change into nothing more than light made of pure white, he having to close his eyes against it, just that fast, everything was darker, cooler. The sound of wind through the leaves of trees and birds faintly chirping somewhere nearby could be heard. Kaosu blinked open his eyes and, to his amazement, found himseld standing in the middle of a forest. No. Not just any forest. He knew this place. Looking around, he recognized a treeline and smiled. He had returned. He was back in the forest at almost the exact spot he'd begun at. Before Onjiyou had whistled and made that rain furiously pour down. He stood up straight and paused. Was this a dream come true? He looked down at the ground and tapped his sandalled foot against it. It felt real and very solid. That's when he looked down at himself. He wasn't covered in scratches or bruises. Nothing hurt. But. . . he'd gone into that cave. He fell through the floor. He could remember the sting of his injuries, the cold of that dark pit and the all-enveloping darkness as clear as anything else in his life. That HAD happened to him. But. . . those other places he'd been to, they'd all felt real, too. If this was a dream, he'd still be at the bottom of that hole right now, probably dead like the animals that had fallen in there long before him had. Was he dead? But. . . he didn't FEEL dead. He felt alive. Very solid and very alive. Looking down at his hands, he saw the cloth band he'd been given to wrap around the top of the tree. The instructions that old man had given to him weren't a dream. So . . . what in the world had just happened to him?? He looked upward to the tops of the treeline and wondered about what he'd experienced. The border between dreams and reality suddenly became a lot less clear and a lot more mysterious. On the plus side of things, he looked fine. He felt perfetly okay. In all honesty, he felt really good. Like he'd been fed, had plenty to drink, had a great night of sleep, and was energized to start his day. Even his face seemed radiant as he smiled, and his eyes seemed to shine with a vigor he'd never had before. Whether all of that had been reality or a dream, one thing was clear above everything else. What he'd experienced was the most precious thing he'd ever learned. He'd been through something absolutely incredible and it had forever changed him in the best possible way. Maybe . . . maybe what the old man had said was true. Maybe Kaosu was more than a simple human being. It was in that moment something both his father and Onjiyou had said popped into his mind. 'There's nothing better in this world than having learned something.' He had to admit, this was a pretty nice feeling. Just as he was gathering himself mentally after his ordeal, feeling better and relaxed, he went stiff. His body on full alert. Up ahead he spotted a large boulder that was sticking out of the ground some distance away from him up the path. On the large rock stood an impressive, strong, stunningly prestine white tiger with white fur as white as the snow itself and black stripes darker than the night sky itself. Just as soon as he was able to get a good look at the creature, it dashed off into the forest and out of sight. The boy closed his hands around the cloth band in his hands, recalling the latest lesson Onjiyou had put forth for Kaosu to complete. Drawing in a deep lungfull of breath, eyes looking up the path leading into the forest, he smiled and began walking forward. After this whole experience, how Kaosu saw this world, how he precieved everything, had completely changed. It was moment where nothing had changed, and yet, everything had changed, too. He couldn't help letting his gaze wander upwards as he walked, looking up at the towering trees, their branches, how wonderfully green the leaves were. The birds chirping away. The wind intermittenly making its way through the area. How these big, old trees rose upwards as if they dared to touch the sky itself. Trees so old they'd probably been alive longer than the people who had been living here for generations. It seemed as though the overflowing power of life itself, coming from everything around him, was being transmitted though his body. He'd never felt so strong before, and had never felt the power of life. It was beyond what he could put into words. As the boy's warm brown eyes surveyed his surroundings, feeling as though this was the first time he was truly seeing everything, feeling a great sense of respect for all of existence, just then, something moved out of the corner of his vision. Kaosu continued walking but could see something slowly move between the dark undergrowths of the forest around him. His pace quickened a bit as he began to walk faster. Whatever it was in the shadows seemed to follow him, getting faster as well. He began to hear a low, rumbling sound coming from in front of him, he able to feel it through the soles of his sandals. The further ahead the boy walked, the louder the sound became. Soon enough the thick forest gave way to a grand sight. A waterfall was laid out before him to the right side, rising up a good distance to reveal where it came from. The edge of a cliff. Stretched out in front of him was a crystal clear lake. Where the edge of the forest met the water left little room for any sort of bank between them. The only warning signs being the loud, ever-rumbling sound it radiated. A breath escaped from between his lips as any thoughts of whatever the unknown beast was that was following him, stalking him were pushed away by this sight. Beautiful rainbows were present near the base of the waterfall as the countless droplets of water from the waterfall collided with the water below. Because of this, even the leaves of the trees sparkled due to the water droplets covering them. "Wow..." He walked forward between a few tree trunks until he stood almost at the water's edge. To the right, the waterfall's bottom. Before him, the lake it poured into. Off to the left, the water flowed out of this lake and into a valley that ran between a deep ridge. This waterway must support the whole area. All the people. The animals. The plants. There must be a lot of fish that live here, too. The water. . . this water probably flows out to the ocean somewhere. His mind, for a second, flashed back to what he'd seen of the great ocean. All the life that place held within it. Everything seemed to support everything else in one way or another. This was a surprise to him. A natural system that forever supported itself. As he watched this for a long minute, the strength and beauty of this sight, he saw the seven colors of the rainbow, now more than he ever had before now. Before he could think too much about this, a figure emerged from a nearby rainbow, walking out onto a nearby boulder that was half exposed out of the water and closest to the shoreline. An odd feeling came to the boy as he looked at this white tiger. The white fur with black stripes. Those brown eyes. "I know-" he coughed then spoke up clearly. "I know you... don't I?" Not today but... from... a very long time ago. Kaosu was certain of it. But when? Where? How? Before today he'd never seen ANY tiger, muchless a white one. He couldn't remember, but that familiarity was there. Yes. He was positive. He knew this tiger. It felt like some old forgotten memory his mind lost track of, but his heart knew without a doubt. He felt really nostalgic looking at the tiger. But . . . why? With a surprising amount of grace and levity for such a strong, massive feline, the tiger lept off of the rock and onto dry land, taking its time approaching Kaosu. The boy didn't move an inch as the tiger approached. The closer the tiger got, the more certain he was that he knew this tiger. The feeling was like a child who'd lived alongside a beloved pet for many years. Feelings of surprise, confusion, joy, and relief swirled around within him. By the time the tiger was close enough, Kaosu placed a hand on that big, soft, fluffy, white fur covered head and, just that fast, he felt peace. All of his thoughts turned quiet. The tiger softly grumbled then stepped forward, nudging its head against Kaosu's chest in a snuggly way, getting a delighted laugh from the boy as he moved his fingers down through the tiger's thick fur. As weird as this moment was if anyone else had been going through it, this was no dream. This was a flesh and blood creature. "You know me too, don't you?" The tiger rubbed his head against Kaosu's side, and there was a feeling of the tiger, on some level, answering him without any words. He knew Kaosu. He'd known the boy since he was born. It was a while later, well into the afternoon hours, when the boy returned to the village with the white tiger walking at his side. The sight made Onjiyou gasp in surprise and took Kaosu offguard. "Are you okay?" Kaosu asked the old man. Onjiyou shut his mouth and nodded once. He needed a minute to recover from this unexpected sight. "Yes. I'm quite alright. This is most certainly a surprise. From the look of things, you appear as though your heart has woken up new senses within you." "I have." He placed a hand on the tiger's side, burying it into the soft, warm, fluffy fur. "When did you know about Byakuen?" "Hm?" "Byakuen. I'm sure of it," Kaosu started. "Byakuen is a legendary tiger god who use to guide people from one sparkling place to another. He fought in the ancient times of the gods." Onjiyou smiled. He raised his voice so everyone in the village could hear what he had to say next. "THIS IS THE PROOF THAT THIS BOY IS OUR LORD! THE ONE TRUE KAOSU!" This caught everyone's attention. The old man looked at the boy. "We've known about this tiger for a very long time. This is the one who came to visit you on the day you were born." The fellow villagers came out of their homes and the surrounding treeline. It's not like they weren't hoping this was THEE Kaosu, but, they needed proof. They needed to see with their own eyes that this observant and knowledgeable young boy was their clan's guardian returned to the world. "He's been a guardian of the Kaosu clan for an incredibly long time, and, yes, long ago, he did help all living beings to that sparkling place." Kaosu looked at his furry feline companion again. He couldn't help wondering why this sacred beast, the one that lived in the time of the gods and long before humans, was now here. Right in front of him. Despite being told of just who he was, and everything he'd been through, he still didn't really feel like it. I mean, would anyone else believe if it they were told that they're basically the reincarnation of some super being that not only led a clan, but helped lead the way to guide people to a better, sparkling, radiant place? It was still a lot to take in. How could a 10 year old boy really, truly believe that he was a living, reincarnated legend? "It all seems so crazy," Kaosu said. "It's, like, some sort of dream, but . . . it's not a dream at all." "Byakuen has come to see you again," Onjiyou stated. It was clear that, in spite of everything, he was still struggling to believe who he was. What he was. His bond with the tiger. "This white tiger, Byakuen, had actually appeared in your village long before you were born and even, for a while, after you were born, too. Keeping watch over you in your earliest days of this life." He looked at the beautifully impressive tiger and couldn't help a small smile. "It's said that Byakuen is the transformation of all life in this world. By having lived a good and rich life here on Earth, he then became the immortal tiger god. All because he has a pure heart. He came to you only because you have a pure heart, too." Almost as if to prove this point, or, perhaps, by mere coincidental timing, Byakuen strolled away from the boy's side, walked over to a nearby patch of growing wildflowers, then laid himself down comfortably for a nap. From one of the nearby trees, a small bird flew through the air, landed on the tiger's back, and began grooming one of its wings. The tiger, clearly aware of the company, did nothing at all about it but drift off to sleep. Kaosu looked at the scene with an amused chuckle. For a tiger god, he sure behaved like a regular old tiger. It was so curious. Any little animal, birds especially, would be deathly afraid of any other creature with huge fangs. Predator and prey. Everything he'd seen so far showed that Byakuen was a cut above the rest. He'd come here today to help lead Kaosu along his path. Help the boy become ready for what lies ahead. This meeting is strong enough evidence that it convinces Kaosu of his fate, of his legend. Kaosu and Byakuen. What could possibly bring these two souls together? Byakuen recognizes Kaosu as his master, while still remaining somewhat of a wild beast. Upon seeing him, there was immediately a love and respect for the tiger that he'd never know about before. Being with him felt natural and as if they were in harmony with one another. Not an owner and a pet. Not a master and his beast. Two old friends. The years flowed by from that day and, before he knew it, a full decade had already gone by. After fully accepting what his destiny was, what fate had in store for him, he threw himself completely into his training. He tapped into his potential and abilities that went beyond mere human power. Then again, who knows? Maybe Kaosu was little more of an ancient survivor of what humans use to be. An example of the power that people had originally possessed in the ancient days, but had long since forgotten about. His fighting skills had improved. He could more incredibly fast, faster than the wind itself. If he concentrated, he could send his thoughts out to someone who was a long distance away. This was a small portion of everything he could do with 'the power of Kaosu'. One day when he was 20 years old, still living in the village, the young man had gone out for a walk. One of the few rare days where he had no lessons to complete, no challenges to overcome, no latent abilities to try tapping into and mastering. He had the day all to himself and had decided a day meandering about around the waterfall would be nice. However, what he hadn't been expecting was to be attacked. The sky was blue and without a single cloud. The air was comfortably warm. The day felt inviting to be out and about somewhere. As Kaosu approached the side of the waterfall, he'd been aware of something being present. He could sense its presence. He'd brushed it off as possibly nothing but a monkey or other small animal. This was quickly dashed away as someone lept down from above with a shout. Kaosu moved at the last moment and heard the sound of a long stick smack against the ground. "Whoa!" It was a good thing he'd spend so much time training. Byakuen had helped out a lot by launching unexpected 'attacks' at him. Enough to catch him offguard and prepare him, maybe rough him up just a little, but did no real harm otherwise. There was no effort needed to realize that the tiger wasn't behind this attack. Kaosu spun around and took a defensive stance, ready to defend himself even without a weapon in hand to use. A voice from above made the raven haired young man look up. "Sorry about that!" came the voice of a young man. There on one of the lower branches of the tree was a sturdily built young man. He made his way down to ground level and retrieved his wooden staff. "I heard something approach and I assumed it was some wild animal. Sure wasn't expecting to see another human being around these parts. My apologies there, friend." Kaosu looked the man up and down. He wore the clothing of a monk. What in the world was a monk doing way out here? Sure, his village wasn't completely isolated from the rest of the world, but that didn't mean it was close to any public roads or forest paths that any random person could stumble onto. The raven haired young man was so use to his fellow villagers in this particular Kaosu clan that to see an outsider left him a bit stunned. The stranger offered Kaosu a smile. "The name's Tetsuhide- ah... no. I shouldn't say that. I meant, my name is Kose Shuusetsu. I'm a monk. Feh." He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I guess my clothes were a dead giveaway to that though."

( Translator's note : Sorry for the interruption but I just wanted to say that that Tetsuhide / Kose Shuusetsu is referred to as 'Shuusetsu' in the story, but, come on, let's be honest here. When it comes to us Western people 'Kose' is a LOT easier to read and mentally pronounce than 'Shuusetsu' -shuu seh suu- is. Whether it's laziness or something else, solely for the sake of making things easier to read, I'll be using 'Kose' -koh say- from here on out. It's not a big deal, but thought I should let you know anyway. Thanks for your time and you may proceed reading!)

Kaosu stood normally, realizing this young man was no threat to him at all. Without even letting him get a word in edgewise, he continued. "I bet you're wondering why I'm not at a temple right now. Ugh. I hate living in temples. I try but I get so fed up that I just ran away. . . and . . . heh. . . I feel really dumb. I lost my way and it's been a few days since I've seen another person at all. Finally! This must mean that there's signs of life around here! A village? A town? Anything's better than being stuck out here in the wilderness. I feel like I've abandoned the Buddhist ways by running off and having to eat wild animals and berries and stuff to survive. That's why I was hiding up there. I was hoping some prey animal would happen by here and I'd finally manage to get a meal or something. I really must've been out of it to think that you were an animal." Kaosu couldn't help a smile, feeling a bit bad for the guy. "You really must've been hungry to think I was prey. And to completely miss your target, too." Kose laughed. "Here," Kaosu said, placing a hand on a leather bag that was attached to his waist. "I caught a couple birds earlier. You're free to have a few to eat if you'd like." "What?! Really?!" "Sure," he said, walking past the young man and to the water's edge. "I've got more than enough for myself, so I'm happy to share." He removed one of the deceased small birds from his bag and dipped it into the water to clean it. "Wow! This- this is great! Thanks so much!" Tetsuhide helped prepare the birds and collect sticks for a fire. Upon his first bite of the cooked bird, cried out in a loud, joyful, thankful voice. His accidental attack on Kaosu ended up being the best possible thing to happen to him in a long while. Kaosu watched quietly as he ate his own bird this emotional, exciteable young man ate fast, not even trying to hide how hungry he was. It was a good thing he'd caught several birds early that morning, or else Tetsuhide probably would've keeled over and died by now from hunger. The black haired young man didn't mind sharing what he had, with the other hungrily eating four of the cooked birds before sighing and relishing the fact that he no longer felt like he was starving to death. "Aww, man, now I feel ashamed again remembering what I did," Tetsuhide said. "Seeing how you practally inhaled those birds, life for you at that temple with only a simple meal every day must've been unbearable," Kaosu observed. It's not like Tetsuhide was a thin or older man, where a simple meal a day would satisfy him. Far from it. From the short time he'd been around this young man, he didn't even seem like he wanted to be a monk. "It was. It really, really was. Not like I wasn't honestly trying. I was doing my best but . . ." he sighed and placed both arms behind himself, leaning back with his palms on the ground. "I wanted to be something different than just another person out in the world going about killing things, but, I don't think a monk is it." "I think you're being too hard on yourself," Kaosu said. He was enjoying Tetsuhide's company. After having spent the past decade surrounded by people who only knew him was THEE Kaosu of legend, their leader, the one who would come again to save the from the dark era, getting to be around this guy made him feel like a normal person and it was refreshing. He didn't feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders for once. Plus, he was really easy to talk to. It felt nice. "You think so?" "Yes. This world is a big place. A very big place. I'm sure there's a place for you in it that's not as a regular person obligated to go out and kill, and not as a solitary life lived as a monk in a temple." Tetsuhide closed his eyes and sighed, looking as if Kaosu's words had lived some invisible weight that had been dragging him down for a long time. The duo had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening together talking. That night, Kaosu and Tetsuhide made their way to the root of a large, tall, strong tree. Kaosu leading the way and feeling as though he was being guided there. Over the years Kaosu had noticed that a few old people usually felt drawn to this village, to spend time with the people there. It wasn't an every day occurance, but wasn't exceptionally rare, either. Although there was no single clear answer as to why, since this village wasn't easy to find by any means, he felt that the reason might be down to these old people who were close to death. Maybe by months or by years. That they, on some level, sought out the peace and inner light that the villagers radiated and were more sensitive to it when compared to younger individuals. When the old people came here, it wasn't at all out of place for some of them to bring out some specially made liquor to enjoy. This was something rarely produced or shown in public, but, here, it was fine for them. Kaosu stopped in front of the large, tall oak tree. There was an old man sitting there beside an area close to the base of the trunk that looked more like a bowl, rather than natural growth that jutted out from the tree. Spots like this were perfect because, not only did it provide overhead shade and protection from the weather, but the bowl-like spot was great to place one's foods and drinks into. When people weren't making use of it, rain and dew would gather here. That way, whether a human or a beast was thirsty, this offered them a bit of water to drink, even if the nearest body of water might've been some distance away. "Whoa," Tetsuhide breathed out. "I didn't know this was a thing that existed!" referring to the 'bowl' of the tree. The old man currently taking full advantage of the space for his own bottled drink and food. A small campfire glowing flames nearby to warmly illuminate the area. Kaosu couldn't help a chuckle at his new friend's reaction. "Yes. If one knows where to look, these are somewhat common around here." He turned his attention to the wrinkled old man resting against the tree's trunk and watching the two youngsters. "Hello. May we join you?" The old man nodded. "Sure, if ya want. Feel free to help yourself to my food and drink," he stated, not missing the fact that Tetsuhide's gaze was practally glued to the bottle of important liquor and almost drooling at the sight of it. "It's not much, but I'm happy to share." "Thanks!" Tetsuhide eagerly said, taking a seat beside the fire. Although this was the warmest time of the year, that didn't mean the air didn't have a tinge of cold to it once the sun had set. As he marvelled at how the people managed to make a pretty comfortable living for themselves here in the mountains, he smiled as the old man reached over, grabbed his bottle of liquor, and handed it to the young man. Kaosu thanked the old man for his kindness then took a seat beside the fire as well, closing his eyes a moment to enjoy the sensations of the moment. The air was cool. The warm fire was burning and crackling quietly. The smell of dried meat and the piece of pottery it had been warmed on floated in the air. It was a good aroma. He opened his brown eyes and gazed upward at the night sky. From between the openings of where the tree's foilage didn't meet, he could see the sky, full of sparkling stars above. With no moon to light the way, the stars were on full display to be enjoyed. Tetsuhide allowed himself a gulp of the delicious liquor and was grateful for the old man's generosity as he passed a piece of warm, cooked meat to him. "This is so great! It's been a few years since I last had a meal anything like this. I tell you what, this doesn't even come close to the meals I was having before." With a big smile, he raised the bottle of liquor over his head. "Thank you for this mountain feast! May all who take part enjoy great blessings because of it!" he called out, then proceeded to drink. Both the old man and Kaosu watched Tetsuhide. "That's a pretty big bottle," he said, "I wonder if it'll be a problem for you to drink all of that." The old man couldn't help a laugh at the entertaining sight. "Bah. He's looks like a strong young man. I'm sure he'll be fine." "Thanks for the compliment," the monk said before taking a bite out of his piece of cooked meat. "Buddhist monks are tough, so I'm sure I can handle it." He was something else, that was for sure. "Oh?" Kaosu asked. "You sure about that? After all, you DID run away from temple life." The monk waved a hand in front of his face as if to wave away the comment. "Just because I didn't get to the level where I was good enough to shave my head doesn't mean I don't still count as a monk." "Sure, I might've gotten the name 'Tetsuhide' from the monks, but my real name is Kose Shuusetsu." The old man's grey eyebrows rose at this statment, recognizing the family name. "Aren't you originally from this area? Pretty sure I've heard that family name before." "Yeah," he said, taking another bite out of the meat. "Although I lived over in Asuka, my house was like a branch of a branch of a tree when it came to my family. We were pretty poor. With such a big and spread out family, there was no property or fields to divide up and give to someone like me. No way for me to make a proper living of any kind. I guess it comes with the territory. A big family is nice and all, but there's only so much land a father can give to his adult kids to live off of." "And yet," Kaosu chipped in, "you seem rather cheerful for someone with such a sad past." Kose couldn't help a smile, probably due to a mix of the pleasant night, the good company, the food, and the liquor. "Nah. I'm still a happy person at heart, especially when compared to other poor people. I get to study stuff, learn some martial arts, have a pretty okay life. Temple life might be all peaceful, but in this day and age, hearing about people attacking and killing others, well, it's hard to not want to learn how to protect yourself." The old man nodded, completely understanding his logic. These days, due to robbers who hid out in the fields and various noisy people who seemed to only want to make a ruckus, the monks in temples all across the land had to learn how to step up and protect themselves, or else they'd leave themselves open to be attacked, robbed, or even killed. "For a while, I was pretty fond of living at the temple," his mood seemed to come down a bit. His happy, carefree personality showed that, despite his joyful nature, even he could be weighed down by negative emotions. "But . . . the reason why I left there wasn't because of the temple life itself. The whole time I was there," he lifted his gaze to directly look at the two men, "there were things I saw happening right in front of me that showed the 'great monks' who lived there had bad intentions. Everything I've heard about the Buddhist monks when I was growing up always talked about how great, benevolent, caring, and helpful they were. These guys . . . they weren't any of that." The old man reached into the tree's 'bowl', picking up a couple of persimmons, handing one to Kaosu and another to Kose. Kaosu nodded his head once in acknowledgement and thanks, not wanting to speak yet and interrupt his friend. "How so?" the old man queried. "The teachings of Buddha," Kose began, "were originally mean to help save the people. That way they could go out and preach how to live in a righteous way with this world and the other people in it." He lowered his gaze, staring at the small campfire in front of them. He shook his head slowly as a serious expression came to his face, brow furrowed. "When people in need would come to the temple, the monks would take a lot of money from the rich nobels. Instead of offering any true help or blessings, they'd only offer really mysterious, suspicious prayers. It always made me feel uncomfortable." "Mysterious prayers?" echoed the old man, the bewilderment clear in his voice. "Yeah," he looked over at the old man. "Like, if someone came to the temple and was angry at another person, the monk would offer a prayer that would curse or even kill that other person. It's almost as if the monks weren't saying any real prayers, but casting spells, instead. All to make a profit. I'm not crazy, right? That's not how monks should be. To make matters worse, the young monks acted like they didn't see what was going on, or pretended like it wasn't happening. They acted like there wasn't a thing they could do about it, but, for me, I can't forgive that! That's not okay and NOT how a monk should be!" Angrily, Kose popped the last bit of cooked meat into his mouth to chew, perhaps in some unconscious effort to work out a bit of his anger over the situation. "If you're living in the capital city, sure there are going to be higher up people that can't be touched. Their behavior goes unchecked. No one can do anything about what they do, so they get ignored. But. . . it shouldn't be that way in a temple. That's not how it should work." It was tough to hear about, but worse knowing that this young man had actually gone through this. Kaosu glanced over at the old man. He did look a little upset, but he had the feeling that this wasn't exactally the latest breaking news. Kose was right. This sort of behavior was wrong on every count, but, what could anyone do? Whether it was some rich noble person, a rich merchant, or a high ranking religious person, what could an ordinary person hope to accomplish if they spoke up against it? All of those bad actions and evil intentions would be aimed at the person. If one thought that life standing by watching this going on was bad, it would've been made so much worse. "I'm sure," Kose continued, "that I'm not the only one who has a problem with all this." He grunted. "I couldn't take being there any longer. I couldn't standing seeing those rotten people serving Buddha." He brought the liquor bottle to his lips and proceeded to drink what remained. Kaosu shook his head a little, feeling sorry for him. It's clear that this was a good guy at heart. He only wanted to help others and be helpful, to be able to understand people's pain and help them find comfort. Being a monk would've seemed like the perfect outlet for such a life, and he, probably, would've been very content in a normal temple. It was a crappy situation all around. His hopes for an ideal life had been dashed away and here was, left alone in the world and feeling angry. If someone left a temple, they couldn't simply return a while later with the excuse of 'oh! whoopsie! my bad! I got completely lost!'. Sure, after what he'd been though it's not like it would be a lie to say that he DID get lost. A few minutes of quiet had passed by, allowing Kose's temper to cool down. "What'll you do with your life after this?" the old man asked. Kose's smile returned, a bit sheepish. "Well, I do feel a little bad saying this, but I think I'll take advantage of the stick fighting technique I learned when at the temple. I won't be going back to that temple. . . or any other temple. Who knows how far that corruption has spread! I figure, may as well make good use of what I learned there. Maybe I can use it to be someone who guards the gates to a city. You know, taking away something good from a bad situation." Kaosu remained quiet, not sure of what to say after all of that information. He was shocked to hear about it, and didn't realize the evil had become so widespread. Hearing about all of this made his heart hurt. As the night stretched on, Kose, having eaten better than he had in a long time, slept soundly on the ground nearby. This left the old man and Kaosu still awake. The old man poked at the embers, setting a few small sticks on them, breathing a bit of new life into the campfire. He didn't miss how much Kose's story had upset Kaosu. In a quiet tone, so as to not accidentally rouse the monk from his slumber, the old man spoke. "It really is such a shame that in this big, wonderful world, it sure seems like evil things are coming. We're at the beginning of an age of darkness. The evidence for it is everywhere these days." Kaosu turned his troubled brown eyes to the old man. "Why do people get caught up and lost in evil stuff like this? Don't they know better?" The old man fully leaned back against the tree trunk. "In short, it's down to an inherent level of greed that people possess. Taste, touch, smell, the desire to want more of what makes them feel good. From the teachings of Buddha, it's said that we're all trapped within the desires of this world. The more we give into those desires, the more we hunger for them. Even if it means people go around hurting others in order to get it." Kaosu shook his head slowly, feeling upset the more that he listened to all of this. "I'll be the first to admit that I'm not really familiar with everything in this world. I've seen the best parts of it. I've seen that there are more important things to live for and that a heart rejoices in the ability to be alive and experience things." "You're right. The people who are trapped in the world of desires don't understand how important this is. It's not just that they're deprived of this and don't know about true joy, but it seems like they're trapped in a cycle of endless shallow desires. Because they're so caught up in doing these evil things will probably be stuck like that forever, unable to escape from that cycle and will die. An insatiable greed for doing those evil things, and, yet, they seek a reward for doing these things. It's like their own hell." Kaosu's nose scrunched at that word. "Hell," he muttered. What a horrible word. The old man was right. Everlasting greed only gives birth to a bad heart and makes anything a person does become corrupt. As if their hands are covered in forever wet ink. Anything they touch, no matter what their motivations, will be stained and ruined. The saddest part is that a person like this, they won't feel fulfilled unless they continue following the darkness that's in their heart. Even then, that's not enough. It will never be enough. Just like a drug addiction. Kaosu sighed heavily, sitting both legs up and resting his forearms over his knees. "I wonder, can these people even be saved?" The old man doubtfully shook his head. "If someone was able to do so, I guess they could try cutting off that bad cycle. Go cold turkey, as it was. However, I think it'd be like water flowing off the side of a mountain. There's no real way to stop it." "Maybe . . . maybe all it takes is a shining person, you know, someone with a good heart and pure intentions, to make a change. To stop that endless cycle." "My boy, even if you tap into your heart, get rid of the evil ones littering the land, put a stop to their evil work, it's like a single lit candle in a dark room. You're only shining in that one place. No where else. Every where else continues to be plunged into darkness." That's when an idea struck. Even to the old man, he took full notice of the change in the young man. There's an old story that talked about a lone warrior. Someone who was bright and gentle, a spectacular warrior. This warrior was able to purge darkness and evil from the hearts of countless horrible people. With his job done, he'd vanished without a trace. Or, so the story went. What if, somehow, Kaosu was able to do this. He already knew he was different than other humans. He had a special kind of power and had experienced wonderful things no other human had before. What if he could find a way to be like that warrior? Somehow be able to go across the land and purge the evil from the hearts of numerous people. That had to be doable to some degree, right? I mean, he WAS the Kaosu. "The desire to live in a good manner," the old man continued, "is one thing. Wanting to protect that way of life, to help people live a good life, it something else. It's clear that you can feel this. That's the role of our clan. That is your role, too. Kaosu, the leader of our family, our Lord, is to properly protect this way of life. To protect this shining that everyone has within themself." It was only in this very moment that the full weight of his life's responsiblity dawned on him. He truly graped the seriousness of his role in this world. The only thing is. . . he's just one person. One guy. Would such a goal even be achieveable? Byakuen slowly, tiredly made his way into the area to lay down at Kaosu's side. The young man stroked the tiger's head. It was then that he realized there was only one other individual in this world that was like him. This tiger led him. He was the next closest shining thing that existed in this world. He was older and wiser and certainly had to know what to do next. All Kaosu had to do was follow Byakuen. No. It had to be more than that. He had to listen to his heart and to the tiger's as well. Let that be his guide. In the radiant campfire's glow, the tiger's brown eyes seemed to appear more gold. Kaosu sat quietly, admiring this and realized that Byakuen's eyes were better than his own. He could see in the darkness. More than that. He could see the path right in front of them. What if this went beyond physical sight? Was this tiger able to see through the darkness of evil, not being fooled by that, and stay focused on what was true? Kaosu smiled down at the furry animal as the tiger closed his eyes. Yes. That's what he'd do. He'd keep himself open and aware to this god tiger. He'd listen to his heart and let that be his guide. Morning came and found the two young men on their own. "My apologies for all the trouble I've caused," Kose said to Kaosu. "Is there anything I can do to make up for it? I accidentally mistook you for a wild animal, attacked you, and you not only shared some of your food with me, but also you've been so nice to me this whole time. I may not have much, but whatever I have, what ever I can do for you, you let me know. I'll happily give or do whatever you want." Kaosu smiled. Kose was an honorable young man. No laws had been broken, and it's not like the monk had actually broken any laws. Yet, here he stood, apologetic. "Well, it's not like you did anything truly terrible, and I don't hold any ill will against you for what happened. However, if you want to, I'd love to learn about that stick fighting technique you mentioned last night. That is," he bowed his head to the monk in a respectful manner, "if you'd be willing to teach me." "Wow!" Kose gasped. "No, hey, I'd be happy to teach you everything I know, but, please, don't lower your head to me. If anything, I should be doing that to you after all the kindness you've shown!" His warm smile helped bring a bit of ease to the monk. "I appreciate it." "Well, do you have anywhere you need to be? Something else you need to be doing this morning?" "Nope. My day is completely free. If you're in the mood, I'd be happy to begin any time you're ready." "Alright, then," Kose said, scratching the back of his head. "Just keep in mind that, although I'm no longer an official monk of any temple, I'll do my best to teach you what I know and pass on my sense of righteousness to you." "Sounds like a solid plan to me." Figuring that the best place to train woule be beside the waterfall, they walked back through the forest to reach that beautiful waterfall. Once there, Kose carefully selected to long, sturdy sticks, which seemed more like solid rods or staffs made of wood, from the ground, handing one to Kaosu. "There. This one is yours. We're going to start off with a bit of sparring so I can tell where you're at with your fighting skills." This being one of the many things they'd talked about the day prior. "Ready?" Kaosu nodded once. "Ready." That's all it took when Kaosu made the first move. He saw an opportunity and struck at Kose's feet, which only missed by a hair as the monk jumped upwards, lifting his own staff above his head, spinning it around. Kaosu jumped up to stike again, lifting his weapon high in order to strike. Just that fast, Kose moved as he landed on the ground, the edge of his spinning staff making contact with Kaosu's. The resulting collision made it feel as though Kaosu's staff had struck a solid iron wall. He jumped back and watched as Kose kept spinning his wooden staff. It seemed like the weapon was moving freely under the monk's control, and it was abundantly clear that Kose weilded it masterfully. In the hands of this young man, it no longer seemed like a wooden staff, but more like a sharp-edged blade. Kose, seeing his new friend's momentary hesitation, rushes forward and brings down his staff to strike. Kaosu, moving fast, dodges the attack, but not by very much. "Ah!" Kose laughed. "Almost had you that time!" Kaosu regained his footing a few steps away, out of the reach of his opponent's weapon. It was only then he noticed his cheek was stinging. He brushed the back of his hand across his cheek only to see red smudged across it. Kose had managed to make contact. "Oh! Sorry about that!" Kose said, seeing a thin red line on Kaosu's cheek as a little bit of blood rolled down his skin. Kaosu, not ready to let a little scratch interfere with this sparring session, took advantage of the momentary pause to rush at the monk. Kose, quick to take notice, jumped backward to avoid another attack. However, the desire to battle any further had left him and he lowered his staff. The raven haired young man stopped and lowered his staff, as well. He'd been through enough martial arts training in his life to know when the fight was over. These two were rare people, and even more rare in the world of warriors. The duo gazed at one another. "Should we stop?" Kose asked. "Let's keep going," Kaosu returned. Kose lifted his staff and their staffs met again with a loud clash. Then another. It didn't take many more collisions before the two wooden weapons broke apart and went flying towards the water, leaving them both defenseless. Kose laughed. "Well done." This had been a great sparring session and the ending was amusing. Neither one of them truly won or lost, seeing as how both of their staffs were now floating downstream like a couple of harmless chopsticks that had fallen into the water. Kaosu couldn't resist a smile himself as he lightly panted. This had been interesting and entertaining. "The thing about a staff like that," Kose began, "is that it's more than some oversized stick. When handled properly, it can be like a shield that's harder than iron, or turned into a sharp blade to strike through something." Kaosu nodded. It sounded strange, but after having seen such a thing for himself, this was an incredibly interesting weapon. He doubted many people would look at a wooden rod and think it could be turned into such a viable weapon. "You know," Kaosu began, "after all that talk about what life was like for you in the temple and the capital city, could you take me there? I want to see what it's like for myself so I can gauge just how bad everything is. I feel like there's some kind of big, dangerous sensation going on. If I don't begin to take action soon, I have this feeling like it'll be too late for me to do anything at all and stop it." "Well, sure, I guess. Just a fair warning, stay true to your heart. It can be too easy for someone to get caught up in the ways going on in the city." Kaosu nodded once. Despite everything he'd heard of, the true magnitude of how dangerous and evil everything was going to be had yet to be seen. There was no way to know how much worse things were going to get once this new age began, but one thing was clear. Kaosu had to try and stop it. No one else could.

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