Rai and his team had found the ruins that Yoshi had described, splitting up into groups and searching for the missing Chason. Rai wondered what the young man could have been thinking, going off on his own. Then again this was Chason they were talking about; he had always been unpredictable with his hot temper. This time he went too far. Raiden’s thoughts were shattered by a cry for help.
“Raiden! Get over here!”
Raiden sprinted off in the direction of the call. He rounded a corner and stopped in his tracks to see Kohl holding a barely conscious Chason in his arms. Raiden fell to his knees next to Chason and Kohl.
“Who did this to you?” He asked, though he probably already knew the answer.
Chason coughed, barely able to speak the name of his attacker.
“Hikaro…He has…members…of the Tashikawa gang…with him. Raiden…” He said, grabbing Raiden’s shirt with a bloodstained hand. “He has Tsuyoshi.” Chason then fell back into one of his coughing fits, blood flowing down his chin. Raiden sat back stunned. He couldn’t believe his ears, but then his brother was the kind of mind that would attract that monster. It was only a matter of time before Hikaro found them and killed them all.
The demoralized team returned to the hotel, after checking Chason into a hospital, but Raiden and Mae stayed behind with Chason. The doctor told them that Chason’s sternum, ribcage, and femurs in both legs were shattered. Even though he probably would recover, he would never be the same. Rai held Mae as she cried into his arms, and he though morbidly, Will it always be this way? No matter what he tried, his friends were the ones to suffer. He looked down at Chason lying there in an almost full body cast. He couldn’t even breathe on his own now. The doctor’s words haunted him, “He will never be the same.” What did that mean? Only time will tell, the doctor had told him. Rai looked out the window at the moon.
“Only time will tell.” He whispered.
The night wound on, and Rai and Mae fell asleep in their chairs, with only the moon keeping watch over their fallen comrade.
Back at the hotel, Kohl closed the door to Yoshi and Siiju’s room, leaving the two boys to sleep. He met Kai in the hallway, and they walked together to their rooms. Kai glanced at Kohl then stared ahead.
“How are they?” Kai asked.
“They’re resting peacefully, but they’ve taken quite a blow to their morale. Chason was very close to them, and to see him shattered like that. Well…I had to sedate them when they heard the doctor’s report. That’s the only reason they’re sleeping right now.” Kohl said, glancing down at his feet. He stopped walking, closing his eyes tight and clenching his fists. “Kai, those boys are only fourteen. Why did they have to see this?”
Kai locked his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall.
“It’s not like they haven’t seen something like this before. If they want to be shinobi, then they should understand all that that implies.”
“You don’t understand! We’re all that’s left of our family. All of our parents were killed suddenly without reason. For me it’s a long way off, but to those boys, their parents’ death is painfully close. I can take Chason’s injuries in stride, but it’s devastating for Yoshi and Siiju. I love those boys as if they were my own sons. Their mother and I…we were…” Kohl fell to his knees, putting his hand over his eyes. Kai knelt down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders.
“I know what you’re going through right now, but you need to pull yourself together. Chason’s recovery is assured, but we must keep this from happening again.”
Kohl looked up and nodded.
“Right. It is for us to set an example for Yoshi and Siiju by refraining from any rash behavior. Forgive me.”
“It’s okay. Just try to keep it together.”
Kohl stood up and stuck his hands in his pockets, casually looking over at Kai.
“Was there something else you wanted to talk to me about?”
Kai met his gaze.
“Tsuyoshi.”
Kohl looked away.
“That conversation is best carried out behind closed doors.”
Kai nodded and the two proceeded down the hallway to Kohl’s room. Once behind closed doors, Kai sat down on one of the beds. Kohl checked and locked the door and window before taking a seat on the bed across from Kai. He sighed and said.
“Tsuyoshi Kurushime is a name well known to the Takai family, an infamous name. The Takai and Kurushime families were once allies, always joined inseparably by marriage between a Takai and Kurushime. The couple and their immediate family would then take their place as the head of the clan. In this way we coexisted with the Kurushime’s peacefully, until ten years ago.”
Kai leaned in.
“What happened?”
Kohl looked at Kai.
“Tsuyoshi Kurushime happened. He headed up a band of restless youngsters to oppose the current head of the clan and take his place. When he refused, Tsuyoshi and his band laid waste to the clan’s headquarters. I tried my best to stop him, but I was injured by Tsuyoshi and was forced to flee. I regrouped with the survivors, and later found out that Chason, Yoshi, Siiju, and I were the only ones left. Ever since then, Tsuyoshi Kurushime has been a name both feared and hated by us, the survivors of the Takai-Kurushime Clan Massacre.”
Kai ran his fingers through his hair.
“What does this have to do with Hikaro?”
“Hikaro is the kind of mind Tsuyoshi is attracted to. All that pent up hatred for one person fuels Hikaro’s very existence. Tsuyoshi was amused with Hakaija for a while, but Hikaro has now become this psychic’s main focus. It may seem that Hikaro is in control, but Tsuyoshi is the real leader of the team. He provides focus and balance to Hikaro’s unstable psyche, guiding him and using him to his own ends. I know this because I am also a psychic, and I know how they think.”
“So what does Tsuyoshi want?”
“That remains to be seen. But I have a feeling that it has something to do with Hakaija Tashikawa.”
Hakaija Tashikawa paced back and forth across the floor in the foyer of his high-rise penthouse. He stopped, checked his watch, growled and resumed pacing, turning around and startling at the unexpected appearance of Tsuyoshi Kurushime. Hakaija composed himself, straightening his shirt, and spoke.
“You’re late.” He growled.
Tsuyoshi’s face remained impassive.
“I got here, didn’t I?”
“Very well. Give me your report.”
“Hikaro is doing well. It won’t be long before the biggest thorn in your side is eradicated…permanently.”
Hakaija smiled and walked over to a small side table with a glass decanter and two glasses. Pouring the contents of the decanter into both of the glasses, he gave one to Tsuyoshi and took a sip of his own. The two then made their way into the living room of the penthouse, which had a large window that opened into a balcony at one end and a large hearth with a blazing fire at the other end. Hakaija sat in one of the armchairs by the fire, facing the window, and Tsuyoshi stood in the window, staring at the moon. Hakaija took another sip of his drink and spoke.
“So, I guess you’ve a few scores to settle with the Takais.”
Tsuyoshi remained impassive, taking a sip of his drink and continuing his vigil. Hakaija grunted.
“I find it hard to trust a psychic who keeps his motives hidden. Heck, I find it hard to trust any man who keeps his motives hidden. But you disturb me most of all. You remind me of that Takai boy that worked with Shonashara back when he was leader. Kohl, I think his name was. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were…” He didn’t finish because in a flash Tsuyoshi ripped him off of his chair and slammed him against the wall. Hakaija struggled, but Tsuyoshi held him firm. He pressed his face close to Hakaija and hissed.
“Go ahead, finish it! If you didn’t know any better, you’d say we were what?”
Hakaija whimpered.
“Brothers.”
Tsuyoshi dropped him and snarled.
“Good thing you know better, right?”
Hakaija put his hands up placatingly.
“Right, right. I mean you two aren’t even alike. I know how much you hate him. I was just thinking out loud.”
“Well, next time you do, don’t! Consider that a warning. I’m gone!”
Tsuyoshi then disappeared into the shadows. Hakaija stood up shakily, downing the rest of his drink. He wiped his mouth and exhaled.
“Warning, indeed. These hot-blooded young men are getting hard to handle.”
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