11:45AM
COLONY NO. 6
AICHI JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
About 10 seconds after the Dragon disappeared with the students, Fudo arrived on the rooftop. He and Emir hadn’t been too far away, and with a little fast driving, they got to the school in no time, but not early enough.
“Big Brother?!” Gina exclaimed at the sight of him; she doesn’t see her eldest brother too often nowadays.
“Was I too late? What happened here?”
“He slipped away,” Amira informed. “An Inferno Dragon, he grabbed two students and used a Transportation technique!”
“Shit…if I were only a few seconds earlier…” Fudo lamented.
Around that time, an ancillary worker along with a student came through the door, having heard the commotion. The student was Fumi’s friend, Aino, who’d followed after her not long after she left class.
“Hm? Hunters? Did something happen here?” the worker asked, completely out of the loop.
“Um…I’m looking for two students? They should have been up here,” Aino informed them.
“Take me to your school’s Principal,” Fudo instructed the two, “It’s urgent!”
“Huh? What’s going on -”
“Two girls were just kidnapped by Dragons, take me to your principal now!”
Fudo drilled them like a Sergeant. Aino’s blood ran cold when she heard that, but she and the worker quickly obeyed the Hunter’s instruction and escorted him.
“You two, let Miwa and Captain Emir know what happened here,” he instructed Gina and Amira as he left with the two.
“That geezer was trustworthy after all…this isn’t good,” Fudo thought to himself,
“…six years ago, all over again.”
12:30PM
COLONY NO. 1, ABANDONED WAREHOUSE
UNDERGROUND CHAMBER
“Izumi!...Izumi!...”
“Nayumi…”
“Izumi!”
“I’m sorry I had to give birth to you.”
“I HATE YOU!!”
Izumi woke up inside a large, concrete, mostly empty room, laying on a blanket. She noticed she was still in her uniform and had a throbbing pain in her neck. She also saw Fumi kneeling over her, also in her uniform. She then began to recall everything that had happened.
“…Fumi-chan?”
“I’m glad you’re ok…were you having a bad dream or something?” Fumi asked, seeing as she actually blurted out that she hated someone.
“The worst…where are we…?” she responded and asked, holding the back of her neck.
“I have no idea…we were kidnapped by Dragons,” Fumi informed. “They put us in this big, empty room.”
The only other things present in the room were a couch, some clothing, bedding, and a door to a bathroom.
“…are we the only ones here?” Izumi asked as she looked around, trying to gather her bearings.
“Well…there were two-”
As she started saying that, the room’s metal door opened with a very loud bang, startling the girls.
“Hm? Oh, sorry, this thing is loud. You’ll get used to it.”
Stepping into the room was a boy with long blonde-white hair dressed in a white robe and skinny ankle-height black pants, and following him was a slightly taller boy, with long black hair dressed in a black and white long-sleeved shirt, and short black pants.
They stared at the boys in utter silence, like cats who witnessed strange faces.
“…earth to roommates? Helloo?” the first boy leaned his body forward at them, trying to get them relaxed.
“…my mom told me not to talk to strangers,” Fumi responded, who had seated herself next to Izumi.
He responded with the most priceless look on his face.
“Yeah?…this is gonna be a looonng day…”
“Hm? Feels a little less occupied here, doesn’t it?”
Again, the Dragon Leaders held a Spirit-Meeting, but the Religious-Sect Leaders were not present; only Gyuwhan, his right-hand men, and the leaders of the Big Three.
“The three stooges are still out busy, but it’s fine,” Gyuwhan informed them.
“So, I take it this means mission accomplished?” Ringo asked, looking over at Kallavan.
“Yes,” he responded, “I sent my best guy, Jegal. He got the job done.”
“Oooh! I’m impressed, Kallavan!”
“Shut it, Himura! You think the Inferno’s comprised of incompetent fools?”
“Enough,” Gyuwhan ordered. “Still, I don’t know what to do with the other one.”
“Other?” Ringo asked.
“Jegal ended up snatching two girls, one who happened to be there. Goes by the name Noritoshi, from what I heard.”
“That name…” Shigaraki recalled. “Ah, that was his last name, the guy who sped up the Old Man’s death. He had a kid, who should be a high-schooler by now,” he informed.
“…what a small world…” Gyuwhan wondered.
“I guess that explains what I felt from her earlier...”
“I thought you got rid of his family, Shigaraki?” Ringo asked.
“No. He betrayed us, but his family had nothing to do with his actions. I left them alone.”
“If that’s how you see it…” Ringo shrugged. “So, about our main target. How will you go about things, Gyuwhan-sama?” he went on to ask.
“Oh, I left everything to those two,” he responded.
“…to them?”
“Well, sort of.”
20 MINUTES EARLIER
*THUD, CREAK*
“Hey, you two! Got your presents!”
“Gah! Let us go already!”
“Quiet.”
Opening the door to the same concrete room was a boy with long black hair having streaks of red in it, along with a taller man, who had a buzz-cut and was dressed in a jumpsuit. They were Gyuwhan and Daisuke, and with them, were Izumi and Fumi.
“Huh? Didn’t I tell you to save-”
“…what the hell?”
The talkative boy was the first to respond, and he was confused to see the two carrying girls with them.
“We gotta talk,” Gyuwhan told them. “Get that one on a blanket or something,” he directed attention to Izumi, who was slung over Daisuke’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?...one moment we were still at school, then some other place, and now here,” Fumi wondered to herself.
“What do you want with us?!” she asked angrily.
“Well, to be honest, we don’t need you at all. From what was reported, you just happened to be there,” Gyuwhan explained.
“Then why do you punks want Izumi?” she persisted.
“Enough. You two, come on.”
Daisuke laid Izumi on a blanket that was spread, while the two boys followed Gyuwhan out of the room. Fumi ran over to Izumi’s side, trying to wake her up, as they closed the door.
“So…for our ‘presents’, you got us girls? Seriously?”
“What, you don’t want the company?”
“I don’t want nuisances for company!”
Inside another room, the two boys sat on a couch, while Gyuwhan sat before them on another couch, with a small table holding some drinks and snacks between them.
“Well, it was only supposed to be one of them, so lucky you,” Gyuwhan informed.
“Lucky my ass,” the talkative one responded as he ate some snacks. “I can already tell she’s annoying.”
“Gyuwhan…what is this about?”
The more silent black-haired boy, finally spoke.
“…well,” Gyuwhan started off,
“The unconscious one, she’s a survivor of the Oriki Clan. I’ve been thinking about it recently, and I found that her potential power would be a huge advantage, whenever it awakens.”
“Her power?” the first boy asked.
“The Oriki’s most famous trait is that they’re premonitory dreamers; they have visions of the future. For that reason, they were always a nuisance to us Dragons, since they’d perceive future events and simply plan around to try and thwart us. That’s why back in 95, we eradicated any and all survivors. That’s also why I killed Hayami Oriki.”
“…so, what’s the point?” the first boy asked, trying his absolute best to ignore that last part.
“Like I told you two from the start…you guys have special potential. However, I still have no way to guarantee that the power of the Founders has, or will, truly awaken in you. And that’s where she comes in.”
“Although, I have to admit…” Gyuwhan thought to himself, looking at them both, “…they’ve both been getting much stronger.”
“So, you want her to dream about us having that power?” the boy asked again.
“Something like that,” Gyuwhan confirmed. “But, this’ll only work if you become friends with her.”
“…huh?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Even if she has the dream, she doesn’t have to tell you, does she? Get her to develop some level of trust in you two. Basically, I need all 4 of you to be friends,” Gyuwhan explained.
He cringed.
“So, in short…your plan involves putting your trust in us?” he asked.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
As Gyuwhan responded, his Dragon Energy flared up in the room, and he looked the two boys dead in their eyes,
“Which means, you won’t screw this up by telling them why they’re here, and you’ll get on their good sides.”
Amidst the bloodlust inside the room, the two boys seemed unfazed.
“…if you think cheap shit like that still scares me, you've got another thing comin’ Gyuwhan,” the talkative boy responded, glaring at him.
“Oh? Then how about I give your whole family a ‘scare’ while I’m at it?”
They continued glaring at each other for a few seconds, but the boy eventually desisted.
“Whatever…you done?” he asked as he stood up, taking up snacks and juice.
“Make sure you do it,” Gyuwhan commanded once again.
“Yeah, yeah,” he responded as he left the room.
The other silent boy was also about to leave, before Gyuwhan stopped him:
“Hey...I’m counting on you two.”
“…sure,” he responded.
PRESENT
“Well, I told them that, but I’m keeping a close eye on them either way,” Gyuwhan admitted.
“I see. Well…based on their potential, it seems they’d make excellent vessels,” Ringo suggested, referring to the boys.
“That’s exactly what I’d been considering,” Gyuwhan confirmed.
“Speaking of vessels, Ryūjin-sama...how close are we? To resurrecting the 9?” Kallavan asked.
“…I guess it’s been a long wait for you all, huh? But, don’t worry…in about a year, it’ll be time…to finally commence,” he assured them.
EMPTY CONCRETE ROOM
“Well…it might not be so bad, I guess,” the talkative boy thought to himself, when;
*CLANK*
?!
His thoughts were interrupted by Fumi, who had grabbed a Katana from the wall, and unsheathed it.
“I don’t know what you punks want, but don’t come anywhere near us! Even if I’ve been kidnapped, no way in hell am I being left alone with two guys I don’t know!” she threatened as she awkwardly held the sword in front of her.
“Never mind, I stand corrected,” he thought to himself with an annoyed look.
At the same time, he lifted both his hands; he outstretched the palm of his left hand, which revealed the Kanji symbol 刀 meaning ‘Katana’ engraved into it, while he grabbed on to back of that hand with his other:
Summoning • 召喚する (Shou-kan suru)
*POOF*
There was a small cloud of smoke, both in front of Fumi as well as the boy. By the time she looked, she noticed the Katana was no longer in her hand, but rather the boy held it, as well as its sheath.
“Huh?! How did you-”
“First rule, could you kindly not touch my stuff?” he requested as he walked over to the couch, taking a seat and putting down the blade. His partner followed him as well.
“Could you please just tell us why we’re here already?” Fumi asked.
“Same reason we’re here,” he responded as he opened one of the snack bags, taking some and handing the rest to his friend. He also threw the other snacks over to the girls.
“Wait, you mean you were kidnapped as well…?” Fumi asked.
“Yep.”
“…and you’re cool with that?” she asked again in confusion.
“The hell makes you think I’m cool with this? Of course not.”
“you surely don’t act like it,” she thought, puzzled.
“Haven’t you two tried, y’know, getting out of here then??” she asked.
“Useless. This place is surrounded by a special Barrier. Normal people like us can’t pass through it, and that guy from earlier isn’t stupid. For now, you’re stuck here,” he informed.
“…sounds like you’ve tried before then,” she deduced.
“Perhaps.”
“Anyway…introductions? To be honest, I don’t really care, but we might as well get used to each other, for now,” he expressed.
As annoyed and fearful as Fumi was, the two of them didn’t seem like bad people; in fact, she might’ve found the white-haired boy to be a little attractive. After a moment of hesitation while opening the snack, she eventually answered,
“…Noritoshi. Fumi Noritoshi.”
“Tarik,” the shorter, white-haired boy answered.
“Jamal,” the taller, black-haired boy answered.
Izumi was about to answer, but she decided to confess something instead:
“Fumi-chan…I’m sorry, but I haven’t been honest with you.”
“I’ve been wanting for us to talk about that. What’s going on with you? Why were you trying to-”
“No, Fumi…I have to tell you about who I really am.”
4:30PM
COLONY NO. 5, FAMILY GROUNDS
“Just in today, a kidnapping had occurred around midday; at the renowned Aichi Junior High School in Colony 6, we’ve received word that a Dragon appeared in the area, and kidnapped two students who’d been hanging around on one of the roofing areas. Hunters situated within the area told us that in a brief moment, the enemy swiftly appeared, grabbed the students, and made his escape.”
Inside a room sat two individuals; a male and a middle-aged female, while a news report aired on the TV, discussing the earlier incident.
“So…all along, you were-?”
The woman had a surprised look on her face, as she looked at the blonde-haired man. She’d had talks with him before, but was unaware that he was the very Tenchi Yamaguchi.
“Tenchi Yamaguchi - Clan Head, and supporting Supervisor of the Hunters. Chances are, you’re more familiar with Emir-san, but he’s currently off-base. Thank you for coming.”
The lady was Fumi’s mother, Hinata Inoue. As they introduced themselves, a recording of Gado addressing the situation was broadcast on the TV:
“We’ve been analyzing the situation from the time we received the report, and based on our findings, this was not a random kidnapping. Whatever the intentions of the Dragons might be, this whole incident was undoubtedly an orchestrated event. Regardless, the rescue of those students will be top priority of the Hunters, and we ask anyone with relevant information to report to us, as soon as possible.”
“…why would those dragons target Fumi?” she worriedly asked. “Even if her father…”
“…speaking of which, where is he? Now that I’m not in the dark anymore, it makes sense that he was here all along, right?”
16 years ago, a trio of Orochi Dragons were captured by the Hunters. One of them had been involved with Hinata about a month prior to his capture, and she gave birth to Fumi months later. The dragon was allowed to contact his family from time to time, under the guise that he’d been on a business trip far away, while the Yamaguchi Clan gave the mother and daughter financial support. 8 years ago, after an incident involving that Dragon, Emir made contact with Hinata, and made arrangements for herself and her daughter to live closer to the Family Grounds, stating that he was an associate of the dragon and it was being done at his request. But, from that point, the mother and child never heard from Fumi’s father ever again.
“…I deeply apologize for keeping you in the dark about this, Inoue-san.”
?
Remaining in his seat behind the desk, Tenchi took off his round glasses and let out a sigh as he spoke,
“…Fumi’s father, Danjo Noritoshi, died at the hands of Dragons 8 years ago.”
“…he requested of us that if anything were to ever happen to him, we should keep the two of you safe. That was why you were moved to a new house, nearby to us.”
As he explained everything to Hinata, she couldn’t help but sink her face into the palms of her hands.
“…that idiot…” she sobbed. For a long time, she’d hated him for not being around for her and their daughter, but she would be a liar if she said she never missed him.
“How am I supposed to apologize to Fumi for lying to her for so long…?”
“Worry about that after we save her, Inoue-san.” - A third person just walked into the room: it was Emir. He came to deliver his brother some intel that Fudo provided him.
“Furthermore, I don’t think you have to worry about her safety, at least for now. But, we’ll need to act quickly,” he added.
“Emir-san? What do you mean?” she asked.
“Like Gado said earlier on the TV, we’ve analyzed the situation. There is a chance they would go after Fumi, but neither the timing nor the course of action makes any sense,” Tenchi explained. “If I were that furious over Danjo’s betrayal, I would have targeted his family right away.”
“I’m leaning towards the idea that her classmate, Izumi Kobayashi, was the intended target, and Fumi just happened to be there, prompting the kidnapper to take them both.”
“That Kobayashi girl...I’ve heard Fumi mention her, expressing her concern about her sometimes…I only hope you’re right,” she replied.
“What supports the idea even more, is the fact that we don’t have a single contact for anyone responsible for Kobayashi, whether parent or guardian. Whatever the case, this whole thing was definitely planned,” Emir informed.
“Yeah, and if you’re right, we’ll have to move quickly,” Tenchi added, “Since they don’t necessarily need Noritoshi.”
“…it’s one thing that I’ve apparently lost her father, but please…don’t let me lose them both!” she pleaded with the two brothers.
“Don’t worry, we’ll rescue them both, without fail,” Tenchi reassured. “We’re only asking you to relocate here from now on. We can’t exactly tell what they might be up to.”
“Ok…I’ll leave it to you; Emir-san, Tenchi-san.”
“Huh? A kidnapping? Again?”
Steffan stood bewildered in front of his associates; Chojo, Miwa, Yuki, and Katashi. They’d received the report from Miwa earlier, but they’d just relayed the news to him.
His ‘again’ referred to Jamal and Tarik’s kidnapping.
“Well, this time, it makes even less sense,” Katashi responded. “That time hardly even made much sense either.”
“Do they have some sort of background?” Yuki asked.
“Well, one of them is still vague, but the other’s named Noritoshi,” Miwa informed.
“…you mean that guy who got killed? Who Fudo and I captured?” Katashi asked.
“Yes, but even if he betrayed the Dragons, the timing doesn’t make any sense,” Chojo pointed out.
“…we really never know anything they’re up to, do we?” Yuki asked.
“Up until now…who the heck was that guy Fudo talked to?” Steffan wondered.
“Whoever he was…he could make a great asset,” Chojo added. “We’ll need Fudo to keep in contact with him.”
“Hey, I hope you haven’t all forgotten what we talked about…we can’t risk letting Fudo operate alone,” Yuki reminded them. “Especially considering this is just like that time…Katashi, both you and Emir need to keep an eye on him.”
“Like I said before, you worry too much, Yuki,” Steffan sighed.
“Shut it, Steffan.”
7:30PM
SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY
*distant engines revving*
On a high-rise building somewhere within Colony 6, an individual in dark clothing with a hoodie sat on the ledge of the building with one leg dangling, as he looked at his phone. It was Fudo, and he was watching a video; it was a recording of himself and Hayami Oriki, his deceased friend.
“Agh! Stop taking pictures of me, Fudo!”
“I’m not; I’m recording you.”
“That doesn’t make it better! Stopp!” she laughed.
He wasn’t necessarily going through these memories because he missed her; well, he did miss her, but doing this always seemed to relax him in stressful situations.
“…I haven’t talked with Katashi in a while, haven’t I?” he thought to himself.
Immediately, the video he was watching got cut off as a phone call came in; the caller, ‘Kakkun’.
“Speak of the devil,” he chuckled.
“Long time no see,” he said as he answered the call.
“Yeah? I should be the one saying that,” Katashi replied.
“I just wanted to say thanks for your work, getting that information on the kid. Who the heck did you talk to?”
“Can’t say, but I’ll keep in contact with him,” he responded. “He probably made some kind of Binding with me,” he said as he looked at his right hand, which was held by the old man.
That was a guess. But really, Fudo wanted to handle the intel gathering on his own.
“I see…good work, anyway. And good to hear from you.”
“How is everyone?” he asked.
“Why don’t you just come back for once and see for yourself?”
Fudo couldn’t answer.
“Listen…we’re all worried about you. Worried about the fact that you might snap, and pull off some shit that we’ll all regret. Especially in a deja vu situation like this.”
“Yuki is seriously considering having us all report you to the Heads. I’m the sole reason she hasn’t seen to that yet, so for the love of God, just come home, Fudo,” he pleaded with him.
“…you guys don’t have to worry about me, Kakkun. I’m fine,” he reassured him.
“Then quit the lone-gunslinger act already!”
“Isn’t that a quote from Iron Man 2?”
“Whatever! I’m serious!”
“Look…I’m gonna try to see what more I can gather. I’ll probably stop by sometime tomorrow, don’t worry.”
“Alright…I’ll hold you to that, hotshot,” he sighed.
“Yeah. See you.”
On Katashi’s end, as the call ended, he could only remember what Fudo said to him all those years ago:
“This No-Killing rule no longer applies to me.”
“…watch over him, Hayami,” he thought to himself.
*bell chiming*
“Hoho? And I was just about ready to close up shop-”
“…so, it was you, huh? I could tell your Magical Energy was powerful, but now I know who it is.”
Back inside the novelty-looking store, a familiar looking individual stepped through the door, with his hood pulled down.
“Fudo Sanjuro…pleasure to meet you, although, I guess we’ve already met.”
“Like I said, Old Man, I was interested; in you being able to give me all that information, free of charge.”
“Hmph…and, like I said, that sounds like a separate conversa-”
Before the man could finish responding, Fudo had walked up to his desk, and placed down a very large sum of money – even more than what he gave the man a few hours earlier.
“I put in a little extra for overtime, as well as for your willingness to cooperate,” he informed.
The man didn’t say anything; he simply walked behind his desk, and flipping a switch, he turned off the store’s outside lights, and took his seat before asking,
“So…you want to know why the Binding Seal has no effect on me?”
As he went ahead to take his seat in front of him, Fudo requested,
“Tell me everything…Satoshi-san.”
Didn't think Danjo played any major role back when he was killed, did ya?
Also, you might notice the alternating between plain and italics in Fudo and Katashi's conversation. That was supposed to indicate who was being focused on. For example, Fudo's speech in italics meant Katashi was the one being shown "on screen".
CHOJO SANJURO
AGE: 36 (DOB: September 11, 1981)
HEIGHT: 5'11"
OCCUPATION: S-Rank Hunter
KATASHI SANJURO
AGE: 32 (March 19, 1985)
HEIGHT: 5'9"
OCCUPATION: A-Rank Hunter
