Power High 5
Kitsu woke up the next morning and got out of bed. He checked himself out of the clinic and went back up to room 502. Yuurei was still asleep, as usual, with no intention of getting up any time soon. He made his way to the bathroom and freshened up before going to class. He got changed and walked to room 322 for the morning announcements.
Kitsu took a seat and waited for a voice to come over the PA with the announcements. About a half an hour went by, and by that time most people started heading to class even though there had not been any announcements yet. Kitsu decided to follow in suit, but he couldn't shake the feeling something strange was going on.
Kitsu designed a few new mods during the five hour class, one of which gave his punch a bit more lethal force. It was a spiked gauntlet that shrank to fit the hand of the wearer. He continued working until the bell finally rang. Professor Za Bo-ru motioned to Kitsu. Kitsu walked over to see what he wanted.
"Kitsu, I know you just got over being sick but, are you going to talk to Kaze about that training? I really think it would come in handy. " Za Bo-ru said.
"Definitely. I'm just going to go back my the room and freshen up a bit first." Kitsu replied.
Kitsu made his way back to his room to find two people standing over Yuurei. They both looked to be about Kitsu's age, one a little younger than the other. One had messy light brown hair, and a slightly shorter stature than Kitsu. He wore a white hooded sweatshirt. The other stood at about the same hight as Kitsu. He had short black hair and wore a long black T-shirt.
"Wow, she's not half bad looking. It's a shame we have to kill her though." one of them said.
"Lets just get this over with. I don't like doing these kind of jobs as is, but they are paying well so we have no choice." the other said.
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing here!?" Kitsu yelled as he ran towards them.
"Uh oh, time to get out of here." the one in the white sweatshirt said as he put his hands together.
He multiplied into twenty of himself and rushed at the door. Kitsu braced himself, ready to get trampled. Surprisingly, the duplicates passed right through him, and the real foes escaped in the confusion.
"It was Hitode and Baizou wasn't it." Yuurei said, with her eyes half opened.
"Who?" Kitsu asked.
"The two guys in here just now, one can make illusions of himself and the other has regeneration. They were just here now." Yuurei replied.
"So you were awake for the whole thing then?" Kitsu asked.
"Some of it. They blocked my light so I woke up a bit, that and one of them slammed the door behind him." Yuurei said.
"I think they went through your stuff. Your dresser drawer is wide open." Kitsu said.
"I see Baizou still likes going on raids then." Yuurei replied, checking to see what clothes were missing.
"Raids?" Kitsu asked, a bit confused.
"Never mind. As long as they are here we might as well show them what we're made of." Yuurei said.
"That reminds me, I have to go ask Kaze if she will train me in the ways of martial arts." Kitsu said.
"Sounds like a plan. You cover the close combat and I'll blast away from a distance." Yuurei replied.
Kitsu made his way down the hall to room 503. He knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Kaze asked from the other side.
"It's Kitsu. Mind if I come in?" he asked.
"Sure, let me just unlock the door." Kaze replied as she undid the bolt lock.
The door swung open and Kitsu walked inside. He took a seat on the couch.
"Kaze, I was wondering...." Kitsu began.
"Yea?" Kaze asked in anticipation.
"Well, I was wondering if you could train me in the ways of combat. I've heard you are a master at it." Kitsu replied.
"Sure thing Kitsu, but are you sure you're up to it? I heard about what happened to you." Kaze said.
"I feel fine now, I should be alright."
First I would like to test your abilities, see where exactly you are in terms of skill. Meet me in the courtyard in about twenty minutes. Wear something light that lets your skin breathe, and bring some water. You'll need it." she said.
"Alright. I'll see you later then." Kitsu replied as he walked off.
He went back to his room and changed into some shorts and a tank top. He grabbed a water bottle on the way out and made his way to the courtyard. Kaze was waiting for him when he arrived.
"Right on time I see. Good." Kaze said.
She was wearing her martial arts uniform, which was blowing in the wind. Her hair blew wildly around her face as she stood in the center of the courtyard. Her normally carefree and joyous face turned to one of seriousness.
"Come at me with everything you've got Kitsu. Don't hold back!" Kaze said as she ran at him.
Kitsu jabbed in, but Kaze moved out of the way and delivered a jumping roundhouse kick to the side. Kitsu fell to the ground, but quickly rose to his feet. Kaze came in again, and Kitsu threw another punch. Kaze grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the side, setting him up for a sidekick to the chest. Kitsu stumbled backwards, but regained his balance after a few steps. Kaze rushed in again. This time Kitsu waited for her to strike first. She threw a roundhouse kick at his side. He blocked, but she quickly pulled her leg back and delivered a strong sidekick to his chest, knocking him to the ground. Kaze extended her hand, helping Kitsu to his feet.
"You have good form and decent speed, but your problem is that you lack foresight. You lack the ability to think ahead in combat. Fighting is much like a fast paced game of chess, constantly trying to think one step ahead of your opponent. If I throw a punch, I already have a follow up move planned out in my head for if you block, like that setup for the sidekick I pulled on you during the fight. We will mostly be going over combos so you have a lot of possibilities in combat. Do you understand?" Kaze said.
"I think so Kaze." Kitsu replied.
"Oh yea, one more thing. Considering I will be your mentor during training, please refer to me as Kaze-sama when we train. I like to keep in conformity with Japanese honor codes and all, I'm just picky about those kinds of things." she said.
"Fine, Kaze-sama." Kitsu replied.
"Are you feeling up to starting your training now, or did the fight wear you out?" Kaze asked.
"Just need a minute to rest, but I think I can handle some training." Kitsu replied.
"Okay. We will start working on one of the simplest combinations. It is a simple jab, cross, hook." Kaze said as she went through the motions.
Meanwhile, Yuurei was roaming about the halls, bored out of her mind. She made her way to the second floor balcony overlooking the courtyard. She leaned over the railing and noticed Kitsu training. She watched as Kitsu ducked and weaved around Kaze's strikes, practicing combinations and getting used to counter attacks.
It was then Yuurei noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It looked as though something was hiding among the clouds, but it was gone before she could see what it was.
The sun set and night fell over the courtyard. Kitsu was still training and Yuurei continued watching.
"I think we should finish up for today. You did well for your first time training like this. Your endurance is impressive." Kaze said.
"I guess we're doing this again, same time tomorrow?" Kitsu asked.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then Kaze." Kitsu said.
Kaze looked at him in disapproval.
"Kaze-sama, keep forgetting about that." Kitsu replied.
He made his way back inside and headed upstairs. He met up with Yuurei in the hall.
"Impressive fighting back there. Before long you might actually be able to hold your own in combat." Yuurei said with a laugh.
"Yea, I noticed you were watching me train." Kitsu replied.
"We meet again. At least now I won't feel so bad when I kill you. You don't look anywhere near as innocent now that you're awake." Baizou said.
Hitode and Baizou were standing at the end of the hallway.
"I hope you two prove to be a bit more of a challenge. It seems the Order is running short on competent help lately." Yuurei said.
"Oh that does it, you're going down!" Hitode yelled as he rushed in at Yuurei.
He swung at her with his dagger, but she nimbly dodged all of the swings, the last one barely clipping her belt. The belt snapped and her skirt fell to the floor. Her face went red with embarrassment.
"What the hell are you looking at Kitsu!" she yelled.
"N-nothing!" he stammered as he averted his gaze.
Miwaku turned the corner at the other end of the hall and saw Yuurei. Completely oblivious to the other three, he yelled out to her.
"Wow! I didn't know you had such great legs! You should ditch the skirt more often!" Miwaku called over to her.
Yuurei looked over at him, her eyes burning with rage. Miwaku's face turned pale as he began to run away. Yuurei quickly gave chase.
"I meant it as a compliment! I swear!" Miwaku cried in terror.
"I'm sure that's what you meant, now let me help wipe that smirk off your face you perv!" she yelled as she continued to chase him.
"That kid's right, she does have some pretty amazing legs." Baizou said.
Kitsu was alone against Hitode and Baizou. He prepared for a fight. Hitode rushed at Kitsu and began stabbing at him with the dagger. Baizou began making illusion doubles of himself while Hitode kept Kitsu busy. Kitsu dodged the strikes and grabbed Hitode's arm. He pulled Hitode in to a hard knee strike to the gut and then kicked him to the side. Baizou was ready for Kitsu with about a dozen doubles crowding the hall. They all rushed at Kitsu. He blocked all the oncoming illusions, trying to pick out the real Baizou. Kitsu was grabbed from behind and taken to the ground. In the confusion, the real Baizou got behind Kitsu and put him in a full nelson.
"Wait, what are we doing wasting our time on this kid? The target ran off down the hall! Shouldn't we be after her instead?" Hitode yelled.
"Good point." Baizou said as he released Kitsu.
Baizou walked over and picked up the skirt off the floor. He looked it over for a moment.
"Now is not the time for your stupid raids. We have a job to do!" Hitode yelled.
Baizou tossed the skirt aside and followed Hitode down the hall. Kitsu tried to chase after them, but fell to the ground, exhausted. He got back to his feet and walked back to room 502. He lied down on his bed and passed out.
Yuurei had finally caught up to Miwaku. She took a flying leap at him and took him to the ground. She started wailing him in the face, and he did nothing to block her either. After his face was red from being hit so much, Yuurei noticed he wasn't resisting.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you...." Yuurei said annoyed.
"Sort of." Miwaku replied cheerfully.
Yuurei gave him one last slap before letting him up. As Miwaku got to his feet he noticed Baizou and Hitode run around the corner of the hall. Yuurei looked over at them and started to grin.
"Do you even know what you're getting yourselves into. I'd turn and run if I were you." Yuurei said arrogantly.
"Bring it on. We can take you easily!" Hitode said defiantly.
"Fine, it's your funeral." Yuurei said as she gathered. a massive amount of magical energy.
Hitode rushed at Yuurei with his dagger while Baizou began duplicating himself. Just as Hitode got close enough to swing, Yuurei fired a beam of dark energy, blasting his arm apart. He clutched his shoulder in pain. Fingers began growing out of the wound and eventually formed a full hand. He grabbed onto it and pulled out a brand new arm. Yuurei and Miwaku stared with amazement.
"That really hurt, blowing my arm off like that." Hitode said as he picked up his dagger off the floor.
"Next time it will be your head." Yuurei said with a cold stare.
Baizou rushed at her with all of his doubles. She stood perfectly still as they all attacked her. The doubles were all over her, attacking like mad. She thrust out her hand and the doubles disappeared. She had grabbed Baizou by the throat and was holding him in the air.
"I warned you that you didn't know what you were getting into. You decided not to listen." she said angrily as she threw him to the ground.
"I really don't think messing with her is a good idea. It's not worth the money." Miwaku said with a trusting gleam in his eye.
"He's right, it just isn't worth all this." Hitode said.
"Yea, lets get out of here." Baizou said.
They both walked away heading downstairs towards the door of the school. Yuurei watched, a bit confused as to what just happened. Miwaku walked over to her.
"I convinced them to leave, if that's what you're wondering." Miwaku said.
"So you can control people's thoughts. Interesting, and I assume that's how you get all the ladies, isn't it." Yuurei said
"Not at all actually. I only use my powers to help others. Okay, so I'm a bit of a perv, but I'm not THAT low!" Miwaku said defensively.
"Wheres Kitsu? I though he would have followed those two down here." Yuurei said.
"I don't know. Lets go look for him." Miwaku replied.
They both walked up to room 502 and walked inside. They saw Kitsu passed out on the bed. Yuurei opened her dresser drawer and grabbed another skirt, and then walked into the bathroom to change. Miwaku went to follow her, but remembered what she was capable of and thought better of it. Yuurei walked out of the bathroom and sat down next to Kitsu.
"Wake up." she said as she flicked him on the forehead.
"Ow....what was that for...." Kitsu said sleepily as he opened his eyes.
"Pay back for waking me up at six in the morning a few days ago, thats what." Yuurei said.
"I need sleep. I had a long day." Kitsu replied.
"Sorry about snapping at you earlier." Yuurei said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it. You were embarrassed, it's understandable." Kitsu replied
"But I was embarrassed because you were there." Yuurei said.
"Why? I don't get why me being there had anything to do with it." Kitsu said.
"I thought it would be obvious by now. For someone so brilliant you sure are dense sometimes." Yuurei said jokingly.
"Alright, I just need some sleep so if you don't mind...." Kitsu said as he rolled over.
Yuurei turned off the lights and let Kitsu sleep. Yuurei watched Kitsu as he slept, thinking back to all the good times she had with her past love. A tear came to her eye as she remembered the day he was killed. She remembered the burning tapestries hanging from the stone masonry walls, knights standing over his corpse. She knelt down next to him, clutching his hand. She remembered his last words to her were "I want for you to continue my dream once I am gone. My time in this world is short, flee before my killer returns. Keep me in your heart, my love". It was then she noticed the image of a hawk had been carved into his hand.
Yuurei lied down, unable to fall asleep, tormented by those wretched memories of her lover's death. She walked over to Kitsu and just watched him for a moment. A tear fell from her cheek and landed on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes, still half asleep.
"Yuurei, whats wrong?" he asked, noticing she was terribly upset.
"Hold me." she replied, putting her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder.
Kitsu rubbed her back comfortingly as she cried in his arms. He wondered what she was upset about. He was shocked to see her this way, considering how unmoved she was by nearly being killed again on multiple occasions.
"What's going on? You seem really shook up about something, and I'd like to help." Kitsu said.
"You're helping more than you know..." Yurrei thought, still sobbing too much to even speak.
After a long moment of silence, Yuurei finally calmed down and let go of Kitsu. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gave him a smile. Kitsu put his hand on her shoulder, looking a bit happier now that Yuurei had stopped crying.
"Thank you." she whispered, walking back to her bed and lying down.
They both fell asleep soon after.
The next morning, Kitsu awoke bright and early and went through his usual morning routine. He made his way to room 302 and waited for the announcements. A voice came over the loud speaker all throughout the school.
"Classes will be canceled for today due to preparations for the festival. Enjoy your time off and the festival will start tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM".
The voice cut off and the room quickly emptied. Kitsu made his way up the stairs for room 503. He knocked on the door.
"Who's there?" Bekutoru asked
"It's Kitsu. Is Kaze there?" Kitsu replied.
"Nope. She did want me to tell you something though. It was something about training in the auditorium today. Not sure what she meant by it but I assume you would know more than I do about it." Bekutoru replied.
"Thanks. I'll catch you later. I have to meet up with Kaze." Kitsu said as he ran off.
He made his way down to the auditorium where he saw Kaze performing fluid combos and spins, melding them perfectly into each other. It was as if she were fighting thousands of invisible opponents. She looked over and noticed Kitsu standing in the doorway.
"Hey Kitsu! I guess you're here to start your training early." she said, still performing her set pattern of moves.
"Sounds good to me." Kitsu replied.
Kaze went into a triple back-flip and landed a few feet away. She looked up at Kitsu and bowed.
"Let's begin." she said as her normally joyful demeanor once again turned serious.
The two of them practiced combos and counter attacks for hours, throwing each other to the ground numerous times, and taking the occasional water break. Kaze began sizing up Kitsu, and her face suddenly showed an expression of pure excitement.
"I think you are ready for this. You are excelling and progressing faster than I ever could have imagined. I feel it is time for me to teach you the art of Ki-strikes. It is when you put your entire being in an attack, like so." Kaze said as she prepared to punch.
With a loud yell, she drove her fist forward, releasing a barely visible sonic boom from her fist. A second or two after she finished, one of the folding chairs in front of her flew across the room. She began walking Kitsu through how to perform Ki-strikes and after hours of practice, he finally pulled one off.
"I'm amazed it only took you a few hours to actually catch on! For most people it takes years of training before they even become aware that Ki-strikes are even possible, and even more time before they actually can perform them." Kaze said in awe.
Just then Yuurei walked into the room.
"I'm curious as to how well your training is coming. Fight me." Yuurei said.
"What? I can't fight you. You'll rip me apart!" Kitsu said.
"I won't use my magical powers, okay. Just want to see how well you have progressed." she replied.
"Alright. Lets do this!" Kitsu said enthusiastically.
Yuurei rushed at him and threw a strong punch. Kitsu ducked out of the way and countered with a roundhouse kick. Before he knew it, Yuurei had somehow gotten behind him and had his arm pinned to his back. Kitsu broke free and leaped forward with a flying side kick. Yuurei dodged once again and pulled him to the ground. Kitsu got to his feet and mustered up all of his strength. He threw a strong punch, even though he was far out of range. Yuurei put her hand up and braced for impact. She slid back as the force of the Ki-strike connected with her hand. Kaze watched the battle in awe.
"What is she? She has been diving into the shadows as though they were portals to another dimension. And how did she block that Ki-strike with one hand. A normal person would have been blown back even by the weakest of Ki-strikes." Kaze thought as she watched the battle come to a close.
"Not bad Kitsu. You are improving." Yuurei said as she walked over to him.
"You look exhausted. Maybe we should stop for today." Kaze said.
"I think you're right Kaze-sama. I'm going to go get some rest. See you all tomorrow." Kitsu said as he left the room.
"A girl as young as you being able to perform Ki-strikes. Impressive. Where did you learn such an ancient form of attack?" Yuurei asked.
"My grandfather taught me. I finally figured out how to perform them just last year..." Kaze replied.
"You're quite are impressive yourself. How did you block his Ki-strike with just your hand? And it seems you can travel through shadows as well. How do you do it?" Kaze continued.
"I'd rather not give away my secrets. It will only lead to my eventual defeat." Yuurei said with a smirk as she walked off.
She made her way back up to room 502 and changed into her nightgown. She was feeling incredibly tired, most likely from her lack of sleep the night before. She lied down and began to think to herself.
"Kitsu is still no match for me, though I doubt he will interfere. He's just like the man I used to love, I know he won't get in the way. Maybe he will even support me in fulfilling my lover's dream, but it is too early to fill him in on everything. I'll tell him soon though." Yuurei thought as she fell off to sleep.