Where on Earth IS she?!
The tall, leggy and busty third-year high school student in the rather racy version of the white-and-blue seifuku uniform of Seito High School scanned left and right as she walked down the street, her hand gripping the long handle of her trusty guāndāo as she made her way towards the downtown section of Tomobiki. Having gotten off at Tomobiki-higashi station when she first sensed the powerful ki of the Dragon Jade, Kan'u Unchō began a slow and systematic search of this infamous epicentre of weirdness in Tōkyō's western suburbs so she could try to trace down the mysterious tōshi that she had first seen in Hong Kong, then lost trace of when she disappeared from the Mandarin Oriental earlier that day.
Of course, she only arrived at Tomobiki when a frantic text message from Chōhi Ekitoku came into her cell-phone: Ryūbi Gentoku had vanished without a trace from Seito.
Of course, it hadn't taken Unchō long to sense where her beloved leader was.
She's with the tōshi that took the Dragon Jade. AND the Dragon Jade itself!
Stopping for a moment as she took a deep breath, Unchō glanced around as she allowed her well-honed ki-senses to reach out so she could focus on Gentoku so she could get to her as quickly as possible and get her — and more importantly, the hidden dragon within her soul — away from the Dragon Jade. When she first learned through spies at Nan'yō that Ryomō Shimei was heading out to locate the Dragon Jade — no doubt as a way to control the potential dragon lurking in Sonsaku Hakufu, to say anything of the fragment of Gentoku's own dragon that was now lodged in Shimei's left eye — it had been a no-brainer to Unchō.
The Dragon Jade was said to have the power to change a tōshi's destiny.
To keep Gentoku safe from the darkness…
To keep her dreams of a normal life alive, even if they were ultimately futile…
To have hope for a way for all to escape what the magatama forced on them all…
…the Dragon Jade had to be possessed by Seito.
And yet…
Who on Earth WAS that girl?!
Tensing as she felt the unique ki that marked Gentoku's presence, Unchō turned and headed down a side street, maintaining a brisk pace.
She thought she knew the names and faces of all the major tōshi alive today.
Whoever the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl Gentoku's age was, she was a total unknown.
Unchō HATED unknowns.
Especially unknowns that had the power to create instant VOLCANOES with KI!
Reaching a crossroads, Unchō then stopped as her senses picked up other presences.
"Oh, no…!"
"Oh, my! What are you doing here, Unchō-chan?"
Standing on the roof of an office block not so far away from Tampopo's, Ryofu Hōsen could only smirk as she focused her ki-senses on the burning pit of life energy that was Kan'u Unchō. Looking over to see the tall and shapely tōshi from Seito, the top fighter of Rakuyō could only smirk at the rhetorical question she just asked. With Gentoku now currently being entertained by Moroboshi Hiromi/Ryūkō Kyōrei…and with something as powerful as the Dragon Jade within very close range of the leader of Seito and the reborn second-to-last Emperor of the Hàn…
I wonder what Kyōrei-chan might do if Unchō-chan tries to take the Dragon Jade away from her, Hōsen mused to herself as she crouched down, allowing her body to shift slightly around as she prepared herself physically in case she found herself in whatever upcoming fight will begin in the area around Hiromi's current residence.
And with the likes of Kan'u Unchō, much less Ryomō Shimei, involved…
Hōsen grinned. Deep down, she personally didn't give much of a damn about the warped inter-school and intra-school politics that were as much a part of a tōshi's life as knock-down, drag-out martial arts brawls. For as long as she could remember, the woman born Sebone Shikuko and had later assumed the battle name "Ryofu Hōsen" have lived her life in the simple quest of being the best fighter that had ever lived. It was in her very blood and soul, after all; Lǚ Bù, her own namesake (so to speak) had been hailed as the "Mightiest Warrior Alive" when he had rampaged across old China.
Even suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — known in North America as Lou Gehrig's disease — and being pretty much guaranteed that she wouldn't live past twenty years of age hadn't really changed Hōsen's worldview.
Which brought her to the here-and-now.
Ryūbi Gentoku was currently planning to spend the night with her spiritual "cousin."
Kan'u Unchō, having sensed both Gentoku and the Dragon Jade, was heading their way.
Ryomō Shimei — who, for more than understandable reasons, was after the Dragon Jade herself — was close by and no doubt prepared to jump in if she had to.
As were…
The aqua-haired tōshi's eyebrow then arched.
Isn't that interesting?!
"Do we know who this girl with Ryūbi is?"
"Don't recognise her," Hanchō mused as she and three other tōshi in the dark burgundy uniforms of Rakuyō Senior High School relaxed themselves atop a roof to the north of Tampopo's, directly across from where Hōsen was. "Her ki seems pretty powerful, but I'm wondering if it's the Dragon Jade throwing my senses off."
Hearing that, Joei, Kakuji and Chōsai all nodded in understanding. To their classmates at Rakuyō, the four beautiful senior girls were the Angels of Chōan, a special enforcement squad that directly answered to Tōtaku Chūei in much the same way as Kyoshō's "Three Pillared Gods" answered to Sōsō Mōtoku. They normally kept to themselves, only making their presence known when the leader of Rakuyō wanted to deliver a sharp, nasty message to whoever had come to displease him. Rumour at Rakuyō also had it all four were some of Tōtaku's more intimate friends, but no one, either inside or outside the school, dared go up to any of them and asked them about it.
"Possibly. Why haven't we heard of a tōshi living in this burg, anyway?" Joei — she was pretty much seen as the leader of the group even if they always acted in consensus whenever they were sent out on these missions — asked.
"Don't know, but that's something we better beat Kaku over the head with when we get the chance," Kakuji noted as she sneered, her hands coming up so she could crack her knuckles. "And after we get some dead flesh out of the way, of course."
The other girls nodded; they all could sense Hōsen lurking close by, no doubt also drawn into the area by the ki of the Dragon Jade. Having long come to sense that something was really off with their so-called "greatest" fighter, all four of the Angels knew that something might happen sooner or later which would set Hōsen on a rampage and send her right after Tōtaku's throat. And while they didn't really like their school's current overlord, the Angels knew that as long as they could keep him safe and atop the whole game, they would also remain safe and alive. All four knew what had happened to their past-selves in the wake of the murder of Dǒng Zhuō by Lǚ Bù in 192 AD.
"We've got company," Chōsai warned.
The other Angels' eyes narrowed, and then Joei smirked. "Well, well, well. When did THOSE three finally come down from the mountains?"
"Sōsō is interested," Kakuji mused.
"Pity they won't get far," Hanchō vowed…
"Do you recognise the girl?"
The other two in the black robes and hakama trousers that marked them also as aspiring Sōtō Zen monastics shook their heads at Gakushin Bunken's question. "Never seen her before," Jokō Kōmei mused as he gripped the long staff he normally used both as a walking cane and as a battle weapon. "Her ki is quite strong. And odd, too."
"Noticed it, eh?" Chōkō Shungai grumbled as he gazed on Tampopo's from the position the Three Pillared Gods had taken to the west, near the end of the restaurant district.
"Is she allied with Seito or Rakuyō?" Bunken wondered aloud.
"Doubt the latter," Kōmei said as he nodded towards the position the Angels of Chōan had taken. While not normally known among mainstream tōshi, there had been some pretty nasty brawls between the Gods and the Angels over the last few years.
"True," Shungai grunted.
"We do it as normal?" Kōmei asked.
Bunken nodded. "Yeah. Let's let Kan'u make the first move."
The others nodded…
Damn! This is going to turn into a total free-for-all!
Ryomō Shimei was trying not to gnash her teeth as she took in all that was currently bracketing the current location of her ultimate target:
The Dragon Jade.
And by what she could now sense, it was going to be epic.
Four of Rakuyō's top fighters to the north.
Rakuyō's penultimate fighter — her own cousin, in fact! — to the south.
Three of Kyoshō's best to the west.
She herself to the east.
Her greatest rival heading right in to rescue her leader…
…and the reborn Emperor Lìng herself right in the centre of it all!
What to do?
Who's side should she take?
Just go in, grab the Dragon Jade, and run for Nan'yō as fast as she could go?
Team with Unchō to protect Gentoku and Kyōrei as well as the Dragon Jade?
Perhaps team up with her cousin to get the Dragon Jade?
Damn!
What could she do…?
Meanwhile, right at Ground Zero…
"Um, Hiromi-san?"
Hiromi looked up from her book; she had been reading something at her work desk when her guest had called out. "Is there a problem, Sonami-san?"
Gentoku was currently pointing at something that reminded her somewhat of the new Apple iPad that had just come out in America; it was currently lying atop the dresser drawers from where Hiromi had got her some pyjamas. "This laptop of yours is buzzing."
The other woman blinked, and then she walked over to take it off the dresser. Tapping the screen, she then blinked before calling out, "What is it, Tsukihana-san?"
"Sorry to bother you, Sempai, but there's a problem," a young man's voice called out from the device as an image of a fellow appearing to be Shokatsuryō Kōmei's age appeared on the dark screen, he currently seated somewhere that — in Gentoku's eyes — seemed to come straight out of Star Trek!
"What sort of problem?" Hiromi asked.
"Well, it appears that you've got some company right now."
Hiromi blinked…
Just outside the slightly-opened window of Hiromi's bedroom, Unchō froze as she heard those words, and then she looked around, trying to find out what she had missed.
"Something's wrong," Bunken warned.
Kōmei and Shungai both tensed.
"Crap!" Joei hissed.
"What?!" Hanchō demanded.
"Someone's spotted us and they're warning Ryūbi's friend!"
The other Angels all gaped at their leader.
"Oh, no."
Hiromi looked over. "What's the problem, Sonami-san?"
Gentoku had a shamed look on her face. "It's me they're after."
Silence.
"Are they would-be suitors?" Hiromi wondered.
The leader of Seito fell flat on her face!
Outside Hiromi's bedroom, Unchō was now as red as a cherry.
"HIROMI-SAN!"
Hiromi waved off the heavily-puffing Gentoku as she laughed in embarrassment. "Sorry! Sorry!" she apologised before she reached over for the iPad-like device she had been using to communicate to her friend. "Tsukihana-san?"
"Hai?" the young man replied.
"Lock in on all tōshi around myself and my cousin. …"
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(Posted Sat, 08 May 2010 14:49)
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