People Of the Sky

[chibi]

People Of the Sky

(All of the characters, original races, and anything else original is mine. Don't steal it without permission first. Email is [e-mail])

Chapter 1
The Begining

I looked up at the clock in the front of Mr. Suzuki’s science classroom. There were only five minutes left in the rest of the school year. Everyone was ready to go home to three months of relaxing and fun, but five minutes were keeping us away from that dream. Toroichi, my best friend, was sitting beside me, not realizing what was going on.
“Toro! We’ve got four minutes left! Can’t you wait and stare at the clock like the rest of us?” I asked him. He turned around and looked at me, his brown hair waving in the air.
“Why should I Yuki? It will only make the wait feel longer. Besides, you know what I have to do all break. The later we get out of here, the better for me. Now you on the other hand, you get to go home and then right to the stores for whatever you want. You are so lucky Yuki. Boot camp is not my style,” Toro said. He frowned. There were only three minutes left.
“I didn’t know you were leaving all break! I thought I was going to finally have someone to hang out with. It has been years since you’ve spent more than ten days at your house when school’s out. I guess it’s going to be another lonely three months,” I said. He seemed sad. I would be too if I had to go to boot camp for three months.
“Just be sure to write to me. It’s going to be hard enough getting over not being home for a long time. I want to have a little piece of my home with me,” he said. The bell rang and we said goodbye, regretfully. I watched the houses go by as my bus went down the street. I knew next year I would never get to see this again. I was going to Tokyo Academy next year.
“Yuki, do you want to hang out together over break? I think it would be fun since you’re going to Academy next year. My mom says I need to go to the public school, but I would rather go to Tokyo Academy any day,” Maigo, the girl who sat beside me on the bus, asked. She was in my grade, but she didn’t have very good grades.
“I guess. I know Academy is good for me, but I would rather stay here where all my friends are. At least Toro will be going to Tokyo Academy too. I don’t think I would stand a whole semester there if it weren’t for him. It’s sad that he’s going to be at camp and he can’t hang out with us. I’m sure he would love to,” I said.
Maigo and I walked off the bus and down our street. She was also my neighbor. We talked about how school went and how we were going to miss the junior high.
“Maigo, do you want to go shopping with me. I figured that you might want to go get something to eat in town. I have no one to go with, except for me of course,” I asked. She smiled and accepted my offer. We put our things away in our houses and we rode the subway all the way to central Tokyo.
When we got to the restaurant, Maigo said she wasn’t hungry, so we decided to shop first. There’s nothing better than shopping then having a great meal. We stopped by our favorite clothing store first. I got a shirt and Maigo got a pair of jeans.
“Hey look! A fortune cookie! It’s in its wrapper still too. Do you want it Yuki? I don’t like them very much,” Maigo said. She handed me the cookie and I unwrapped it. I snapped the cookie in half and pulled the fortune out.
“Listen to this, Mai. You will meet your future where the three gates’ pathways intersect. Isn’t that a little far fetched? I’ve never read something so weird in one of these things,” I said with my mouth full. She laughed.
“Yeah, that’s just strange. I never read those things. Now, if they actually told the future I would get as many as possible, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Maigo said. We both laughed.
We continued our shopping down the street, going to a few stores here and there. The town square was as crowded as ever; I had never seen such a crowd. We had to walk near the sides just to be able to move, and I don’t mean easily. I saw a girl that looked like she was our age in the crowd. She stared at me continuously, never looking the other way for a second. She had a stern look on her face and started walking toward me.
When I was right in front of an alley, she ran and shoved me into the narrow street. She got me to be back to back against the cold brick wall. Neither of us said a word for at least two minutes. We just looked at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.
“What do you want from me? I don’t even know you,” I said. I could hear the fear in my voice. She stepped back and looked confused.
“Can you see? You shouldn’t be hanging out with the normal humans. It doesn’t make you look good to the rest of us. You do see the fights in the sky because of this. Some of us actually have the nerve to be friends with average people, just like you,” She said. Her long blonde hair moved as if there were a breeze when there wasn’t.
“I don’t have a clue about what you are talking about. I’m an average human, just like you,” I said. She had a look of disgust on her face.
“You dare call me a normal human? Can’t you see the wings that set me apart from all the others in the crowd? Don’t you see your wings too?”
“What are you talking about? You’re speaking nonsense! I don’t have wings. You don’t have wings. No humans have wings!”
“Can you explain why I can fly?” She started to hover in midair, but she seemed not to be moving a muscle. It was amazing.
“I…I can’t, but I can’t do that either. Explain that.”
“You can’t see your wings but you can surely feel them. Try to fly, girl.” I jumped in the air and was floating like she was, only not as high. It felt amazing to be doing this.
“Wow! That was so cool! I can’t wait to tell Toroichi!” I exclaimed. My comment seemed to immediately irritate her.
“No you aren’t. There are rules to this game that you have to follow. You can’t tell anyone about us, you can’t fly in front of others, and you must not try to hurt someone using your powers that aren’t one of us,” She said.
“Why can’t I fly around people?”
“Because you seem to be invisible when you are flying, like me.”
“There’s one thing, how can I tell who is a flyer and who’s normal. I still can’t see your wings.”
“Can you see my tribal markings? That might be the only way…”
“On your cheeks? Yeah, I can see them. Does every flyer have them?”
“It’s law, but you’ve got the ones who don’t follow rules. We need to get yours on too, by the way. Follow me.”
“Up? I don’t know…”
“Just come on! It’s not that hard,” She said. She extended her hand and I grabbed. Immediately we began to soar up hundreds of feet into the sky. I felt so carefree, gliding my way into the sky. She looked down to me and smiled. She let go of my hand and flew ahead of me. I panicked.
“I’m going to die like this!” I screamed. I could feel me falling at a rate that steadily increased.
“Just imagine you’re flying!” she said. I pictured me flying in my mind, my graceful wings moving with a beautiful rhythm. I opened my eyes and I was still falling. Suddenly, there was an awful pain that came from my back. I could feel wings sprouting from my back. The pain was unbearable. I could see what looked like blood coming from my back.
“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts. It hurts…”
I awoke on a palace floor, lying on a very comfortable mat. I could see the girl who was with me talking to an important looking man.
“-Do you really think that she is the one? She doesn’t even… Look, she’s awake,” he said in a hushed voice. They stared at me as if I was something unwanted. They looked right into my eyes, which before I had been told were almost a black hole. The man turned away and cleared his throat. My friend came to me and kneeled down so she could see if any of my injuries were visible.
“Turn over for a second, please,” she said in a timid voice. She looked almost terrified. I could only wonder what the reason was. She seemed to be very cold and show no feelings before.
“I will as soon as you explain to me what’s going on. I want to know your name, who he is, and where we are. Tell me and I’ll cooperate,” I said in my firmest voice.
“Oh, I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Chuigo Hirashika. He is the leader and wisest of our kind, Master Shirobiku. We are in the sky where the palace of our people is. Now turn over,” she said in a very rushed voice. I turned onto my belly. “You’ll have to raise your shirt up a little, just so we can see how everything looks around your wings.” I did as she told me to, still lying on my belly. She gasped and I watched Shirobiku’s eyes widen.
“What? What’s wrong?” I asked. Chuigo traced something onto my back. She mumbled something and stood up to speak to Shirobiku again. I deiced to follow them to the other room; it was the only way I was going to get some information here. The look on Chuigo’s face looked as if it wasn’t going to be easy to accept.

[chibi]

Chapter 2
Hiding

“Master… It isn’t possible, right? I have never seen anything like that since the-”
“Quiet, Chuigo. That is an event that is never to be mentioned in my presence. Yes, it is true though, what she is. I never thought that they would keep one youngster full blooded and with the same powers before the first deterioration. If she ever finds out about her past, about her ancestors, we might become an extinct race. Only her followers would survive. This is the worst possible time for this to happen because of the war. I knew that one day we would see a descendant, but never one with such strong blood. We may be doomed,” Shirobiku said.
“Am I really your enemy? Explain this to me! I want to know!” I yelled. The two were surprised that I was around the corner. Shirobiku looked me straight in the eye, but Chuigo looked down at the ground as if she did something dreadfully wrong.
“If you are going to cause a ruckus like this we will have to kill you immediately,” he said in a calm tone. Chuigo looked to him as if she wanted to stand up for me, but she never said a word.
“I need to know the truth. I can’t just be here and be expected to know what to do. All I really want to know is what that pain was in my back when I was trying to fly,” I said in a quieter tone. He shook his head.
“Chuigo! I’ll leave you to explain everything to him because this is your entire fault. If you tell her too much you know what will become of you both,” he said. Chuigo’s eyes widened, but she came to me and led me to a secret room under the palace.
“Ask your questions. I will answer them to the best of my ability,” she said.
“What was so strange on my back?”
“That I cannot answer. I’m sorry, I barely understand it myself.”
“Then what was that pain I felt in my back while we were getting here?” She looked at me.
“Are you’re parents still alive?”
“Yeah. What about my-”
“-Are you sure they are still alive? Are you sure they were at home in no trouble at all?” Chuigo said. She looked more serious than ever before.
“They were running errands in town. That is what they told me anyway,” I said. She stood up and started to walk out the door.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” I yelled. She looked over her shoulder at me. She stared into my eyes long and hard.
“I’m going to go find more information out. You can follow me if you must, but I don’t know if I can let you know everything that will be discussed.” I ran after her and we walked up to the top floor. Chuigo walked into a roomed marked with level four clearance. I stood outside so I could hear what was going on.
“List all raids that were in the Tokyo area, Panta,” she said. The boy named Panta looked up to her from his chair. His long, dusty blonde hair was in his eyes, which were a beautiful, deep aqua color.
“Two happened. One was on an illegal case of tribal markings, the other on two of them. They had no kids known of.”
“Their names?”
“Uh… Let me check,” he said as he typed away vigorously. “ Hikaru Miraku and Jishou Miraku were the people taken and killed.” I gasped. My parents… Chuigo looked at me. She could tell the look of shock on my face and understood what it meant.
“Register this, Panta. Hikaru and Jishou Miraku had a daughter named Yuki. If that were registered, my butt would not be in as much trouble as it now. You guys must check those things more often. I don’t know how many people have the same powers locked in them like she does,” she said.
“Is that the power source I can feel? It’s really one of them? It’s not possible…”
“Yeah, it’s possible. I never thought that our generation would ever have to deal with it though. I was hoping it would be before or after our time, but it looks like poor data collecting from our generation has led to this. I don’t want the war to become worse than it already is. At least we aren’t involved with that.” Chuigo walked out of the room and headed to Shirobiku’s office. She was walking at a brisk pace making it hard for me to catch up to her.
“What relevance was there in that conversation to my question?” I asked, going to a fast walking speed from a run.
“I can’t say anymore. I think you may already know too much. Put up a fight if they try to get you. It would be nice if you would save me too,” she said. I stopped in the middle of the hallway. She walked into the office and shut the door behind her quietly. I put my ear up close to the door so I could hear what is going on.
“What is it, Chuigo?” Shirobiku said.
“It’s about Yuki. Her parents were killed recently by one of the forces here. I thought I’d let you know, since you know the prophecy too well…”
“Yes, you’re right in you suspicions. That has caused everything. Yuki, you can come in. There is no point standing outside of the door to listen.” I was surprised at the statement toward me that I jumped, but I walked in calmly.
“What does everything have to do with me? No one will answer me,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Yuki. You’ll have to go through a special training program that I’ve prepared for you. Then your questions have a better chance of being answered. Now, though, it is illegal to tell you anymore than you know. I’m sorry about that, but ever since the prophecy was told of, there has been a great rise in our security. Chuigo would love to tell you the whole story, but if she says too much we would have to kill the both of you.” Chuigo looked at the floor miserably.
“Follow me Yuki. I’ll take you to meet your trainer for the next couple of weeks,” she said. We left the room and she started to walk down one of the halls.
“Since I can’t know about me, I want to know about you. How did you find out you had wings?” I said. She smiled a little.
“I could see them, even people who had wings that were hidden. Even when I was just a tiny baby I could tell if someone was hiding their wings. You usually don’t learn that skill until you are fourteen or fifteen. I’ve been down on the planet looking for people against my own. I had the most advanced power sensing, I could see wings better than anyone else.”
“Is that how you saw my wings?”
“Yeah. Once I told you they were there, though, they became visible to the regular winged person. Your power led me too you. I could sense it from the other side of Tokyo. I had never been there before. I could sense only low amounts of power, until we started to fly. You overwhelmed me, which led in my decision to let go of your hand. Nothing would have changed anyway…” We passed by a room marked ‘Markings’ and Chuigo stopped immediately.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“I forgot about your markings. Your trainer will never accept you without them. Let’s go in here,” she said. She opened the door and walked to the back of the room with me close behind. There was woman at the back and Chuigo walked up to her and gave her a big hug.
“Chuigo, what have you done now?” The woman asked.
“I brought some one who lacks some markings. I found her in Tokyo earlier today. Don’t worry, mom, she’s really nice,” Chuigo said. Her mother motioned me to come closer to the small lamp that was the only light source in the room. She gasped when she could see me as clearly as possible.
“Chui-”
“Mom! Don’t worry. She needs markings before she can go onto the training that Master Shirobiku ordered me to take her to. You know Annarika will never let her in without them…”
“Okay, whatever you say, Chuigo. Annarika wouldn’t go against Master Shirobiku’s orders. She is smarter than that,” the woman said as she applied a cold paint to my face. It was cold to the touch. Every time she touched my skin with it a chilling feeling went down my back.
“I would bet that she would still make her get them before training begun,” Chuigo said. She was laughing a little, which seemed to be a good and uncommon thing for her. Her mother seemed like a nice and warm person. Maybe the little amount of contact with people who used to be friends made her that way, but I didn’t care. She was nice to me and that was all that mattered now.
The cold paint was getting worse as she went on. “Why is this stuff so cold? I can hardly stand it anymore,” I finally said. She looked at me funny.
“The paint is so warm I was afraid it would be too hot for you. I just got it out of the oven,” she said.
“It’s freezing. It hurts! It hurts!” I yelled.
“Go get Annarika, Chuigo. Shirobiku will be here soon. We need as much help as possible from the experts right now,” the woman said. It just barely registered what she said in my mind because an awful pain went down my back, all the way to my toes.
“It’s spreading. The infection is spreading,” she said in a hushed voice.

[chibi]

Chapter 3
Father

Shirobiku walked into the room, as I was half conscious. He looked at my arm, which was limp from the pain. I could feel him trace something out on it, very similar to what Chuigo traced on my back. He looked at my face and looked to Chuigo’s mother.
“Is that what you painted on her face, Konohona?” he asked. She shook her head.
“Mom, what’s going on?” A tall, skinny lady said. I could see her eyes go to me and she gasped louder than any of the others when they first saw me.
“Don’t say anything, Annarika. Everything is under control now. I’d like you to meet Yuki, your new student for training in control over infections,” Shirobiku said. Annarika moved closer to Shirobiku on the other side of me. As she walked by, I felt her eyes staying on me every second. During those seconds I blacked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Get up Yuki,” a familiar voice said to me. I opened my eyes slowly. I couldn’t tell where I was, or who was there. I tried to stand up, but every time I fell twice as hard as before.
“Who’s there? Where am I?” I asked. A human figure appeared before me.
“Yuki, you are in your body. I’m just in your mind right now. I’m one of your ancestors. I’ve come to tell you what the people outside won’t tell you about your past.”
“You are? Tell me everything. I want to know why everyone treats me as if I’m some strange street trash.” The figure walked closer until it found a place to sit close to me. It was had a black cloak on so I could not identify him.
“Everyone treats you different because you are. You are a huge threat to them. If you wanted, you could beat five of them at once if you wanted. You’re powers are unstoppable now, Yuki. You are the last person to contain full powered blood from the ancient tribe of the Batoki. The Batoki were a powerful group that almost took over the whole Anchu race,” he said.
“Who are the Anchu?”
“They are the people with wings, Yuki. The Batoki lost their strength a few decades ago, but we sent some people down to the Earth so they could hide and we would have a secret army of stronger Batoki. They were only to awaken when their parents, the ones that gave their powers up for the whole cause, sacrificed themselves or were killed by assassins of the opposing forces. You were awakened by an accident. No one wanted this to happen. The war may break out before anyone is ready.”
“So when they say I’m one of them, they mean I’m a Batoki. Why wouldn’t they tell me?”
“They don’t want you to know what your true powers are. If you knew, you would know you had the power to destroy anybody you pleased. You would be the leader of the entire Anchu population if you wanted. They only keep you alive because Shirobiku thinks that you might choose their side and end the entire war. You should be loyal to your bloodline though. We know that loyalty is what the Batoki are all about. That is how we became powerful.”
“You don’t tell me who to fight for. No one will tell me what to do. I am not going to follow your orders, sir. I don’t care what you say; I don’t want to be here. If you thought I was going to be an obedient slave warrior for you, think again. Yuki Miraku will never follow a subordinate’s orders,” I said. I stood up tall and proud. The cloaked figure stood up as well and looked me in the face.
“How dare you call me your subordinate. I have much more training and many more manners than you could imagine. You say I am lesser because of me being dead? I’m greater because I have powers from just after the second deterioration. You were born during the tenth deterioration. There is no way you are more powerful than me.”
“Shirobiku and Chuigo say that I have powers from before the first deterioration. Would that make me more powerful than you then?”
“Shirobiku said that? He would have the better guess. I’ll remember you, Yuki Miraku. Some day you shall be great, no matter what. I know that for a fact,” he said. Before he left, he took off the hood he had worn during our conversation. I immediately recognized the face.
“Dad?”
“You will do great things, my daughter. I believe in you.” He walked off into the dust field that surrounded us. The picture of his messy black hair and beautiful green eyes stayed in my mind as I watched him walk away.
When I couldn’t see him anymore I fell to my knees and cried. I cried in my head until the tears would not come out anymore. I was disrespectful just because I didn’t know who he was. I couldn’t believe he had really died.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Go tell Shirobiku that the girl is finally awake,” some one said. I moaned in pain. I could barely feel my legs anymore. I replayed the whole conversation between my dad and I over and over again until I could not feel the pain anymore. I could still feel the freezing tattoo all over my body now. It had become warmer, but it was all over my body unlike the face paint.
“How are you feeling Yuki? I’ve been so worried. It’s been a week since you went into the coma,” a familiar voice said. I opened my eyes and saw Chuigo was standing near the hospital bed I was in. The room was plain and white.
“I’ve been here a week? It feels like it has been only a few minutes. I can still feel the chill of whatever that was, only it’s all over my body now,” I said. My voice was weak and so were my muscles. The nurse walked in with Shirobiku following. He looked at me, all tucked in to where you could only see my face.
“How are you doing, Yuki? Chuigo hasn’t stopped worrying since the whole incident. I was quite worried myself,” he said. He looked happy, unlike the nervous Chuigo standing on my other side.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry people. I’m just a little cold still,” I said. Shirobiku sighed. He seemed as if it was one of the things he didn’t want to happen.
“What’s wrong Master? It isn’t too bad considering she has had a cold temperature from some virus she caught. Plus the first couple weeks here are kind of rough on anyone. Don’t worry,” the nurse said from behind Shirobiku. I started to get up, but he stopped me.
“Hey! Will every one leave me alone for a little bit? I really want to get out of this hospital robe and back into my normal clothes,” I said, staring at the clothes I had on before I got here that were in a pile on a chair.
“No, I’m sorry. You must stay in bed and keep the robe on for the next few days. Until you feel like yourself again. I don’t want you walking around in the city cold like that. It wouldn’t be comfortable. Plus they want to monitor your condition here at the hospital,” Shirobiku said. Annarika nodded in agreement as she walked into the room.
“Well, will you guys leave so I can sleep? I feel really tired,” I said, faking a yawn. They all said, ‘Okay.’ They left after a couple of minutes of telling me to be sure to get better and other things like that.
As soon as I could tell no one was coming back to disturb me, I jumped out my bed. I put on my long pants and tank top that were in the chair. I looked into the mirror to see if I looked okay. My eyes widened in shock. There was a black tattoo running halfway down each of my arms. It was a picture of dragons, wolves, and tigers.
I put on my jacket to cover them up. This must be the infection I was going to learn to control.
‘Don’t worry, Yuki. You should be proud of them. They show your descendants. Each tribe, the dragon, wolf, and tiger is represented as your ancestors. I had the same thing on my back. Be proud you are a Batoki, Yuki. Be proud of your heritage,’ a voice inside my head said. I identified it as my father’s voice immediately.
‘I thought I told you I wasn’t going to follow anyone’s orders. It is useless to try to use me as a meaningless warrior, dad.’
I looked into the mirror again, making sure none of the tattoo showed. I knew if I looked even just a little bit sick, they would put me back in the room. Since I didn’t know if I could fly now, I had to walk out of here. I had a better chance of being caught, but I had a better chance of living too.

[chibi]

If you are reading this, please write a comment in the comments thread. I don't care if you say 'I read it, it sucks.' just I would like to know what people think and who is reading it.

Now onto the next chapter.

Chapter 4
Class Begins

Ah, I finally made it out into the city. It took more than fifteen minutes to escape from the second floor, but I finally made it to the city streets. They were crowded with what seemed to be millions of people with see-through wings. I could really see their wings now. I felt a feeling of completing a great accomplishment, but I remained calm on the outside. The last thing I wanted to do was gather attention to me.
I decided to walk down the street in front of me. Shops lined the street with the occasional house in between. It reminded me of Tokyo in a way, but without the cars. The sky was so clear, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was sometimes hard to see the sky in Tokyo; there were always skyscrapers in view though.
I ran into some one walking the opposite direction from me fairly hard. We both fell to the ground fairly hard. Unfortunately, the person was one of the last people I wanted to see. It was Annarika.
“Oh crap!” I yelled. I ran away sprinting through the crowd. She followed me, but she was slower than me because of her being so tall. I thought I lost her when after I was in a small ally, so I decided to rest. I was panting because I ran so hard.
“I can tell this will be an interesting class. Am I right, Yuki?” I looked up to see Annarika looking down to me. She had her hands on her hips and looked rather displeased.
“I don’t know, Annarika. I’ve never really liked school. Most of the classes were fairly boring,” I said, still breathing hard. She rolled her eyes in disgust.
“Well guess what. This will be our first lesson. Great discipline is needed to learn what you are going to learn. You didn’t follow Shirobiku’s orders, I don’t know if I can trust you to follow mine. Yuki, there is much you need to learn so you can control what may take you over. I was just like you. I was one of them, but look at me. I was able to control the infection, you can too.” I laughed at her and looked straight into her eyes.
“I’ve already controlled it. The infection isn’t going to take me, and neither will your people. I’m not on either side, I never will be. I’m making my own choices now Annarika. I don’t need you guys to tell me what to do, but I’m dependent on you to survive. I’ll cooperate for now, but when I can make it on my own, I will not take your side still.”
“You’re too young to understand what is right and what is wrong. We are only trying to help because you are too young to fight the infection without some training. You don’t want to be taken by it. It hurts so much. I want no one else to feel that pain,” she said. I stood up and started to walk away. She stopped me from leaving the street, though.
“Let me leave. I want to see the city more,” I said.
“No, you’re going back to the hospital or you are coming to class. I’ll let you choose,” she said. I looked into her pale blue eyes. She wasn’t going to let me go into the city alone again.
“Fine. Let’s start class. I’m not sick anymore, I don’t need to stay at the hospital. What do we start with?”
“Combat training so I can see what level of power you all have.”
“There are more people going to be in the class?”
“Yeah. You have five classmates. They are Akira, Linka, Jun’ichi, Paraku, and Akai. We better hurry. They are waiting for me.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We walked into a grassy field a few miles away from the alley. There were five kids my age fooling around. The three boys were wrestling each other while the girls were talking in the shade of a huge oak tree.
“Students! Here is your last classmate. Her name is Yuki. Every one say ‘Hi’ to her,” Annarika yelled. They all greeted me from where they were, and then they came and gathered around her.
“Hey, Yuki! My name is Jun’ichi. People call me Jun. I’m the toughest of them all. Since we are going to do combat today, I suggest you partner up with Akira,” he pointed to a girl with short brown hair, “She’s the weakest here. You don’t look too strong right now, so that would be the best choice.” Annarika cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Alright, everyone. We are going to start combat so I can see how much power you have. You will be partnered up with one other person and you will fight. I will stop the match if some one is seriously injured, but you must try your hardest so I can get an accurate reading of your power. I highly doubt that any of you will be hurt too badly. These are the matches: Akira and Akai; Paraku and Linka; Jun’ichi and Yuki. Are there any questions?” Jun raised his hand.
“Why did you put me with the new girl? You know I’m the strongest of us all. She seems so weak!”
“Don’t worry, Jun. You will have to work hard in this battle if you want to win,” Annarika said. Jun rolled his eyes in disgust.
We all walked to an open area with a field. There was a box with wooden swords, bows and dull arrows, and a staff. Akira and Akai walked up to the box and chose a weapon. Akira took a bow and a set of arrows, while Akai took the wooden sword. They stood in a fighting stance twenty feet apart.
“Ready, set, GO!” Annarika yelled. The two girls charged at each other. Neither of them were fast, but they moved with instinct. Akai ran past her opponent and some how gave a direct hit to Akira’s right knee. She fell to the ground hard, but flew up into the sky immediately. She was much faster in air than on land.
Akai stopped running to see what Akira was up to for a few seconds. Akira pulled out three arrows and notched them all at once. I looked to Annarika and saw she was highly interested in the fight. When I looked back to the match, I saw Akai sprinting faster than ever. Akira was aiming her arrows, and then she let it go. Each arrow hit Akai in the leg hard enough that the tips of each were in her leg almost halfway.
“Dull arrows can do that? I didn’t think that anything dull could do much damage,” I said. Annarika looked down to me and smiled.
“Okay! You two can stop now. Paraku and Lin get set up,” she yelled. Akai took the arrows out of her leg and threw them on the ground. They both walked into a shady area laughing together. The boys grinned as they walked into position with their weapons. Paraku chose a long staff and Lin got a long, wooden sword. It was shaped like a samurai’s sword.
“GO!” Annarika yelled. Lin rushed at Paraku with the sword in position to strike. As soon as Linka tried to hit him, he blocked with the staff and even gave Lin a hit to the head. Lin fell down flat on his face, sliding across the grass. I turned to face Annarika. She wasn’t watching the fight really hard; she seemed to be uninterested in the weak fight.
“Annarika, should I take my jacket off for the fight?” I asked. She laughed.
“Of course! Why wouldn’t you?” she asked. I rolled up both of my sleeves then put them down really fast, just enough time for her to see the tattoos.
“I don’t know what to do about them. I just saw I had them this morning before I left.”
“You have to let them get over it. Keep the jacket off so you can fight better. You may want to take it off now so you don’t get too hot,” she said. I took my jacket off along with the backpack that I had been wearing. I opened up the backpack and pulled out a crystal that my mother had given me when I turned ten. It had a red glow in the center that was weak, but it was the most beautiful gift I had ever received.
“Annarika, what weapon do you think I should use? I’ve never used any one of them before.”
“Eh? Let me see your arms. The animals will tell just what you need,” she examined the tattoos carefully. “I’ve got it. You don’t need to use one of the weapons that we have out, even though you almost certainly could use them with extreme skill due to the fact you have some tiger blood in you. The wolf blood means you would be better at unarmed combat, so I will give you these.” She handed me a small leather pouch. Inside I could hear something cling.
“How can you tell what I am good at by my tattoos?” She laughed.
“Maybe I have been like you for too long. They are Batoki bloodline markers that tell what each person inherited what traits. You inherited wolf- hand-to-hand combat- tiger- knowledge of all weapons- and dragon- speed flying- blood. That seems like a deadly combination if you ask me, but the shuriken seem to be a good beginning point. Plus, if you use them Jun has less of a chance of getting too roughed up by you,” she said.
Linka seemed to be getting hit harder and harder. I couldn’t believe he was still in the battle. Paraku was really talented with the staff.
“You can do it Linka!! Focus!!” Akai yelled from where she was sitting.
“You guys can stop now. You both have passed peak power levels. Jun’ichi and Yuki, time to go!” Annarika yelled. I saw Lin walking away holding his arm and Paraku was breathing really hard. Jun looked confused when I didn’t go to select a weapon.
“Hey Yuki! I know you aren’t very good, but you should at least know you need to select a weapon,” he said. I smiled.
“I’ve got one that Annarika said I should use.” He shrugged and picked out a long staff. He walked into position, only twenty feet away from me. It seemed like they were so far apart when I was on the sidelines.
“Ready, set, GO!”

[chibi]

Weee! Back from vacation.

Chapter 5
The Need To Kill

“Don’t hate me for having to hurt you, Yuki!” Jun’ichi said as he charged toward me. I stood still. My legs felt like blocks of cement. I decided to see what the shuriken Annarika gave me looked like. I took out one from the pouch. It was a three-point star made out of metal.
When I held it, I immediately felt a rush of instinct take over. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, except for me. I was running twice as fast as Jun, who was moving rather sluggish in my view. I threw one of the shuriken and it hit him in the leg. He fell to the ground, trying to get the shuriken out, but before he fell I kicked him in the side jamming the shuriken further into his leg.
He let out a cry of pain, but I continued the assault. I took out another shuriken and put where one point was facing out from my knuckles. I punched with what seemed to be more power than I had ever felt before. He screamed again, only louder. I kicked him the face less than a second later, making him curse in pain.
“Yuki! Stop it now!” Annarika yelled to me, but I couldn’t stop. The instinct had fully taken over. I wasn’t going to stop until some one could do it for me, or until Jun was dead. I didn’t want to think of me killing anybody, it felt awful enough when I had to kill a bug. I couldn’t imagine what killing a human would feel like.
I threw six shuriken at once, each one hitting a critical area. Jun had passed out from blood loss already. Still I continued on with another kick. His body was mangled; I couldn’t imagine how many bones were broken.
“Yuki! It’s over. Stop hurting Jun!” Akai yelled. It felt so bad to hear your friends tell you to do what was something impossible. I had no control over my body anymore.
Suddenly, Annarika jumped out of nowhere and blocked the attack that was about to hit Jun. I tried to punch her, but she blocked that too. I used the leg I had free to kick her in the stomach. She wasn’t able to block or dodge, so she ended up sliding several feet on the grass. She stood up, but I was already to her and punched her in the face, sending her even further.
The four students left came out onto the field, still holding the weapons that they used. They all attacked at once, but I dodged them easily. Annarika came from behind and gave me a hard hit to the back of my head. I fell hard, but I came back up fairly fast. I kicked Akai and Lin and they slid into the shade of a tree. Neither of them moved. I must have knocked them out. Annarika came back even harder than before. I blocked the attack, thankfully, and used her energy to hurl me at Paraku and Akira. Akira dodged, but Paraku took a hard hit to the chest.
“Annarika! I don’t want to get hurt. Save me Annarika!” Akira yelled. She was crying loudly. Annarika grabbed a set of daggers from the box and came at me again. I took out two shuriken to help block. There was sparks flying as our weapons collided with force. The battle was fast, even when I saw it in slow motion. Annarika was skilled in the art of fighting. The Batoki must have had some powerful blood in them to let the battle intensify to this level.
“Yuki, why won’t you stop this already?” Annarika asked. I jumped back a few feet so I could attack with an advantage.
“Is this the infection? What is making me fight? It feels good, whatever it is. I feel like this is what I should be doing. The blood tastes so good, it keeps me going on. The deep red is beautiful. What is this I feel?” I said, as I did flips over Annarika, our weapons clashing constantly.
“It has taken you, hasn’t it? Has the infection really spread that far already? You must be at a high level,” she said. I smiled and nodded as I landed only feet away from her. I was able to cut her arm slightly with my shuriken, but she was able to pin me down finally. She knocked me out, so I can’t really remembered what happened after that.
“Yuki, are you finally awake? I can’t believe you were out that long. Annarika didn’t hit you that hard. Jun’ichi is still injured, but he got up two weeks ago. You’ve been down for six weeks Yuki, six weeks. Are you even able to hear me? It is pointless to talk to you, even though it does clear my mind of all the thoughts,” I heard Chuigo say. It was nice to hear a voice from the outside world again.
“I’m awake Chuigo. I just don’t have enough energy to open my eyes. Everything hurts. Everything, Chuigo, everything,” I said. The last weeks had been awful. I must have gone into a dreamland, trying to fight back for control of my body. I was almost defeated, until Annarika showed up out of nowhere. She fought beside me and we won back myself. It took so long, and I don’t even remember exactly what happened.
“Yuki! You are finally conscious. I have to go tell the nurses. I’ll be right back, promise.” She ran out the door. Footsteps came in the room shortly after, but I could tell they weren’t Chuigo’s.
“Finally awake, wimp? It shouldn’t have taken you so long to recover,” I could hear Jun say. More footsteps came into the room.
“Jun’ichi! Don’t be like that. No one likes a sore loser, no offense about the injuries. It’s good to see you are okay and not trying to kill us all, Yuki,” Akira said to me.
“Do you think of me as a killer now, Akira?” I asked. She jumped back slightly.
“No, I don’t think. I just don’t know what to think of you now. I mean, you did almost kill Jun and you really injured the rest of the students. I don’t know what to think about you anymore,” she said quietly. It figured. I was hated here now. Only Annarika was my friend, along with Chuigo. I wasn’t sure about Chuigo, though. I wondered if she only likes me because her sister did.
“You are a killer Yuki. We know your secret,” Jun said. Akira gasped and tried to stop him from talking to me, but I smiled.
“I don’t have any secrets to hide.”
“Yes you do! We know you are a Batoki!” he yelled. I opened my eyes and stared directly into his eyes.
“Good job, Jun. You found out that I’m a Batoki. That isn’t a secret, though. I don’t care if the whole world found out. I won’t let you anger me again. I will never let you do that, not until we have to fight,” I said in a calm voice. He stepped back slightly and his hands were shaking in nervousness. The nurse and Annarika walked in moments later.
“You feeling okay Yuki? I was worried. I thought I had killed you. I’m glad to see you’re back,” Annarika said. I sat up on my bed, much to the nurse’s disgust, and stood up. The nurse tried to get me to sit down, but I just pushed her hand out of the way.
“Did you tell Jun? He knows what I am, but it doesn’t bother me.”
“He knows? No one was supposed to find out. The tattoos on your arms probably gave it away, though. I hope he doesn’t tell his parents, or anyone else. They might stop coming to lesions,” she said. Jun walked into the room just as fast as he had left.
“Yeah, every student knows. I won’t tell parents, though. I want the challenge of facing a Batoki once I am prepared,” he said.
“Get your sword and we can see what happens,” I said. Annarika held me back.
“You two won’t fight again. Only I will battle Yuki from now on. You are always going to be too weak Jun. I know the day will come when I am too weak as well,” she said. I sat back down; she was making this no fun.
“Jun, if you would leave please,” the nurse asked. He walked out into the hallway. The nurse checked to make sure I was healthy and then left, leaving only Annarika and I in the room.
“Yuki, I need to talk to you. You have to remember that Jun is most likely the weakest out of the group. He has no more energy to train with, he can’t hold anymore. You need to lead the group, for you have the most power. I don’t know if I could even attempt to fight you after this month is over. Your skills would have developed into something greater than mine. That is when you must leave. I don’t want to make you, but you have to do training on your own so you become the best fighter you can be,” she said.
“Don’t worry Annarika. I’m going to earn my spot in the group. Beating Jun will hopefully give me more respect and they will realize that he can be beat. I want this group to be the best to go through your program. We could even enter a team competition! That would show them that we can fight. You have to give us a chance.”
“Yuki, don’t push your luck. As a Batoki, you are going to be limited to the things you can do around here. I want you to have a great time, but I must keep other students safe. You will leave the class when I say. You can enter an adult tournament, but not the children’s, for the kids of this area are no match for you. The adults are no match for you too. I don’t want to do this to you, a person of my race, but I must,” she said. She left the room, leaving me there to think. I was only a tool for them now. I finally realized.

[chibi]

Okies, I'm really bored so I'm putting all the way up to chapter 9 right now. That's all I got so far. Please leave comments after you read it, I'd really like some on these parts because this is the new writings that are much more current. I want to know how I am as a writer now.

Chapter 6
Lessons

“Welcome back from our break, class. We are going to start off on how to use a sword properly. Who would like to come up here and demonstrate with me?” Annarika asked. It was class time again for me. Everyone had healed and we were ready to start again. Jun’ichi was the only one rasing his hand in the class.
“Yuki, will you come and give it a shot?” she asked me. I stood up and grabbed a sword.
“Teacher’s pet,” I heard Jun say. I jumped over to him and held the sword an inch from his face. Annarika cleared her throat and I walked back to my place.
“Watch us fight each other with the light bamboo swords. They look fairly weak, but when used properly, they can deal some serious damage,” she said. We started on her count. Our swords clashed in an instant. We were able to block each other’s attacks with ease. She was speeding up, and I was slowly falling behind. She seemed to be a blur, while the other day it was the exact opposite.
“Arg!” I yelled as I fell onto the ground. She had hit me hard in the ribs. I got up fairly fast to dodge her next attack, but I knew that I wouldn’t last long if I was going to limp around because of my injury. I took my sword up off the ground, but without it I couldn’t keep my balance and immediately fell to the ground. She stopped a few feet in front of me.
“Yuki, are you okay?” Annarika asked. I fell onto my back and looked up into the sky. I didn’t feel good at all anymore. I could only think of what life was before I came here.
“Yeah, I just have sore ribs. You’re pretty strong,” I said. She looked puzzled, as if she didn’t know why I gave up so easily. Jun stood up in an angry rage.
“This is the girl who put me in the hospital? How can she be the same person?” He yelled. I looked at him and faked a smile. I didn’t move any more than that. I had no strength this time around and it was wearing me out to fight like this.
“Jun, that isn’t very nice to say. I was actually using my full power this time, while Yuki was barely using any, plus she is injured like you. It will be probably another week before she is able to fight as well as before,” she said. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, focusing on the moment I felt that extreme power run through my body. I stood up, eyes still closed, facing Annarika. I could sense her power, it was overwhelming to feel all of that coming at me. I picked up my sword and then opened my eyes.
“Round two,” I said in a deep voice. We both backed away until we were about fifty yards apart from each other. We did the same thing as last time, but I had a better sense of everything. I had that same kind of power to an extent, but total control over myself. I had better technique and I was able to throw Annarika on the floor with a little work. She stopped moving though, and I started to panic. I ran over to her to make sure she was all right.
“Got you,” she said as she slammed the sword into my stomach. I fell down again, but she signaled me to stop fighting. I limped over to where everyone else was watching.
“Are you okay Yuki?” Akai asked me. I smiled and nodded my head. I looked over to Akira and she was just looking at me. I turned away. She still didn’t like me very much.
“Don’t fall for traps like that. You’ll never make it through a battle that way. Be prepared for an attack at any moment around an enemy. The reason you are in this class is because you are different from the others in the village. You have special powers that give you an extreme amount of power and force to control. You have figured out Yuki’s power, and it is definitely one of the best out there, but you saw her lose total control of all actions. It’s things like that which make this class necessary. You can be dangerous, but once you learn to control powers you will do well. What are your powers, do you know?” Annarika asked the class. Jun was the first to stand up.
“My family has the power to use weapons with extreme precision and can see things in slower motion than the average Anchu,” he said proudly. Most people rolled their eyes as he sat down. Akai stood up next.
“I have been known to change some weather patterns, and I happen to be part Batoki.” Jun rolled his eyes. He was jealous he couldn’t have the power. Lin stood up next.
“I am partially fifth generation Batoki and can control winds sometimes.” Everyone’s eyes widened. No one knew there was so much Batoki blood here. Nothing like what had happened with me had even closely happened within them. I could see a smile starting to form on Annarika’s face.
“My brother, Paraku, and I are half fourth generation Batoki and I control flame and Para controls ice,” Akira said. Jyn looked at everyone else in confusion. He was the only kid here without a trace of Batoki in him.
“You know you Batoki people aren’t anywhere near as strong as us Anchu. You’ll see, I’ll be better than all of you! Especially you, Yuki,” he said, clenching his fists.
“We are a team here, Jun’ichi. Though you haven’t been told, I’m planning to enter everyone into a team fighting competition that you could win with hard work. It’s crucial that you train your hardest and make up for each other’s weak areas. It’s going to be plenty of studying for everyone. Are you up for the challenge?” she said. Everyone nodded their head in agreement.
“I don’t want to train. I want to fight,” Jun said.
“I’ll fight you then,” Akai said. It was an unexpected challenge. Akai wasn’t as strong as Jun right now. She had an extremely small chance of winning, or even just making it without an injury. Neither seemed to mind, and they got up ready to fight.
“Where are the weapons?” Jun asked. Akai was already coming at him at full force, but he couldn’t see her because he had turned away for a second. That was a mistake. Akai made a swift kick to the chest, which knocked Jun over and knocked the air out of him. She delivered a series of punches and then backed off for a second to let him have some room.
“You… can’t… fight… without weapons… right?” He wheezed. Akai smiled evilly and went a couple yards back. I noticed a light blue glow around her and as she started to charge once more at Jun her hand had become a blade of ice. She was speeding up faster. I looked to where Annarika had been watching patiently and she was gone. Instead, she had stopped Akai’s attack and knocked her onto the floor.
It was only a momentary stop. Akai came back to attack Annarika. When I looked at Akai’s eyes there seemed to be a red tint in them. They both moved extremely fast, but as time went on they were going slower and slower. I could feel that power again, it was coming back to me. She was experiencing the same feeling, only more powerful than how I was right now.
“Akai… Stop fighting. You don’t need to push yourself too far…” Annarika managed to say just barely. She was becoming tired, but no one went to help. We were all afraid.
Akai got a slash in and some blood fell on her face. Her eyes became a more intense red color and she smiled once more. Annarika flew far away from the aggressive Akai and she looked at me. I watched her sit down and look up at Akai solemnly. I couldn’t believe she had given up so easily. She must have been worn out from our battle. As Akai closed in on her target I felt more power.
“Don’t mess with my friends!” I heard myself yell in a demanding voice. The infection took control once again. I was moving so fast, Akai going much slower than before. I grabbed her arm and tossed her at the wall. She was on the ground only a moment later. She groaned and looked at me slowly, her eyes back to normal, and then collapsed shortly after. Annarika watched me as I rubbed my arm over my eyes. I felt all the power I had disappear from my body and my knees gave out on me.
“Did you control it?” She asked me. I was breathing extremely hard, almost gasping for air. No one moved to check on Akai, we all knew she was going to the hospital. I stood up finally and took off Akai’s coat. I could see a single cheetah on the back of her neck.
“I don’t think I was able to.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Many weeks passed by after Akai’s power unleashed. Everyone seemed very conscious that they could be the ones attacking at any moment, which made training more difficult for the ones afraid of the results. Akai and I were fine, we had been through the process before and lost all fear of our being Batoki. It enhanced our performance even without our full power being used.
“The preliminary rounds for that competition are tomorrow. Some of you don’t seem to have been giving it your all, and you may not be ready for such a competition. Especially if you are afraid of your own power, you will fail. The reason we are in this class is to learn how to use it, and if you don’t do that, I have failed as a teacher. Promise to give the best you’ve got tomorrow. If you don’t we may not even make it to the main event,” Annarika said. Everyone was nervous at this point.
“What if we let our power out and start fighting our team?” Linka asked. Annarika sighed.
“You better hope Yuki and Akai have good control over their powers so they can save the team.” I sighed. We were told we are to protect our team from our team. It wasn’t fair, but it could be the only way we could survive.

[chibi]

Chapter 7
Fight!

We were at the competition that would make us famous. There were stands all around a small field where multiple teams were sitting in circles. I walked in with Akai, who had now become my best friend, and we found Annarika and the rest of the group near the center of the field. She was looking at all of the competition that surrounded us. It was a mix of teenagers and adults, everyone looked strong.
“Akai, Yuki, you were almost late. I don’t think that is the way our team we should lose, right? I told you to be here twenty minutes ago,” she said. Akai and I looked at the ground solemnly. We had disobeyed her and we both knew that wasn’t a good thing. It was the first thing we learned.
“I’m sorry. Akai had to find me because she didn’t know I was going to be with your sister last night. I thought you were going to be there too,” I said. I was glad to have a place to stay, I thought I was going to be on the streets all night.
“It’s okay, we haven’t been disqualified yet. The matches begin in five minutes though, so get warmed up and stretch out. I’ll look at everyone here to see how much trouble you kids will have. This looks like quite the turnout. I heard only twelve teams entered but there were about ten last minute entries. Quite odd if you ask me, but I don’t really care,” Annarika ranted. She seemed nervous about everything going on.
“Yuki, you made it. I thought you had chickened out, Akai as well. You two are just strange, changing into monsters at the sight of blood or a good challenge,” Jun said. I hated his obnoxious attitude to everyone in the class. It had become even worse since he found out he was the only one without Batoki blood in him. Neither of us actually paid any attention to him. He was starting to feel like he was the weakest in the group, which was the exact opposite from where he started.
“Are you nervous? I know I am,” Akai said to me. I stared at the ground and just focused. I was on another level in my mind. Everything seemed so tense between the teams. I held onto my necklace that my mother gave me. It was the last true memory I would have of my parents. I didn’t think I would be back in my house again. I missed my room, I missed my yard, and I missed my life. It was something that I could never get back now.
“I… don’t know. I just feel so sad. I’m never going to see Toroichi again probably. I won’t get to tell him of my adventures, I won’t get to do anything with my old friends anymore. I didn’t know this was going to end up like this. I just know I’m never getting my parents back to me. I won’t even get to know what our culture was. No one will tell me. I know nothing except I’m a Batoki and I’m extremely dangerous,” I said. She just looked at me, but she just turned away after a few seconds.
“You’ll find a way to bring everything together Yuki. I know you well enough.”
“Thanks, Akai.” I pulled out my necklace to see the dull red glow it has always emitted. It was different this time. It was glowing bright red, like a police car in the dark. I put it away fast to try not to draw any more attention than I had already gotten. A few of the groups had a person or two looking directly at me intensely, which was rather spooky.
“Yuki, what do you think you are doing?!” Annarika yelled at me, as she stood right in front of me. I looked up to her, which was probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my life. She looked extremely angry with her eyes really wide, and there was even a hint of a red tint to them. I just froze where I was.
“What did I do?”
“Where did you get that necklace?”
“My mom gave it to me. Is there some problem with that?” Annarika sighed. She walked away without answering my question, which didn’t surprise me anymore. I went to sit with my group again, just so I could have some backup incase I got in trouble with one of the other teams.
“Everyone, the preliminaries matches are about to begin. There are twenty teams participating today, so there are going to be four groups of five teams each. The highest-ranking team in each group goes to the finals. Everyone should be clear on the rules, they were given to the team leader or captain for them to go over. Look at the listings so you know where to go for your first match,” a tall man yelled.
“We are finally starting. I can’t wait to be really fighting. It’s going to be so intense!” Jun cheered. Everyone else smiled with him. For once everyone agreed. It was a great harmony. Now if we could maintain this feeling through the tournament we could really do well. I walked ahead to check where we were to report for our first match.
“Look. It’s the leader of the half bloods. I heard you guys are supposed to be real tough. I look forward to kicking your-”
“HEY! No socializing with the opposing team Rea!” A red head boy yelled at a dark haired boy whose name must have been Rea. They both looked much older than what they sounded.
I got the information that we needed and walked back to the group. We were to be in the first group that had its matches right by the main stadium. My team walked to our station and surprisingly Annarika was waiting for us. The two boys I saw earlier were also in this group. They were looking to the sky in an odd manner.
I was able to see what they were looking for only a minute later. There was a small army that was descending upon our tournament. They were coming so fast but no one seemed to notice. Only a few groups that had a smug smile on their faces as they watched were really looking.
“Annarika! Look!” I yelled as I pointed to the sky. She gasped as she went into a fighting stance. The rest of my group looked, but they looked at us like we are crazy.
“What are you looking at?” Jun asked. Akai started to see them as well, she stood up with us and watched in horror as the army came closer and closer. Annarika suddenly jumped up and started to charge. Many other adults followed her to meet the small army.
“Let the war begin!” Rea yelled. I looked over and eight of the groups were standing up in the area cheering on the army. There was a loud explosion in the main area and I could see Annarika fighting with a few of the warriors.
“Let’s go Batoki!” a girl yelled. Many more people who were participants in the tournament flew up and joined the battle. Everyone else seemed terrified that they were in the middle of one of the first large battles in the prelude to the war.
“You aren’t going to stop my friends. No one is going to hurt my friends!” Akai yelled. She went off to join the battle, the infection had taken over her already. I held my necklace tight and looked at it once more. It glowed brighter than ever, I could feel its glow surround my body. A new and stronger infection took over me. I could feel the eyes I called my own glow a brilliant red.
“That kid! Watch out for her! She’s going to get us all!” Rea was screaming. Naturally, I chose him as my first target. He tried to get away, but it was no use. He immediately bowed and started to follow me through the skies. I pointed to another Batoki and he went to fight.
This was a real Batoki battle. Lives weren’t valued any more and everything was better if you were stronger. When there was a battle between two of the Batoki (this didn’t work for the Anchu) whoever proved to be stronger got the weaker person added to their team. It was because how much strength was valued in the culture. How did I know all of this, though? Is this instinct that has taken over?
I started to fight Akai for some reason. She was my friend, and yet we had to fight to be on the same team. It was a much longer fight than what I had with Rea. She bowed to me eventually and we started to fly together.
“Why did we do that?” she asked.
“You weren’t on my team. I must dominate first. We can be friends later,” I said. I didn’t want to say that though. It wasn’t what I thought. My feelings were different from my harsh words. The infection did all my talking now, but at least I had some control over my actions.
“Let’s go find Annarika, Yuki.” Akai went off, but I didn’t follow. Instead, I started to fight more. I even went after some Anchu that I knew from being in town. Jun and I had a fight, but he ran before I could hurt him. Everyone avoided me because of my glowing.
“Yuki! You’ve got to go before they capture you!” Annarika yelled. She tackled me and we headed straight down. I fought to get free, but when I finally was let go by her she hit me and I was knocked out.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Are you okay now, Yuki?” A familiar voice asked me. I nodded my head yes. When I finally opened my eyes I couldn’t see very well. Everything was blurry. I could only see the person’s brown hair waving in the wind.
“Annarika, why did you have to do that?” I managed to say in almost a whisper. The person laughed.
“Why are you calling me Annarika, Yuki? You know who I am, right?”
“Annarika, stop playing games. You know I’m drained of energy right now. I’ve got such a bad headache…”
“Ah, no wonder you can’t remember me. I thought you forgot who I was for good. I’m glad to see the Anchu haven’t brainwashed you. Annarika sounds like a strong Batoki girl, but I think I’ll send someone to help you. I don’t want to leave you, but I must… We aren’t supposed to see each other for a while. It’s not time yet.” I could see much clearer now than before, but the person left.
I looked around and immediately recognized the place where I was. It was only a block away from where I used to call home. I was sure that I could no longer get into it, no one had been there for weeks. I walked towards town, looking at everything. I looked at the headlines and it showed a picture of me, calling me a runaway orphan child. What Chuigo said was true.
“I have failed you… I have lost… Toroichi.”

[chibi]

Chapter 8
Lies and Secrets Part 1

It was like everything was back to normal again. I just had no friends anymore. We hadn’t talked in weeks, and I failed to produce any letters to Toroichi. It was sad to be back home without any parents as well. Everything came back to me at once in one hard blow. Literally.
“Ow, what did you do that for?” I asked. I had been knocked over rather violently by a girl that was shorter and younger than me. I could see a cat tattoo around her wrist and whisker-like tattoos on her face. She had a rather stern look on her face for such a young kid.
“I’ve come to get you,” she said. I stood up and looked down at her.
“Where are we going?”
“We are going home. Your parents were going to send you there for school next year.” I stared at her confused.
“They were going to send me to Tokyo Academy. I had to get the grades to be in there. It’s impossible that I would be sent somewhere else.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look all that smart to me.”
“Watch what you say. Let’s just go to where ever you call ‘home’.” We started to fly up into the sky, just like I did with Chuigo, and I was going much faster than before. The sky started to turn different colors as we got closer to the destination point. It turned into a rust color with streaks of a blood red.
“Here we are. This is going to be where you live until we win the war.” She was pointing to a small gray mass that stayed on a red cloud. It looked like just a bunch of cement that was molded to look like houses. We landed on a large circular slab that was just out of the town. There was a sign that said ‘Rust- The Best Batoki City In the World!’
“So, I guess this place is called Rust. It looks kind of small…” I mumbled. The girl looked to the entrance into town where a woman walked into the area. She looked a lot like Annarika, only she had the whisker-like markings on her cheeks and she had many more scratches and scars on her body. Her hair was black and was extremely short like my own.
“This is the kid? Come on. She looks like a wimp,” the older girl said. I scowled at her and she only laughed at me.
“This is my older sister, Enasne’ea-zai’iuteou. It’s her full name though. We call her Zuki. My name is Enasne’ea-be’eteiu, but everyone calls me Baku. The way our names work is that our family name comes before the hyphen, and our given name comes after. Your given name was?”
“Miraku.” Baku paused as she was obviously thinking.
“Okay, that means your full name is Mo’ode’eakeiu-xoiteo. I’m sorry it took me so long to come up with it. Not too many people speak Anchu full time anymore. I’m fluent, but not very good with translating names.”
“That is nice and everything, but why am I here and why are you just telling me random stuff as if I should care or know what it is for?” The two sisters looked up, but they were looking past me. I looked as well and saw Chuigo approaching me.
“Yuki! You are okay, I thought my sister knocked you out. How did you… get… here… I’ll go get my sister. She can help you take care of this filth,” she said quickly, just staring at Baku and Zuki. She left just as fast as she came. I wish she had stayed longer, but just to see her was enough for me.
“She is getting someone to take care of the ‘filth’? I think she was trying to insult us. She’s going to send her big sister here to save you Yuki! We are so scared! Haha!” Zuki said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and left it alone. There was no reason to start a fight.
“Come on, I’ve got dinner ready for you at my house,” Baku said, breaking the silence. We walked to a small stone shack that was right by the village landing. I looked around before we walked into the living quarters and saw what the village really looked like. There were just a bunch of stone shacks much like the one I was entering, only even more rundown and dirty. I could see why Chuigo used the word filth.
“It’s quite an unique place here,” I stammered. Baku smiled for the first time. Her sister didn’t look at me or even acknowledge me. I just followed them to what looked like a stone table. It was well polished and cleaned, and there were wood chairs that were sitting around. There were only two there, and there were the same number of mattresses in the front room.
“This is the best condition any Batoki city has been in. I feel so honored to live here, but since I am a government official I deserve it. That is the way we live. Unfortunately, this house will no longer be ours anymore. We have to move into a smaller and more broken down house, but it’s what we deserve. The next rulers are going to live here.
“It’s going to be nice having new rulers that will free us from this place. The people ruling now want to keep our race in an economic depression so the matain control and so we don’t seem like a threat to the Anchu. I hate them for it. Our people need to maintain good health so that the older Batoki can fight. We would be invincible…” Baku ranted as she served the food. She took her own stone plate and walked to her bed and ate her food alone.
“Why don’t you just get another chair for her?” I asked. Zuki looked up at me and laughed.
“She’s the youngest so we rank over her. We don’t get another chair because there are no more. These are some of the only chairs in the village.”
“Oh… I’m going to go eat with her instead. I don’t want to leave her alone. She did bring me here after all.” I walked into the other room and sat beside Baku. She looked at me and scowled.
“You go back to you spot at the table. It’s your place.”
“I want to-”
“-I don’t need any help from you! I don’t need you to feel sorry for me! I don’t need anyone!” she yelled. I could hear Zuki put her plate down on the table. I started to feel uncomfortable here, as if I wasn’t meant to be here. Zuki walked into the room and sat on one of the beds.
“She’s been like that since everyone left us. I’m the last of her relatives that hasn’t been killed or ran away or anything like that. It’s kind of sorry for a ten-year-old child to have one relative that is only eighteen to watch over her. We survive well though. With her powers she is the searcher for a rather large area, just like your friend that came here. She has a talent for fighting and is to be in your royal army later when the time comes.”
“Wow, I’ve always had my family. My parents were really nice.” I said smiling. Baku let a small smile out as well, then a sigh. We all just sat and stared at the door. Zuki walked away and went outside to walk around town.
“I can’t believe you are only ten. You look like you could almost be fifteen.”
“That is the same with a lot of the Batoki that grow up in what we call the Gangot. Of course, our strength also is at a much higher level at a younger age. We live in war constantly, with the Anchu or between ourselves.” We started to walk out of the house and around town. I really got to see what this place was like.
I couldn’t believe the conditions here. I was one of their people and yet I grew up in a much better house with so much more for myself to look forward to. I felt bad that I couldn’t do anything.
We got back to the house a few minutes later. I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Baku made some tea for us and as we were drinking Zuki came back as well. She looked upset about something. Her sister picked up on the emotion and jumped up suddenly.
“You feel that too?” Zuki asked.
“Yeah, what could it be? No one like that ever comes around here anymore.” I sat and stared as they sat on the beds again. Everyone seemed tense, even I was because I didn’t know what was going on. I wished I had grown up here almost. They knew so much about their past and they were so much stronger.
“Did you know my parents at all? Do you know anything about my Batoki past?”
“I know a lot about your parents along with your entire family. Your family was ruling for a long time but your parents decided to go to the surface and raise you as a secret. You were going to be the strongest Batoki ever, and you are still. You-” Zuki suddenly stopped. The door came crashing down and through the dust I could only see a silhouette. The person came inside and I saw who it was, Annarika. Zuki stood up and looked at her. They stared at each other with an intense gaze.
“Look at the little traitor. It’s so nice to see you again, Annarika.”

[chibi]

Chapter 9
Lies and Secrets Part 2

“It’s not so nice to see you, Zuki. Plus my name is officially Annarika now. Don’t call me Rika again.” There was a grin on Zuki’s face.
“Oh, my name is Annarika now. Don’t call me Rika again!” Zuki said in a high-pitched voice mimicking Annarika. “Give me a break, sis, you are still one of us. No matter how far you run you will be.” Annarika looked at the ground ashamed. I sat in shock trying to process all the information that was just presented.
“This is a family?” I asked. It wasn’t the best way to word the question, but it got the point across. Annarika nodded her head and so did Zuki. Baku seemed to not be as sure of everything. She just looked up to Annarika as I had before. She suddenly held onto her sister and started to weep loudly.
“Hold me, big sis, just like you used to! I don’t want you to leave me again! I don’t, I don’t, I don’t!” She cried. Annarika looked down at her as if she was repulsed, but her eyes softened and she hugged the child. Baku looked up into her eyes and just started to cry more. Zuki looked upset to see such a display of emotion from a family member. I just sat trying to figure out what was wrong here.
“Annarika! Do you need… any… help? What the heck is that kid doing to you?!” Chuigo asked. She looked shocked to see her sister with a young girl holding onto her pants crying. It was an odd picture for me as well.
“Chuigo… you shouldn’t be here…” Annarika mumbled.
“Chuigo, get lost. We don’t want you around. Buzz off,” Zuki said. Annarika looked at her sister with a cold stare.
“Sis, come on and let’s get Yuki out of here!” Chuigo said, addressing Annarika. She blushed as if something had gone horribly wrong, and then I realized the problem.
“Sis? Who are you calling your sister?! Rika isn’t your sister! She is mine...” Baku yelled between sobs. Chuigo looked puzzled, as if this was the first time she realized that there was something wrong with her sister being a Batoki and her not.
“I think there is some explaining that needs to go on…”
“It’s plain and simple. When Rika and I were about twelve we went into one of the battles with the Anchu. I fought well, making a few kills and dozens of injuries. Rika over here made one single kill. She did it in an accident too. It was your father, Chuigo. She was the one who killed him. Look at her wrist,” Zuki said as she held up Annarika’s arm. There was a slash on her wrist that was thin and long.
“That was the only scar that remained after I murdered him. I got a knife in my wing and was flying around carelessly when he cut me like that. I pulled the knife that was stuck in my wing and it flew accidentally at him and he died only a minute later in my arms. I had his blood all over me and I just cried. I cried for so long that my eyes could not cry another tear. I hated the feeling of killing another person, so I decided to run. I ran to the city and returned your father’s body to your mother. I was young so she took me in. I remember the little girl of eight that was running around then.”
“I was told that you went to school far away before I was born, and then had come back as a warrior for our city. I believed it. I had always wanted a sister, but I was so foolish for thinking that would ever happen. I told myself lies that you were really my sister when I knew it was almost impossible. I believed the lies… My own lies…” Chuigo’s voice faded out.
“I feel… so bad to hear all of this… How… could so much happen? And who are your real parents Annarika?” I asked. I was confused now. So much was going on at once I didn’t know who was what and when it happen and why it did.
“Our parents? That is another story. I think it would be better if Baku were to… show you. Annarika deserves it anyways. You up to it kid?” Zuki said. Baku nodded her head and Annarika looked confused. Baku closed her eyes tight and delivered a swift punch to her sister’s stomach. She fell to her knees in pain and Baku, with her eyes still closed, put her hand on Annarika’s forehead.
“I don’t want to do this but it is better than letting words tell such a story. I want to say I’m sorry for any pain caused Annarika, I don’t know how to use this as a gentle ability. I’ve only used it to attack people before, but Zuki says you deserve it and I think the same,” Baku said in a very calm voice. She took her hand off of Annarika and walked to Chuigo and I.
“What did you do to her?” Chuigo asked.
“If you two would please lay down on the bed it would help me greatly to complete my job.” I followed her request and so did Chuigo, but she hesitated as if she couldn’t tell what was going on. I couldn’t as well, but I didn’t care as long as I wasn’t put into a compromising situation. Baku put her hands on our foreheads and everything became dark.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I could see a young Annarika-no, it was Zuki-looking up at the sky. My vision turned to see three people fighting. Two were Batoki, the other an Anchu. I realized the two Batoki were Baku’s parents and I was seeing what Annarika saw, but who was the Anchu?
“Rika, move above and I’ll watch below. We won’t be safe right here much longer.” Zuki flew off and so did Rika. We were almost close enough to see the face of the other fighter. They were fighting swiftly and steadily. The rhythm was so perfect but the Anchu seemed faster almost.
Suddenly and unexpectedly we turned to look at our wing and saw that a knife was in it. As Rika tried to pull it out she got cut. Chuigo’s father! Rika pulled out the knife and it went flying… right into his chest.
“What did I just do? What did I just do?” Rika yelled. Her father turned up to look at her and when Rika looked back we watched him being killed by the girl he was fighting. She was flying right towards us, but Baku’s mother blocked the oncoming attack, being killed in the process.
“You…you killed my father!” The girl yelled. Rika started to cry. She was going to be killed, but it was impossible. She was still alive. Zuki came from behind and stabbed Chuigo’s sister in the back, protecting her sister.
“This is what we were made for, Rika! Wait till Baku hears about this!”
“What about mom and dad? Why did they have to die now? What are we going to do about it?” Zuki looked confused.
“Panta will take care of us. Don’t worry and fight!”
“No… I can’t…” We flew down and got the body of Chuigo’s father and started to fly towards the city.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I did… have a sister…” Chuigo mumbled. She started to cry softly.
“You shouldn’t have shown us that Baku. The truth didn’t need to be shown like that,” I said. I looked to Baku, but she had passed out and was lying down. Zuki chuckled a bit.
“She had to if you were to know. Annarika is the only person whose memory wasn’t wiped of that battle. I just remembered that it happened, and I never saw my parents after that. Baku could remember a little bit from the stories told, but only enough to remember Annarika left with the body of a man she killed.” Chuigo got up and left the house.
“I’m going to go home with her, I’ll come back later for you, Yuki,” Annarika said and she left. I sat on the bed and looked around. Everything that happened was overwhelming…
“Zuki, what happened with Panta?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You said that Panta would take care of you after your parents died. What happened with that?”
“He hasn’t come home. He left home at the same age as Annarika. We don’t remember him too much, but we got a picture of him a few years ago. I couldn’t believe how much different he looks from us. Rumor is he’s got the disease that means he doesn’t have a drop of Batoki blood in him. He was born eleven years before Rika and me.” Zuki left the room and brought back a picture.
A boy with dark blonde hair was sweetly smiling in it.

[chibi]

Thanks to seigfox for leaving me a purdy comment! ;D

Short chapter this time... Shortest one yet.


Chapter 10
Prince and Princess

“I’ve met him before I think. He was in the city, somewhere there,” I said. Panta… It had been so long, I couldn’t remember if it was the same boy or not. Zuki put the picture back where it came from as we sat on the bed by Baku.
“I should leave before Annarika gets here probably. I don’t know if I should go back to the city. I don’t want to be a tool for them.”
“You are going to be a tool no matter where you are. You are what the entire war is about. You are the balance for it. You are going to bring one race up above the other. You are the key for the win, you…and the prince. He’s why you should stay here because he is to meet you now,” Zuki said. I looked around, but there was no one else around.
“I’ve met him I think. He found me right before Baku came.”
“He knew better. That boy isn’t any good to begin with, though. I don’t like him one bit, I don’t even know if he is good enough to be prince, but the council said it would be, and so that is it I guess. I can’t remember his name though.” Baku moved a little bit on the bed.
“Is she going to be fine?”
“Yeah, don’t worry about her. She was really drained of energy because of that technique. The person she takes it from sees the worst stuff that they have had happen to them all over again, but she must see it as well. She’s seen more than anyone could imagine. She knows more of what is going to happen because she is told everything, she is the only Batoki whose memory can’t be erased fully.” Zuki closed her eyes and looked at the ground again.
“When will he be here?”
“I don’t know. He runs on his own schedule,” Zuki said. The door opened suddenly. I looked up and saw Toroichi standing there.
“You are the prince?” I asked. A smile appeared upon my face. I never liked him like that, but to be with a friend through the whole thing would be great.
“You don’t know?” He asked. I smiled and gave him a big hug.
“I’m so glad I don’t have some total stranger who I don’t feel comfortable around to do this with me! It’s going to be great, right?” I let go of him and was dancing around joyously.
“Let the boy talk Yuki,” Zuki said in a loud voice. I stopped and looked at Toro. He seemed nervous and looked a little disappointed even.
“I’m not the prince…Yuki. I can barely remember who you are anyways. I’ve tried hard…” I looked at him straight in the face, trying my hardest not to cry.
“You can’t… you can’t… you can’t remember me?” I managed to say. He shrugged it off and walked to Zuki and sat by her. She smiled her same rotten smile that I had seen millions of times before it seemed.
“What is wrong with her?” Toro asked. I could feel my heart slowly being ripped in half.
“Don’t worry, Toro. Don’t worry about her anymore. She means nothing to you now,” Zuki said. She hugged Toro and he hugged her back. I dashed out the doorway, I didn’t want to see anymore. I ran into something hard and fell on my back, groaning and crying.
“Don’t look down Yuki. You are only going to fly upwards ever more.” I looked up and saw a young guy about my age above me. I immediately recognized him.
“Ikara? What are you doing here?” I asked. He was one of Toroichi’s best friends. I knew him pretty well, but I hadn’t talked to him much since he transferred to another school. He smiled as he helped me off of the ground.
“My princess, why do you not know?”
“Cut out the cheesy talk. It’s stupid to talk like that. Toro is the prince, he just lied. That’s all.” He looked at me in a confused way.
“Toro wasn’t lying. I’m the prince. Sorry for how I was talking. The council told me it would be the best way. I guess I should talk like a normal person,” he said blushing a bit. I looked at him intensely. How did he get chosen over Toroichi? It wasn’t possible. Toro was better than Ikara could ever be.
“How did you, Ikara the Unworthy, get chosen as the prince?” I said, bringing back an old nickname he had earned in elementary school. He frowned as I said that, he didn’t see him as unworthy now.
“We had to take a long testing process, which consisted of different elements for us to be the perfect fighting partner for you. Toro failed one part consistently, he could never conjure up the power that was necessary to win our battle. He looked so pitiful, the power levels were off the charts, but there was no attack at all. We can have a prince like that Yuki,” he said. I punched him in the face lightly.
“How close was he to making it?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t really remember. It’s not the strongest memory…”
“How close was he to making it?”
“A few points, I think about five…” I walked up to Ikara and looked him in the eyes with an intense gaze.
“And the part he failed was worth?”
“One hundred points…” He backed away from me and started to leave it seemed. I held him by his shirt and he turned around slightly.
“How much did Toroichi want to be the prince?”
“More than you could imagine.”
“You betrayed your friend, Ikara. I shall only work with you if my life depends on it, and still I might kill myself before. You are lower than dirt,” I said. I walked away from the city and I walked out to the landing where I planned to leave the area from. The conditions in the sky weren’t great, if I got too far away from land I could easily die because of winds.
“You are going to leave here Yuki. Right now. Don’t worry about it. We’ll help you figure everything out.” I turned around to see three men standing behind me with blank looks on their faces. I took a step back and looked at them more closely.
“I don’t trust you.”
“We are part of the council, I would expect you to cooperate as much as possible, for you could have a rough life ahead of you if not.” They grabbed my arms and even though I tried to fight my way out of their grasp I was knocked out before I had a chance…