"The Water Section, is ours to protect. No matter if the guardian is a Water Disciple or Ice Disciple. No matter if it's called the Water Section, us Ice Disciples still need to protect it."
A man and his 7 year old child are standing on a snowy hill watching the blue sunset.
"How big is the Disciple World? The world outside the sections?"
"Even I don't know Kuragami. The world is endless. There could be millions of places out there that hasn't been discovered and some, only certain people can get too. Only certain can protect."
"It's impossible to protect the whole world. It's too big."
His dad laughs.
"If it is impossible, that's not the correct reason to why it's impossible."
"Really? What's the reason then?"
"Fate. For one's protection in this world, it would be someone else's fate to fall. Not everyone can be protected."
Kuragami looks at the sunset.
"I see. So for my protection, mum had to die."
"No Kuragami. It was just unlucky that your mum died at your birth. It happens."
"But it shouldn't! Fate is stupid."
Ryoma smiles.
"Tell that to fate itself."
His dad laughs and holds him close.
Everything turns black.
Kuragami wakes up. He gets up swiftly and starts panting. He clenches both his fists and punches it on the bed he is laying on. Tears are falling down from his face to his fists. He lets out a scream.
Sayo rushes into the room to see if Kuragami is ok. She goes to him and starts to hug him.
"It's ok Kuragami."
She is worried that he's not taking his fathers death well. But she didn't expect the best since he's 12.
"I shouldn't."
Sayo is confused.
"I shouldn't cry. Dad wouldn't want me to cry but I can't help it. He's gone and he's never coming back."
"He may be gone Kuragami, but he wouldn't want his death to distract you from becoming one of the strongest."
Kuragami stops crying and looks at Sayo.
"Here's your armband."
She give him his armband. He looks at it for a good 5 seconds then puts it on. The armband has the name Yuki on it.
"Alright."
He slaps both of his cheeks at the same time.
"It's time to train. My first mission is tomorrow so I gotta make sure I'm not slacking."
"That's good. Your dad will be very proud of you."
"Thank you Sayo."
Kuragami hugs her.
"See ya."
He runs out the house while Sayo is waving goodbye.
Kuragami starts training in a forest near his area.
He uses consecutive Ice Techniques to the trees, trying to see how much he can clear the place out.
Kuragami jumps up in the sky, looks down at all the trees and puts his hands out.
"Heavenly Ice."
Nothing happens. Kuragami starts falling down but luckily, he catches his fall.
"Let me try to raise my aura first."
He starts to raise his aura as much as he can. His aura creates a heavy breeze around him making leave fly around. He crouches and puts his right hand to the floor while resting his left on his right leg. He then concentrates all his aura to his right hand.
"Heavenly Ice."
Nothing happens.
He starts scratching his head confused.
"Why is it not working. I remember doing it before. But then again it was like my body moved by itself. Oh well I still have other techniques."
A bunch of people Kuragami's age come out from behind the trees. There's 4 of them.
Kuragami turns around and there's a bewildered look on his face.
"What are you guys doing here?"
There's three boys and one girl. Pakku, Yakone, Varrick and Kiyoko.
"We just came to help you with your training. Kiyoko thought that since we are now all Shorai, we can help each other."
Kiyoko starts to get embarrassed and slaps Yakone.
"It was only a suggestion since, you know. Anyways I just thought you needed some support so, here we are."
"That's great and all but I don't think a bunch of water disciples can help me right now."
All four of them start to feel down. Kiyoko steps up.
"I'm a hybrid. Both ice and water. I think I'll be able to help."
"Oh yeah. That's great Kiyoko. You guys do whatever you want I'm gonna need Kiyoko's help for this."
Kuragami grabs her hand and runs off with her. Kiyoko starts blushing and feels embarrassed while her and Kuragami runs off. Both Pakku and Varrick could see the puzzled look on Yakones face.
"Well that was weird."
Kuragami and Kiyoko stops running. Kiyoko is out of breath. They both realise that they are still holding hands so they immediately let go.
"Anyways Kiyoko I need your help . How do I explain it. I did a move today that was strong enough to stop Furos attack."
"Wait Furo as in the Kizoku?"
"Yeah. Anyways-"
"Wait we are not gonna skip past what you just said. You stopped a Kizokus attack?"
"That doesn't matter Kiyo. What matters is I can't use the move that I used to block the attack. I keep trying and it doesn't work."
"Um. I've never had that happen to me before so I don't know what to do. How about, you create a move similar to the move you done."
"That's impossible, that move was the strongest move I've ever done. There's no way I'll be able to rival that with another move."
"You won't know until you try. Why don't we spar Kuragami. Let's see if you even need to use that move. And don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl."
Kuragami looks away. He starts mumbling.
"Of course I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you're a girl."
He couldn't make it more obvious that he ways lying. Of course Kiyoko noticed it. So she starts to get pissed.
"Water Technique: Dwarf Tsunami."
A wave of water immediately comes out of nowhere in front of Kiyoko. It is a wave aimed at Kuragami. Kuragami wasn't prepared for a sudden attack. He swiftly puts his arm out facing the tsunami and channels his aura to his hand.
"Ice Technique: Frozen Seas."
He releases his aura to the Tsunami and freezes it.
"That was close."
"Is that all you got Kuragami? Ice Technique: Ice Shurikens."
A barrage of ice shurikens start materialising from the frozen Tsunami. They rapidly fly towards Kuragami.
"Fine if you don't want me to go easy on you, it will be your funeral."
Kuragami dodges all of the shurikens with ease.
"Impossible."
He jumps up high in the air and lands on the frozen tsunami. He looks down at Kiyoko then smiles.
"I'm gonna show you why I'm the strongest Ice Disciple Shorai."
He jumps down to Kiyoko, they are now both face to face. He attempts to punch Kiyoko with his right arm and as she is about to block with her left arm, he intentionally misses. He is aiming for the floor on the right of her. He puts his right arm to the floor and twists his whole body to where he is doing a handstand. But instead of doing a handstand, he is charging up a kick that will break Kataras block. He is charging up aura in his right leg to amplify the kick. The kick is too fast for her to react so her left arm and Kuragami's right leg makes contact. She screams and gets pushed back till she hits a tree.
"I'm not done yet."
Kiyoko is stunned from her impact with the tree and is left with no time to react to anymore attacks. Kuragami gets back up on two legs. He crouches down and puts his right hand to the floor.
"Piercing Iceberg."
A bunch of piercing ice comes out for the floor directed at Kiyoko. Kiyoko can't move as she got heavily injured from Kuragami's kick. Then in a trice, three people come out of nowhere In front of Kiyoko. All six hands are on the floor and they all shout in unison.
"Water Technique: Steaming Vapor."
A bunch of burning water comes out hitting Kuragami's Ice. A bunch of smoke appears as a result to the clash. But Kuragami's move only slowed down. It hasn't stopped and now it's directed at all free of them.
"Pakku Varrick, get out the way I'll get Katara!"
They both nod and run out the way. Yakone wraps Kiyoko's arm around his neck and carries her out the way. The Iceberg collides with all the trees and stops. It creates an outburst of aura leading to Kiyoko and Yakone falling.
The explosion dissapears. Yakone runs up to Kuragami and grabs him by his scarf. He seems furious.
"What the hell do you think you were doing? Kiyoko could've been badly hurt!"
Kiyoko looks at both of them worried. So does Pakku and Varrick.
"Well answer me!"
Kuragami smiles menacingly.
"It's what she wanted. I was going to go easy on her but she told me not to."
"She could've been hurt real bad. Do you know that? And your smiling about it?"
"It's not my problem. I knew this would happen that's why I was gonna go easy on her. She tells me not to and I'm in the wrong? Tell me how that makes sense Yakone."
Yakone doesn't know what to say. He feels confused but he's still angry.
"That's what I thought. Now get off me."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll leave you bleeding on my ice."
"KURAGAMI STOP!"
Kiyoko shouts at the top of her lungs. Yakone let's go off him in shock.
"How can you say that Kuragami? Yakone was only trying to tell you that you went too far."
"You know what, I never asked you four to come along and help me. You got what you wanted and now your complaining. Why don't you go back to your parents and cry to them about how Kuragami was being mean to you today. Does that sound good to you? Sadly I can't complain to anyone about you guys since both of my parents are dead!"
They were all dumbstruck with regret. Yakone starts walking away. He turns around and looks at Kuragami.
"Good luck Kuragami, you will need it."
He starts walking off again and the other three follow. Kiyoko looks back at Kuragami with upset. She can't see any signs of regret on his face so she carries on walking and moves on.
"You guys are the ones that need luck."
Kuragami starts training by himself again.
It's dark outside. Kuragami's falls to the floor sweating heavily. He is gasping for breath.
"That's enough for today, I should get back to Sayo."
He stands up then starts walking home back to Sayo.
Kuragami opens the door.
"Sayo I'm home."
She is cooking dinner for Kuragami. It seems to be a big feast.
"Welcome home."
"Hey is there a letter about the teams?"
Sayo stops cooking for a second.
"Kuragami. The teams won't be announced till a couple days past. The Kashikoi want to deal with the situation your brothers in first."
Kuragami starts to get worried. He feels that Sayo is worried too.
"Are they going to strip him off his Kizoku role? Just because of Dad's death?"
Sayo has no answer to that.
"So they are then."
"Well we don't know for sure. Maybe he-"
Kuragami starts running upstairs into his room. He jumps in the bed and covers his face with the pillow.
A couple days go past. Its finally the day where the teams get announced. All the Shorai will get a letter sent home. The letter contains their team of 4. Although they have a team of 4, Shorai are always going to have a Nakaba or above on their team to play the role of the team captain.
Kuragami wakes up all excited. For the past days he's been training his ass off, making sure that he is ready for his first mission. He is thrilled to find out who's on his team and is ready to fight alongside them.
"So today's the day. Where my team is finally going to be announced."
Someone knocks on their door. It's the post man. Sayo opens it. She receives a single letter. It's for Kuragami. Kuragami runs downstairs and sees the letter in Sayos' hand. He snatches it and opens it straight away.
"Sayo it's finally time to see who's in my team."
She smiles.
"Homura Endou. Of course. Sasaki Bushida. So me and Sasaki are gonna be on the same team after all."
He smiles and gets more excited that he will fight alongside both Homura and Sasaki.
"And Lastly, Cherry Chibana? Who the hell is that?"