"Hey, Daisuke, man!" Daisuke heard his name in the cafeteria and turned around. There, he saw Hiru Josh and Andrew with their trays in hand.
"Oh, hey guys." Daisuke said as he walked over to them.
"Hey, why are you pulling off this loner crap?"
"Loner?"
"Well, you don't sit with us, and there's no way you could have any other friends. Are you trying to pull the fake bad-ass, lone wolf act? Trying to get ladies?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Oh, c'mon you devil. There's got to be a reason you're not sitting with us." Andrew kept it going.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, we've been wondering why you haven't sat by us for the last week. We go to the same school, and you've kinda been ditching us." Hiru explained.
"Sorry. It's just that I'm hanging with a couple of old friends."
"Old friends? How much older than us? We've known each other since fifth grade. They can't be before that." Josh said.
"And you've known Hiru all your life. There's no way you can call these people 'old friends."'
"Daisuke!" and when Daisuke turned his head, he saw Momo urging him to come to her. Daisuke turned back to his friends.
"You guys can came with me, if you'd like."
"Man, she's young. How young is she, thirteen?" Andrew asked.
"Yep. Going on fourteen next month." Daisuke with a smile.
"I was being sarcastic!" he yelled.
"But seriously, you guys can sit with us if you'd like. We have more than enough room back at the table."
"Why would I want to sit with a bunch of freaks and weirdo kids? They have got to be younger than us." Andrew said with anti-nerd pride.
"Suit yourself. Later, guys."
"Hmph. What a freak. He's changed since the last time we saw him Whatever. We'll go sit at the cool table, right guys?"
As Andrew looked around, he saw Hiru and Josh heading the direction that Daisuke went in.
"Where are you guys going?"
"I want to know who these 'old friends' are." Hiru said.
"Yeah. And that chick was kinda cute. Maybe there's more cute girls. You never know." Josh answered honestly.
" 'Curiosity killed the cat,' ya know!"
"Well, luckily, we're not cats."
At his wits end, Andrew sighed in frustration. Relentlessly, he had followed the two towards Daisuke. When he saw Daisuke, he noticed there were six incredibly good looking girls at the table, all laughing with Daisuke and some other guy.
"So, you guys joined us?" Daisuke asked in a tone that he knew he would eventually, and a eyebrow cocked upwards, trying to feign shock.
"Curiosity." Was all Andrew said.
"Well," Daisuke said. "These are my friends from Sakura's. Yuri, Yuki, Raine, Deíji, Kori, and Momo." He pointed to them individually and they all waved when represented. "And then the loser, Ryuku."
"Hey!"
Andrew sit down, a scowl on his face. Daisuke ditched them for a group of girls? It wasn't fair. Why did Daisuke get to get a group of girls to hang all around him? Was it because they thought he was gay? Andrew thought that they would know by now that he wasn't gay. Was he trying to act gay so they would love him? Was he lying?
Andrew's thoughts were interrupted by Kori, who had sat on his lap and grinned at him seductively.
"Hi."
"Um…hi?"
"You look upset. I think you need a little Sakura's service."
"And I think you to control yourself." Yuri said, pulling Kori off of Andrew.
"Sorry about that." Deíji said behind him. "She has a thing for American boys. She can lose control sometimes."
"Besides," Momo said, sitting in his lap now. "That's not the way the Sakura's treatment goes. It's more like this." She said as she grabbed a piece of rice roll, and shoved it down Andrew's throat. "Now eat up! You need lots, and lots, of food to study, study, study!"
"Momo! You're strangling him with food!" Deíji cried.
"Must you always treat new guests this way, Momo." Raine said as she picked Momo off of Andrew.
"So, you must be one of Daisuke's friends." Ryuku said.
"Yeah. I'm Andrew." Andrew said he saw his friends getting the same treatment from Momo. He turned towards Ryuku.
"Do…I know you?" Andrew asked.
Ryuku cocked his head to the side.
"I don't think so. I don't think we've ever met."
"You look really familiar. Are you sure we haven't met before."
"I'm pretty sure."
"HIROMUSHU!" a voice ran out in the cafeteria. Half of the conversation died while the others closed down to a whisper. All heads turned to the direction that it came from. In the entrance of the cafeteria had come Doichi.
"Doichi?" Yuki asked. "What the hell does he want."
With a blinding speed, Doichi was in front of Daisuke. He was using his Demon Hunting skills in public, and Daisuke was going to have to hide his while fighting. That's' the way Doichi saw it. If Daisuke couldn't use his skills, it would be easier to hit, or even kill, Daisuke.
With several punches being thrown Daisuke, Daisuke just dodged them at an agreeable pace. Daisuke back up, and Doichi stood there, panting hard, his eyes filled with every ounce of hatred that had built up in his body.
"Doichi…" Daisuke said in a warning voice, trying to get him to control his actions. He had to think things rationally, otherwise, things would become a lot more complicated.
"Damn you, Hiromushu." Doichi said. "I'm going to give you a full on tour to hell!"
Doichi charged at Daisuke and Daisuke had waited for the attack. Punches were thrown all around, and Daisuke just dodged them or blocked them. The whole cafeteria was watching, chanting, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"
A punch had been made, and Daisuke dodged again, and Doichi hit a table, shattering it into thousands of splinters. Same had happened to a wall in the cafeteria. Soon, school staff had came in, and tackled Doichi. When one man wasn't enough, they had gotten three. When that wasn't enough to even just slow him down, they had gotten ten. Soon, every male teacher was trying to pin Doichi to the ground. Eventually, Doichi had fallen to the ground, but soon after, had used his energy to blow off the teachers off of him. The teachers had only fueled Doichi rage, and gotten him more psyched on fighting.
"What should we do?" Yuki heard a teacher ask another.
"There's only one thing we can do: Call the police."
And that's what they did. But pretty soon, the fight moved on outside. Daisuke didn't want anybody from the inside to get harmed. He couldn't let that happen due to carelessness. And people had followed the fight from a distance. While they fought on the field, Doichi had leaped a whooping five meters, leaving every that had been around in stun. A fireball had been sent towards Daisuke and he had moved out of the way. Of course, nobody could see the fireball, so when the dirt flown up due to an explosion, people automatically thought that there must have been explosives implanted in the ground.
It took the police only ten minutes to arrive, and by then, Daisuke was getting tired. Doichi had finally laid a punch in Daisuke's face, and Daisuke flew in the air for about twelve meters and skidded on the ground, kicking up asphalt as he skidded, until he was in a pile of dirt and asphalt two feet in the ground. Daisuke heard a gun fire, and he forgot all about his pain and stood up quickly. Enemy or not, Doichi was a human being, and if he could protect him from death, than so be it. But at the same time, he would have to do so without hurting anybody, revealing his secret, or somehow looking like an accomplice to Doichi.
But Daisuke didn't have the chance to do anything. After the gun was fired, and Doichi dodged the bullet, Doichi had leaped to the school roof, and started to leave. As the police had started to follow Doichi, Doichi thought it would be better to slow them down by blowing up their police cars. And with that, Doichi had left, and Daisuke knew that there was no way he was coming back at AU High. But he knew that there would be a large chance they find themselves all alone in the middle of nowhere.
"What the hell is wrong with you Daisuke?" He heard Josh's voice. He turned around as he brushed the dirt off of him.
"What are you talking about?"
"You flew like, a million kilometers and here you are, doing just fine. And look at the hole in the ground. What are you? Invincible?"
"Nothing I'm not used to in… uh… Ninjitsu."
"Daisuke!?" he heard Yuri's voice and turned around. "Are you okay?"
"I think I'll live."
"Oh, my gawd! You're face!"
Daisuke had put his hand near his forehead, the area that Yuri was pointing at, and looked at his hand. It was completely covered in blood.
"Well, that's not good." Was all he said.
"Not good!? You've got to go to the nurse's office right now."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine! And if you think for one second that you can just live with a giant geyser of blood gushing out of your head, then you've got another thing coming. I'll literally drag you to the nurses office if I have to."
And before he could say anything, that's exactly what she had done. She had grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him on his butt. He didn't even try fighting back. Once Yuri's made her mind, it's impossible to win in an argument.
"Cute couple." Andrew said with a chuckle.
"Yeah. Cute." Yuki said painfully.
And she lost the war for Daisuke heart? They seemed kind of lovey-dovey the last couple of days. They must have been going out. No. If they had, Yuri would have killed Daisuke and Kitsune the other night. She wouldn't even have been speaking to Daisuke if they were dating and he went on the date with Kitsune.
But deep down inside, she knew that they were dating. Unofficially, of course. But what could she do? If they were going out, then they were going out. They were her friends. There was nothing she could do but sit in the sidelines and cheer them on, and wait for time to morph things.
What else was she to do? They were her only friends. They didn't make fun of her, talk about her behind her back (she made sure of that). They never excluded her in things, they always welcomed her with a smile, and they had always told her the truth, no matter how much it may have hurt. Was she suppose to be so consumed with jealousy that she would try and betray each other? Of course not.
Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel the pain come across her chest when ever she saw those together.
Kagori had laid in bed, with his eyes closed, resting, almost at a peaceful state of mind. Almost.
"That Hakura woman bothers me, Kagori."
"I understand, but we cannot forget about the game plan, can we?"
"I understand your need to get the book. And, quite frankly, I agree. But there's something about this Hakura that bothers me."
"And should we do about it?"
The two had been trying to come up with a plan to get rid of Daisuke for the last three hours in the same place, both quietly rejecting the other's idea, trying not to get into an actual argument. If Kagori got mad at Goro, Goro could easily take away the curse blocker, but if Goro made Kagori mad, Kagori could reject him out of his body, and Goro would have nowhere else to go but the dark abyss.
"Well, there must be a way to end up killing the both of them."
"And we can't forget the President of DHA."
"That fool? Haven't mentioned him in a while. Why is he such a priority for you to kill?"
"Isn't it obvious? What do you think the old man is doing in America?"
"Hiding?"
"That's what it may seem, but the old man is trying to gain every Demon Hunter in America to come after me."
"How are you so sure?"
"That old man is the most predictable fool if I've ever seen one. I've gotten an e-mail from a friend in the states saying there was an old man trying to get people with 'powers from a world beyond'. It's obvious for what he's looking for."
"So, you have three targets that are gaining alliances and gaining power daily. What are your plans for this one?"
"Simple. If a sheep decides to come to the slaughter house with followers, I'll have the tools to kill."
"So, what are planning to do with Hakura?"
"What do you mean now?"
"Well, she did manage to perform a fake death even after all the abuse she had taken. What makes you think she might not be the one with the power to stop you?"
"Is that a question, or is it a suggestion?"
"Think of it as both if you'd like."
"Are you saying that Daisuke is no threat at all?"
"Of course not. Daisuke is as much of a threat as Hakura. Hakura is teaching Daisuke her ways, and if we don't stop either one soon, we might not be able to stop any of them."
"So, what do you propose we do?"
"We can send those legions of the animal people on him, and you can collect more Demon Hunters."
"Why more?"
"If the President of DHA is collecting them, then don't you think he's going to initialize war towards us? And in order to have war, you need troops. More troops."
"Why use troops when I can destroy them myself?"
"You'll want to keep up your strength for Daisuke. Every single ounce. Something tells me that you guys aren't going to have a short one minutes fight. This one may last a while."
"So, you suggest that I start sending in my animal friends after Daisuke now?
"You do wish to get the book of the Lion, am I right?"
"What's your point."
"Gaining the book of the lion gives you any wish that you want. I know what your wish is, Kagori."
"Shut up, Goro."
"You wish for your family to live again, don't you?"
"I told you to silence."
"You're alone, and you miss your family."
"Is this your way of mocking me?!"
"Is it true, thought Kagori. Don't you wish for your family to live."
"I'm not stupid, Goro. I also know that the book has some faults. Things may turn out badly if you don't use your words right. The books seeks for any loophole that it can to mess that wish up. And after you wish, the book is gone. It travels elsewhere."
"And you think that Daisuke knows where the is?"
"I'm positive."
"How are you so sure."
"If Hiromushu doesn't know, why should I bother telling you. When Hiromushu finds out, so will you."
"Fine. That seems fair."
"As for now, I think we should peek in on what our little animal friends are up to."
Doichi had sat on the edge of a skyscraper., staring at the early night moon. It was full, and it had seemed closer to Earth, bringing it to a larger point of view and shining more light. The wind blew enough to move his hair here and there. He looked at the city below him, so fragile, and so easy to disturb.
"Hey." He heard behind him. As he turned around, he saw Kitsune starting to sit next to him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Eh… I guess I know where you like to think."
"You know me too well, you know that?"
"Not as well as I would like to think."
"What's that suppose to mean."
"It means: what the hell were you thinking today?" she asked abruptly.
The anger in her voice had reminded him of the way he felt towards Daisuke, and that raised old anger as well.
"Hey!" he snapped back. "Who's the one who went out with the enemy?"
"Since when did he become an official enemy? Why can't we be friends with him?"
"He's going to kill us someday, Kit. Do you honestly think that he's going to become friends to a couple of Kagori's accomplices."
"He doesn't even know we were working for Kagori."
"Whoa. Wait. What do you mean, 'were'?"
"I'm finished with this crap. I don't want to kill Daisuke. I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to hunt demons to protect the human race, just like we did before this whole crazy mess had even started."
"Kitsune, we can't go back to the way things were. We can't just change everything and everybody."
"Why can't we just change ourselves to how things were."
"Because, who we are is affected by who we are around. If just one person changes, so do we, drastically. It's not just us, Kitsune. It's everybody. It's a large line of change. One person changes, and that affects five, and those five affect about fifty, and then it just goes on."
"Maybe if we just change ourselves, we can change those who are affected. Maybe we can start our own cycle."
"You're far too hopeful. I can't work. It's easier to listen to those who have power over those who lack it like us. People are most likely going to listen to people like Kagori or Daisuke or the President of DHA. Who's going to listen to us? I mean, what do we even have to offer? To go back to the way of no challenges, daily easy hunting?"
"Why are you making this so hard?" Kitsune asked. "Why are being so negative?"
"Because that's how life is." Doichi said sadly. "No matter how much we wish for the best, it won't come for us. It's just how life is."
There was a small silence. Doichi didn't even look at Kitsune, but he saw her from the corner of his eye. She was looking down at the city, looking sad. He knew what he was saying hurt, but that's how he felt the other night.
"That's not what you believed before all this happened."
"Wha…?"
"I mean, I use to look at you, and you were always smiling and joking. Now I look at you, and you're always plotting Daisuke's death. You're hearts hardened."
"Well, I guess it's because I'm jealous."
"Jealous?" she asked, they both finally looked at each other. Kitsune had her hair differently. Doichi couldn't pin it, but there was something different about it. Or, perhaps, she hadn't changed at all. She had just seemed so much more glamorous than she had before, and that was really saying something to him.
"You're always looking at another guy. You're always spacing out, and talking about somebody else." The words hurt Kitsune. Not in a way that he said it, it was because she had never realized how much she was hurting her own friend. "I've always been just a friend." He looked at her and forced a smile. "I guess that's all I'm destined to be."
"Doichi…" she said quietly. She wanted to say something. But there was nothing else that she could say. It was all just muster. But it was fine. Doichi had understood what she had meant.
Taking in all the bravery he could summon, Doichi slowly leaned in close to Kitsune. She didn't back up, and slowly closed her eyes. Their lips gently touched, and they lingered for a couple seconds. When they broke apart, Doichi had started to stand.
"I love you, Kitsune. I always have, always will. I guess that's why I've never liked Daisuke. It's something I have to put myself against. I'm sure he's a nice guy. But because he's my rival for the only thing that makes me live, makes me wake up with hope each new day, I guess I'm fighting for my very reason of living."
Doichi had turned around to leave, and Kitsune's voice had stopped him.
"Where're you going?"
"I'm fighting Daisuke. If I defeat him in battle, maybe I can finally take a step towards winning your heart."
And with that, he had started to walk off, leaving Kitsune still too stunned to move, or anything of the sort.
Daisuke was pooped. He hated going to cram school at night. Sure, it was for getting into a decent college, but it was still hell. All the lectures, and the homework he got after that, and the extra thinking. Thinking was probably the one thing that he hated about the whole thing. Call him lazy or whatever, but he almost always hated thinking about anything he didn't find fun or interesting.
He walked on home, almost there, when a couple of police cars had whizzed by with their sirens wailing. On the next block, there were paramedics, and then a fire truck soon after. After he had turned the corner of where he could see straight down the street where he lived, he had seen a fire. It was pretty close to his house.
But after walking a little bit closer towards home, he had realized that it was his house!
He went into a sprint, and got in front of the crowd that had been placed in front of his house. Firefighters had come out, dragging his father out. He had gotten under the tape, and a policeman yelled at him, but he didn't listen. He ran towards his dad.
"DAD!?"
"Daisuke?"
"What happened?" when he was in front of his father, and then released him, realizing that they were far enough away from the fire.
"I don't know. All I know is, I was making some rice and watching TV, when all of the sudden, there was a massive explosion, and the whole apartment went up into flames."
Daisuke looked at the flames of the apartment. Something didn't feel right. He looked, and the place that had been the most inflamed, the area where the fire started, was in his room. Coincidence, or was somebody after him. It had to be Doichi. He was pissed off at him earlier today. He could've killed Daisuke if he really felt like it.
Just then, Daisuke sensed somebody with demonic aura running down the street. There, he saw somebody, human form, running the opposite way. Daisuke had taken off, his father calling his name in a worried voice. Daisuke had ran like a normal person until he turned the corner. He then leaped up onto the top of a building, and followed the person in that form. When they had gotten to AU's field, the person stopped, and Daisuke had landed a couple of feet in front of the person. When Daisuke's eyes adjusted well into the light, he noticed who it was.
"Doichi?"
"Daisuke."
"You caught my house on fire!"
"In an attempt to kill you. Sadly, I had forgotten that you went to Cram school. No matter, I'll destroy you here."
"Doichi. Do we really have to fight?"
"Daisuke, you have taken something in front of me. Something that I've been hunting down for most of my life. And you purloined it."
"Doichi, listen, if it's those donuts I found on the table, I didn't know those were yours. I'm sorry; I got really hungry, and nobody was by them, so I decided to–"
"That's not what I'm talking about!" Doichi shouted. "You stole Kitsune's first kiss from me!"
"Well, I guess that's something I can't just give back." Daisuke said in thought, showing his idiocy.
"Augh! You're an idiot!"
And he charged. A couple of throws were thrown, and Daisuke could actually block and dodge rightfully this time. After four punches, Daisuke ducked right, and punched Doichi in the left cheek. Doichi flew just like Daisuke had, but he landed on his feet before hitting the ground. The same amount of dirt and asphalt had spilled all over. Doichi had charged again, but only to get the same results, over and over. He never got to land even a single punch on Doichi.
Doichi had summoned his sword and started to go after Daisuke again. Still, Daisuke had taken out his sword or anything. He stood there, waiting for Doichi to come towards him. But the moment that Doichi had gotten towards Daisuke was the moment that Daisuke that Daisuke had managed to end up behind him with blinding speed. With quick realization, Doichi swung behind him, but nobody was there. Suddenly, a punch in the head from behind, where Daisuke was originally.
When Doichi had turned around, he had seen Daisuke, not smiling, but an actual scowl. This was the first time that Doichi had seen Daisuke anything but relaxed, happy, or easy going.
"Doichi, I need you to stop this madness. I have no feelings for Kitsune. You should know that."
"It's not your feelings I'm concerned with." Doichi said. "Who knows what fantasies she has about you."
"Why can't we sit and talk this over. We're not savages." Daisuke held a hand in an offering of friendship.
"No!" Doichi said. "I see what you're trying to do. Kagori warned us about you. He said that you would do anything you could to make us slaves in your name, no matter how nice you seemed."
"You work… for Kagori."
"Not just me, but Kitsune, too. Others will join us at this school."
"Why am I not surprised. I suspected that Kagori would send I some spies. But we don't have to do it this way."
"He's right, you know." The heard a voice off in the sides. When the two looked over, they had seen Yuri, Yuki, and Ryuku sitting on a rock, just watching. The voice had belonged to Yuki. "You don't have to fight. And if fighting's too important to give up, then fight for the right side."
"Kagori's just going to use you, Doichi. We could use another partner, another friend." Yuri tried.
"I'm tired of being the only smart guy on the team. It'd be nice to have an intellectual talk with a guy who's not so dense." Ryuku joined.
"Doichi, you have the chance of being somebody great. Don't throw your life away because of a misunderstanding."
Doichi had stared at Daisuke's hand. Was it true? Could he really just have friends and become one of the greatest Demon Hunters in the world along side with the to-be-greatest? Could he learn a lot from this group. From what he had known, Yuri had only started Demon Hunting four months ago. How much better would he be able to get if he was sin the group?
BANG! A bullet ran out and landed next Doichi's foot. Everyone had looked around, and didn't see anybody. But that didn't mean they couldn't sense the sniper on top of the school building. Since the little incident earlier at school, Doichi had been under the Shoot-For-Dead list for being a "terrorist" and filling the school with bombs. The sound had directed Doichi's thoughts. There was no way he would join the person that had captured Kitsune's heart.
"Come, Daisuke. We'll take this battle elsewhere." Doichi said as he had taken out the book of the monkey from his pocket (big pockets), and had opened it. He chanted something in a language that Daisuke couldn't quiet place. Probably Greek. But as another shot had rang out, everything had started to slow. The sound of the bang slowed down to a slow, low mooing of a cow, cars had started to stand still. Daisuke was even able to see the bullet, and it was moving about a millimeter ever couple of seconds. Everything else had been completely been still.
Suddenly, the sky had turned into a bright, pinkish-purple. A large tree had shot out of the ground, at least a half a kilometer in radius and fifty meters high. It shone with a neon white that had made everything else but the sky dark. The first couple of branches had grabbed Daisuke and he stood up near the top. As he looked down, all he could see was pitch black.
When he looked around, he saw his three friends hanging on a breaking rope by their feet on the farthest branch of the tree, hanging there, the rope breaking further every minute. Daisuke didn't have a lot of time.
"You see that, Daisuke?" Doichi's voice came from above. Doichi was sitting on a branch a couple of levels up. "You have to save your friends. They're crying and screaming for you."
Daisuke didn't hear anything. Yet, when he looked at his friends, their mouths violently moved around, and they thrashed, trying to escape. Why couldn't he hear anything.
"There's a barrier between us and them. The only way to break that barrier is to defeat me, Daisuke. You only have a couple of minutes before they parish to the world below. Are you really going to let that happen."
Suddenly, he heard their screams and cries of agony.
"Oh my gawd! I don't wanna die! I don' wanna die! Idon'twannadieIdon'twann–" Yuri cried.
"Dude, this is seriously uncool. What the hell is going on!" Ryuku demanded.
"Daisuke, if you let us fall, I swear I'll come back and kick your ass."
"Well, at least I know I'm fighting for the love of my friends." Daisuke said sarcastically, and then looked at Doichi. Doichi wasn't going to move on this. He was going to fight, no matter what would happen. So Daisuke had drawn a sword, and Doichi stood and drew his. But as he stood, something was different about him. Then Daisuke finally noticed it. He had a tail!
"Why do you have a tail?"
"I am the monkey of course, from the book of the monkey."
The words of those books that Kyutaka spoke of had come to mind. Kagori was using other people to use the books? Why would he do that? Something didn't feel right about this. Then Daisuke remembered the part of where it takes over your soul. Perhaps that's why Doichi was so hard to convince to come to the good side. Anger had been his soul.
"Do we really have to do this, Doichi?"
"There's no other way, Daisuke. I must do this. Please, understand." Doichi said the last sentence like a nice person. Somebody who didn't want to fight. Somebody who just wanted to live, and be with the person they loved. One who wanted to protect, not kill. The real Doichi.
But before anything could happen for Daisuke to turn things around for the last time, Doichi attacked. And at that point, Doichi was never going to return to his original self.
Swords had clashed together, making sounds as if they were metal. The attacks made by Doichi had been fierce, but nothing Daisuke couldn't handle. Daisuke had punched Doichi , and before he had fallen of the branch, his tail had wrapped around the branch and brought him back up, surprising Daisuke. Doichi had left a kick into Daisuke's face as he flew. As Daisuke had gotten up, he had seen his friends. The rope had been thinner.
Daisuke decided that he needed to actually go for it. He needed to end Doichi's life. As much as he wanted to save him, there was no turning back from his evil ways. He didn't have enough power to say no anymore. Daisuke knew that it wasn't an easy choice, but he needed to do it.
Daisuke had charged at Doichi and swung again, but missed, but came back with a round house kick. Doichi bounced of a branch, and wrapped his tail around it. He hung there with a taunting look on his face.
"Why do you repeat the same routine. Can't you see that I'll just hang here again and again?"
"That's exactly what I want you to do." Daisuke said.
Daisuke had held out his arm, and threw it to his left. The entire branch came off the tree, and went the left, too far to reach back to the tree. It fell into the black abyss. Daisuke hadn't used his plant elemental powers in a while.
The tree had started to quickly shrink, and then was buried underneath the ground, as if it was never there. When they had reached the bottom, Doichi was still somehow alive, and still unscathed. Suddenly, a strange unknown force had drawn them to the exact same spot where Doichi had gotten the book out. The book had started to float out of Doichi's pocket. It started to hover directly in front of Doichi's shoulder.
Doichi's eyes opened wide as the low mooing had become the original gunshot. Blood shot out of Doichi's chest, and spilled on the book. The book, then, had floated into the evening sky, as Doichi had fallen on his knees. A bullet wound in the very heart. Doichi had looked at Daisuke in the yes.
"Take care…of…Kitsune for…me…"
And with that, his body had fallen unto his face. There was a slight wind, a sign of his passing. Doichi had died.
Doichi's funeral had been three days after the fight. It was an open invitation funeral, allowing all who wanted to come could. Daisuke had stood in his tux that he had borrowed from his dad. The whole group had been there. The man, Daisuke thinks it was Doichi's uncle, had spoken of Doichi and his life, and how much of a great kid he was. Daisuke had believed every single word that was spoken about him.
After the funeral, a couple of people had stayed in the graveyard and talked. Mostly cried, while others talked. After the funeral, Ryuku would have thought that Daisuke would have left or something, but he found him, all alone, in front of the grave.
"Hey, man, we're starting to leave. You coming?"
"I didn't want to do it, Ryuku." Daisuke said sadly. "I didn't want to kill him."
"It wasn't you man. It was the bullet. Doichi had written his own story, and he had to go with the ending." Ryuku said metaphorically.
"No, Ryuku. It was me. I don't know how it happened, but something about our fight determined who died."
"What do you mean?"
"After we fought, something pulled us into the direction of the bullet. The loser was placed in front of it and was shot. I think the books put us in a situation that could cause one of us to die, and the loser actually does."
Ryuku looked at the grave and saw the book that Doichi had been carrying around lying on the tombstone.
"Where'd you get that?"
"Found it in my slightly damaged room. The only thing that was really badly brunt was my night stand and my lamp. Other than that, things just smell like smoke."
"Must be another thing of the book."
"Possibly. But I don't know what to do with it. I was thinking of burying it. I mean, it took over Doichi's soul. I don't want it."
"You can always give it to me." Daisuke had heard a voice behind him. When he turned around, he saw Hakura lighting another cigarette.
"Do you always have to smoke?" Daisuke asked, turning back to the book.
"It makes an appearance look better."
"What did you come here for."
"Just to tell you a couple of things and to take the book."
"Why do you want the book."
"Me and Kyutaka can take care of it. We wanted to take a look at it and see what about it is actually special about it. We can give you information on it as soon as we find out something about it."
"And there are things you wanted to tell me?"
"Yes. It seems that the President of DHA is getting a new group of people to fight Kagori in America."
"So, I'm guessing you're sending me to America."
"Sharp, kid. But we won't send you for another six months."
"So, why would I need to go there anyway?"
"We want you to check out the quality of the fighters there. I'd like you to see how well they're trained. Get amped, get them excited, get them to want to destroy Kagori."
"I thought we were against the DHA."
"Well, it seems that there is only two sides to join and no neutral zones in this war, and we thought we'd rather join DHA than Kagori."
"So, I'm here for six months? How long am I going to be there?"
"You'll be in California for about ten months. A large city called Livermore. It's not a metropolis, but it has a large mass of area, and it has over 80,000 people living there."
"I'll be staying with a family?"
"On the contrary. You'll have an apartment by yourself. DHA is going to okay your bill, and Kyutaka and I are going to give you 90,000 yen to spend. About $10,000 in America."
"So, are you giving me six months to destroy the other disciples of Kagori?"
"As many as you can. If you can't kill them all, that's okay, you can just do it when you get back, but remember, they, too, will be stronger."
A flash of light, and she was gone. No more questions, no more answers. She told him what he needed to know. That's how Hakura was. She didn't stop to talk about anything else that she didn't need to.
"Daisuke?" he heard Kitsune's voice.
When he turned around, he had seen her face and eyes red from crying. Her eyes still seemed glassy from tears.
"Can you tell me something?" she asked, her voice was shaky.
"Sure." He said. He didn't know what to say to her. She was Doichi's best friend, and most likely, she had known that they fought to the death.
"Did he die in a suffering state?"
"No. It was quick. I can't say painless, but it was short. Less than thirty seconds."
"Thank you, Daisuke." He didn't know if she meant with telling her, or ending his life before he went to far. "But, Daisuke?" she asked as she walked passed him. "You killed my best friend. Don't think I won't try to get revenge." Her voice was dark, almost like it wasn't coming from her.
"I understand." He said, the two back to back in view, not looking at each other at all. "You're his best friend after all."
Daisuke could hear her turn around, and he faced her. Tears were streaming down her face.
"Dammit, Daisuke! Why are you so nice!? Why can't you be a bastard!? It'd be so much easier to fight you."
And with that, she took off running. Daisuke knew that she didn't want to fight, but what else was he suppose to do. She couldn't contemplate suicide. She was too happy for suicide. Fighting Daisuke, and dying by him was a far more appropriate death, and Daisuke saw that. The next time he would Kitsune would be to kill her.