I can't believe it, Daisuke thought. It's almost that time, already. Daisuke looked at the calendar in his room, and he shook his head with a smile. It's almost my birthday. He sat down in his chair in front of his desk.
"Hey!" he heard Gi's voice. "Whatcha doin'?" Gi climbed up to Daisuke's shoulder.
"Just looking at my calendar."
"Thinking about any big birthday plans?" Gi asked.
Daisuke thought about it for a second. Nothing really came to mind. He was turning 16, but it wasn't a very big deal for him. It was just another year gone by. Just another milestone in his life.
"I don't think so." He finally replied.
"Ah, c'mon. You aren't even going to have your friends over? How boring are you? I mean, if I were you, I'd have a huge party, and invite everybody over for the biggest sake fest in the world."
"I don't enjoy getting drunk." Daisuke replied as he put Gi on his desk and off his shoulder.
"Luckily, you can actually get drunk." Gi said. "I still haven't even been a little buzzed."
"Oh, boo-hoo." Daisuke said sarcastically. "Do you want me to cry you a river tonight?"
"I wouldn't be the one who should be cried for. You don't even know what you want to for your birthday. I mean, it's the twenty-fifth right now. You only have five days, man."
"Don't you think I know that?" Daisuke scorned. He didn't want to be rushed into things he didn't necessarily want to think about things that didn't need to be thought about at the moment. Or was he just afraid to try and invite his friends over in front of his dad again?
"I don't know…" Daisuke said, standing up, talking to Gi, but not looking at him. "I mean, I kinda want to make it something to celebrate, but I don't want to over exaggerate it."
"I guess I kinda understand." Gi said. But after he said that, his ears perked, as if something was coming.
"What is it?" Daisuke asked.
"Don't' you sense it?"
"Sense what?" Daisuke asked.
"That aura. It's familiar, don't you think?"
before Daisuke could even look for it, his doorbell rang. He walked from his room, and when he got to the living room, the door was already open by his father, who looked in shock and pain.
"Why, hello, Kino." Daisuke's father said, the words sounding polite, but his father didn't hide the sarcasm in his voice.
"It's Mr. Kyutaka to you, punk." Daisuke heard a familiar voice. The person said Kyutaka, but he couldn't mean…
"Kyutaka?" Daisuke asked as he saw the man at the front door. "What are you doing here?"
"You know, hum Daisuke?" His father asked.
"Of course he knows me. I'm his coach for baseball at his school."
"You're teaching over there, now?" Daisuke's father sounded suspicious.
"Got my ID right here, don't I?" Kyutaka asked as he shoved his teacher's ID in Daisuke's father's face. "What do you think of that."
"What are you doing here?" Daisuke asked, looking at the old man. And then Daisuke turned his attention to his dad. "And how do you know him?"
"Obviously, you haven't told him everything there is to know." Daisuke's father said coldly.
"I expected you to have done that a long time ago. After he was two, I thought you might have said I existed."
"What are you two talking about?" Daisuke asked, trying to get both their attention, but their eyes were dead locked on the other.
"Maybe I should tell him?" Kyutaka offered.
"Be my guest." Daisuke felt the distrust and harshness of his father's voice.
"C'mere, son." Kyutaka had said as he departed from Daisuke's father. "It's time we talked about something. We don't want this old hag to hear anything I have to say about him. It might cause him to crap his shorts."
"You're the old hag around here." Daisuke's father protested.
"Whatever," Kyutaka waved him off. Kyutaka took Daisuke into Daisuke's room. There, the two sat on the edge of Daisuke's bed.
"What's going on?" Daisuke asked. "Why are you here, and why are you getting in fights with my dad?"
"Listen," Kyutaka lowered his voice, as if holding a deep secret. "I really shouldn't be here. There's something wrong with how things are working."
"What are you talking about?"
"The president of DHA hasn't responded to anybody for a few weeks as he went on vacation. Sort of weird right?" Daisuke nodded. "Well, we went to look for him in his hotels and his offices, and in one of the office buildings, we found a decapitated body, and the president's head next to it."
"The president's been assassinated?"
"It seems more like Seppuku. I have a bad feeling about all of this."
"Because he committed suicide? What's wrong with that?"
"The president wasn't the type of person to go out and just kill himself. He had to have a reason, such as he was going to die shortly anyway. But he never spoke to anybody about this. And neither had he spoken about who he was going to give the possession of DHA to. Also, Kagori's troops have fallen back. I think this is something that's far too big to be coincidental."
"Do you think Kagori's in charge?"
"That's the scariest idea that we came up with, and it's the one that makes the most sense."
"But why would the president give it to Kagori? Weren't they enemies."
"Obviously, not as big of enemies to focus on destroying each other. They obviously wanted to kill us off before they had done anything to each other."
"What do you think we should do?"
"I'm really not sure." Kyutaka said. There was something in his voice, thought. Daisuke couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was something that said…
"That's not the real reason you've come to talk to me, is it?" Daisuke asked. Kyutaka shook his head.
"Afraid not." Kyutaka said.
"Well, what is it that you wanted to tell me. Is it about the reason you and my dad looked like you were going to strangle each other?"
"Well, it's not going to be easy to say. It'll bring up your mother."
"What is it?" Daisuke ask quickly, showing that any news about his mother was important to him.
"Well, let's just say this in the most straight-forward fashion I can think of: I'm your grandfather."
"WHAT!?" Daisuke shouted. "What do you mean!? First Yuki, and now you!? What's next? Ryuku's my cousin? Hakura is my aunt? Kagori is my half brother from a demon father that my mother was raped by!?"
"I know this may be a shock to you, but listen. And by the way, none of those things are true. Anyway, I was your mother's trainer, as well as her father. The only reason she was able to pass my test is because she spent her entire life training on it. And Hakura was in a higher class, and demoted herself into my class. That's how those two become students in my classes."
"So, does my dad believe in Demon Hunting or not."
"He hears of it, but he doesn't believe it."
"So, you mean I could have said I was Demon Hunting with Dr. Hiru, and I wouldn't have gone to Sakura's?"
"Basically. But that's off the subject. Your mother was the best of the best, so you've already hear, correct? Well, she was the best until something happened to her."
"What?" Daisuke asked eagerly.
"She fell in love with your father." Kyutaka said, sort of hurt. "She was going to be the one to stop all demons from coming to earth for good, but she was caught up into a romance. She married your father, and then had you. In the midst of it all, she never wanted to fight demons."
"But you have to understand where she had her heart rely on, right? You were married, weren't you?"
"Of course. But she had completely given up Demon Hunting when you were born."
"But if you know how it feels to have a kid, and not wanting him to get hurt by anything, how could you be mad at her for quitting?"
"Because, we had a fight about it one day."
Daisuke was silent. He saw the extreme pain that Kyutaka was going through. Daisuke hadn't known about this part of the story.
"I came home one day from training, and she was at home, visiting me with you as a tot. We started talking, and I wanted you to be a demon hunter, and your mother said she didn't think it would be such a good idea. I asked why, and she simply said she didn't want you to get hurt like she did. I asked her what she meant by hurt, and she said that I was there for her as a coach, but not as a father. I insulted your father, and she ran out of the house. The next day, I went over to apologize, but when I got there, your father held a restraining order in my face. I knew my little girl would never do something that drastic, so it had to have been your father."
"And that's why you've never been in my life? A restraining order?"
"Yeah. And every time I've called and asked if I could talk to you, my request was always denied."
"So, a restraining order is the only thing that's been stopping you all these years?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Why didn't tell me we were related back in the DHA competition last year? I mean, we were alone. You could have told me then, couldn't you?"
"Well, I wasn't quite sure if you knew about me and your parent's dispute. I didn't want to bring up any hurt memories, that is if you had any."
"I do not believe this." Daisuke said, standing up. He felt so lost, confused. Everything was rapidly changing in front of him. Yuki was his sister, Kyutaka was his grandfather, DHA was possibly being run by Kagori, Hakura had been missing for the last couple of days… Everything was just coming down, and Daisuke didn't know how to handle it.
Daisuke put on some shoes and a sweatshirt, then started to head out his door. Kyutaka stood from the bed.
"Where're you going?"
"I'm going for a walk," Daisuke said sternly. "I need some time to think all of this through."
"Do you think there's a reason that Daisuke called us here?" Ryuku asked as he walked down the street with Yuki and Yuri.
"Who knows. But it sounded kinda serious, the way he spoke. I'm not sure how to take it." Yuki said.
"Well, whatever it is, let's make sure that we make him feel that he's heard." Yuri said. "I don't' know why, but I'm feeling that I'm kind of distant from him, and that I haven't been listening to him at all."
"I'm not sure what it might be either," Yuki said. "Hopefully, it won't be too bad."
The trio walked to the downtown section of Tokyo, and they saw Daisuke leaning on the wall of a café, looking up at the sky, which gently sent down flakes of snow. He looked distracted a little.
"You called us?" Ryuku asked as the three got to them.
"Yeah," Daisuke said, taking his time before looking from the sky to his friends. "I wanna know about you, Ryuku."
"Me?" Ryuku let go of Yuki's hand and paid his full attention to Daisuke. "What do you mean?"
"You have that Demon Hunter in you, right? I want to know everything about it, and how it got in you."
"Daisuke, what's gotten into you?" Yuri asked.
"Well, today I found out that Kyutaka is my grandfather, and I just want to know what's going on in my life. This, Yuki as my sister, and Ryuku has this funky thing going on. I just want to be grasp control of my life again. Especially if I'm going to America soon, and a tournament even sooner."
"Tournament?" Ryuku asked. "What is this tournament thing?"
"I never told you?" Daisuke asked, surprised at this fact.
"No. You haven't spoken to us in the last couple of days. We were wondering what you've been going through. Now what's this about a tournament. And are we invited?"
"Actually," Daisuke said, getting off the wall, acting more like his normal self. "You guys are. The four of us and some other guy by the name of Jin."
"Well, what are we suppose to do?" Ryuku questioned with excitement.
"It's a free-for-all for a half an hour." Yuki explained.
"No,' Daisuke corrected. "Not this year. This year, it's a team thing. Five against other countries around the world. The winner gets to use the DHA for anything they want."
"Anything we want?" Ryuku asked. "Huh, I don't think my dream will come true."
"What?" Yuki asked.
"So, Daisuke," Ryuku said quickly, trying to not get into further discussion. "What do we have to do for this thing? I mean, who are we going up against."
"Well, there's another thing that scares me," Daisuke started, "It seems that Kagori might be the founder of DHA, and that means all the odds are against us in this fight."
"So why go? It's basically a trap." Yuki pointed out.
"Because. There's an entire library of Demon Hunting information and stories. We might be able to get better information on the person inside Ryuku, get to know what was going on with our mom before and when she died, and maybe we can learn a thing or two about things we can't think of at the moment."
"So, going into this fight is worth risking our lives for some books?" Ryuku asked. When there was a silence, Ryuku grinned. "I like the way you think Daisuke. What's life without a little adventure to spice up life."
"So," Yuri said. "Ryuku. Are you going to tell us your story on this Demon Hunter inside of you, or not?"
"I was hoping you guys forgot, but I guess not." Ryuku took a deep breath before starting. "When I was little, I was sick. Some lady gave me a spirit to help me. And he has, really. He doesn't take over my mind or anything. He's really a great guy. Kinda reminds me of you, Daisuke. Anyway, we have our separate thought bank in my mind, and we can converse quickly with each other, like telepathy. He's there to teach me some stuff, who I should associate with, and all that other stuff. He's a large source of my strength. And that's all there is to it. No more, no less."
"So, he's not going to go berserk on us, and go killing everybody by controlling your body or anything, will he?"
"Of course not." Ryuku defended. "But he is the reason that I speak like a freak at times."
"Hey, I resent that." Ryuku's voice changed tone and had a English accent. "Honestly, Ryuku, must you be so harsh on an old friend."
Daisuke's phone had gone off, and he looked at it. It was a text message from him dad, telling him to get home now.
"Well, my dad's calling me home. I'll talk to you guys later."
"Alright. See ya at school tomorrow."
"So, I have called this meeting today, and I wonder if it is appropriate for me to laugh." Kagori started. He looked at all the Vice Presidents and the other big named staff people. They had the business room all to themselves, and Kagori was finally giving off his first speech, holding the President's will in hand. "For the last year, you've treated me as scum, as some lowly thing on this planet. And now, you follow my orders. Last week, I was your enemy. Now I'm your boss. Ironic, don't you think? Karma has a way of slapping you in the face."
The men were silent. They wanted to say something, say that all of this was outrageous. But who was to stand up against the great Kagori? If he was able to defeat the President, perhaps he really was meant to take over DHA.
"Now, I'd like to make some comments about future events happening before we discuss everything else. You men are free to speak open mindedly." Kagori looked at them in a business-like way, indicating that he was trying to get on a "working-together" environment at the moment. But of course, deep down, Kagori hadn't trusted any of these slugs. Not any of them. They were just tools to get what he needed.
"First off," Kagori started. "The Tournament." Eyes had looked back and forth as murmurs filled the room. Who knew how Kagori would run it this year? "I'd like to state that I would like this year to be run as it was to be ran when the president was alive. I like the whole 'team' idea. But I think we should have some of my people join. Especially against Hiromushu."
"So, you're against Hiromushu as well?" one of the men asked.
"Do you think I'd side with him? Daisuke needs to be destroyed, and I'm the one who's going to do it."
"You've got some nerve, there Kagori. The president actually thought things out. Don't just go rushing into any battle that you see." The Vice President spoke.
"Don't worry," Kagori grinned. "I already have everything planned out. I'll send my men out there. My men will be slaughtered, and when ten of the books are open, then I'll make my wish. I'll find out who this murderer of my past is, and kill them. After that, I'll send my final wave of Demon Hunters onto Hiromushu, and he and his small band of people will suffer great loss and humiliation."
"Have you taken into account the fact that his strength rises as his friends fight along side with him?" another spoke out.
"How much little faith do you fools have in me? I've studied Hiromushu for almost a year now. Not to mention all his friends, even the ones who don't fight demons. I know everything there is to know about Hiromushu, so don't you worry at all."
"Are you sure you have all the information you need?"
"Just because I'm young does not mean I'm an idiot, Vice President. I know more about Hiromushu than anything that comes over your stupid machines and data banks."
"Do you have any other discussions for us?" another man asked.
"I was thinking about rebuilding the DHA building."
"You mean the one that you destroyed? Isn't that ironic?" the Vice President asked, an everyone chuckled along side with him. But Kagori hadn't seemed amused at all.
"Do you have a question, Mr. Smith?"
"No," the VP said, still amused in his joke.
"Good," Kagori said, their eyes meeting. The Vice President had given Kagori a challenging look, and Kagori returned it. The men in the room could feel the cool air of the two glaring at one another. Finally, Kagori had stepped off, and went into his office, unofficially closing off the meeting.
"Son, happy birthday." Daisuke's father said as he gave Daisuke a wrapped gift. It had been in the early hours of the day, before Daisuke's father had to go to work. They were going to have a party later on that night, whether Daisuke wanted to or not.
Daisuke looked at the present, not sure if he wanted to know what it was. It looked pretty old, even with the new wrapping. The weight of it was pretty heavy, but it was such an odd shape, but one he's seen before several times. Daisuke's hands observed it, not sure if he really wanted to open it.
"Thanks, dad." Daisuke said, but his father picked up on the lack of enthusiasm.
"Don't worry, it's not from me." Daisuke's father said as he laughed, knowing that Daisuke was thinking. "Your mother wanted you to have this on your sixteenth birthday, no matter what happened."
"Mom?" Daisuke asked. He suddenly knew that it had to be something of some importance. He quickly unfolded the paper (You don't tear paper in Japan. That's disrespectful), and looked at what he had. It was a book, just like the people from Kagori's group had. Except, this one was plated with gold on the front, and had an old Aztec Cave-Man drawing of a lion on it. Daisuke's eyes bolted open, and his fingers grasped the book in shock. What exactly was he holding, and why would his mother want him to have it?
"Your mom kept this thing ever since she was your age. Your crazy grandfather said it was something special, but it looks like a bunch of hocus-pocus stuff to me. I'm not sure if you'll like it, but…"
Daisuke didn't move at all. He remained perfectly still, not sure if he should open it then or not. His father's words from that point on hadn't been heard. It was just Daisuke and the book. Daisuke had so many questions, and he felt that the book would help answer them.
"Well," his father said as he looked at his watch and patted Daisuke on the shoulder. "It looks like it's time for me to hit the office. You should probably get ready for school. Even if it is your birthday, don't expect me to let you off easy and lazy. You still have to keep up those grades, you got that?"
"Yes, sir." Daisuke said as his father rushed out the door. When the door closed, all Daisuke could do was stare at it. His mother wanted him to have it. His Mother! She obviously knew that he was going to be a Demon Hunter someday, but why didn't she seem like she believed him the day that their car crashed. "Daisuke, I didn't think a boy your age would believe in such–" those were her words exactly. And if she didn't think demons existed then, then why did she…?
Daisuke put the book on the table. Maybe Hakura would know what to do. Sure, he didn't have her number, but she had a way of appearing at the right time. But something inside Daisuke told him that this book was to utmost importance, and he was no to speak of it unless asked about. That way, he wouldn't be dishonest, but he didn't have to tell her. Why did he feel that he should keep it away from her? Was this a real feeling from him or was it an aura thought from the book. Perhaps his mother? Who knew. For the time being, Daisuke had to just get to school.