'Where do you think you're going like this?' called a voice, out of the blue, and our heads snapped up at the person who was perched atop of the tree ahead of us.
I recognized the blond young man without any difficulty.
He jumped to the ground, landing on his feet.
He was Heihachi's cousin. And if the information we had gotten from the villagers was exact, his name was Suguru and he could transform into a cat. This explained his lithe movements.
'If I had expected you to come all the way up to here!' he spat. 'How dare you penetrate our territory without permission?!'
I've done well to do some shopping in the village earlier.
My eyes narrowed at him.
I took out the catnip from my bag and waved the herb at him.
'It's Matatabi!' he gasped, swallowing hard, trying to resist it. 'What the hell?! If you think that you can outsmart me in such a way!'
'Alright,' I said, digging my hand into my bag again and taking out a flask container and a chōshi. Crouching down, I placed the chōshi on the ground and poured some of the liquid from the container into it.
It was brewed catnip.
'You can't outsmart me!' he grumbled, but the call of the substance was simply irresistible. Transforming himself into a cat, he threw himself at the catnip to drink it.
In less than two, he was purring and drooling, lying onto his back with his four legs in the air.
Out of nowhere, appeared another of Heihachi's cousin. It was the guy in the mid-twenties, with the long black hair tied in a pony-tail.
His name was Shūsaku and apparently, he could take the appearance of a wolf.
'Suguru! You idiot! How can you fall for it hook in this way?!' he shouted, angrily.
I stood up again and searching through my bag, I took out a small ball.
'Unlike him, I'm not of small nature! I won't cede!' he muttered at me.
'Catch!' I called, throwing the ball in the air and reflexively, he jumped and caught it in-between his teeth.
'What's wrong with me?' he exclaimed, utterly mortified by his own action.
'Tss!'
At the hissing sound, I looked down immediately, and what greeted my sight was a snake- no, not any snake, but a transformed Kotetsu Myōjin- slithering its way up to me. Before it could surprise me by coiling itself around my leg, I pulled out of my bag a small spray and pinching my nose, I sprayed the content onto him.
Repelled, it slithered away, entering the bushes on our far left.
'Sorry, that was a bit brutal! I have the horror of snakes,' I mumbled.
'You sick freak! What did you do to me?' he growled, transforming himself back into a human. Only the upper half-part of his body was visible through the bushes and he has his mouth and nose covered with one hand, while he was trying to put his clothes on with the other.
'It's a snake repellent product.'
'How dare you to make fun of us like you're doing?!' snarled Shūsaku Myōjin, enraged.
'This time, you won't escape my poison!' hissed the brown-haired male, fully clothed.
Suguru Myōjin seemed to recover himself by that moment and the three cousins took a threatening stance, ready to attack.
'Back off!' ordered Tsunan and he threw some needles at their feet, forcing them to step back.
'It's alright,' I said to the doctor, putting a hand down on his lower arm.
Turning back to the three Myōjin, I told them, very seriously, 'At this very moment, our friend Hatsu must be with Heihachi. And if the latter doesn't want to stay here, there's nothing that can stop us from taking him away with us; not even you, who are supposed to be of his family. And let me tell you another thing. If Heihachi's animal form had been an owl, a fox or any other animal, it still wouldn't change who he is.'
'Is it me or you're provoking us?' roared Shūsaku Myōjin.
Unexpectedly, he seemed to catch the smell of something. 'That smell of blood!' he gasped, alarmed. 'I know it!'
He began to rush away, his two younger cousins following after him.
***
Hatsu and Heihachi stared at the man holding himself there, a katana in hand, with Seimei Myōjin lying face flat, unanimated, on the ground, in a forming pool of blood, having been stroke down with the mortal object from behind.
The man with the katana was none other than Seimei Myōjin's younger brother, Yoshikuni Myōjin.
The two younger males were voiceless, transfixed with shock; Heihachi's breathing coming our ragged.
'I have married and had a son before you, Seimei, but as per the tradition, it is always the oldest son who become the head of the clan, that is you, and tomorrow, it'll be your son. It's so unfair!' muttered Yoshikuni Myōjin at his unconscious brother.
He looked up at Heihachi then, declaring, 'Now, it's your turn! And in this way, my son will be able to become the head of the clan. I won't have any problem putting the deaths of Seimei and you on the back of your little friends. After all, they've intruded themselves here. They're next on my list. If they ever die, I can very well say that they've attacked us and that they died while we tried to defend ourselves and unfortunately, your father and you got killed as collateral damage. I was sure that your friends would do anything to get to you again.'
They realized that it was this man who has ensured that Heihachi be found such that he could put his plan into action. He couldn't simply kill Seimei or Heihachi without becoming the prime suspect of their deaths.
Shūsaku, Kotetsu and a cat-transformed Suguru Myōjin arrived on the spot at that moment and they froze at the terrible sight displayed in front of their eyes.
'Chichi-ue! What does this mean?' demanded Shūsaku, stupefied.
'I want you to be the head of our clan!' his father replied, his voice frenzied. 'It's also what you want, ne? Come on! You can admit it to me! You're a lot worthier of it than my elder brother and his incompetent son!'
Shūsaku stared at his father, frantically. 'This must be a nightmare and I'm going to wake up!'
Out of thin air, Kagami Gushiken appeared, immobilizing Yoshikuni Myōjin from behind. 'Don't move! Otherwise, my hand will traverse your body and annihilate your vital force!' the master warned.
Yoshikuni went very still; his expression shocked.
Kagami Gushiken disarmed him, before he knocked him out with a blow of the hand at the back of the neck.
***
Pursuing after Shūsaku, Kotetsu and Suguru, Tsunan and I arrived on the scene.
Hatsu and Heihachi seemed frozen into place just like the three cousins. Master Kagami, who was also there, had an unconscious man at his feet, with a bloodied katana lying close-by.
But most importantly, there was another unconscious man lying on the grass, with a terrible slash wound at his back, which was bleeding profusely.
Without losing a second, Tsunan rushed to the latter and getting down on his knees, he checked the wounded man's pulse.
'He's alive!' he announced, looking up at us, and he began to try to contain the hemorrhage.
'Don't touch him!' said Shūsaku, his voice sounding weak, trying to interpose himself, but getting in the middle, I tried to keep him back, telling him urgently, 'He's a doctor! Please, let him do!'
***
The next day…
'You were gone since only one day and all your friends have rushed to find you. I've never known who you really are. I wished I had learnt to know you earlier.'
'You shouldn't talk too much,' Heihachi told his father. He was sitting on a cushion at the latter's bedside. 'You need to rest.'
Getting to his feet, Heihachi came out of the door of the man's bedroom, and made his way down the veranda to find the others.
As he rounded the corner, his eyes fell on Shūsaku, Kotetsu and Suguru who were talking to the small group.
He paused down.
'Thank you for having saved the life of my uncle and prevented my father from becoming a murderer. Even if I can never forgive my father for what he did, I'm grateful towards my uncle that he banished him instead of ordering for his execution,' Shūsaku told Tsunan. Looking down and frowning, he added, 'To be frank, I think that if Kotetsu, Suguru and I have always taken on Heihachi, it's because he's the heir to the head of the clan. We've always been very jealous of him.'
'Yes, Shūsaku is right!' admitted the two others, frowning at the ground too.
'Seeing the situation, the moment is probably unsuitable, but I propose that you deal this matter of succession through a combat,' declared Hatsu. 'Long ago, it was like this that such issues were solved within the royalty.' He looked at Heihachi who had stopped a small distance away then, asking, 'What do you think, Heihachi?'
***
Last night events seemed to have had a great impact on Seimei Myōjin's way of seeing things.
Heihachi was, without any doubt, the most surprised of us all when his father accepted to bend the rules of the clan and he gave his approval to this combat which would design his successor.
The combat was going to oppose Heihachi and Shūsaku.
'The rule is very simple. You win by putting your opponent K.O. You may use all the means at your disposition. If you're the winner, Shūsaku, you'll be of right to demand that Heihachi becomes the head of the clan or you can become the head of the family yourself. If it's Heihachi who wins, he'll be free to do what he wants and you will all have to adhere to it,' stated Hatsu, making everything perfectly clear again before the combat would begin.
Since it was decided that the duel would be kept a secret until it was over, apart from us, there were only Suguru, Kotetsu and an elder of the Myōjin clan present to assist the combat, in the courtyard of the main house.
I was very anxious for Heihachi. The latter didn't know martial arts and Shūsaku had easily overpowered him during our first encounter. But I had to believe in Heihachi.
Everyone's eyes were glued on the two dark-haired cousins who were about to affront each other; filled with anticipation.
Moving up to Master Kagami, Tsunan and I by the house, Hatsu gave the kick-off. 'You may start!'
Heihachi and Shūsaku didn't move from where they were, watching each other cautiously.
'Tsk! And I, who thought that the moment the kick-off will be given, you'll turn into a bat and fly off!' snorted Shūsaku.
There were several explosions of fume behind the latter abruptly and he scoffed at Heihachi, 'I don't know what you've just did but apparently you've missed me!'
In all of a sudden, Heihachi's appearance changed.
But it wasn't a bat that greeted our sight, but a yōkai which was very familiar to most of us.
Everyone stared in utter shock and disbelief at the chōchin-obake holding itself there in Heihachi's place.
Shūsaku was even more taken aback than everyone of us and Burabura rolled its eyes and lolled its tongue at him.
Out of the blue, a pair of arms shot out of the white fume, wounding themselves around Shūsaku Myōjin's waist from behind. And even before the latter could understand what was happening to him, Heihachi- the real Heihachi- performed a German Supplex, putting Shūsaku completely K.O.
I was awe-struck.
Just before the combat had started, I had seen Master Kagami and Heihachi discussing with each other.
I understood that Heihachi had passed a contract with the Tsukumogami.
The person who had walked in the yard before the kick-off wasn't Heihachi, but in fact, it was Burabura which had taken his appearance. Heihachi must have been waiting in the woods and he had edged his way discreetly behind Shūsaku through the screen of smoke.
The only chance that Heihachi had to win this combat was to take the latter by surprise and with one effective attack.
'Sugoi!' exclaimed Hatsu, all excitedly, wounding his arm around my neck. 'Did you see that?! It's me who taught him the German Supplex!'
'It was awesome!' I exclaimed, eagerly.
The combat was over and Heihachi was the winner!
We moved up to the latter to felicitate him for his victory while Kotetsu and Suguru helped Shūsaku to sit up; the latter was seeing stars.
After having thanked Burabura for its precious help and the small yōkai had disappeared, Heihachi turned to his cousins, stating, 'Since I've won this combat, it's up to me to decide what I want to do. I have decided that I don't want to stay here. I'm going back to Toda. And from this day onward, Shūsaku Myōjin, I designate you as the new head of the clan.'
Having caught his bearings again, Shūsaku's eyes went wide at Heihachi in astonishment at the last part.
'Che! Your decision to give up your responsibility as future heir doesn't surprise me much!' he muttered, turning his face away.
Hatsu reproached, 'You wish to be the head of the clan but you balk because you don't want to do Heihachi this pleasure; I believe that it's time that you grow up a little!'
***
It was in this way that our visit to Kaneshiro Village ended and we returned to Toda, Heihachi being of the voyage.
When we reached home on the following day, Heihachi, Hatsu, Tsunan and I decided to get together at the Ametsuchi Bar in the evening to celebrate the dark-haired boy's return, but also, we realized that we never got the chance to celebrate his relationship with Hatsu, and my eyes' recovery.
'Now that everything's calmer,' Tsunan said to me, as we parted with Hatsu and Heihachi outside of the bar, 'Can you explain to me how you could have forgotten to charge your phone the other day?'
I broke into cold sweat.
'We-Well, when I was leaving home, I noticed that the battery was low but I thought that it's alright since Heihachi is with me.'
If he had gifted me a cellphone, it was such that I could call him up in case of an emergency.
'Shun!' he groaned.
'I'm sorry. It was really careless on my part!' I exclaimed, bowing down my apologies to him in a panic.
'I hope that it won't happen again!'
'Yes. I promise,' I said, giggling nervously.
***
On the other side...
Grabbing Heihachi's lower arm, Hatsu shifted from the dark-haired boy's side to in front of him on the street.
The latter stopped, giving the blond male a perplexed look.
'Do you know that I found you incredibly sexy when you told your dad about us?' said Hatsu, and Heihachi's cheeks took a shade of red.
Finding the blushing younger male simply irresistible, Hatsu brought his lips over the latter's, sealing their mouths in a kiss.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Chōshi - alcohol cup