Part Six : A Chance for Revenge; A Brother Speaks Out
Listen to Tomodachi
Kash looked around the large park and took in the fresh air as children played, couples strolled, and people walked their dogs. For some reason, something about the pristine feel of the scene almost made him want to gag, but he continued on his own path.
He hadn’t known what drew him to this park, but something about it made him think that something here would help him to get on his way with the senshi. He continued walking as a slight breeze moved through the October sky. Leaves had already begun to fall, and children walked home from school wearing a light jacket, when in the summer months they had gone and come from school in shorts and exhausted from the heat.
Kash himself was wearing a light, brown jacket with pants to keep the breeze from getting to him. He tucked his hands in his pockets as he walked, slowly at first because he didn’t know what he was looking for, but he soon began to walk faster. He still didn’t know what he was doing at the park, but something told him that he would find the answers to his questions. He wasn’t looking to find a senshi at this very moment, but he knew that it wouldn’t hurt to bump into one.
He kept an eye out as he walked around the park. He stepped to the side as kids ran past him with a kite in tow trying to see if it would fly. As he saw this, he thought about how he would like to have had such a carefree childhood. But no, he and his brother had grown up alone, and only Kyuuteki had taken them in as family.
He stopped as he came to a large fountain at the center of the park. He looked up at it and examined its expertly carved features; the statue on top looked human enough that Kash almost expected it to turn and look at him. Dressed in a long, flowing gown, the statue of a woman looked like a goddess guarding the water beneath it. Kash took a step forward in curiosity as he noticed some pennies at the bottom of the fountain. As he leaned over to look at them, he noticed a plaque on the edge of the fountain. On the plaque was a small inscription asking that this fountain may not be destroyed like the last.
Kash smiled slightly as he began to remember now. This was where Kumori had met Kaichuu and where he eventually broke up with her. His thin, white eyebrows drew closer as he also remembered that this was the same location where Kaichuu learned the truth about Kaboku and where Kaboku had broken Kerai’s heart.
In a way, Kash thought, this fountain was an ironic symbol of broken friendships. He continued to think about this as he slowly walked around the fountain, examining it from all angles. In a way, those friendships that he had been thinking about had been broken for a reason, but Kash couldn’t help but notice how bad the people involved had felt afterwards.
He knew how bad his brother had felt after breaking up with Kaichuu even though he had been the one to end the relationship. Kash himself had been the one to advise against the relationship that his brother had with Kaichuu, and Kumori had respected him enough to listen to his decision. After all, Kash was all Kumori had in terms of a family now that Kyuuteki was gone.
At that thought, Kash narrowed his eyes. The senshi had left Kumori and him without anyone when they had destroyed Kyuuteki, and he was determined to do something, anything, to help Kyuuteki’s cause. It had been wrong of the senshi to kill Kyuuteki as he had only been trying to help the constellations. He had only wanted independence for the constellations, and Kash couldn’t believe how the senshi had repaid him.
And for that, the senshi were going to have to suffer.
As he was thinking about this, Kash saw someone approaching him from the corner of his eye, so he turned to see his brother walking toward him. “Kash,” Kumori said as he stopped in front of his brother and turned his bright, blue eyes upward, “I need to talk to you.”
The bell rang as a signal for the day to end, and many students emerged from the classrooms to go home or to an extracurricular activity. Makoto waited by the steps leading away from the school for Minako. When Minako finally said goodbye to her friends from class, she walked up to Makoto and smiled.
“I love volleyball,” she said as her smile grew larger. “I’m so glad you’re on the team.” At this, Makoto couldn’t help but smile at her friend. She had always wanted to play a sport for her school, but she hadn’t been motivated to play a particular sport until she had talked to Minako. Minako had made her try out for the volleyball team, and to her surprise, she made it. Now, the two went to practice everyday after school and more often than not had a good time.
The two turned and walked toward their school’s main gym where several other girls from the team were entering as well. “Hopefully today’s practice is better than yesterday’s,” the two turned to see Megumi, one of the team members who played Minako’s position, as she walked into the gym with them. She looked over at Minako and grinned. “But I think coach will lighten up on the better players such as ourselves. Those left hitters were doing a horrible job yesterday.”
Makoto raised her eyebrows in fake shock. “You can’t be talking about me,” she said.
“Of course not,” Megumi replied with a smile.
The three walked into the locker room where several members of the team had already begun to change into their practice uniforms.
“Today’s supposed to be a good practice,” Jo, one of the team’s left hitters, said as she pulled her shirt over her head and straightened it out.
“I’m still sore from yesterday,” Katie, the shortest player on the team, added as she tied her shoes. “So today had better be a good day.” Everyone continued getting ready and conversed slightly amongst themselves; they all enjoyed the sport, but sometimes they felt that their coach was a little too hard on them.
As the players finished getting ready, they each walked out onto the court and set up the net. The taller players, Lori and Makoto, helped with the higher parts of the net such as the top hooks and the antennas while the other girls put in the poles and fastened the net from the bottom.
After they had finished, their coach called them in to instruct them on a few warm ups.
“Jo, Lori, Bri, and Gwen,” the coach called a player from each position, “you are team one. Kisha, Mandy, Megumi, and Keli: you’re team two. And Makoto, Katie, Minako, and Rosuto: team three. Teams one and two go to opposite sides of the court while team three, go two to each side to serve.Minako and Makoto walked together as they went to the basket to get a ball, and they both walked to the same side as Katie and Rosuto walked to the other side to serve. The girls all got into position as the coach signaled Katie to serve first. While she was the shortest member of the team, she had a powerful serve, and she watched as Megumi dove to save the ball. She made a good pass to Keli, the setter on her side, who set it to Kisha on the left side of the court. The other team caught the ball and threw it back to Katie, as this was part of the drill.
Minako served next, and her serve went to Jo, who crouched down and passed it to Gwen, who set it straight up and short for Lori to attack. Suddenly, as Lori was in mid-approach, she noticed Mandy up at the net, and she jumped as Lori attacked the ball to block it. She was successful, and Bri dove for the ball. She popped it up before rolling and getting back up. This time, Gwen set the ball to Jo, who made her approach.
After Rosuto and Makoto’s serves, the teams switched, and team one served. Lori was the first to serve, and Minako received it effortlessly. She passed it to Rosuto who set it up to Katie, who, despite looking like a back row player and was the best blocker on the team, jumped up and attacked the ball above the net. Mandy, her twin sister, jumped up to make the block, but her sister’s hit traveled around her hands and down to the other side.
The next serve to team three was made by Gwen, and Makoto passed her short serve. Gwen, in return, set it back to Makoto, the second tallest girl on the team, and she made the kill.
The coach blew her whistle and called the team in. Minako, Makoto, and the rest of the team went to their bags to get some water while the coach divided them into teams in order to play.
“What did you need to talk about?” Kash asked as he took a seat on the fountain’s low railing. Kumori looked up at the fountain for a second, feeling awkward and apprehensive at being at this location. He could have chosen any other location to be at, and Kumori couldn’t help but notice the irony of this particular place. He had started and ended a relationship here, so he just felt strange returning.
“I can’t get over her,” Kumori said at last, his voice gave away the fact that this subject had a big impact on him. There was no need for Kash to ask whom exactly Kumori was talking about, as this subject had bothered Kumori for the past year, but now it had been worse than ever.
Before he said anything, Kash took a deep breath, and he looked at his brother for a few moments. “I don’t know what to say,” he began. “You knew from the very beginning that it would never work.” Although he tried not to sound too harsh, Kash was only trying to maintain the truth.
“I know,” Kumori stopped his brother from continuing. Kash had talked to Kumori before he had met to Kaichuu about the possible consequences, but he hadn’t listened at the time. “But it still hurts.” Kash nodded slowly in understanding. He didn’t want to see his brother so sad and distraught, but he knew that Kumori just had to learn to live with this. “She made me happy,” Kumori continued. “I haven’t seen that from anyone or anything else.”
Kash thought about this for a few moments. Was it possible that being with Kaichuu really was better for Kumori; was there a way that Kaichuu would never find out the truth about Kumori? But what was the point in a relationship like that? “She needs to know the truth,” Kash decided.
“It’s too late now,” Kumori responded as a sad thought crossed his mind, “She’s with Kaboku now, and she won’t even look at me.” He sat down next to his brother as he thought about this. This was true since Kaichuu maintained as much distance from him as possible even though they had the same art class together. The most she had said to him during those sessions was to ask him to pass the paint.
At the mention of Kyuuteki’s other follower, Kash narrowed his eyes. Kaboku had done nothing but ruin everything. He had betrayed Kyuuteki and eventually helped with his destruction, he had broken Kerai’s heart, and now he was hurting his brother by being with Kumori. “Would it make you feel any better if I sent a yajuu after him?” Kash asked as he turned to look at Kumori. A new excitement flashed in Kumori’s eyes as he thought about what Kash had just proposed.
“Only if he gets hurt as bad as I have.” Kumori responded.
“That’s about all for today,” Coach Briggs said as he let out the volleyball team from practice. The girls all walked off the court to get their bags and leave practice. It had been a good practice with more dynamic saves and blocks than usual, so the girls walked away in high spirits.
Shakaku even walked out of Tokyo Academy’s gym with an extra glow on her face. She had done her best that day, and she was determined to not let anything ruin her heightened spirits. She even tried to maintain that attitude as Kaichuu and Kaboku met up with her as she walked out the main doors to the gym.
“How was practice?” Kaichuu asked as she walked up to her friend.
“Good,” she said as she looked down at Kaichuu. She didn’t care to turn and look at Kaboku as she was determined to not let her good mood change.
“Make anyone cry?” Kaboku asked in attempt to make conversation. He wanted desperately to ease the tension that was always between them even though he knew it would take a lot of work.
“No,” Shakaku responded as she looked up at him, “but I’m sure I’ll make you cry by the end of the day.”
“Shakaku,” Kaichuu said as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. She appreciated Kaboku’s attempt to be nice, and she wanted Shakaku to do the same.
“You could try,” Kaboku responded as he directed his challenging look at Shakaku. Then his eyes turned softer, and a grin spread across his face. “But that doesn’t mean I will. I’m just a little bit stronger than you, as you might have noticed.”
Shakaku rolled her eyes at her long time foe. “You just keep telling yourself that, but it’ll never be true,” she replied.
“Play nice, children,” Kaichuu said as she tried to get in the middle of the mini-fight. Shakaku and Kaboku kept their stern gazes on each other before turning away a few seconds later. It was ironic, but these moments were almost like bonding time for them. They did not speak to each other like regular people, instead they constantly bit at each other’s heels to see who was better at what, and the better person would make fun of the other.
“This is playing nice,” Kaboku responded as he looked at his girlfriend. Kaichuu still wasn’t satisfied completely, but she dropped the subject. The three walked down the street toward their apartment complex while many other students were doing much the same thing.
Dark, rain-filled clouds slowly moved over Tokyo as the sun began to make a steady decent down the evening sky. The week had been a long one for most people, so they were eager since the next day was Friday, the last day of the work and school week for many.
This comforting thought was interrupted, however, when a shrill cry rang out and people turned to see a tall, black yajuu making its way through the street. It took a few moments before the cars on the street accelerated and left the road completely bare as pedestrians had already cleared the area.
“And I thought today was going to be a good day,” Shakaku said as she took off her gym bag from her shoulder and set it against a nearby building.
“Aquaria Constellation Power, make up!” Kaichuu yelled as she held her left hand high in the air.
“Phoenix Constellation Power, make up!” Shakaku yelled as she did the same.
Kaboku, knowing that he should have no part in this, went between two buildings and out of sight. He watched, however, as the two girls were faced the creature, which was bigger than any they had faced before. “Aquaria Shattering Wave!” Sailor Aquaria called out as she started her attack. However, the yajuu stopped her in mid-phrase, and it knocked both she and Sailor Phoenix down with a sweep of its arms and tail, which was another addition that no other yajuu had in the past.
Phoenix quickly got up, but as she did so, the creature was prepared, and it knocked her down once again as it walked to where Kaboku stood. It let its tail swing about, hitting some parked cars and smashing their windows. When it reached Kaboku, it let out a loud cry, and it grabbed him by the throat. Kaboku struggled against the creature, although he knew that he was no match for such an advanced creature.
The yajuu, annoyed at Kaboku’s insistent movement, threw him against the wall of a building, and he was motionless. Aquaria gasped in shock as she saw this, so she prepared to attack once again. “Aquaria Showering Stardrops!” she yelled as she raised her hand to hold the Aquaria Sphere.
The bright blue orb began to vibrate as it built up the rain inside before it released the attack. The yajuu screamed in pain as the pure, calming drops fell on its skin. Kaboku, who was close enough to have some raindrops fall on him as well, slowly began to rise from where the yajuu had thrown him.
“Phoenix Raging Wildfire!” Sailor Phoenix said in an attempt to finish the creature off. It turned around to look at her and laughed. However, as it saw the blazing attack approaching it, it started to back away. It turned finally and ran out of the attack’s line. When the attack disappeared, the yajuu turned to find it, and it laughed triumphantly as it knew that it had escaped.
However, when it turned back around, it was greeted by a swift punch by Phoenix, who was standing behind it. Not expecting this, it took a few steps back before setting up its own plan of attack. “Phoenix Blazing Inferno!” She yelled as she saw the yajuu run at her. This time, it did not have enough time to run away from the attack, and it shrieked in pain as the attack burned away its skin.Kaboku stood by Sailor Aquaria as the two watched Phoenix’s attack destroy the creature. When she noticed him standing next to her, Aquaria looked up at him and smiled, glad that he was alright.
Sailor Phoenix turned around and looked at Kaboku as she said, “This one seemed to have a crush on you.”
Already having a reply prepared, Kaboku responded, “Who doesn’t?”
Kash watched the trio walk away from the battle scene after the two girls had detransformed. Kaboku hadn’t received the mental abuse that his brother had, but he settled for the physical pain for now. He knew that in time Kaboku was going to pay dearly; he was going to see to that.
Back to Part Five ~
On to Part Seven