Blue Seed: From the Ashes
by Tim Walsh
Chapter 1: The ties that bind

note: mitama- the blue seed-like objects that contain the soul and power of
an individual Aragami. 
          Kusangi has eight of these, as did Murokomo did, one of which was
formerly
          Momiji's.

     It was raining gently as a man walked through a park in Tokyo.  He
looked around him, the
darkness masking the damage to the building of the surrounding city.  Tokyo
had suffered an
enormous amount of damage when the Aragami had tried to destroy all the
people in Japan.  They
had been stopped, but thousands had died and the city had suffered a lot of
property damage.
     Mamoru Kusanagi stopped and stared up at the stars.  The Aragami had
been stopped
because of one person.  Momiji.  It was odd to think of the power that
Momiji carried in her
blood, since she was so sweet and downright perky all of the time.  A
wistful smile cracked across
Kusanagi's face as he though about the girl he had sworn to protect.  His
life had changed
drastically since she came into it and he wasn't sure what to do.  He had
loved Momiji's sister
Kaede all his life, but she had turned against everything he believed in
and had helped the Aragami
in their bid to try and destroy humanity.  'For the good of the planet,'
she said, he thought bitterly. 
Those monsters just wanted to take control of everything again.  When Kaede
had disappeared,
the mitama had lead him to the other Princess Kushinada, Momiji.
     Kusanagi's smile widened as he thought about the times he had shared
with Momiji.  All of
the fights that he had to save her in and, most of all, how he had felt
when she told him that she
loved him.  Since he had lost Kaede, Kusanagi had closed off his heart.  He
had never wnated to
feel that kind of pain again, but somehow, this perky little girl had
cracked open his shell and made
a plce for herself in the confines of his heart. 
     Kusanagi's smile faded as he thought.  How could someone like Momiji
love him, he
thought darkly.  After all, he wasn't human.  Not any more.  Not since he
had been a small child
and Orochi had given him seven of his mitama.  He had become something else
that day, when he
had been charged with the protection of the Kushinadas.  Something that
wasn't human.  How
could a freak like him ever know love.  No, he thought.  It's better that I
stay away from Momiji. 
She doesn't need a freak like me ruining her life...
     Kusanagi stood there, staring at the stars a few moments longer before
sighing deeply and
turning to leave the park. 
               *              *              *
     Momiji rubbed her eyes sleepily as she stared at the sunlight pouring
in through the
window.  It had been almost six months since she had released the power
locked in her blood and
destroyed the Aragami.  Still, Tokyo and most of the other major cities in
Japan had been nearly
destroyed and had suffered devestating losses of human life.  Momiji had
blamed herself for the
deaths for a long time, but Mr. Kunikida and his new wife Ryoko had managed
to make her
realize that she had done everything she could and that she wasn't to blame
for their deaths, the
Aragami were.
     Momiji stretched to get the kinks out of her back.  She was still
living at Mr. Kunikida's
house, since her mother and grandmother had been victims of the Aragami in
the final fight. 
Momiji had been devestated when Mr. Kunikida had broken the news about her
family's death,
but she had come to accept it like she had the deaths of all the other
Aragami's victims.  The only
thing that was still bothering her was Kusanagi's absence.
     Kusanagi had been missing for the last two weeks and Momiji was
worried.  He had barely
left her side when she had been wracked with misplaced guilt.  She had
cried herself to sleep on
his chest so many times.  When she had finally come to terms with herself,
she had told Kusanagi
that she had loved him.  And then he had disappeared.  
     Momiji was afraid.  Did something happen to him, she asked herself, or
does he just not
love me?  Maybe that's it, she told herself.  After all, I'm only seventeen
and he's in his twenties. 
I'm too young for him, and then there's Kaede, she thought glumly.  Kaede,
her older sister who
had betrayed humanity for the Aragami.  Kaede, who had been the woman
Kusanagi had loved all
his life.  She sighed as she climbed out of bed.  There was nothing she
could do about it until she
found Kusanagi again.  She hoped desparately that he would come back.  If
he didn't, she wasn't
sure what she would do.  She couldn't imagine what her life would be like
without him anymore.
     Momiji got dressed and made her way down to the kitchen, where Ryoko
had beakfast
ready for her and Mr. Kunikida.  It still felt weird having Ryoko around
the house.  Momiji had
been surprised when she had found out that Ryoko had been in love with Mr.
Kunikida, and even
more surprised when they had gotten married shortly after the end of the
Aragami threat.  If only
Kusanagi felt the way she did, Momiji thought, her eyes misting over
slightly as she ate her
breakfast.
     "Momiji, are you ready to go?" Mr. Kunikida said, tapping her on the
shoulder.
     "Hai!" Momiji said, jumping a little in surprise.  She hadn't realized
that it was time to go
already.  She got up from the table and gathered her things together before
running outside to join
Ryoko and Mr. Kunikida in the car for the ride into the city.
     The government was spending itself dry trying to repair the damage
down to the country
by the Aragami.  Enormous sums of money had flooded into the country from
the UN and other
international relief funds and contractors from around the world had
flocked to Japan to bid on the
lucrative reconstruction contracts.  The TAC had been dissolved, but Mr.
Kunikida had been given
a new agency to run to ensure that nothing like the Aragami invasion
occurred again.  Ryoko,
Momiji and Yaegashi still worked with Mr. Kunikida.  Kome had gone back to
the army and had
risen several grades in rank (many officers of command rank having been
canned for
incompetence during the Aragami Incident) and Matsudiera had been needed
more working with
the medical relief agency that the government had established.
     The drive into Tokyo wasn't a pleasant one.  Momiji watched as the
carcasses of the giant
plants and the corpses of the victims of the mitama reign that the plants
had sprayed were cut up
and loaded into trucks destined for the city's waste incinerators and
funerary incinerators.  She
could also see the surveying and demolition teams, busy deciding which
buildings were stable
enough to just repair and which building had to be torn down and cleared.
     Perhaps it was a concession by the government, or just a lingering
doubt of the people
about the validity of the claims by the Arigami that humans were destroying
Japan, but more areas
were being set aside for parks and the shrines and temples had more land
given to their care. 
Momiji sighed as she thought about the day ahead of her.  It would be just
like the last two weeks. 
She would be working with Yaegashi to set up a computer database that would
monitor every law
agency in the country, looking for odd occurences that could be
supernatural in origin for them to
investigate.  She wondered if she would ever be just a schoolgirl again.
Just a year ago, she had
been a perfectly normal junior high student with nothing bigger on her mind
than school and
getting a boyfriend.  Now she had been responsible for the fate of Japan,
and was now a part of
ensuring its continuing safety.  It would be a lot more bearable if only
she had Kusanagi with her. 
He had always been so strong before when he had rescued her.  It was almost
enough to make her
long for the days of the constant Aragami attacks.  At least then, Kusanagi
had been there for her.
               *              *              *
     Mamoru Kusanagi sighed as he dug through the rubble in front of him.
He stood on a
street  full of shattered buildings, digging into the front of an old
house.  He remembered this place
fondly.  This was where he had been born.  This was where he had lived for
a few happy years
before Orochi stole his life and his humanity.  Since then, he'd been a
slave of his mitamas and his
duty (and later desire) to protect the Kushinadas.  
     As Kusanagi cleared the rubble, he came upon an old, rusted lockbox.
He pulled it free,
setting it clear of the rubble.  Carefully, so as not to disturb the
contents, he pried the top off. 
Inside were a bundel of papers and a small book.  Looking through the
papers, he found receipts
and bills dating back years, with the family name Kusanagi on them.  He
smiled slightly, realizing
tha he had found something of his family after all these years.  He looked
at the book, curious,
noting its plain black cover.  He flipped it open and read the first page,
his eyes growing wide.

          August 18
          I found out I was pregnant today.  Kentaro 
	   was so excited.  He's been wanting a child 
	   since we got married, but he never put any 
	   pressure on me.  I'm glad it finally happened 
	   too.  I have wanted a child for the past year.  
	   Ever since Reiko had her baby.
          December 12
          We've been talking about names.  Mamoru if it's  	     	   a boy,
Keiko if it's a girl.
          March 3
          I feel like a balloon.  I'm due next month.  
	   Kentaro asked if I wanted to get a sonogram 
	   to find out the sex.  I told him no. 
          I want to find out when my baby's born.
          April 19
          I delivered two days ago.  I'm so happy.  I'm 	    	   exhausted,
but all the pain and effort was 
	   worth it.  Oh, I love my little Keiko.

     Kusanagi stared in shock as he read his mother's journal.  I have a
sister, he thought to
himself, stunned at this unexpected revelation.

To be continued...

Next time: An unexpected reunion with a little help from some old friends

Author's notes:
I know there wasn't any action in this part, but I felt that I had to set
the background.  There'll be
action later.  Maybe not in the next part, but definately in the one after
that.
Let me know what you think.  C&C welcome.
Walshtt@muohio.edu