I'm really uncomfortable with this story. It doesn't feel like it's
progressing naturally, and it doesn't help that I haven't really been able
to keep people very in-character the past couple of chapters. I hope (and
honestly expect) that to fix itself with the next few chapters, but writing
these last 2 were such a struggle I'm wondering if it's worth it... I
wouldn't bother, if it wasn't for what I want to do LATER in the fic... as
it is, I'm just sick of the thing for the moment. I'm going to set it
aside for a while and work on something else... maybe Guide in the
Wilderness (Kenshin) like I was originally planning, then again maybe not.
I'm not really feeling up to doing something with the tone I'd need for
that fic, at the moment. I might go back to Patlabor: Personal Files, in
fact... after watching the last tape (finally) and working on a non-fanfic
anime project related to Patlabor for the past week (if I can find enough
of the right type of material in the series, I may make an anime music
video... I've got some friends who've done it in the past, and was thinking
it might be 'fun'), I'm starting to want to get back to it. Then again,
there's always the good old Ranma fics I've got out there that I still work
on from time to time... I'd say I would work on Tylor's Fury next, since
that's not been worked on in a while, but I'm having the same problem with
that as I am with Guide in the Wilderness. Oh, well- regardless, unless I
get VERY inspired (or, I guess, unless I get a lot of public demand for the
immediate continuation of this fic), don't expect another chapter of this
fic for a while. Enjoy it while it lasts... and C&C very much
appreciated...
Chapter 3
Madoka drove the car on, trying to keep her mind on the road. It didn't
help that she wanted to look on over at Kyousuke and see if she could see
what was wrong. With one single word, Akane succeeded in putting him into
a brooding silence. Ayukawa couldn't help but wonder who or what Takauji
was, and what he\she\its significance was to the Kasugas. It was obvious,
however, that she wasn't going to find out until they all got home and she
could confront him herself.
The frustration built the entire trip to her house. When she finally
pulled into her driveway, she was about to explode at Kyousuke, demanding
to know what was going on.
Then she saw his face.
It was, quite possible, the most tormented expression she'd ever seen on
him. It was worse even than any of the times they'd almost broken up.
She'd almost describe it as a look of pure anger combined with a look of
pure loss. It was also a look that told her he didn't want to be forced
into anything, right then.
Still, she had to know. "Um... Kyousuke, do you want to come in? I doubt
anyone would mind if you decided to spend the night tonight...."
He nodded. "I have some questions for Akane, anyway." Softening slightly,
he turned to look at her. "I'll tell you about it when we're inside. It's
just... a bit hard to talk about."
Ayukawa released a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Thank you,"
she said. She got out of the car and opened the door for Akane, waking her
up and helping her out while Kyousuke went on inside the house. Madoka was
a little surprised- she would have thought he'd have helped his cousin out.
Then again, this Takauji thing was seriously affecting him, so perhaps it
shouldn't be that much of a surprise.
Apparently, her concern showed on her face. "If you're wondering," Akane
said, following Madoka towards the entrance of her house. "There's a
reason he's so upset. I won't get into the details, but it involves his
mother's death."
Madoka slowed down, almost coming to a halt at her own front door. His
mother's death was something he never talked about, and she didn't really
know how he felt about it. She fully expected him to be saddened by it,
but this intense anger that was mixed along with it surprised her.
"Hey, are we going in or what?" Akane asked, yawning.
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Ayukawa said, moving on past the doorway into her home.
As the two girls passed through the living room, Kyousuke stopped them.
"So, Akane," he said. "You feeling up to talking about what happened?"
Akane sighed, taking a seat. "Not really, but I know you won't be happy
with that answer."
Madoka hesitated before moving to sit next to Kyousuke. She wasn't sure
he'd be very receptive to her presence, but unless he said something she
didn't think it would hurt.
"So, tell me... how did he do that to you, anyway?" Kyousuke asked. "I
mean, he's powerful, but surely he isn't stronger than the rest of the clan
combined."
"No, he's not. But he's taught himself a technique which allowed him to
take control of some of those weaker in the Power, and he can do it with
multiple people. So we weren't trying to stop him alone, but him and about
twenty of our cousins as well."
Kyousuke nodded. "What level of strength was he controlling? Would Kurumi
and Manami be safe?"
Akane shrugged. "He didn't try to control me, and your sisters aren't much
weaker than I am. I suspect so."
"Good. So, why did you come straight to our apartment from the meeting?
Surely you eventually overcame him."
"Er... no, we didn't. He's escaped."
Kyousuke laughed. It wasn't his usual 'I'm laughing to try and get out of
trouble laugh,' however- it was a much darker laugh. "Really?"
"Um, yeah. So grandfather thought we should scatter into smaller groups,
where there are fewer people he can control. You, me, Kurumi, and Manami
should be strong enough together to be 'safe.'"
Kyousuke laughed again. "And you expect me to help put him away again?
No."
"Kyousuke, this isn't just about you little disagreement with our laws-"
"I don't care!" he shouted back. "I'll protect you guys if you need me to,
but I will NOT fight him without provocation."
"No provocation?!" Akane growled in disbelief, rising to her feet. "Who do
you think broke my arm? Who do you think destroyed the ancestral family
hall? Isn't that enough 'provocation' for you?"
"Who is imprisoning him eternally for NO REASON? Sorry, I think WE
provoked HIM, not the other way around."
Madoka stepped away from Kyousuke, feeling something dangerous eminating
from him. "Can we please calm down? Let's not fight, okay? What's going
on?"
Kyousuke turned to Ayukawa. Watching her confused and frightened face, he
realized that he was scaring her. "Sorry, Madoka," he said, calming
himself down. "Maybe I should let you in on the story."
Akane nodded, breathing deeply to try and calm herself as well. "You do
that. I'm going to bed... er, where is my bed?"
"Upstairs," Madoka said. "Third door on the right. That's our guest
room."
"Thanks." Akane took one last look at Kyousuke, sniffed, and stormed out
of the room. Unknown to either he or Ayukawa, however, she sat down
outside of the doorway and listened in.
"Seems to me she might have a reason to be upset, if you aren't even going
to consider getting revenge on the guy who broke her arm," Madoka noted
sternly.
"He was just trying to escape from being imprisoned for what I feel is a
very unjust reason," he replied.
Madoka nodded. "I think I gathered some of that. Why don't you start from
the beginning- what did he do that everyone else thinks is so bad?"
"He refused to die."
Madoka raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure I understand that one."
"The Power gives us all a number of abilities. Some of us are able to
train ourselves to use abilities others can't, or aren't allowed to- Kazuya
has full telepathy, Akane has partial telepathy, and Takauji... Takauji
learned how to make himself immortal. He's been around long enough to have
seen Princess Kasuga as a baby... and he still looks about our age. For
some stupid reason, immortality- in fact, almost all of the ways the Power
can be used to heal a person or save their life, is against our laws."
Madoka nodded. That seemed awfully strange to her, as well. "Why? I
mean, what is the explanation given?"
"Well, as a person ages, the amount of the Power they can control grows.
It slows down the older you are, but it still grows in strength. Back in
the time of Princess Kasuga, our clan made the law that immortality was
forbidden knowledge, so that no-one would get TOO strong in the Power.
Well, Takauji and a few others who'd succeeded in obtaining that skill
refused to give it up. A civil war was fought, and most of the immortals
were cornered and destroyed. Takauji, however, survived- there may be
others, but if so they're very good at hiding."
"How did he survive if the others were destroyed?"
"He learned how to protect himself from our powers, how to heal not just
the ravages of age but the wounds inflicted by the weapons we might use,
and how to protect himself from any form of illness and disease."
"But he was eventually captured."
"Yes. He was strong, but a hundred of us together were stronger. We
captured him, weakened him, and imprisoned him behind certain wards that
can affect us espers. Every decade, when criminals are prosecuted, we
bring him up, and ask him to remove the effects which prevent him from
dying. Even if he WERE to drop those elements, though, he wouldn't be
allowed to live the valley, for fear that he might try and restore those
spells. I suppose that makes some sense, but it's a harsher sentence than
we hand down on the worst murderers of our clan. Especially since his
prison is totally devoid of anything the least bit entertaining- no books,
no windows, no television, no music, nothing."
"That does sound harsh," Madoka admitted. She didn't see the connection
Akane had mentioned earlier- for some reason, all of this was related to
his mother. "But you seem to be taking it rather... personally."
"Well... yes," he admitted. "See, back when my mother was dying was when I
first heard about him myself. I... well, I attempted to break him out, so
that he'd cure my mother. I was just six at the time, but I was willing to
use my Power to abandon and no-one was willing to harm someone as young as
I was, so I pushed my way through the guard that had been set up and
stormed to his prison. I wasn't very bright about it, though- I broke into
his prison, but I didn't think to come up with a way to escape." Asuma
sighed. "Needless to say, I was caught before I could learn anything he
might have taught me to save my mother. She died a month later."
"I'm sorry, Asuma," Ayukawa said, trying to comfort him with her voice.
Still, there was something she had to ask. "But are you sure Takauji would
be, well, safe to talk to? I imagine that living in captivity as he has,
without any form of entertainment or activity, might drive him a little...
insane."
Kyousuke nodded. "He might be, but as long as he doesn't do anything
vicious or offensive, I don't care. I don't think he'll hurt anyone if
they don't attack them."
"And if he does?"
Kyousuke paused. "Then maybe I'll change my mind. But it doesn't matter-
it's not like I can take the time out of my life to go hunting him down.
If he comes here and proves violent, however, I'm not too worried."
"Why not? He sounds dangerous."
"He is," Akane said, leaving her hiding place outside of the door. "But
so's Kyousuke."
"I thought you were going to bed?" he growled.
"I just wanted to let you calm down, first."
"Wait," Madoka said. She didn't like that Akane was listening in, but what
she'd said was more important. "What do you mean, Kyousuke's dangerous?"
That kept Kyousuke from replying to his cousin- he certainly didn't want
his girlfriend to think of him as being dangerous, but then again he also
didn't want to seem to brag. "Um, well... see, the thing is..." he started
pushing his fingers together, not sure how to answer.
Akane sighed. "What he's trying to tell you is that, despite being one of
the wimpiest and most indecisive men our family has ever bred, he's also
one of the most powerful Espers in history. He's probably stronger than
Grandfather, by now, and he's only just been passed by Kazuya. In fact,
the only esper outside of Kazuya who's likely to be more powerful than him
is Takauji himself."
Madoka looked at Kyousuke in surprise, but remained skeptical. "Okay, so
you're powerful. But don't you think it's a bit arrogant to assume you can
beat him when he's so much stronger than you are?"
Kyousuke nodded. "Sure, if I actually thought I could beat him. I
don't... but I do think I can keep him from hurting you or anyone else I
care about- there's a limit to what he can do without other espers he can
control." He paused. "In a way, you could say that I can be just as
powerful as he can, but not for as long as he can."
"Of course, if you were with me and your sisters, we could stop him between
the four of us," Akane said. "Though the chances of that are slim unless
you're actually TRYING to corner him with the four of us."
"Which I won't," Kyousuke growled. "Get out of here, Akane. We'll talk
about this after you've had a good night's sleep."
"You just don't want to hear the truth about what you refusing to help is
going to do to us!" Akane shouted back.
"No, I just want to be able to talk to Madoka PRIVATELY, like I thought I
WAS doing before you showed up. Get the hell out of here," he snarled
bitterly.
Ayukawa's eyes widened. Kyousuke was getting REALLY mad, and at his own
cousin, too. She couldn't recall a time he'd been that angry, and wondered
vaguely at what would happen if it came to blows between the two of them.
She'd yet to see a serious fight between two Espers, but she was fairly
certain it would be rather violent. She certainly didn't want to see one,
now... even though she WAS a little annoyed at Akane for having listened in
to her private discussion.
"Guys, calm down. Akane... just do what he says. Go to bed, we can talk
more tomorrow. I have some questions I'd like to ask him in private, and
anyway you HAVE been given some painkillers- you're probably not thinking
straight right now. Wait until tomorrow, please?"
Akane looked into Madoka's pleading eyes and sighed. She couldn't refuse
the girl, she knew. "All right... until tomorrow. But, Kyousuke, you and
I ARE having a 'talk' tomorrow."
Kyousuke nodded. "Fine. Now, get out of here."
Ayukawa watched in concern as her boyfriend glared at his cousin until he
was certain she was gone. Then, to her surprise, his angry expression
completely dropped.
"Okay, she's gone to bed for real this time. Now we can talk about the
more... personal... aspects of this thing."
Madoka immediately suspected something was up. "Okay, Kasuga, what's going
on?" she demanded, reverting to her more formal address for him.
"Sorry about that. I knew she was listening in the first time, so I
couldn't give you all the real reasons for my not wanting to go after this
guy. I just gave you the ones Akane already knew," he explained.
"Obviously, you want to keep them your secret" Ayukawa noted. "So spill
it, already. Why don't you want to go against this Takauji guy?"
Kyousuke sighed. "Well, I already mentioned a few of them- I really DON'T
have any grudge against him, and I really think that the crime he's accused
of breaking is stupid. A person should at LEAST be allowed to used those
sorts of powers to keep themselves healthy for their normal life
expectancy, but even that's forbidden."
"Though there are other reasons."
"Of course," Kyousuke said. "If that was all that was keeping me from
helping out my family, I wouldn't let it stop me," he said. "But perhaps
I'm afraid my friends and family would be hurt more if I were to actually
go seeking him out."
"How?" Ayukawa asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds to me like you might be
in more danger as things are."
"Of him attacking? He's not going to do anything... he's going too busy
trying to hide from us to keep from being captured and put back in that
prison again to worry about the people who aren't hunting him." He paused.
"But see, my sisters already use the power more than they should, and so
does Akane. If we aren't careful, we're going to give away our family
secret again. If that happens, we'll be chased out of the area again,
losing all of our friends and getting uprooted from the first stable home
we've had in our lives."
"And you're afraid that if you go looking for him you'll reveal the Power
to someone?"
Kyousuke shook his head. "Worse. In order to go locate him, we'd have to
expend so much of the Power that we wouldn't just reveal the secret to the
people of this area, but the news of it would go national. We'd have to
either retreat to the valley the rest of our clan resides in, or we'd have
to leave the country. I don't know what I'll do if he becomes threatening,
but I certainly don't want to be forced to leave Japan if I can avoid it."
Unsaid, he was really just worried that he'd lose her.
Madoka's eyes widened. He was afraid of being forced to leave, whether he
fought Takauji or not, she could certainly understand that. She had to say
something, to reassure him. "If you had to leave, I'd go with you."
Kyousuke looked at her in amazement. How did she know just what was
worrying him, and fix it all with just one sentence? "I... thank you,
Madoka. You don't know how much that means to me."
Ayukawa smiled. "Maybe I do. Maybe I wouldn't have said it if it didn't
mean just as much to me."
"Still," he said, "I don't want to drop everything and go hunting some guy
who's never done anything against me. I just want to try and keep living a
normal life, if I can... like I said, I doubt he's going to do anything
major, so I'm not going to worry. I'm going to go to college, have fun,
and spend as much time as I can with you." He turned to her, a determined
look on his face. "I'm not going to give any of that up."
Madoka smiled slightly. "I guess I can't really argue with that." She
paused, then changed the topic in an unexpected direction. "Shouldn't you
let your family know that Akane's all right?"
Kyousuke blinked. "Huh? Oh, right. I guess I'd better go- ack!"
He'd started to walk out the door, but Madoka grabbed him by the back of
the shirt before he could leave, choking him slightly. "And where do you
think you're going?" she asked.
"Er, home, to tell everyone about Akane, like you suggested," he answered,
confused.
"Did I tell you to leave? No- just to let them know. Call them up on the
phone, let them know she's all right. There are still a few things I want
to... discuss... with you, though."
Kyousuke didn't quite catch the tone of her voice, but he could tell that
she didn't want him to go any time soon. "Um, then I'll write a note- if I
use the phone, they'll have too many questions. Got a pen and paper?"
"Here," she said, handing him the notepad that was next to the phone. She
watched on in curiousity as he scribbled out a message to his family. "How
do you plan to get that to your home without going there?"
Kyousuke re-read his note, closed his eyes, and tossed it aside. To
Ayukawa's surprise, it never hit the ground, instead fluttering away as if
carried by the wind. "I'll have to use the power... it'll look like the
note just got caught in a jetstream or something, though, so it's pretty
safe in this case." Reopening his eyes, he looked at her. "So, what else
did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I was thinking that maybe I should learn how to use that little bit
of the Power that you've loaned me. Just in case you DO have to fight this
guy, I can be there to back you up."
Kyousuke's eyes widened. With all the excitement about Akane and Takauji,
he'd actually forgotten about the revelations from that morning. "Um... I
can, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea. I mean, if he's able to
take over your mind and you can't use the Power, he won't be able to use
you against me in any serious way, since you wouldn't be a threat when it
comes to adding to his own energy. Since you AREN'T strong in the Power,
he would easily be able to take you over, and I'd rather not have to worry
about you being, well, someone to be feared."
Ayukawa smiled slyly. "Well, of course that might be a problem. However,
if I BECAME strong in the power, you wouldn't have to worry about him
taking me over at all."
He blinked. "Huh? How?"
Madoka's smile widened. "Silly, don't you remember how you gave me your
Power in the first place?"
"Uh..."
"Besides... this has been a VERY stressful day. I hear that sex is a great
stress relief, and I'm going to need a lot of it to get over today...."
"Uh..."
"Come on, Kyousuke... let's go to bed."
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