[FFML] [Jubei-chan 2][Alt]Jubei-chan 2: Redo

The following story contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen the second season of Jubei-chan,
you've been forewarned.

My scribblings are found at my webpage:
http://ca.geocities.com/troythomas1/

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Jubei-chan Two: Redo
By Troy Thomas

Jubei-chan is the creation of and property of Daichi Akitaro.

***

Chapter One

Spinning almost endlessly, but not so fast you'd become dizzy
from the watching of it, is the planet Earth. In an improper
mind one can almost see more than just the one world but
perhaps a thousand in a moment or an 'infiniment' in a
lifetime.

Can it be supposed from this viewing a new world being born
from an instant in time, where perhaps two events come
together or part ways....

Two worlds alike but different only to a watchful eye....

***

"Jubei! I love you!" The words struck the morning fully
awake, as there far too much enthusiasm behind the
declaration to be dismissed.

"Ohazaru!" said the shorter one.

"Kohazaru!" said the taller one.

"Morning," said Shiro, stopping to return the greeting to the
Ruffian Four (which was short one member).

The boy screaming out his love for the world to hear suddenly
turned, pointing his finger at Shiro, a smug smirk covering
his face. "Shiro Ryujoji! You're no longer in junior high, so
that means Jubei will be mine now!"

Shiro ignored Bantaro, as there was a strange cloud of dust
approaching rather hurriedly.... He focused fully on it, and
saw it was Jubei riding her bicycle at top speed! And there
was something following her!

Taking hold of his bokken, he took a swipe at the little ball
of speed that was after Jubei... but missed! He managed to
catch a glimpse of red in a small pair of hands before
whatever it was retreated into the distance, out of sight.

He quickly turned, beginning to run after Jubei, who had
already started disappearing towards the middle-school.

"Shiro! What just happened!" he heard Bantaro scream out,
behind him, but he was already too far away from the kid to
explain.

He found Jiyu Nanohana, sitting on her bike, in front of his
old school but which was still the girl's school. "What was
that, Miss Nanohana?" he asked. "There was somebody following
you...."

"Oh!" Jubei looked at Shiro, but there was an expression of
confusion on her face. "It's you.... Upperclassman?"

She didn't remember his name! Shiro felt like crying, but
pressed forward with his question, "What was that all about?
What was chasing you?"

"It was... nothing!" Jubei said. "It wasn't anything, so you
don't have to worry, okay?" She joyfully smiled, and then
walked into the school grounds.

Slinging his bokken onto his shoulder, his mind filled with
curiosity, Shiro watched Jubei leave. There had been
something, but... Miss Nanohana had told him not to worry.

There would time enough for that later, if whoever that
little boy had been returned (in reflection, he realised it
had been a boy after Jubei). Besides, he would be late for
school if he didn't hurry.

He deeply hoped Hajime would answer roll call for him should
that happen.... And he also wished Bantaro would stop yelling
after him, trying to pry whatever little information he had
out of him.

Reaching his own school, he noted the gate was being shut,
rushing inside, he turned to Bantaro, who had stupidly
followed him. "You do realise you're trapped inside, don't
you?"

"Shiro! Tell me what happened!" Bantaro shouted.

Noting the other two (brighter) ruffians were also there (but
on the other side of the gate), he sighed. "Miss Nanohana
said it was nothing, but... I saw there had been someone
chasing her. I tried to subdue him, but he dodged my strike"
He turned to enter his school, but stopped upon reaching the
entrance. "Since I'm not there, please protect Miss Nanohana
for me should something happen."

"You got it!" he heard Bantaro say (he could even almost hear
the boy's thumb sticking up, and the dutiful accompanying
wink). "Crap! The hell I just say?" was the last thing he
heard, just before the doors closed.

Reaching his desk in his classroom, he sat down.

"Brother!" chirped a happy voice.

It was like looking in a mirror, really, but one that was
(far too) chatty.

"Hajime," replied Shiro to his twin, who sat in the desk in
front of him.

"Was that the Chief I just heard screaming?" Hajime asked, in
a voice that was filled with pride for Bantaro.

Shiro looked outside, as his class overlooked the entrance
grounds. He could see Bantaro rushing back and forth, trying
to find a way out.

"It is him! Why's he here though?" Hajime looked directly at
Shiro. "Because I heard him shouting your name, I thought he
wanted something from you...."

Shiro shrugged. That was enough of an answer.

"Did you hear? We have a new neighbour!" Hajime said, after
some time had passed. "It's a girl and her family, I guess. I
don't know more than that, but Mother said she wanted to see
about that girl since it seems it's just the girl all by
herself right now. Her parents are supposedly travelling,
leaving the girl all alone or something, but that's
everything I got on her."

"Was there a little boy too?" Shiro asked.

"Um, I can't seem to remember seeing one, but maybe," replied
Hajime. "Why's that? Is he important? Was that what Bantaro
was wanting to know from you?"

Shiro shook his head, declining to answer. There really was
no point in worrying, he supposed. Not enough had happened to
provide any real information about if there was a threat to
Miss Nanohana that he needed to fret over.

At any rate, he would still be ready should anything occur.

He noted out of the side of his eye that Bantaro had elected
to climb over the fence but had somehow managed to get his
jacket hooked on a pike, leaving the Ruffian Four leader
dangling.

"Boss!" shouted Hajime, rushing from the classroom,
attracting the attention of the teacher who rushed after him.

***

Leaning against the pillar, he waited for Jubei.

He looked up at the sound of footsteps, but saw it wasn't
Miss Nanohana, but a different plump, bouncy, bon-bons blonde
girl who seemed to be deep in thought.

She looked at him when he realised he was staring at her for
just a bit too long.

"Hello?" she ventured.

"Hi," Shiro replied.

"Are you waiting for someone?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for a girl named Jiyu Nanohana. She's a third
year here, and I was hoping to meet...."

"Oh, you know Jubei? I'm in the same class as her!" The girl
bounded over to Shiro, looking directly into his eyes,
causing him to blush. "My name's Freasha Yagyu! What's your
name?"

Yagyu? Shiro couldn't help but inwardly start at the name,
but he forced himself to answer, deciding the name Yagyu
could belong to anyone, and not have anything whatsoever to
do with Jubei Yagyu, "I'm Shiro Ryujoji. I was formerly the
captain of the kendo club here at Hontsuru Junior High, but I
graduated last year and have started at a public high school
where next year I hope I can become captain of the...."

"Ooh! Captain?" asked the girl, stars in her eyes.

"Uh, yes...." Shiro wanted to stop blushing, but the girl was
leaning right into his face, staring right into his eyes. "I
won the prefectural tournament all three years, and the
national tournament last year." He leaned away from the girl.
"But I'm not bragging or any...."

He looked to a nearby tree.... There had been someone there,
watching! He looked at Freasha, who had also looked to the
tree.

"Freasha!" came Jubei's voice, startling both Shiro and the
girl. He looked to see Jubei walking her bike. "Sorry for
making you wait! Want to go try out that anmitsu now?" Jubei
looked at Shiro. "Oh.... Upperclassman! What are you here
for?" She paused, as though an unbidden thought had crept up
on her. "Wait, you're not here... because of this morning,
right? I already said you don't have to worry."

"This morning?" asked Freasha. "Did something happen, Jubei?"

"Nothing!" said Jubei, dismissing the whole topic. "Nothing
happened at all!" She joyfully smiled. "Anyway, you want to
try out that anmitsu now?"

"What is anmitsu?" Freasha asked.

Sliding away from the too-close proximity of Freasha, Shiro
looked again to the tree from which he sensed someone to be
watching. Trying ignore the girls' animated conversation over
'how awesome anmitsu was', he tried to perceive if the spy
had left any trace of his prescience in the area, but
whatever there was, was too faint to follow in any meaningful
manner.

It was only in a general direction that the person had left
in. Towards the awesome anmitsu shop.

He felt a bit relieved. On the way to the anmitsu shop, he
could keep an eye out for.... "I hope you two don't mind if I
accompany you both part of the way? My home is on the way."

"Yours too?" Freasha asked. "I live that way too! Maybe I can
come over and you could teach me kendo sometime?"

"If it's possible," Shiro said. "I usually have practise, but
today was an exception." He asked, nonchalantly, "Are you
related to Jubei Yagyu?"

"Jubei Yagyu? Who's he?" replied Freasha, innocently,
dispelling most of the doubt in Shiro's mind.

"Nevermind," said Shiro. "Anyway, if you're interested in
learning, you should join the kendo club at your school. It's
a good place to learn...."

"But I want to learn from you!" said Freasha, whining. "If
you want to get good at anything, you need to use the best
resources possible, right Jubei?"

"Eh?" Jubei looked at Freasha, as though she was just coming
out of a daydream. "Sorry.... Wasn't listening!"

"Jubei! What was so important that you were totally ignoring
me and him for?" Freasha stared right Jubei. "Out with it!
You were thinking about something!"

"My future...." Paying little attention to Jubei, Shiro
stared out of the corner of his eye at Freasha, finding her
to be pretty and bouncy. However, her name, and her sudden
appearance after a strange incident left him feeling there
was something more....

"What do you want to be, Upperclassman?" Jubei suddenly asked
him, stopping to look right at him.

"Uh...." Finding himself on the spot, under the scrutiny of
both Jubei and Freasha, Shiro struggled to find what in his
memory he had always wanted to be when he finally grew up. "I
want to be the greatest swordsman in the world," he said.

"Sounds great! And that's right too! Cause you have to aim
high, my friend Machin said!" She looked at Freasha. "You
can't just want to be an okay swordsman! You need to want to
be the best!" Jubei then looked about. "But.... Where are
we?" She turned around. "We're... lost!"

Shiro looked about, but knew where he was, and sadly
reflected that this was where he had to leave the girls, as
they had reached a fork in the road. "We're just about to my
home, actually." He pointed. "Go that way to get to where
you're going. And I'll go the other way since that's where my
home is."

"That's right!" said Jubei, happily. "Isn't this where we
first met, Upperclassman? I was lost, trying to get to
school...."

"Yes," replied Shiro. "And you were going to start walking
the trail to my place before I found you."

"Ooh.... Sounds romantic!" Freasha said.

Shiro bid the girls a good day, and watched them start
together down the path.

"So, this is where she and I met, huh?" Shiro remembered
those days with some joy and some pain. "We were just kids
then.... But we went through so much.... And we overcame
everything." He tightly gripped his bokken. "I won't ever let
her get hurt! I love her, and I'll protect her."

He heard a sniff from below him. Looking down, he saw it was
a little boy, with a terribly dirty, sticky-looking, and
runny-nose face. "Where'd you come from?" he asked.

The little boy looked up at him, blinked, and then returned
his attention to the ground where there were bugs and other
strange little critters were scurrying about.

And then, from almost nowhere screamed a man, "Jubei Yagyu!"

Shiro almost instantly raised his bokken, parrying away a
quick strike. Reasoning from the sound when his bokken struck
away the unprovoked attack, it had hit steel.

"Who are you?" both asked each other at the same time.

Shiro decided to answer first, "I am Shiro Ryujoji, former
captain...."

The boy - Shiro was of the opinion that it was a boy only a
little older than him - then withdrew his sword. "Ryujoji,
huh? I've got nothing 'gainst you." He began to walk away.

"Wait you!" Shiro shouted. "What do you want with Jubei
Yagyu?"

The boy stopped, and smirking, turned to look at Shiro. "The
same thing as you, Ryujoji."

"What does that mean?" Shiro shouted, but the boy had already
walked away. He started to run after the swordsman, but
tripped over the little boy. "Crap! Miss Nanohana!"

Standing, he was then knocked back over and trampled under
the feet of many yelling and screaming men in a great hurry,
who all left in the same direction as the swordsman.

Getting to his knees, he looked face to face at the little
boy. "Just who are you?" he casually asked.

The boy wiped his runny-nose face with his sleeve (not
cleaning anything off though, Shiro noted), and said, shakily
as though unused to speaking, "M... my... n... name...." The
boy seemed to almost dig deep into his memory. "Ayo... no...
su... ke.... Oda... go...." He then suddenly looked
frightened, looked in the direction of where Shiro knew the
Nanohana's home to be, and then raced off through the forest.

But there was a moment, Shiro realised, that he had caught a
glimpse of the colour red....

"Is it... that?" he quietly asked. "It can't be...." He
remembered a scene, where it was taken from this earth....

"The Lovely Eyepatch...."

Shiro stood, looking at where Jubei's house would be, if he
ran straight through the forest.

He shouted, "Jubei!" Then he himself began to run.

The branches tore at his arms and face, but he wouldn't be
stopped.

Something was starting, and he needed to be at the centre of
whatever it was to even do anything!

It was there.... Just a bit more, and he'd arrive....

He heard a crash and a scream, so he pushed himself even
harder.

He saw Jubei, holding up the girl Freasha, standing before
the boy he'd seen earlier in the forest. The Nanohana's home
was in tatters, with bits of wood and glass strewn over the
lawn.

"Yagyu Jubei the Second! I am Kitakuro, and I've come to
settle my family's 300 year old grudge!" Shiro could feel
Kitakuro arrogantly grinning at the shivering Jubei.

"But I'm not Jubei Yagyu!" shouted Jubei. "I'm just a normal
girl now! I don't want to fight!"

Kitakuro wasn't listening, but instead charging at the
defenceless girl. "Enough lies, Jubei! You die!"

"Wait!" shouted Shiro, startling Kitakuro, and attracting the
attention of Jubei.

"Upperclassman!" Jubei shouted, her voice relieved. "Tell him
he's wrong! Tell him I'm not Jubei Yagyu anymore, but just a
normal girl!"

Confidently yet cautiously, Shiro walked past Kitakuro to
stand in front of Jubei. "You heard her." He slung his wooden
sword over his shoulder, and gestured to Jubei and the
unconscious Freasha. "These aren't the ones you're looking
for." He flicked his head to one side. "Move along."

As though in a trance, Kitakuro quietly repeated the words
Shiro had just said, "Move along...." He turned to walk away,
but then his rage resurfaced, and he turned on Shiro. "You're
gonna play around, hero wannabe?"

He wildly swung his katana downward at Shiro's head, but was
quickly deflected to the side.

The anger in Kitakuro's features seemed to grow. "Is a bokken
all you're gonna use to fight me? Are you stupid? Or an
idiot?" He went for another downward strike, but was again
parried. To the side, but was dodged. Thrust, but
deflected... and then almost instantly countered with a hard
strike to the ribs under the armpit.

"I'm sorry but all I want to use is a bokken." Shiro tensely
gripped the wooden sword. "I was taught by my father that a
sword should be for the protection of others, not for
meaningless revenge."

On his knee, Kitakuro looked at Shiro, disgust on his face.
"My father taught me quite a bit too. But what good did
ideals do for him?" He spat. "Driven to the north, just to be
hunted down by Jubei Yagyu." Shakily, he stood. "You're a
Ryujoji, and should know this! What have the Edo Yagyu's done
but deserve to be wiped from the face of this world?"

A crowd of men soon rushed to Kitakuro.

"Young master!" one said. He turned on Shiro, drawing his
sword.

"Stop! He's too strong for you!" Kitakuro shouted.

Another man began to hold up Kitakuro, who said, "Jubei
Yagyu! I'll come for you again! And you Ryujoji, better be
prepared to die if you get in my way again!"

Quickly as they appeared, the men took away Kitakuro.

Waiting to see if anyone returned, Shiro watched them all
retreat. Eventually, feeling no one was to return, he faced
Jubei, who was still holding up Freasha.

"Thank you, Upperclassman!" Jubei said, to Shiro's strange
mixture of elation and disappointment. She was happily
smiling at him, but still.... She didn't remember his name!

"Anytime, Miss Nanohana," Shiro said, weakly.

***