Adventures In Parodyverse: Destiny and the Sword Part 1

Adventures In Parodyverse - Destiny And The Sword, Part 1

    It was a promise which drove her. The first invaders were not expected at all, yet she knew they would come. To, of all, places, an orphanage filled with the defenseless and weak.

    Chiaki Bushido, the Psychic Samurai, stood alone and faced them as they approached without hesitation or mercy. She watched them coldly, those Avawarriors, as they lined up in perfect military formation.

    Their molecular blades drawn, they headed to the door of the St. Jude orphanage, the small Japanese woman in their way seeming beneath notice as they approached. They seemed poised to simply plow through her as if clearing vines in their path.

    Chiaki quietly separated the hilt of her sword from its sheath, one hand gripping it gently. "You will not be allowed to enter," she warned them quietly.

    Beth Shellett watched the scene from just inside the door with a few of the orphanage inhabitants. They were frightened, some of them shaking, some crying. Those sounds, fading as Beth hurriedly herded them deeper inside, was what motivated Chiaki.

    Motivated her to anger. To her family's legacy for a taste of blood. She could feel her heart racing, and as she'd been trained, her breathing slowed. She felt as if everything around her slowed along with her breath.

    The Awawarriors spread out, and the first two attacked with thier blades, they figured on making short work of her. She dodged the first attack, sending a molecular blade crashing through the concrete steps. She simultaneously drew her sword fully, slapping the second molecular blade with the side of hers, causing the Avawarrior to lose stability for a moment.

    That's all she needed. A flicker of a moment, and two Avawarriors were dead, the first punctured through a natural joint in its armor, and the second beheaded, its helmeted crown tumbling at the feet of the other Avawarriors.

    The others hesitated. They looked down at the rolling separated head of one of their compatriots, unable to compute just how that happened. It wasn't something any of them had seen before...

    ...and when they'd broken away from the distraction, Chiaki was airborne, and sent two more heads tumbling, separated from their bodies and armor.

    In the sudden chaos, seven of the rearmost Avawarriors dropped their blades and fled, tripping over the severed heads of their comrades as they went, only to double over screaming when the pain circuits in their armor activated to punish them for being cowards.

    Chiaki stood over them, her dripping blade held at the ready, eyeing them with a cold ruthlessness they were never told existed in humans. They were pitiful creatures now, cowering from pain and fear inside their armor, as they realized they were the only ones left. They had to be freed.

    The Psychic Samurai freed them from their servitude forever, as their heads dropped lifelessly from their bodies, two at a time. They didn't cry out as they died, as if they expected and accepted it.

    She then turned around to face the apparent leader of the platoon. It was lying on the ground, freed of weapons, as well as its arms and one leg - but its head was intact. She dropped the helmeted head of another Avawarrior on the leader's torso.

    Without speaking a word, with only a stare, she gave the instructions she needed to. She intended for the leader to spread the word of his horrible, absolute defeat to his leaders. To let them know that there were vicious secret warriors on Earth who could harm them.

    "The Samurai," she whispered as she stood over him, purposely flicking the blood from her blade onto his face, "We are protectors. We will not be defeated." She turned and headed back toward the orphanage as a portal opened up and the last Avawarrior vanished.

---

    Jay Boaz knocked on the door of Chiaki Bushido's room at the Lair Mansion as soon as he heard that she arrived. He heard a distant voice behind the door ask him to come in. When he entered, he saw her sitting on her knees on the carpeted floor in a cotton kimono, carefully and gently polishing her sword with a soft towel.

    "What happened?" he asked. "Lara said you came in drenched in blood."

    "I was not drenched," she corrected patiently. "I had some blood on my clothing. I'm currently washing them, and I've taken a shower."

    Jay quietly sat on the floor in front of her, and looked down at the sword. "Beth Shellett told me what happened," he said. He looked up at her eyes and finally asked, "Are you okay?"

    She looked directly at him for a moment, but then quickly looked away. "No," she replied sadly. But she said no more.

    He frowned and slid over, to move next to her instead of across. "It's not easy being one of the good guys," he said, trying to encourage her. "We have this conscience thing to deal with. It haunts us when we kill, even if it had to be done."

    "I saved so many lives," she whispered. She had stopped polishing the sword when she spoke this time. "Why do I feel as if I failed?"

    "Because the most beautiful part of you isn't your sword," Jay tried, doing his best to compliment her. "It's your heart."

    She looked at him sideways for a moment, and finally smiled, if only for a moment, though her eyes still looked slightly reddened as if they meant to be tearful. "I remember now why I made love to you," she whispered.

    "Didn't you say that was a mistake?" Jay asked.

    Her smile disappeared, noting the serious turn to the conversation. "This is something of difference in culture," she explained. "Private expression of--" She smiled again and shook her head. "Never mind. The point is you always knew when to make an outcast such as me feel wanted and loved. I rewarded you with a small amount of pleasure. It was a gift."

    "It was no small gift," Jay tried joking, but he felt embarrassed immediately after and reddened a bit as he looked away from Chiaki.

    "I didn't realize," she explained further, "Your sensibilities...they are different from mine, and I was offending them. I shared something with you out of my free will, but you believed it to be something forbidden. I felt badly about that...I stopped because I didn't wish to make you unhappy."

    "I'm sorry I didn't say something," he said. "I guess I was enjoying your 'gift' so much I didn't dare tell you the truth. I kept telling myself that I'd get over the doubts."

    "But you didn't." Chiaki shrugged. "No matter. We're better friends now because of it."

    Jay nodded in agreement and smiled. "I guess we are."

    Chiaki looked directly at Jay and sighed. "Thank you so much for distracting me from my troubles," she whispered as she finally finished polishing the sword. She slipped it back into the wooden sheath and placed it carefully on the carpet next to her.

    "You still make me go a little...dreamy around you sometimes," Jay told her suddenly. "Like I'm in a dream, and it's okay to touch you because it's not real." He looked around the room carefully. "Maybe it's the soft, warm lighting in here, or the kimono. It doesn't feel real to me."

    "It's home to me," she laughed. "These surroundings bring me comfort."

    "You must still bring me comfort too," Jay pointed out, half jokingly.

    "I see you haven't lost your talent for excellent flattery," Chiaki acknowledged. "It's what I found attractive in you from the start." Her smile faded after that, as she added, "And I thank you again for attempting to distract me from my troubles."

    "I wish I could do something to take the pain away," Jay whispered to her.

    "Oh, but you are," Chiaki reassured him. "Just by keeping me company and keeping me occupied." She glanced at a short table across the room. It was made of a very light, beautiful wood varnished to a perfect shine. "Would you like some tea?" she asked.

    Jay looked at the table nervously. He wasn't sure he could handle embarrassing himself with what looked like would be a tea ceremony. But it was too late before he said the words, "I would."

    She rose quietly, picking up her sword as she went. She deposited the sword next to the table. As she entered the kitchen, Jay noticed that she was wearing socks - her shoes were left next to the entrance door. He took a hint and moved to the table, leaning on one of the cushions placed on the floor around it.

    "I hope I don't embarrass myself too much," he yelled after her, "I've never done this before."

    "I won't be too formal then." Chiaki put a tray on the table which contained two cups and a teapot. She placed one cup in front of Jay and filled it, and then filled her own after sitting down. "As a child I trained hard to be samurai," she told him. "Modern samurai are trained in secret. Even more so in my case because I'm female, and only male children are supposed to become samurai."

    "Why were you trained, then?" Jay asked.

    "I was an only child." She shrugged. "My parents were not young when they had me, and my father was not in good health. He realized he may not live to see a male heir, so he began training me just so his knowledge would not go to waste. And my mother had quite an influence on him. In some ways she was stronger than he, and that impressed him greatly."

    "As my training began I was told about certain...inevitibilities. That I would eventually be looked up to as someone of power. That someday I would have to kill. And I would probably die defending someone else. When I became older I decided I wanted to defy all of those inevitibilities and live harmoniously to make myself and those around me happy."

    "You've done well with that so far," Jay noted. "When you protect others you eventually might kill. It was unrealistic to expect not to."

    "I know." Chiaki sighed sadly. "I didn't know it would hurt so much. I still hear them, those Avawarriors. They were crying for mercy, but I could give them none. I feared the first sign of mercy I gave them would be rewarded with my death."

    "And you would have been right," Jay confirmed.

    "That doesn't make me feel better." Chiaki looked down a little, genuinely sounding depressed.

    "I know." Jay sighed too, sympathizing with her. "It's just something to come to terms with." He leaned over to meet her eyes as he added, "Honestly, I think you're amazing, having worked for Akiko for so long and never having killed anyone."

    Chiaki nodded slightly. "Even so," she whispered. "I feel I need to do something. I must find a path...something I can do, somewhere I can be, to restore the balance for the negatives I have caused." She frowned and narrowed her eyes as she sighed. "I have a lot of thinking to do," she whispered. "I thank you for your visit, and your kind words."

    "You're welcome." Jay stood and gave Chiaki a slight bow, which made her smile as she returned it, before he left her room.

---

    Chiaki didn't speak a word as she shuffled into the kitchen of the Lair Mansion. She chose a plastic cup from a dispenser on the counter and opened the fridge, pouring herself a cup of milk from a fresh carton. She turned around and glanced very briefly at a man in the kitchen, noting that he was trying hard not to be noticed - even the lights were turned off. She showed him the courtesy of remaining silent and heading out quietly as if she didn't see him.

    "Can't sleep?" Mr. Epitome ambushed her with as she was about to leave.

    "I'm sorry if I disturbed you." She gave him the slightest nod and tried to shuffle out again. She was wearing socks with some kind of flowery casual kimono over her sleepwear.

    "I don't sleep much," Epitome told her. He had a glass of water in front of him but didn't seem to be drinking it. "But I try anyway, since there's not much to do at this hour around here."

    She turned around again and gave him an exhausted look. "I am haunted," she said. "I see the...twisted souls...of those Avawarriors I killed. But I also hear the frightened cries of those who would have been killed--"

    "Old soldiers carry a piece of wisdom with them," Epitome told her. "Sometimes death is the only solution." He looked at her with eyes of someone who had learned the lesson behind his words the hard way. "Either theirs...or yours. And it's up to you to make the choice. Remember that next time the frightened cries of the orphans tries to wake you. It would have been you, and then the orphans. Not could have. Would. Remember that, and let it make you angry."

    Chiaki frowned, and then bit her lip as she looked down at her cup of milk. She finally whispered a quick 'thank you', nodded again slightly, and nearly left again. She stopped herself and turned to add a sudden thought she had, and she smiled as she spoke it. "Jay said something similar to me," she said. "It seems you two have something in common."

    Epitome sighed as she left the kitchen, and whispered, "Great. Now I'll never get to sleep."

---

    It was cool the next morning on the day of, as the news around the world called it, 'deadline for destruction'. Chiaki sat cross-legged in the quiet garden behind the Lair Mansion, her sword carefully balanced across her lap. Her eyes were closed, and she listened to the sounds of nature around her.

    That was her way of preparing herself, mentally and physically. Reaching a perfect relaxed state. Because she knew that with the impending deadline, with the implied threats that went along with it...she couldn't allow them to push her into a state which might cause her to make a deadly mistake.

    "Why do you bring your sword out here?" a soft accented voice asked her.

    She opened her eyes and noted Liu Xi Xian standing over her. She smiled and spoke in a voice as quiet as her surroundings, "A samurai always carries a sword."

    "Why?" Liu Xi asked. Her question was pure enough in its honesty.

    "It's a symbol," Chiaki explained. "Samurai are protectors. This is our way of showing that we are always on guard."

    "I see." Liu Xi nodded. "Are you afraid?" she asked after a short pause.

    Chiaki frowned and looked up at the Chinese elementalist. "Anyone would be," she admitted.

    Liu Xi nodded. "I am too. I suppose each of our threats are relative."

    Chiaki didn't seem to hear that last part. She suddenly rose, carrying her sword in its sheath but not drawing it. She listened for a moment, silently, as if she were waiting for something. Liu Xi took the cue and began looking around as well but didn't see anything.

    The Psychic Samurai then relaxed, but her head remained level, staring in the same direction. "I am not the only one seeking solitude," she whispered. She looked at Liu Xi and continued in a whisper, "The most valuable service you can provide those who depend on you is to find your inner calm." She bowed to Liu Xi and turned to head back inside. "Please excuse me now."

    "What is this?" Liu Xi asked her before she left. The Chinese elementalist was looking down at a small sculpture of tiny rocks in a bed of sand. In the center of it was an incense stick that had burned down to nothing.

    "A...wish," Chiaki explained without turning around. "That the souls of the soldiers I was forced to kill finally find peace."

    Liu Xi bit her lip at first as she looked down. "It sounds like it is your soul that needs to find peace," she whispered sadly. "Or your heart."

    Chiaki paused for a moment. "Not anymore," she said. "I have found peace, my balance restored. I am now ready to face my destiny."

TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sat Jul 08, 2006 at 12:24:31 pm EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Destiny and the Sword Part 1

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