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"Night Meeting" The night after her fight with Shin Akuma, Sakura Yugure caught sight of her friend Akiko Tendo sneaking her way out of the Rindou Dojo. {I know she's a big girl, and she can take care of herself: but she was in battle dress, and her eyes and face... they were so grim,} Sakura thought to herself, guiltily justifying her decision to follow the woman who was practically an older sister to her. {She'd even braided her hair up so it wouldn't get in the way during a fight!} Curious and more than a little troubled, Sakura followed the martial artist as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop towards the Nerima district. At the fire-blackened, gutted shell that was once the Tendo Dojo, Akiko knelt and whispered something to the husk that once housed a home. Even Sakura's hearing couldn't make out Akiko's words, but her tear-rimmed eyes told the fuku'ed fighter more than enough. Her servitude to M. Bison and her subsequent stay at the Rindous had left Akiko with no chance to say goodbye to her family. Their warmth and laughter seemed to still echo from the rafters and she could almost smell the succulent scents of the eldest daughter's cooking. So much lost due to the evil machination of one evil man. Vengeance was largely a trait foreign to Akiko but this was a debt of blood that must be repaid. That day in Joketsuzoku, Akiko had unleashed a great deal of the grief and horror that she had suffered under his thumb. All that was left was the guilt; that horrible, gnawing guilt that left her so empty inside. A few words drifted on the night breeze, as if it were both benediction and eulogy. "Saishu no wakare, minna." (Last goodbye, everyone...) If she had to step into the shadows, then there was only one man that could help her regain her centre, a man who had lived with his darker self for most of his life and still managed to keep a few vestiges of his humanity. Rummaging through the ashes, Akiko pulled out a fire-blackened strongbox that held some of the family's most treasured possessions. A pair of wedding rings, an ivory comb that belonged to the long-deceased matriarch of the home, a stuffed toy that was the poignant reminder of a childhood sacrificed to duty, a sword that was once belonged to a man who had touched their lives so briefly but was so cruelly torn from them, and a jade flute. Akiko drew the flute and played a haunting melody that seemed to reverberate as if the notes could penetrate the fabric of time and space itself. When the full moon reached its zenith, there was a loud pop of displaced air as a young man materialised at the doorstep of the Dojo. His face was impassive but the stiffness of his posture bespoke his surprise at being summoned to this spot. His best friend had died here, his love was buried in its ashes and now he had nothing: nothing to live for, nothing to look forward to and no way to commit suicide. He had tried to die but his thrice-bedamned powers always made sure he survived. His face was a palette of dawning hope as Akiko slowly stepped out of the shadows. With a wild whoop, he ran to her and spun her around like a rag doll. He sobbed into her shoulder as he held the woman he had thought dead for the last few months. Too often, his life had been a vale of bitter ashes, it was almost a miraculous change to shed tears of joy for once. The questions tumbled out in a torrent as he tried to reassure himself that what he beheld was the truth rather than the productions of his fractured mind. Akiko silenced him with a gentle finger across his lips. "I was made the slave of an evil man Kage, could you love me still knowing that I am no longer clean?" Akiko whispered. Kage stared at her incredulously for a moment and then burst out in gales of frenzied laughter. When he saw the hope in her eyes dim with the onset of shock and sorrow, he sobered somewhat. "I would love you no matter what Akiko, you mean the world to me. And I am hardly worthy to judge anyone about her past considering my own chequered history." Akiko smiled a sadly sweet smile that sent Kage's heart aflutter. Sakura crouched where she had been watching from on a neighbouring rooftop, a tear of joy in her eye for her friend's good fortune. {She deserves it: the kami know she's had enough bad luck lately,} she thought - then gasped at Akiko's next words to her teleporting friend. "In that case, I have someone I want you to meet." Akiko looked directly at Sakura's rooftop as she said this, causing the young girl to rise to her feet with a groan. "Busted... I should've known it was too easy following you here," Sakura complained good-naturedly as she leaped down to the pair. "Sa-chan, say hello to my fiancé. Kage, this is my blood sister, Yugure Sakura. Sa-Chan, this is Kasuga no Kage. It was Sakura that freed me from Bison's grasp." "Is that so," said Kage as he quirked up an eyebrow. His senses could detect that this Sakura was something more than human. Well, he could hardly argue with that, he himself was not exactly one hundred percent homo sapiens either. "In that case, I owe you more than I can say." He held out his hand in a very un-Japanese gesture and Sakura tentatively extended her own hand. Her nascent abilities were warning her that the young man before her was far more than he seemed. He was fairly handsome with windblown hair and an honest, open face but in this case, appearances were most deceiving. There was something wild and fey in his eyes that hinted at a patent instability somewhere deep inside and more than that, there was this aura of intangible sadness that enveloped him. Yet where Akiko's aura was shot through with self-inflicted guilt and tragic loss, Kage's aura bore the stench of blood and madness. The moment their fingers touched, Sakura's world exploded into a montage of images. She saw a chibi-version (young version) of Kage, perhaps no older than eight looking out of the window of the family car. She heard his father's startled oath as another car nearly collided with them. His sudden swerve on the rain-slicked road caused the car to skid until it broke through the barrier and fell into a ravine. All of his life young Kasuga Kyosuke knew that there was something special about him. Power was his heritage and the blood of kings flowed in his veins. If the powers amounted to anything, then at least he could save his family as they plunged to certain death. Concentrating harder than he ever had before, he called upon his latent abilities to save them. A moment of disorientation overtook him and he found himself staring at the burning wreckage of the family car; his powers had saved his life. But left his family to die. Weeping the young child tried to inch his thoroughly fatigued body towards the pyre that claimed his loved ones. Calling for his parents and sisters, the young Kage was sent into the realm of oblivion when the car blew up. A chibi-Kage dressed in traditional Japanese mourning clothes cried as they lowered his parent's coffins into the cold earth. He broke away from the restraining arms of his grandfather even as the gravediggers began to shovel in the soil to cover the grave. "Okaa-san, Otou-san, (Mother, Father) don't leave me!" he wailed. The charred bodies of his parents burst out of their coffins and hugged their son. Vicious bolts of telekinetic force kept away the rest of the mourners as he held the animated corpses of his parents. Only his telekinesis manipulated the empty husks, their souls long fled to their eternal reward; but this made little difference to Kage. Kage, now a teenager, listened to Master Sato drone on and on about koans. His extended family had decided it would be best if the unstable child were put into fosterage with the monks of Peach Blossom Monastery. >From them, he learned discipline, the art of Zen and Kobo Ichi Kai Jiu-jutsu. Kage proved to be an apt student of the martial arts, channelling all of his energy into mastering the school of Jiu-jutsu the monks had devised that emphasized how to use the opponent's joints and weight to your advantage. For a bunch of supposedly pacifistic holy men, they sure did have one lethal fighting style. A common lament among the older monks was that if only their young charge would show just as much enthusiasm in his other lessons. Kage's frame grew strong and wiry under the martial art training and various menial tasks he performed in and around the monastery and the surrounding villages. At fourteen, he was handsome enough to catch the eye of several village girls but his heart only belonged to one. Oda Kimura, a girl who was as insightful as she was beautiful. Her father approved of Kage's attentions and all too soon, the two were betrothed at the behest of the Abbot. It was obvious that Kage would never be able to tolerate a contemplative life searching for enlightenment. The Abbot was pleased to note however that the boy would grow up to be a fine practitioner of Kobo Ichi Kai and would find inner mastery in time through the Art. The temple sponsored a dojo to teach the fundamentals of self-defence and perfection through physical combat for all who wished to learn. It was satisfying for the current sensei that there already was a most worthy replacement for him in the form of an orphan boy. Seasons passed and summer gave way to autumn. Under a shower of cherry blossom petals, Kage and Oda exchanged words of love that would bind them forever come spring. Autumn deepened into winter as the land slept under a blanket of white. Kage honed his Art during the quiet months in the monastery, his heritage all but forgotten. Winter was the time of contemplation as folk look back on the past year. His ESPer powers had failed to protect his family when it was needed so Kage spent his years developing the power of his maturing body. At fifteen he could already outfight most of his sensei and would someday become a sensei himself, perhaps even the Grandmaster of the style. Days blurred together as Kage awaited the arrival of spring and his impending marriage. New responsibilities would be his but it would hardly matter; if Oda was there with him, he could weather anything that life could throw at him.... *IF.* Oda died that winter, stricken by a horrible fever. Kage could do nothing as he watched her wither away. He held her hands even as her last breaths left her body. Weeping piteously over her body, Kage thought of the modern hospitals in the city and how their medicine could have saved her. As he descended into grief, he felt a strange disorientation that would one day be as familiar to him as his own name. Forcing his eyes open despite the nausea, Kage found himself surrounded by baffled nurses gawking at the young man who had suddenly materialised in their midst. Kage stared at Oda's lifeless form as the horrible realisation hit him. Saving her was in his power all along.... It was the first nail in the coffin of his sanity. An older, harder Kage walked the grimy streets of Shinjuku ward in Tokyo. A den of crime and villainy, life was cheap in its garish neon nights. People were killed over something as petty as cheap booze. Kage fit in just fine. Kage willingly traded the peace and tranquility of the monastery for the throngs of the city. He could never stay in that place again without being reminded of his loss. He was an aimless wanderer then, scraping together enough to survive from the corpses of would-be muggers. Word soon hit the street that the black-clad boy roaming Shinjuku was death on two legs. Thugs began paying *him* protection money so that he would leave them alone. In a seedy bar where the lost and listless gathered, he met a woman who was in just as desperate straits as he was. Yukari Suzuhara was once the vocalist for a band until her boyfriend ran afoul of the Yakuza. Alone and unable to extract her vengeance, she took to drink to lose herself. Life looked so much better from the bottom of a glass. In a strange dichotomy, two lost souls found each other and in doing so found themselves. Kage began school to earn the education that could net him a job while Yukari returned to the stage. Her earnings could hardly support both of them (and there was this small matter of masculine pride) so Kage turned to pit fighting to procure funds. The purse moneys meant that they both could have a comfortable lifestyle out of the gutter. For a while they lived as man and wife although they never officially married. People with loose tongues whispered that it was improper for the two of them to co-habit and it was just positively scandalous that Yukari was almost seven years Kage's senior. These people also learned to keep their peace on this matter in earshot of Kage after what he did to one of their number. Hiro was just too full of alcohol to be tactful. At least Kage was civil enough to pay for a decent funeral. Kage was content then as his life settled into a peaceful rhythm. Yukari was a godsend and school was not so bad. All he had to do was remember to always rein in his temper and all would be fine. Passing up homework: good. Beating up fellow students: bad. In his spare time he bent his will to mastering his innate abilities, the ESPer powers that were his birthright. One evening, Yukari and he strolled through one of the better parts of town as they basked in their shared warmth. Nights were chilly at the time of the year as the equinox approached once again. Kage had mastered a new trick that he wanted to show off. He could use his teleportation to switch places with anyone in his line of sight. He demonstrated this ability by exchanging positions with Yukari just as a bullet burst her head like a melon; in the exact place where Kage himself would have been an instant ago. A second bullet blasted Kage into oblivion even as his fingers tried to reach out to Yukari. Once more his powers saved him by slowing down the bullet until it stunned instead of slew. If only they worked to save others. When Kage awoke, he found himself the unwilling guest of Strike Force Zero, Japan's version of the MIB. Taken as a subject for Project Seishun, Kage and a few other ESPers (psychics) like him were fodder for the government's attempt to create a psychic super-soldier. Horrible experiments were conducted on the young ESPers, pain on a magnitude unimaginable by most of humanity wracked their bodies as the souless scientists attempted to wrest their very essence out of their bodies. Many died in the early stages, more went insane as power overwhelming flooded their brains and the rest became gibbering vegetables incapable of coherent thought. The mad ones were confined and clinically studied while undergoing treatment for psychosis. They had their super-soldiers at last. Salvation came in the unlikely form of a KGB agent who sprang them from their cells. The surviving ESPers rebelled and fled their captors. And they left their saviour to die when the security forces caught up to them. Kage was one of the first freed and one of the most guilt-ridden when they abandoned their rescuer, Michael Bison. A Kage almost twenty-one walked the streets of Tokyo again. His fractured mind was on the mend and his mercurial temper tamed somewhat. Slightly unstable before, Kage's shattered psyche made a very fine distinction between friend and foe. Friends were to be protected and foes were to be eliminated. Only recently had he repaired his mind so that he could function like the rest of humanity. In one of his jaunts, he spied a girl beset by an entire gang. Her raven locks and lithe movements piqued his interest as he watched her level several heavy bruisers trying to prove just how tough they were. When she decked the gang leader, the entire lot of them descended on her like a pack of wolves. Kage jumped into the fight then and together they forged a fast friendship over the battered bodies of their attackers. Ayukawa Madoka became the centre of his life. Her kimagure (whimsical) moods suited his well and more than once they had spectacular spats only to kiss and make up later. The pair were both feared and respected by the underworld. People knew that Madoka was a fearsome fighter and others remembered the Kage that walked Shinjuku before Yukari. The pair loved, laughed and lived; everything was done to the extreme as they ran through the streets of Tokyo. The night was their playground and the day was spent in each other's arms. Another couple, Yuusaku and Hikaru joined them in their wild revels. It was a life free of responsibility or duty, a carefree life intoxicating in its heady mix of fun and danger. Enemies plotted in shadow as the Kage and Madoka stepped on far too many toes. In an unprecedented event, three of the biggest gangs convened to eliminate the pair. They had wiped out smaller bands on a whim and had fought elements of all the gangs at one time or another. Members in ICU or the morgue demanded restitution. They bided their time and struck when Kage and Madoka had one of their inevitable tiffs. Hikaru was swiftly found and kidnapped by the gangs in hope of luring them into a trap of their devising. Sure enough, Madoka came in with blades flashing and Kage assaulted them from the flanks. With many of their members scattered about in some form of unconsciousness or worse, two of the gang leaders engaged the duo in personal combat. Madoka the Queen of Blades lived up to her reputation as she swiftly gutted her opponent. With blood choking her every word, the gangster motioned Madoka to lean forward to hear her final words. Obligingly Madoka knelt next to the fallen adversary only to see the small hold-out pistol concealed in her hand.... Kage toyed with his enemy, making sure that the brawny youth before him knew that he was dead upon Kage's whim. In boredom, Kage glanced over his shoulder to see how Madoka was faring. His eyes widened when the report of a handgun filled his ears and Madoka fell backwards with a blossom of blood on her chest. A vicious telekinetic punch took care of the gang leader instantly as Kage teleported to Madoka's side. The bullet had pierced her heart, killing her instantly. Smoothing the expression of shock and surprise from her face so that it held a resemblance of peace, Kage laid Madoka's body on the floor with the reverence due of the Holy Grail. His tenuous last link to sanity snapped, Kage summoned forth the prodigious powers that were now his to command. A dark halo enveloped the prostrate form of Kage even as the remaining gang members took nervous steps back. All of the exits slammed shut as they all heard a soft ominous whisper, "don't even bother to scream...." Kage began a crusade against the gangs and later the Yakuza. Anyone he judged and found wanting, he killed. Blood ran like rivers as Kage's pogrom decimated the ranks of what society termed "undesirables". His own family tried to kill him to end his murderous spree of wanton violence but they too fell to his power. Cousins he never met and relatives he never knew tasted the bitter fruits of Project Seishun, which had enhanced his abilities beyond that of any living ESPer. The elders of the Kasuga clan used a convergence of their power to banish Kage away from their world in the hope that wherever he found itself had a protector mighty enough to halt the mad ESPer's rampage. With a prayer for forgiveness they launched Kage into the dimensional vortex. What Kage experienced in the alternate reality was far, far worse than any torture the elders could conceive. He landed in a reality where he was *happy*. His father and sisters were alive, Madoka and Hikaru both loved him and he had never had to dirty his hands with blood. Kage displaced the Kasuga Kyosuke of that reality, his counterpart of that dimension and tried to live his life. All those around him noted the change immediately in the supposed Kasuga Kyosuke. Kage appeared like his counterpart but they had precious little in common. Kage fled from that reality when Madoka wept for her lost love. In all of their ranting, raving and arguments, Kage had *never* made *his* Madoka cry. It was more than he could bear to see her doppelganger shed tears because *her* love was no more. Kage brought Kyosuke back from the dimensional vortex and left that reality with shame like he had never known nipping at his heels. In the eternal spiral of the dimensional nexus, Kage tried to find his home reality again but found himself lost in the innumerable permutations of destiny. Always wandering, searching for a home again, Kage traversed multiple realities by dint of his power. In one reality where beings of eldritch power walked the earth he met a foolish man; a man of great power who made precious little use of it. A man who wielded his abilities only to defend the weak and protect the innocent. A man who would someday become Kage's best friend and moral compass. His name was Tendo Akodo and it was him that restored the last vestiges of Kage's waning humanity. Akodo was a superb martial artist, far more accomplished than even Kage himself. Akodo had learnt how to harness the power of his spirit, his "chi", to fuel attacks that could level mountains. He could move so fast that no untrained brawler could even see his punches coming, he could dent steel with his fists and easily withstood Kage's best telekinetic bolts. And all he had to his name was a sleeping mat and a sword. From him Kage learnt restraint in the use of his powers, honour in his dealings with others and the measure of a humble heart. Of course the world kills the very good, the very brave and the very gentle; Akodo was all three. His death had a sobering effect on Kage. Akodo knew he was going to die when he fought a demon prince but he went willingly anyway. He was the only one at the scene who could have stopped the otherworldly entity so Akodo drew his sword and charged even though he knew it would cost him his life. If the demon prince were allowed to complete the ritual to open a gate to the Demon Realm then the world would have been their oyster. Kage cared little for the world, he only cared for his friends. He could have taken them to another world free of such monsters where they could have started anew. Akodo did not think that way; he sacrificed his life for people he never knew and who would never know that someone had died on their behalf. Kage was once again lost as his friend plunged into the heart of darkness. He roamed again but his feet always seemed to find the Tendo Dojo in a vain hope that Akodo would just pop out of the woodwork, miraculously unharmed and unscathed. Akiko made her debut into his life then, a woman so much like Akodo in so many ways that it was eerie. Kage loved Akiko with every fibre of his being; but every so often, he would get the impression that speaking through her was the ghost of his lost friend. "Sa-chan?? Sa-chan!! Are you okay??" Akiko's voice drew Sakura out of the torrent of images and back to the here and now. "Acchan... again... it happened again! I thought it was just Psycho or Satsu power before... it's not, is it? Is it me..?" Akiko blinked. "You'll have to explain that later," she stated, and Sakura nodded. Recovering her balance, the fuku-clad girl looked up to see Kage staring at her as if challenging her to judge him, to judge his suffering. She managed a shaky smile. "Wow... you've been through a lot," she commented. "I can't really say I'd have acted much differently than you, though, so I can't think badly of you." She extended her hand again. "Anyone who can win the heart of Acchan is a friend of mine. Welcome back to our world!" The trio travelled back to the Rindou dojo that night, giving Kage a spare sleeping mat (provoking a wry smile from the dimension-travelling psychic,) and letting him sleep in the dojo. Of course, the Sunrise Surprise Attack served him as a wake-up call. Sakura was surprised to actually see a tear in the man's hardened eyes as he watched the two young girls enthusiastically try to pound, hammer, and/or dunk each other... {One more thing I'll have to learn about him,} Sakura thought, though the distraction cost her another trip into the pond. ([splash] [sputter] "Acchannnn!") Kage was introduced to Itamu Rindou and Kho-Om at breakfast, with Akiko doing the honours. The psychic bowed with great formality to both, and was welcomed into the Dojo as a guest. Kage's wistful mention of the place's resemblance to the destroyed Tendo Dojo started a conversation that led eventually to the mention of the tragedy, despite Akiko's sudden silence and Sakura's best efforts to change the topic. "The death of my cousin Soun and his family came as a great blow to all of us," the Rindou patriarch admitted, his own melancholy distracting both him and Kho-Om from Akiko's pale-faced silence. "Truly a tragedy. No one even knows what happened - just that the dojo was burned to the ground one night, and no bodies were even found." Akiko's head came back up at that, and Sakura knew quite well why. {No bodies??} Sakura thought wildly. {But I *saw* it in Acchan's memories - she was forced to kill everyone there and leave their bodies lying where they fell! *Some* bodies should have survived, even with the fire!} Murmuring an 'excuse me,' Akiko got up and left the table as Itamu went on about how the Dojo was maintained in its current shape as a way to keep the memories of the Tendos alive, a topic that Kage seemed to approve as he began to offer comments for the first time. Excusing herself in turn, Sakura also left the group, following Akiko to the dojo proper. "Acchan, are you okay?" Sakura called softly as she entered the room. "What happened there - that I don't know about, I mean?" Akiko murmured back. "Did Bison have some sick plans for their bodies, having his men gather them up as I left? Or is it something else? What *else* happened to my poor family...?" the stunningly lovely redhead finished, choking on a sob. Sakura knelt beside her blood-sister and put an arm around her shoulders. "I don't know, but it doesn't necessarily have to be something *bad,*" the schoolgirl replied. "It's possible that someone had a need for them - maybe even in the afterlife. Remember the start of Dragon Ball Z? Kami pulled Goku's body to the Next World physically so he could train to save the Earth. Maybe they're all training in the big Dojo in heaven for the day that they'll come back and save *you,*" she quipped. Akiko tried, and failed, to contain a chuckle. "Heh - maybe, Sa-chan," she answered, blinking tears out of her eyes and standing up. "But here I am burdening you with my troubles while you have enough of your own - like your comment from last night. Do you want to talk about it?" the scarlet-tressed beauty asked. Sakura, taken aback, had to think for a moment to remember what Akiko meant. "Oh! Um, yeah, I guess. Well, you see..." Sakura went on to describe her various visions and dreams, from her 'battle' with Moloch Aensland onward. She recapped the visions she'd had of Akiko's forced slaughter of the Tendos, mentioned her odd moment at the end of the dream Akuma had sent her, with the three apparitions, and her visions and sensations from both Akuma and Kage. Finally, a bit out of breath, she came to a close. "...so do you have any ideas, Acchan?" Akiko paused for a moment. "I'm not sure, Sa-chan, but it sounds to me as if you need to find out more about yourself. All these things you described only have two common factors - you, and strong emotion." Sakura nodded. "Yeah, but how?" she asked. Akiko shrugged. "The most useful way I've found is meditation - like the old Native American 'vision quests.' You turn your awareness deeper and deeper inward until you see something - and however direct or obscure it is, it usually has something to do with the problem you're struggling with." Sakura groaned. "Oh, no... Acchan, I'm no good with that sort of thing. Like Ryu always said, I summon *chi* through Will instead of Focus... I never could manage to meditate properly." Akiko smiled gently at her. "Okay. I'll tell you what - I'll guide you through the meditation and stand ready to wake you up if anything dangerous seems to be happening." Sakura smiled gratefully at her surrogate sister. "Okay." Sakura drifted. Akiko's words seemed to come to her from no definable direction: her closed eyes and sharp focus were already dimming her perceptions of the outside world. "...can you still hear me, sa-chan...?" "Yes," she replied. "...now that you're in a meditative state, you should 'see' yourself as drifting in a gray mist..." She nodded. {It looks a lot like the dreamscape Akuma was visiting me in,} she thought, then brought her concentration firmly back to the task at hand. "...there are two directions for you to go: inward or out. which one you should choose depends on where you think the answer lies... good luck sa-chan..." Sakura hung there, her awareness now sufficently within the mindscape that she could open her astral 'eyes' without waking her physical self. {Out, or in?} she wondered, then made her decision. {No, this has all come from me, not from anything outside of me. My answer isn't going to be outside.} With that, she half-closed her eyes and let herself drop deeper into the gray fog. An indeterminate time later, she looked up, noticing three glows of colour in an otherwise toneless world. Willing her astral self nearer, she watched as the glows resolved into three auras - red, blue, and green, all three colours the purest shade of their hue. "Who are you?" Sakura asked. Then she gasped as three shapes suddenly resolved themselves out of the lights. Not for any strangeness to them, but for the familiarity: she had, after all, seen each one's face whenever she looked into a mirror. All three were her, but they were quite different besides that. The red one was dressed in tattered fighter's gear, like Akuma, and had the flames of the Satsu no Hadou playing about her hands. The blue one was in a ladies' version of one of Ryu's *gi,* and her sharp gaze never left Sakura's face. The green one was in a *fuku* much like Sakura's own, and her face had a quiet serenity to it. "We are you," the red one said. "Parts of you, more precisely," the blue one added. "All born of the same source, and all segments of a whole," the green one finished. "I don't understand," Sakura complained. "Why are there... four of me? How did this happen? Are you responsible for the visions I've been having, and the calm that came over me while I was fighting Akuma?" All three light-girls smiled: red grimly, blue coolly, and green approvingly. "We are all aspects of your personality," the green one said. "And more truly, aspects of what your former self, Sakura Kasugano, desired when she drew upon the Satsu no Hadou to try and stop Apocalypse." "I am the Avenger," the red one said. "I was born of her anger and hatred for Apocalypse and those like him who do uncaring harm, and her desire to see such beasts humbled or smashed. I may be the most powerful of we three Aspects," she waved a hand at herself and her blue and green companions, "because I am your tap into the Satsu no Hadou." The blue one nodded as the Avenger trailed off. "I am the Defender. I was born of our original's desire to prevent harm from befalling her friends or other innocents. You invoked me during your battle with Shin Akuma because of your desire to protect Mei from him. I am precise, cool, and calculating, but I am of limited usefulness on the attack, just as Avenger is on defense." The green one finished the explanation. "I am not so easily named. Justice, perhaps?" she shrugged. "I was born of our original's compassion, and from that, her desire to see wrongs not just avenged or prevented, but *put right.* I am instinct, the desire for understanding, empathy... and I am the only Aspect with powers that are noncombative as well as battle-ready. I am the source of your visons - when you touched someone and their *chi* flowed, while you sincerely wished to understand them better, I reached out." Sakura scuffled her foot nervously. "But then, what am I...?" Justice smiled at her. "You are the ego that binds us together, the mind, history, and memories that give us purpose, the one that gives us direction. You came from the old Sakura, and you of all of us are closest to her... and what keeps us human." "Are we human, even?" Sakura asked. "I mean, Morri-neesan and Demitri seemed to think I was becoming a Darkstalker..." All three Aspects giggled, though the Defender stifled hers somewhat. "What is 'humanity'?" Justice asked. "Physically, no, we are not human, but we are what humans may all someday become, whether through training or technology. But Bison is human in body - is he really Human, though, with the capacity to care for and interact with others that makes the human race what it is? On the other hand, we've met Blanka - is he human? Not in body, no, but in spirit, yes. He's kind and gentle when he's not in a fight, even if he *is* a bit dimwitted," the Aspect finished, stifling another giggle. Avenger nodded. "Only those who cast aside their higher feelings are truly inhuman - and only such beings are deserving of my *full* rage." Defender agreed curtly. "The only way to define humanity in this day of vampires and clones is through actions. Those whose actions merit no harm to them are those whom I protect - the innocent and the weak. Those who seek to do harm without consideration or care have at least for a moment cast aside their humanity, and those are the ones I must protect the others from." Sakura giggled. "Geez, we're a guardian of humanity - like the Sailor Senshi were," she finished more soberly. Justice nodded. "Even our original self felt that way. As for the Senshi's current condition, you must gather more information and make your own decision about that." Sakura replied, "Good point... but I should be going now. Do you guys get lonely inside me? Should I come back to visit?" The three Aspects all smiled again in their various fashions. Justice was the one to answer, "No... now that you know of us, you will no doubt call us forth, as you have Defender to battle Akuma. Fare you well, our overself." With a nod and a wave, Sakura ascended back up through the mist, out of herself. After a moment of disorientation, Sakura opened her eyes to find herself back in the Rindou dojo. "Did you learn anything, Sa-chan?" Akiko asked, staring at her with concern in her eyes. "Yeah, a lot... I just need some time to think it over," Sakura answered, shaking her head. "I'll tell you later, Acchan, and that's a promise." "All right," Akiko replied with a smile that seemed to brighten the room, then turned and left Sakura to her thoughts. Some time later, Sakura was startled from her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. "Aah! Dare..? (Who..?)" she asked, springing to her feet and spinning around. "It's me, Yugure-san," said the tall, grim figure of Kage no Kasuga. "I'd like to talk with you." "Ano.. about what, Kage-san?" Sakura asked. "You've been reacting, both physically and emotionally, as if you know what Akiko-chan went through when she was held by this... 'Bison' person. I need to know, so that I don't hurt her, and so I can help her... but she's still too hurt by whatever happened for me to ask. I *cannot,* will not, ask her to explain if it will hurt her... and my only other source of information is you," he finished. Sakura quailed. {Explain *that?* To a man who loves Acchan...?} she thought, then struggled with a reply. "I, um... I can tell you about Bison and such, but I... don't know if I can talk about... the thing that really hurt Acchan either," she stammered. "I... When I set her free, I almost went through it, from her point of view... like what I saw when I took your hand, but not as much," she tried to explain. Kage nodded, cutting off her stammering explanation. "An empathic link, I see... I suppose you have either some latent psychic talent or the near equivalent. In that case, I can simplify things. If I can perform such a link with you, I'll get all the information without needing you to dredge it up and turn it into words. Would that do?" he asked, in a tone that hinted of impatience. Sakura blinked a few times, but finally calmed down and nodded. As Kage reached a hand out for her head, she blurted out, "Um, I have to warn you... there was a lot of stuff, but the part I saw... Bison made her do something really unspeakable... to those she loved." Kage's eyes widened, but then his hand made contact with the side of Sakura's head, and the two ceased paying attention to anything external. When Sakura again opened her eyes to the physical world, it was to find Kage quaking with rage - not in the manner of shaking muscles, but the earthquake-like trembling to contain power only barely held in check. "That... MONSTER!" Kage ground out. Afraid that the tremors would spread from Kage and wreck the dojo, Sakura threw her arms around him in a hug that was half embrace, half restraint, and a moment later Akiko ran into the room and did the same from the other side. "It's okay, it's okay, I *know,*" Sakura desperately implored the psychic. "It was horrible, unspeakable, but she's free now, it's okay. Acchan, he knows - I'm sorry if you wanted it to be a secret-" she added to Akiko, who shook her head quickly. "I would have told him sooner or later, once it... didn't hurt so much," the redhead replied. With a sad smile at Kage, she added, "I would have taken him out into the mountains to do it, though. Kage, I know you want to fight... but there's no purpose to lashing out now. It would only destroy the place that has sheltered both me and my rescuer, that has given me back a bit of my inner peace," she gently admonished. Slowly, as reason filtered back in, Kage calmed down and the shaking subsided. "I understand, Akiko-sama," he said, cupping her cheek. "And I know that it was not your fault... so stop blaming yourself. That collar and the power together could overcome anything you might have done. And I owe *you* even more thanks for freeing her," he added to Sakura, who blushed and let him go. "You're welcome. Um, should I give you two some privacy?" she asked, edging toward the door. Akiko held out a hand to stop her. "Wait, Sa-chan. Being a *sensei* to you has helped me almost as much as staying here... and I did enjoy helping you meditate this afternoon. I haven't felt that peaceful since," and the redhead looked away, referring to her attack on the Tendo dojo as directly as she could. Looking back up, she went on, "I think we could all use some peace again now... so could you stay and we can all meditate together?" Sakura blinked, and then nodded. "Okay," she said, a soft smile much like Akiko's growing on her face. Minutes later, the three of them were seated in yoga postures as Akiko talked Sakura through the early stages of meditation once again. "Now with your eyes closed, let your senses expand outward, to take in the world around you before you turn your eye inward..." Sakura let out a deep breath as she tried to comply, letting her senses range farther and farther outward- -only to jolt out of any kind of meditative state and almost any calm as an aura neither girl in the room would *ever* forget impinged on their awareness. "Acchan!!" Sakura got out of a half-closed throat in a voice that was half gasp, half growl. "I know, Sa-chan... I feel it too," the lovely redhead answered. "It's quite powerful... but who is it? I don't know this aura," Kage asked, growing agitated just from observing how distressed the two girls were becoming. "Trust me, you'll *never* forget it once you know it," Sakura ground out in a voice growing dark with hate. "He makes that kind of impression on people." She paused for a moment, then as Kho-Om and Itamu Rindou ran into the room, attracted by the sounds of distress, then announced the aura's identity. "It's Bison. He's here, in Nerima." |