Ghost from the Past
folder
+S through Z › Soul Caliber
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
2
Views:
3,396
Reviews:
7
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
+S through Z › Soul Caliber
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
2
Views:
3,396
Reviews:
7
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Soul Caliber, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Promises made
A/N Thank you people for all the reviews…all, like FOUR of them. And two are mine, soWTF?!
Chapter 2—Promises made, promises kept.
Three months later, Kai woke up to sounds of laughter. Asuka and Kenji were playing outside, and she wasn’t sure where Hei-chan was until she heard a deep masculine voice laughing along with the children.
Hei-chan and Kenji-chan had reconciled and were as father and son should be. They did everything together: fishing, sports, meditations…Hei-chan was teaching him his discipline and Kenji was catching on very fast. He was better than most children his age.
Asuka practiced as well, but preferred the bow and arrow to the sword. She, at six years, was an amateur, but was far better than anyone else her own age. She could take an apple out of the tree branch ten feet up with one arrow, then catch it as it fell with another. She and Hei-chan had taken walks in the woods and were content to sit and meditate and practice. Asuka was a quiet intellectual at age six.
Kai yawned and sat up. Sunlight and laughter filtered thrugh the shoji paneling. Then the room went quiet suddenly. Kai sat up and looked around, a bit skittish for the silence.
The woman grabbed a dagger and slid it into her sleeve, then opened the shoji door—
--to have something slimy shoved into her face. “Look what I found!”
Kai absolutely HATED snakes. “GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!” She jumped back, one hand on her heart and another on the door frame. “Kenji, put that down before it bites you!”
“It won’t bite, Mama. That snake doesn’t bite.” Asuka’s quiet voice said.
Still flustered, Kai glanced at her daughter. “How do you know that?!”
“Daddy.” Asuka said in her almost a whisper-like voice. Mitsurugi glanced in.
“You alright, koishii? You look a little flushed.” The ronin smiled, eyes crinkling.
Kai looked into the man’s eyes. His brown eyes had a spark that belied his 39 years now that he had seen his children, making him seem about half his age. He picked up Asuka and the girl leaned her head on his broad shoulder and Mitsurugi rested a hand on his son’s head.
Kai was about to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. “Hei-kun? You home?”
The petite woman’s eyes widened. “Is that--?!”
“You cane ine in!” Mitsurugi called over his shoulder, careful not to shout in Asuka’s ear.
The shoji door slid open and hesitant footsteps sounded. Taki had decided to come and visit Hei-kun, to see how he was doing—it had been about four months--when she heard the sounds of children’s laughter. *Since when did Hei-kun have children in his house?*
She peeked around a pole to see—“KAI!”
“Taki!” Mitsurugi stepped back with his children in tow as the two women embraced and Taki looked down at the smaller woman.
“Kai, I thought you were dead. . .”
Kai looked at the ninja, who had been like a sister to her. “I thought everyone else was dead…I don’t know where Maxi is. . .”
The mention of the pirate’s name brought tears to Taki’s eyes. “Kai. . .I’m so sorry. . .Maxi didn’t make it.”
“. . .Sarah. . .?” Kai croaked after a tense minute. Despite the fact that her half-sister had killed her cousin, Kai was worried. Taki shook her head, tears in her eyes. “When. . .?”
“A few hours later. . .she saved you.” Taki wrapped her arms around Kai’s shoulders as the younger woman’s legs buckled beneath her.
“Maithair--?”
Taki turned to see Hei-kun holding a small girl in his arms while a boy roughly the same age stood stoically by his side. “. . .Kai? Nan de. . .?”
Kai sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes. “Taki, these are my children. . .the girl is Asuka, the boy is Kenji.”
“Hello there, little man. . .” Taki knelt so that she was eye level with the boy. “Kai, he looks like. . .” The ninja looked upwards at Mitsurugi, who nodded.
“Taki, this is my son and my daughter.” The ronin smiled.
Taki smiled, keeping her feelings secret. “Omedetou gozaimasu, Hei-kun. Twins?”
“Yep. Six years old, both of them.” Mitsurugi bent down and set Asuka on the ground; the girl dashed behind her brother and gave the ninja fearful look.
“I’ll be damned.” Taki stood up. “I would have never thought you could have children. . .” Realizing her mistake, the ninja clamped a hand over her mouth while Kai bit back a laugh. “Gomen—I didn’t mean it like that!”
Mitsurugi blinked, the unintended insult going over his head. “It’s okay, Taki; why don’t you sit and eat with us? Tell us what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. . .I’m still hunted; you know that.” Taki sighed.
Kai’s eyes flashed. “By who--?” The FuMa had disbanded after Taki had killed their leader Toki, some months after the fight with Sarah.
“…I honestly couldn’t tell you.” Truth was, Taki had no idea who this person was that was chasing her. All she knew was that people she had been in contact with ended up dead. Mitsurugi, however, was still alive, and Taki had no doubt that he was next…Kai and her children would be on the list as well. “I’d best be going…I wouldn’t want to put you in danger.” By ‘you’, Taki meant all four of them.
Neither heard a rustling noise outside of the shoji door.
“Couldn’t you at least stay the night. . .?” Kai pressed. She was anxious to catch up with Taki.
The ninja thought some. “. . .I. . .guess I could. . .” *Not here, please, not here. Just let me off for a few days, please. . .*
Later that night, Taki helped Kai put Asuka and Kenji to be“Kai“Kai, you are the luckiest woman I know. . .” She helped Kenji pull on a houserobe. “How do you manage? I mean, two kids at your age. . .?”
“And you’re implying what exactly?” Kai tried to keep her tone serious, but ended up laughing; Taki joined in. “I’m 32 years old! I should have had another by now. . .”
Taki shook her head. “I’m almost 40…I’ve never been with anyone that I truaredared for. . .I did have feelings for Hei-kun—I still do—but there’s nothing n don do about that now. . .” She pulled back the blanket to allow Kenji to lie down on the futon.
Kai sighed blissfully and kissed Asuka’s forehead. “He’s such a lady-killer, isn’t he? I’m sure he took at least one lover in my absence.”
“Mommy, what’s ‘lover’ mean?” Asuka asked with all the innocence of a child.
“Nevermind, Asuka-chan; go to sleep now.” Kai kissed Kenji’s forehead and hugged them both. “You both go to sleep. And if I hear anything so much as resembling a pillowfight, there will be no dessert for a week!”
Taki had waited patiently until Kai was up and starting for the door. Both women walked out of the room and Taki closed the shoji door. “Believe it or not, no. To my knowledge, he didn’t even have one.” *That’s not true, Taki; remember your only night with him. And remember the consequences of that night. . .* “He damn near drank himself to death, though!”
Both women chuckled and Kai shook her head. “I’m amazed.”
“For three years, Hei-kun was so far down in his grief over you, I worried for him. He lost so much weight, he was basically a shell. . .I don’t know what turned him around.” *You know.*
Kai yawned. “We should be getting some sleep.” Instead, Taki walked out the door into the tiny garden; rolling her eyes, Kai followed.
Taki’s head reeled. She had to tell Kai about the night three years prior. “Kai. . .I’m afraid I haven’t been honest with you.”
The smaller woman lifted an eyebrow. “I know. I kinda picked up on that.”
Taki shook her head. “Perceptive, aren’t you?”
“You learn when you have children.” Kai shrugged. “I had hoped he at least tried to settle down. . .”
“You know him. . .But the lover thing. . .?” Taki nearly burst into tears—very indignant of a nearly 40 year old hardened warrior.
Kai smiled. “I think I know. . .did anything else happen?”
“He has a daughter by me. . .”
Kai’s jaw dropped. After a stunned silence, she responded with a barrage of questions. “Does he know?! Have you told him?” *Why am I not surprised?*
Not that Kai was angry—far from it—but she wished Taki had been honest to begin with. She knew she had no reason to be upset—after all, she had been gone and presumed dead for six years.
“No, I haven’t told him about Chihiro-chan. I. . .I didnhinkhink he needed to know. . .” the ninja stammered.
Kai was grateful that Hei-chan slept like a rock; he would probably be very upset with Taki now. . . “Taki. . .you have to tell him. He deserves to know!”
Taki shook her head. “We. . .I. . .he’d. . .we couldn’t have a relationship. . .not even if you actually were dead. . .it just wouldn’t work out. . .Kai, please, don’t tell him. . .Promise me!”
*This goes against everything I’ve been taught…* “I. . .I promise. . .but you have to tell him. . .at least before you die. . .” Kai sat down on the ground overlooking the valley; Taki followed suit and put her head in her hands. “Children should not have to live without a father.”
“Please. . .Her name is really Chihiro and she’s leaving under the name Kenshin with a friend. . .Kenshin Chihiro. If something happens to me, I want you to find her and look after her. . .she should be about 3 now. I can’t tell Hei-kun. . .I just don’t have that type of feeling for him anymore.”
Kai put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I promise that as well, if you promise me two things.”
Taki turned a tear stained face to Kai. “. . .and those are?”
“Tell Hei-kun before something happens to you—“
“I figured. . .”
“—and watch over my children if something happens to me.” Kai finished. “And don’t talk like you’re going to die because you’re hunted, because you won’t. The hunters will give up, you’ll go to Chihiro and you’ll bring her to meet her daddy. . .”
“Sooo. . .you k thk the hunters will just give up? Just like that?”
The voice made Kai and Taki jump to their feet, Kai with her hands in an unarmed stance and Taki with her hands on her ninjatou. The two women scanned the area looking for the owner of the masculine voice. “Who’s there?!”
“You don’t need to know that yet. All you need to know it this—“ A throwing knife flew out of the bushes behind Kai and lodged itself in the woman’s side. She fell forward and rolled up, yanking the knife out with a pained grunt.
Taki waved her down. “Don’t bother, he’s gone.”
Kai tried to stand straight up, but doubled over in pain. Taki put a hand over the tiny but deep hole. “You’ll be fine; it missed vital organs.”
“It’s not that I’m worried about. . .”
Taki looked at the dart, studying it. “It’s not poisoned, either. IT's Fu-Ma; the Fu-Ma don’t poison their message darts.” She helped Kai inside and helped her to a futon, where the ninja patched up the wound.
“What did it say?” Kai questioned.
“I don’t know and I’m not sure I do. . .” Taki opened the hollow dart anyways. She read the note and her eyes widened. “I. . .I have to leave. Now. . .”
Without another word, the ninja bolted through the window, headed east.
"What the hell--? I heard a noise--KAI?! Are you okay?" Mitsurugi rushed to his wife's side and placed a hand on it.
“Hei-kun. . .I’m worried for Taki. . .she’s. . .she’s not herself.” Kai explain everything, leaving out Taki’s daughter Chihiro. “. . .I think we may not see her again for a long while.”
Mitsurugi nodded solemnly. “Let’s get some sleep...we may need it."
Chapter 2—Promises made, promises kept.
Three months later, Kai woke up to sounds of laughter. Asuka and Kenji were playing outside, and she wasn’t sure where Hei-chan was until she heard a deep masculine voice laughing along with the children.
Hei-chan and Kenji-chan had reconciled and were as father and son should be. They did everything together: fishing, sports, meditations…Hei-chan was teaching him his discipline and Kenji was catching on very fast. He was better than most children his age.
Asuka practiced as well, but preferred the bow and arrow to the sword. She, at six years, was an amateur, but was far better than anyone else her own age. She could take an apple out of the tree branch ten feet up with one arrow, then catch it as it fell with another. She and Hei-chan had taken walks in the woods and were content to sit and meditate and practice. Asuka was a quiet intellectual at age six.
Kai yawned and sat up. Sunlight and laughter filtered thrugh the shoji paneling. Then the room went quiet suddenly. Kai sat up and looked around, a bit skittish for the silence.
The woman grabbed a dagger and slid it into her sleeve, then opened the shoji door—
--to have something slimy shoved into her face. “Look what I found!”
Kai absolutely HATED snakes. “GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!” She jumped back, one hand on her heart and another on the door frame. “Kenji, put that down before it bites you!”
“It won’t bite, Mama. That snake doesn’t bite.” Asuka’s quiet voice said.
Still flustered, Kai glanced at her daughter. “How do you know that?!”
“Daddy.” Asuka said in her almost a whisper-like voice. Mitsurugi glanced in.
“You alright, koishii? You look a little flushed.” The ronin smiled, eyes crinkling.
Kai looked into the man’s eyes. His brown eyes had a spark that belied his 39 years now that he had seen his children, making him seem about half his age. He picked up Asuka and the girl leaned her head on his broad shoulder and Mitsurugi rested a hand on his son’s head.
Kai was about to say something but was interrupted by a knock on the front door. “Hei-kun? You home?”
The petite woman’s eyes widened. “Is that--?!”
“You cane ine in!” Mitsurugi called over his shoulder, careful not to shout in Asuka’s ear.
The shoji door slid open and hesitant footsteps sounded. Taki had decided to come and visit Hei-kun, to see how he was doing—it had been about four months--when she heard the sounds of children’s laughter. *Since when did Hei-kun have children in his house?*
She peeked around a pole to see—“KAI!”
“Taki!” Mitsurugi stepped back with his children in tow as the two women embraced and Taki looked down at the smaller woman.
“Kai, I thought you were dead. . .”
Kai looked at the ninja, who had been like a sister to her. “I thought everyone else was dead…I don’t know where Maxi is. . .”
The mention of the pirate’s name brought tears to Taki’s eyes. “Kai. . .I’m so sorry. . .Maxi didn’t make it.”
“. . .Sarah. . .?” Kai croaked after a tense minute. Despite the fact that her half-sister had killed her cousin, Kai was worried. Taki shook her head, tears in her eyes. “When. . .?”
“A few hours later. . .she saved you.” Taki wrapped her arms around Kai’s shoulders as the younger woman’s legs buckled beneath her.
“Maithair--?”
Taki turned to see Hei-kun holding a small girl in his arms while a boy roughly the same age stood stoically by his side. “. . .Kai? Nan de. . .?”
Kai sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes. “Taki, these are my children. . .the girl is Asuka, the boy is Kenji.”
“Hello there, little man. . .” Taki knelt so that she was eye level with the boy. “Kai, he looks like. . .” The ninja looked upwards at Mitsurugi, who nodded.
“Taki, this is my son and my daughter.” The ronin smiled.
Taki smiled, keeping her feelings secret. “Omedetou gozaimasu, Hei-kun. Twins?”
“Yep. Six years old, both of them.” Mitsurugi bent down and set Asuka on the ground; the girl dashed behind her brother and gave the ninja fearful look.
“I’ll be damned.” Taki stood up. “I would have never thought you could have children. . .” Realizing her mistake, the ninja clamped a hand over her mouth while Kai bit back a laugh. “Gomen—I didn’t mean it like that!”
Mitsurugi blinked, the unintended insult going over his head. “It’s okay, Taki; why don’t you sit and eat with us? Tell us what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. . .I’m still hunted; you know that.” Taki sighed.
Kai’s eyes flashed. “By who--?” The FuMa had disbanded after Taki had killed their leader Toki, some months after the fight with Sarah.
“…I honestly couldn’t tell you.” Truth was, Taki had no idea who this person was that was chasing her. All she knew was that people she had been in contact with ended up dead. Mitsurugi, however, was still alive, and Taki had no doubt that he was next…Kai and her children would be on the list as well. “I’d best be going…I wouldn’t want to put you in danger.” By ‘you’, Taki meant all four of them.
Neither heard a rustling noise outside of the shoji door.
“Couldn’t you at least stay the night. . .?” Kai pressed. She was anxious to catch up with Taki.
The ninja thought some. “. . .I. . .guess I could. . .” *Not here, please, not here. Just let me off for a few days, please. . .*
Later that night, Taki helped Kai put Asuka and Kenji to be“Kai“Kai, you are the luckiest woman I know. . .” She helped Kenji pull on a houserobe. “How do you manage? I mean, two kids at your age. . .?”
“And you’re implying what exactly?” Kai tried to keep her tone serious, but ended up laughing; Taki joined in. “I’m 32 years old! I should have had another by now. . .”
Taki shook her head. “I’m almost 40…I’ve never been with anyone that I truaredared for. . .I did have feelings for Hei-kun—I still do—but there’s nothing n don do about that now. . .” She pulled back the blanket to allow Kenji to lie down on the futon.
Kai sighed blissfully and kissed Asuka’s forehead. “He’s such a lady-killer, isn’t he? I’m sure he took at least one lover in my absence.”
“Mommy, what’s ‘lover’ mean?” Asuka asked with all the innocence of a child.
“Nevermind, Asuka-chan; go to sleep now.” Kai kissed Kenji’s forehead and hugged them both. “You both go to sleep. And if I hear anything so much as resembling a pillowfight, there will be no dessert for a week!”
Taki had waited patiently until Kai was up and starting for the door. Both women walked out of the room and Taki closed the shoji door. “Believe it or not, no. To my knowledge, he didn’t even have one.” *That’s not true, Taki; remember your only night with him. And remember the consequences of that night. . .* “He damn near drank himself to death, though!”
Both women chuckled and Kai shook her head. “I’m amazed.”
“For three years, Hei-kun was so far down in his grief over you, I worried for him. He lost so much weight, he was basically a shell. . .I don’t know what turned him around.” *You know.*
Kai yawned. “We should be getting some sleep.” Instead, Taki walked out the door into the tiny garden; rolling her eyes, Kai followed.
Taki’s head reeled. She had to tell Kai about the night three years prior. “Kai. . .I’m afraid I haven’t been honest with you.”
The smaller woman lifted an eyebrow. “I know. I kinda picked up on that.”
Taki shook her head. “Perceptive, aren’t you?”
“You learn when you have children.” Kai shrugged. “I had hoped he at least tried to settle down. . .”
“You know him. . .But the lover thing. . .?” Taki nearly burst into tears—very indignant of a nearly 40 year old hardened warrior.
Kai smiled. “I think I know. . .did anything else happen?”
“He has a daughter by me. . .”
Kai’s jaw dropped. After a stunned silence, she responded with a barrage of questions. “Does he know?! Have you told him?” *Why am I not surprised?*
Not that Kai was angry—far from it—but she wished Taki had been honest to begin with. She knew she had no reason to be upset—after all, she had been gone and presumed dead for six years.
“No, I haven’t told him about Chihiro-chan. I. . .I didnhinkhink he needed to know. . .” the ninja stammered.
Kai was grateful that Hei-chan slept like a rock; he would probably be very upset with Taki now. . . “Taki. . .you have to tell him. He deserves to know!”
Taki shook her head. “We. . .I. . .he’d. . .we couldn’t have a relationship. . .not even if you actually were dead. . .it just wouldn’t work out. . .Kai, please, don’t tell him. . .Promise me!”
*This goes against everything I’ve been taught…* “I. . .I promise. . .but you have to tell him. . .at least before you die. . .” Kai sat down on the ground overlooking the valley; Taki followed suit and put her head in her hands. “Children should not have to live without a father.”
“Please. . .Her name is really Chihiro and she’s leaving under the name Kenshin with a friend. . .Kenshin Chihiro. If something happens to me, I want you to find her and look after her. . .she should be about 3 now. I can’t tell Hei-kun. . .I just don’t have that type of feeling for him anymore.”
Kai put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I promise that as well, if you promise me two things.”
Taki turned a tear stained face to Kai. “. . .and those are?”
“Tell Hei-kun before something happens to you—“
“I figured. . .”
“—and watch over my children if something happens to me.” Kai finished. “And don’t talk like you’re going to die because you’re hunted, because you won’t. The hunters will give up, you’ll go to Chihiro and you’ll bring her to meet her daddy. . .”
“Sooo. . .you k thk the hunters will just give up? Just like that?”
The voice made Kai and Taki jump to their feet, Kai with her hands in an unarmed stance and Taki with her hands on her ninjatou. The two women scanned the area looking for the owner of the masculine voice. “Who’s there?!”
“You don’t need to know that yet. All you need to know it this—“ A throwing knife flew out of the bushes behind Kai and lodged itself in the woman’s side. She fell forward and rolled up, yanking the knife out with a pained grunt.
Taki waved her down. “Don’t bother, he’s gone.”
Kai tried to stand straight up, but doubled over in pain. Taki put a hand over the tiny but deep hole. “You’ll be fine; it missed vital organs.”
“It’s not that I’m worried about. . .”
Taki looked at the dart, studying it. “It’s not poisoned, either. IT's Fu-Ma; the Fu-Ma don’t poison their message darts.” She helped Kai inside and helped her to a futon, where the ninja patched up the wound.
“What did it say?” Kai questioned.
“I don’t know and I’m not sure I do. . .” Taki opened the hollow dart anyways. She read the note and her eyes widened. “I. . .I have to leave. Now. . .”
Without another word, the ninja bolted through the window, headed east.
"What the hell--? I heard a noise--KAI?! Are you okay?" Mitsurugi rushed to his wife's side and placed a hand on it.
“Hei-kun. . .I’m worried for Taki. . .she’s. . .she’s not herself.” Kai explain everything, leaving out Taki’s daughter Chihiro. “. . .I think we may not see her again for a long while.”
Mitsurugi nodded solemnly. “Let’s get some sleep...we may need it."