Black Blood: Awakening

Chapter Five: Set the Stage

--

"But... who was she?"

That was the question that Kyo-2 constantly asked himself over the past few days. If he didn't think about it to himself, he often muttered that question out loud, much to his partner's slight annoyance. And once again, he had the habit of muttering the same question as he leaned over a rail in their hideout which was slowly being cleaned up.

"Was? No, you're going to find out who she is. If she's been stuck in your head for this long, she's probably important," Kyo-1 said as he looked up, "And if that's the case, why didn't you tell either of us?"

"Oh, come on, you really think that I'd tell the boss... something like that so soon?" he replied, using that word with intense resentment, "You already know that he's itching for a fight. Also, if I give him the wrong information and he ends up attacking the wrong person because of it, we'll all end up looking stupid."

"That's only if he doesn't kill you first. But it really is a delicate operation, isn't it? Our former surperiors never understood the meaning of that word."

"And here we are, doing the mission that they gave to us in the first place. Pretty ironic," Kyo-2 said as he adjusted his jacket a little, "Well, at least it's a pretty good time killer. It's not like we had anything else to do since that '99 tournament."

"Yeah. Anyway, what little information did you get?"

"The only thing I remember is that the girl has long, dark hair. I didn't get a chance to see her face because it was covered by a helmet. It doesn't help us much, does it?"

"Of course it doesn't. If you only saw her for a split second, you probably don't remember what she wore, either. Have you even searched the area after you first saw her?"

"Obviously. I still came up empty-handed."

"Right. That reminds me... you never told me where you saw her. That could've helped a little, you know."

"Heh... sorry about that, 1," the cocky one said as he laughed nervously, "Guess it did bother me a bit too much. Would it help if I said that I saw her around the edge of Osaka?"

"Yes. At least we have something now. By the way, what time is it?"

"It's a little bit past noon now. Why? You're not planning on going out in broad daylight, are you?"

"Well, our night searches haven't gotten us anywhere yet. I guess searching around at this time wouldn't hurt."

"Hope you don't stick out like a sore thumb."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm already pretty good at blending in. We already have a starting point, so I'm just going to pick up where you left off," Kyo-1 said as he prepared to leave, "Oh, and try not to kill the boss while I'm gone, okay? I already know that you don't like him."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry about me."

As soon as his partner walked away, the clone in the flashy flame jacket smiled a bit to himself. Clearly, things were about to get interesting soon.

----

As she glanced over the rooftop of her school, Emi began to sigh to herself a little bit. It was obvious that the events that had happened over the last couple of days seemed to be getting to her.

'A crush? This soon? Nah. It'll go away.'

Once she shook the thought away, she rested her back against the chilly steel fence and sat down. Perhaps this would be a chance to have a bit of a silent moment for a while.

That was true for about a minute. The silence was quickly broken the moment someone opened the door to the rooftop...

"Hey, hey!"

"Oh... hello, Miyuki."

"Heh, sounds like you're not too happy to see me today. Did I bother you or something?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that I've been a bit tired for the past week or so," Emi said as she opened a lunch box, "By the way, I'm sorry that I haven't called you lately."

"Eh, I had a feeling that he'd run you through the ringer," the redhead said as she sat next to her friend, "Hey, you normally don't eat lunch on the rooftop. Maybe something's bothering you."

"Yeah. I guess you saw me and just had to follow," the older one of the two mumbled as she turned her head a bit, "Did you forget to bring your lunch box today?"

"Not this time!" Miyuki triumphantly exclaimed as she pulled it out of her bag, "Well, that's what caused me to be late, but I won't go hungry today!"

Emi simply smiled a little after hearing that, "I should've known. You always end up being late when something like that happens."

"Agh, you just had to bring that up, didn't you..."

"Sort of. Anyway, what happened after you crashed my training session?"

"Well... Kei was a bit miffed at me for setting all of this stuff up. I don't think she's too hot about the fact that he's training you," Miyuki muttered as she scratched the back of her head a bit, "She also, uh... she kinda thinks that your master is gonna bonk you."

As soon as she heard that, Emi almost choked on her shrimp, "Excuse me?! Where in the world did she get such an extreme idea like that? She doesn't even know about our conversations..."

'And he was right about that? A thought like that couldn't have been a coincidence...'

"I dunno, I guess she has some sort of history with him. She won't talk about it to me. Maybe she'll spill the beans if you ask her," the redhead said as she picked up her drink, "Your turn. What happened after I left?"

"Uh... well, I... had dinner with him..."

"Whoa, really? That fast?"

"It wasn't like that, Miyuki. He just wanted to get to know me a little better, that's all."

Miyuki quickly let out a rather devious giggle in response, "Oh, is that so? How far did it get? Did you two--"

"No, we didn't. We didn't kiss or anything like that. We only had dinner and he gave me a ride home on his motorcycle. Um..."

"Wait, there's more?"

"Yes... Master Kyo already knows that I like him. He knew it since we first met each other."

"Of course he knows. You've never been good at hiding that sort of stuff, Emi."

"He said that, too," Emi said as she sighed a little, "Am I that easy to read?"

"Uh-huh. All the signs are there with you. You get flustered to the point where you can't speak properly, you get so nervous that you have trouble eating... did I miss anything?"

It didn't take long for the purple-haired girl to sigh once she heard those words, "No. I guess I really am that predictable."

"Honestly? Yeah, you are. Least when it comes to guys. Speaking of predictability... try not to be obvious when you fight."

"You've never seen me fight."

"And you still haven't been in one yet, I know. I'm just saying," Miyuki said as she opened her lunch box and began to eat, "You're just gonna give your opponent a huge tell if you do that sort of stuff. He told you that, right?"

"No. We haven't even had a sparring match yet. I think it's supposed to happen this week."

"Oh, boy. He's definitely gonna wear you out now."

"That's what I'm dreading."

"Minute you start dreading is the minute you start messing up and losing. Just relax and you'll be fine. See, you gotta think of your training like you're climbing a giant staircase. You're gonna get tired along the way, but it'll be worth it when you finally hit the last step."

"And my legs will hurt..."

"See? Worth it."

Emi shook her head as soon as she heard that, "You're something else."

"Yeah, I know," the redhead said as she continued eating, "By the way, it's probably gonna be really odd if you two become a couple--"

"Stop it. Let's forget about him for a little bit."

"Sure. Then let's talk about your physics test."

"Ugh. No."

"Aww, come on! It probably wasn't that bad!"

"...well, a 74 isn't that bad, but I could've done better."

"Aha, and we have another problem with you," Miyuki calmly said, "Look, you're a sweet person, but you have a really bad habit of coming down on yourself when you feel that nothing's going right. I think that's what he said to you, right?"

"Uh-huh. I know, I need to stop doubting myself. But it's just..."

"Stop worrying so much," the redhead said as she pulled her friend into a hug, "You keep doing that and you'll never get those flames under control. Look, I know that I made a fool out of myself just for this, but ultimately, you have to do all of this for yourself. I only gave you a push forward."

"Even though you almost pushed me into him..."

"Shut up. Anyway, the rest is all on your shoulders. You have to finish it now."

"I see. Thanks, Miyuki. By the way, I have a question."

"Yeah?"

"...are you going to eat the rest of your lunch? My training has made me hungrier than usual lately."

"Heh, nope. You better learn how to eat your box."

"You're so mean. By the way, don't we have to get back to class in a few minutes?"

"Uh-huh. Well, at least we had the chance to talk for once."

With those words, Emi simply smiled and said, "Yeah... now I just need to survive the rest of the week."

"Trust me, you'll be fine."

"I sure hope so."

----

Inside a small coffee shop, a young man in his early twenties sighed as he looked at the time on his wristwatch.

'Fifteen minutes late...'

As soon as he began to take a sip of his coffee, he noticed that the door to the shop opened up and a familiar person walked inside...

"Well, there you are. What's your excuse for being late this time, hmm?"

"Doesn't matter what excuse I have. You'd still rip me open for it," Kyo said as he sat across from his best friend, "Besides, I'm here now, right?"

"Still the same as always," the young man known as Benimaru Nikaido replied as he smiled, "Anyway, I guess I must've been lucky enough to find out that you're still around during an off year. Anything new happened?"

"Eh, nothing much. Just training someone new."

"Oh? Well, that's definitely news," he said before he raised an eyebrow, "Hey, wait, what's the catch? You don't just train anyone. That is, unless you're opening up a dojo of your own..."

Knowing that his friend would be a little more curious, the Kusanagi heir forced himself to go with a little white lie as he waved off the remark, "Don't be silly, Beni. It's not like that. It's just that this guy has a problem dealing with some flames of his own, that's all. I'm only training him in exchange for his cooking."

"I see. Seems like everyone has the power of fire nowadays. Anyway, when can I meet this new guy?"

"Well, it's not gonna be now, since he's still in school."

"So you do have some free time, then. I might as well play some catch up with you while I'm at it."

"You've only been gone a month. Are you that eager?"

"It was a month with big news, I wasn't even there to see it, and you're asking me something this obvious? Of course I'm eager! Come on, you have to tell me everything!"

As soon as he heard those words, Kyo knew that he couldn't sneak out of this conversation. Once he let out a light sigh, he managed to say, "Fine. But you're paying for my drink, Beni."

"Well, that'll be a small price to pay, then."

----

"Okay, so you talked about your new student for a bit. By the way, did you get any word from Shingo or Yuki lately?"

"Not really. I think Shingo's only called me about... twice, I think. Guess my old man's really trying with him," Kyo said as he stirred his peppermint tea a little, "And Yuki... well..."

Benimaru simply shook his head as soon as he heard his friend trail off, "You forgot to call her again, didn't you? Oh, and before you even try the 'But she's in England' excuse, remember that you've been out of the country a lot during KOF, and you kept forgetting to call her while she was still here."

"Did you really have to bring that up?"

"Hey, I'm not going to count the time that you went missing. That's entirely beneath me. Anyway, you have all the time in the world to call her now. Well... you will once you figure out the time zones."

"Yeah. She's probably asleep right now or something."

"It's about five in the morning over there, I think. Yeah, you're better off waiting for a while," the electric user said, "Or you can wake up early. I know you're not too good with that, either."

"Meh. No wonder this long distance stuff is a pain in the ass."

"Now you know how she feels, Kyo. She probably doesn't say it out loud... or at all, really. I guess she cares about you too much to say something like that, even if you two are or aren't dating or whatever."

"You sure love to do your old guilt tripping stuff, huh?"

"It's not guilt tripping if it's the truth. By the way... you really haven't touched your tea at all. Something else must be bothering you."

Obviously, that was accurate. And obviously, it would be bad timing to tell his friend that he was slowly beginning to like someone else.

'Damn it...'

Maybe it was a minor thing. Maybe it would just go away. Of course, denial always made anything and everything worse.

"Nah, it's nothing. Gotta deal with another long day, that's all," Kyo said before he finally took a small sip of his tea, "Anyway, were you planning on visiting a certain someone else today?"

"Daimon? Of course. Unlike you, he can stay in one place."

"This is coming from the person who's probably going to leave in about a week for another modeling job. You sure you wanna go there, Beni?"

"Alright, you got me," Benimaru said before he let out a small sigh, "Though... I should take a break after that one's over. I do need to take some actual time off for once."

"Figured. Anyway, I guess I should get going..."

"Already? Come on, you still have a couple of hours before your new student gets out of school. What's the rush, Kyo?"

"I told you, it's just another long day," the Kusanagi heir said as he moved out of his seat and stood up, "Besides, what are you going to do after you finish your little reunion visit?"

"You know the drill. Gotta unpack, rest, and pack again," he replied as he took another sip of his coffee, "Are you sure you don't want to come along? It'll probably help with whatever's messing with you."

"It's gonna take a lot more than fresh air and a little walk to solve it. Besides, it's no big deal," the flame user said as he began to walk out, "Anyway, I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Later."

After his friend left, Benimaru could only sigh to himself as he looked across the table for a few moments...

'He barely touched his tea. Oh, well...'

Still, he had to admit that it was a rather interesting reunion of sorts.

----

Broad daylight was not a thing for someone like Kyo-1.

He was obviously more used to the usual night missions where he didn't have to worry about running into anybody.

And now here he was, forcing himself to blend into the crowd.

'Well, at least they're keeping to themselves,' he thought as he walked down a rather busy street near the edge of Osaka. For someone who was supposed to be a clone of a legendary fighter, it was a bit of a surprise that someone wasn't making an attempt to accost him. Perhaps he disguised himself a bit too well?

At least it was one less problem to worry about.

He left that thought behind as he passed a few locations.

A bookstore... a small restaurant... a clothing store... a coffee shop...

And then he spotted someone in the last location...

'Is he... familiar?'

He only had a few seconds to remember what he saw, but it was enough time to take it all in.

It happened to be a blond-haired man with a cup of coffee, and across from him was a cup of tea that seemed to be barely touched.

'Huh. Maybe 2 was right. It looks like we're slowly closing in.'

Before he could dwell on it any further, he forced himself to keep moving.

'Ah, well. At least the hard part's almost over. We'll find him soon enough.'

With those words, he let himself disappear into the afternoon crowd.

--

Yet Another Author's Note: I wanted to try to have a chapter that didn't have Emi in it for once, but the chapter itself ended up being a bit too short for my tastes, so I ended up adding a scene for her in.

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