Act VII: Departing My Childhood World
     The next morning Naitsuu is already packed and ready. He just now tells his mother of
his plans.
     "Naitsuu, I don't know about this," Naitsuu's mother says.
     "Mother," Naitsuu takes his mother's hand in his. "This is my destiny, I know it."
     "But how do you know?"
     "Father."
     "Your father?"
     "He came to me in a vision. He says I am to start on the same path he was on."
     "But Naitsuu, your father disappeared."
     "I know. He told me he was sorry for not being able to be with us. But now I must fulfill
his quest."
     Naitsuu's mother stares into his eyes and she sees the absolute determination on his face.
     "I guess there will be no stopping you, will there?" she asks as Naitsuu kindly nods his
head in reply. "Okay, then. I give you my blessing for this trip, Naitsuu. Please, be careful."
     "I will," Naitsuu leans over and kisses his mother on the cheek.
     "Naitsuu!"
     He leaves the house to meet Kenji outside.
     "Walk with me, Naitsuu."
     Naitsuu walks with Kenji to the dojo. They reach it and enter. Kenji moves directly to a
box in the corner. Kenji picks it up and opens it up revealing gold, the only accepted currency in
the empire.
     "You will need a lot of money on a journey such as this, maybe this will help,"
     Naitsuu stares dumbfounded, not knowing that his sensei had ever kept any money.
     "I take that this means you are giving me your blessing?" he asks.
     "Yes, Naitsuu, this is your destiny."
     "I know."
     Kenji hands the box over with one hand and places the other on Naitsuu's shoulder.
     "Farewell, my pupil."
     "Thank you, sensei," says Naitsuu as he bows to Kenji with the box in his hand and Kenji
bows back.
     Naitsuu takes the box out of the dojo with him and sees Akari. He jogs over to where she
is.
     "Akari, look."
     Naitsuu opens the box. Akari seems surprised that Naitsuu has any money.
     "Kenji gave it to me."
     Now Akari is even more surprised that it came from Kenji.
     "Well, we are on our way, aren't we?" she asks.
     "Perhaps."
     "Great!"
     Keiji and Aritsune appear and walk over to Naitsuu and Akari.
     "What are you guys up to?" asks Aritsune.
     "Well, we are leaving," answers Naitsuu.
     "What!?" both Keiji and Aritsune ask astonished.
     "I know that it is my destiny. I am going to bring down the emperor."
     Aritsune's face lights up.
     "Really!? I'm there."
     "I am not sure."
     "We have been looking for an opportunity to strike back against the empire," comments
Keiji.
     He gets a cold stare from Aritsune.
     "What do you mean ‘we'," announces Aritsune. "I did all the looking."
     "Yeah, well," Keiji starts but is silenced by another harsh stare from Aritsune.
     "Fine, come along then."
     Keiji and Aritsune seem contented and leave to their own activities and leave Naitsuu
and Akari alone again.
     "So, what's next?" she asks.
     "I have some questions for Kenji-sama. I will see you later, okay?"
     "Okay."
     They part ways and Naitsuu heads back to the dojo. He finds Kenji, as usual, meditating.
He walks and sits next to Kenji.
     "Sensei, I have some questions," announces Naitsuu.
     "About what?" asks Kenji.
     "Well, about the convention. Why did you go?"
     "I just had an interest in seeing where the technology was heading."
     "Did you see any good ships?" asks Naitsuu.
     "They had A-G class ships at the convention. I saw many."
     "I don't know very much about space travel. What do the classes mean?"
     "I did not know much either being a man of this Earth. When I was there I was educated
on the ship classification system. It goes like this:
     Class:
     A seats 1-2 passengers.
     B seats 3-4 passengers.
     C seats 5-8 passengers.
     D seats 9-16 passengers.
     E seats 17-32 passengers.
     F seats 33-64 passengers.
     G seats 65-120 passengers.
     H seats 121-240 passengers.
     I seats 241-1000 passengers.
     J seats 1001-10000 passengers.
     K seats 10001-50000 passengers.
     L seats 50001-100000 passengers.
     M seats 100001-500000 passengers.
     N is a separate kind of ship. It goes farther distances. There a NA-NM ships. Actually,
there are no NL or NM ships. The N class ships have many back up systems. They are only used
for travel past the Saturn colonies to the ones at Uranus, Neptune and Pluto."
     "Well, how much do the C class ships cost?" Naitsuu asks.
     "Oh, it will be at least five times what I gave you. Still, you should not need anything
more than an A class ship to rally the people together," comments Kenji.
     "Well..."
     "Naitsuu, who else is coming with you?"
     "Keiji, Aritsune, and ............Akari."
     "Oh, Naitsuu. I do not mind Keiji and Aritsune joining, they are experienced and could
be of great help to you, but why Akari?"
     "She decided for herself. I tried to convince her out of it."
     "She can not go."
     "But sensei-"
     "She can not go."
     Naitsuu stands staring at the door as stiff as he could make his stance. He coldly without
variation, "Tell HER that."
     He then leaves Kenji abruptly. Kenji sits and thinks to himself, The boy is right. He
knows her just as well as I do. She will not agree with me. She will be with the one...she loves.
     Outside the dojo, Naitsuu is feeling apart from everyone else. He decides he needs some
time to himself. He heads out to the shrine. 

     Meanwhile, Akari's mother has overheard one of Akari's conversations with Naitsuu.
She has called her daughter in. With Akari by her side, her mother carefully unwraps a light pink
cloth from around something that glistens in the sunlight coming through the window. There,
Akari's mother places in Akari's hands a weapon of some kind. Akari is startled.
     "Akari, this has been in the family for a very long time. It is the only weapon of it's kind.
Our family refers to it as a itsue tsurai gijouhei."
     Akari whispers to herself, "Fivefold painful guard of honor," she quickly looks up into
her mother's face. "But why?"
     "My daughter, I have overheard your conversation with Naitsuu-kun. I know your plans."
     "You do?" she asks.
     "I want you to be protected. So I chose now to give you this."
     "I may be leaving as soon as today. How is it suppose to help me. I have no training."
     "Oh, but you do. You have centuries of training. The spirits of your ancestors control the
itsue tsurai gijouhei. Go ahead, pick it up."
     Akari picks up the weapon. It has two blades on the side coming down to two almost
handle-like bars. It then moves up to a point. Within the metal that makes the middle point is a
hole a bit smaller than the size of her first doubled. She instinctively picks up the weapon from
this hole. She feels like one fluid metallic being with her weapon. She swings it above her head
and ‘dances' around the room practicing moves she has never learned before, especially with
this weapon. Her mother speaks.
     "See? You already know how to use it. It will protect you."
     Akari stops.
     "But who will protect you?" she asks.
     "I will get by," her mother answers.
     Akari grabs the weapon on the two bar handles and holds it in front of her hanging by her
knees with her head tilted down.
     "Thank you, mother."
     "Oh, my daughter," Akari's mother embraces her, carefully as to not be hurt by the
weapon in Akari's hands. "You are my one and only. But now it is the day for you to leave me.
Please, be careful, and make sure you make your ancestors, and your mother, proud."
     With small tears forming by her eyes, "I will."

     It is late afternoon, Naitsuu is at his favorite spot to concentrate, right on the top level of
the shrine. The shrine is in great condition thanks to the hard work of Naitsuu, and sometimes
his friends. At this time Naitsuu is doing more than just concentrating. He is calling out for
direction by his father.
     "Father, I need you now. I feel I understand what my path is. Please, tell me what I need
to do. Give me help..."
     Naitsuu's feels a reason to open his eyes. He does so, and in the same plane of view as
his eyes is a bamboo plant against the mountain wall, slightly out of place compared to it's
bamboo plant neighbors. Naitsuu stares up at the sky and the sun nearly blinds him. He is forced
to look back down, and his sight is centered on the peculiar bamboo plant. He stares at it some
more as he slowly stands up. He walks over to it and pulls it aside. There is a crack in the big
rock that acts as the ‘waterfall' in the zen garden. Naitsuu sees something glisten in the crack.
He tries to reach it, but can not.
     Naitsuu takes a step back to look around him. He sees nothing that can help him. He tries
to think of what would fit and work best to wedge apart the stone. After awhile of thinking of
nothing, he sits down and thinks about something else. He finds his thoughts continually trailing
back to Akari. He takes a moment to concentrate on her. He sees her smile, her eyes, her hair. He
tries to make himself stop thinking about such a foolish thing, but his mind will not allow it. He
thinks about everything. Everything from the most recent to his oldest memory.
     He thinks about her willingness to ‘run away' with him on his quest. He thinks about the
long walk they had and about the dance that occurred just before that. His thoughts go to the
fight where he saved Akari and his others friends, and how he and Akari had kissed afterwards.
He remembered the many times they were together throughout childhood. Especially the night
after he first saw Rakushoda. She sat with him that night, to comfort him in his frustration, and
although he hid it, they both knew it was fear. He remembers that night so well. About how the
sunset reflected upon the stream while they sat together on the log.
     Naitsuu's eyes light up.
     "The log."
     He stares at the crack estimating between his memory of his previously favorite sitting
place and the width of the crack.
     "I think it might just work."
     He rushes down the shrine and then begins his climb up the valley to the village. He runs,
not over exerting himself, but fast enough. When he reaches the village, he gets his three close
friends together and tells them what he is trying to do. They are not sure what to believe, but if
they are going to help this person on his mission against the overpowering empire, they better
get use to trusting him.
     The group of four with their two haburi kedemonos leave the village and head out to the
stream. Right near the same place Naitsuu met Keiji and Aritsune. The find the log and pull it
out from it's half buried place in the sand.
     Trying to act very manly, Keiji tries to haul the log himself. He lifts it onto his back
wrong, and he falls to one knee and drops the log on the ground. He finds himself kneeling in
front of Aritsune. She can not resist.
     "Wow, proposing to me?" she asks jokingly of Keiji's posture.
     Keiji just looks up at her with a pained smile. Akari and Aritsune help him up. Naitsuu
whispers in Yamaneko and Chuuwa's ears. They both morph into their more powerful selves.
Naitsuu lifts one end of the log onto Yamaneko's panther back and the other onto Chuuwa's
wolf back. The two animals walk side by side carrying the log. Keiji has an arm over each girl's
shoulder as they help him walk with his strained back. Aritsune looks over her shoulder at the
two Power Beasts and says, "Nifty."
     By the time the sun is setting, the group has made it to the shrine. Keiji is feeling better
and walking on his own. He comments on his injury.
     "I'm fine. Now let's get going."
     The two ‘men' lift the log into the crack. They start putting pressure on the log now
sticking out on it's own against the weight of the stone. The two women come over and help out.
Yamaneko and Chuuwa, in normal form, jump on the log and the rock budges a little. Naitsuu
and Keiji stare at each other's sweaty face with agreement. At the same time they shout,
"Morph!"
     Yamaneko changes into his panther form and Chuuwa changes into his wolf form. The
added weight from their size causes the rock to split. One half falls down on the side. The other
just stays set up against the side of the valley. There, in what was a hallowed out space in the
rock, is a lot of gold. The four people and their pets stare at it sweaty and satisfied.
     "There has to be twice as much as what Kenji-sama gave me," comments Naitsuu.
     Tired of working, the group starts dancing stupidly and childishly around the gold, but
they could care less. Naitsuu gathers the gold into the box Kenji gave him until it is almost full.
     "Naitsuu, do we have enough yet?" asks Akari.
     "Well, for a B class ship I am sure. But if we want more room, and might end up
someday taking someone else with us, we will want at least a C class ship," answers Naitsuu.
     "And it would help if was part of the N group," interjects Keiji.
     "Yeah, I suppose we can try for that. But we already need the amount of money we
luckily found in this rock."
     "Yeah."
     The groups sits contemplating. Akari thinks about Naitsuu's last comment, ‘...the amount
of money WE luckily found in this rock.' She thinks to herself, Always so benevolent. Why must
he possess so many good qualities.
     Aritsune chimes in, "Well, we will figure it out."
     "I think we are tired now. All agree?" asks Naitsuu with heads nodding in agreement.
"Okay then, we will go back to the village to rest tonight, and tomorrow, we head to a near-by
city. The one where the convention was held. There may be some cheap sale prices left from the
convention at the local ship dealers. Maybe we will get lucky."
     The group takes their time to walk home completely tired. They are all in for a good
night's sleep.