Honshin
by Kamiya Shuusai

Chapter Two - God of Thunder, We Meet

Kurei woke at a series of gentle knocks on his door in the morning. He sat up sharply just as the door opened with a warm smile from a little boy with curious brown eyes greeted him.

The boy held a silver plate in his hands with Kurei's breakfast neatly laid on it. "Your morning meal, goshujin-sama." The boy said with his consistent smile.

Kurei was dazed for a moment, and then he began to recall everything that happened yesterday. He stood up and said, "You don't have to call me goshujin-sama."

The smile on the boy's face never faded. He said, "But I was ordered by Mori Koran-sama to be your servant, goshujin-sama."

"And now you are ordered by me to stop calling me that. I don't need any servants, so you can just..." Kurei said, a little annoyed. Just as he began to dress, the boy dropped the plate quickly on the table and rushed over to pick up his shirt first. As he dressed an unwilling Kurei, the boy said, "Fine then, Kurei-sama."

When they were done, the boy picked up the breakfast plate once again and shoved it in Kurei's face. "Your meal, Kurei-sama."

Kurei's annoyance was completely useless against that big, bright smile. He finally gave up and said, "I promised yesterday that I would give you a name. So get dressed in the appropriate attire and come with me to meet someone very special today."

-----

Kurei led the boy to board a helicopter which flew over cities, fields, and mountains for hours. They sat next to each other in silence, staring outside blankly; finally the boy said, "We've been flying for a few hours already, nee?"

Kurei answered numbly, "yes."

The boy asked, "And how much further do we have to go?"

Kurei said, "I don't know."

The boy continued with his persistency, "You don't come here often, right?"

"No." said Kurei.

The boy sighed and said with an unexpected gentleness, "In the distant, one you hold so close in your heart, yet so unreachable..."

Suddenly the helicopter jerked as it began to descend. The pilot turned around and informed Kurei, "It's about to pour, Kurei-sama. Looking at the clouds, it's probably gonna be a real good thunderstorm. But since we're already close to Tsuki no Miya, we are landing here."

The helicopter landed on a wide, empty field. A traditional Japanese house was slightly visible in the distance. Kurei and the boy walked out without a word, the surrounding air stiffened. The boy took a deep breath, threw away all his solemn qualities, and once again put on a bright smile.

"Hm... that ji-san was right. I can smell a thunderstorm coming. I don't want to be caught out here when it arrives. So shall we..." He pointed to the distant house and smiled. "... run for it?"

Before Kurei could respond, the boy dashed forward. On the great open field, with the long and soft grass under his feet, he seemed like a wild horse without reins. Kurei wordless, ran after him. Suddenly he felt that in such utter wilderness, he can completely free his mind of anything.

When they finally reached the house, the boy laughed as he caught his breath, saying, "That was always such a wonderful feeling, to be free. Didn't you like it."

Kurei smiled for a brief moment as he also tried to catch his breath. A rare and treasured smile. The boy's smile brightened when he looked Kurei straight in the eyes. Kurei had an irresistible urge to express the pleasantness he felt in his heart. The day was quickly blackened by the stormy clouds, but the hearts of these two people were brightened by a new light.


When Kurei finally knocked on Tsuki no Miya's doors, three towering men in black suits and sunglasses opened the gates and greeted them rudely with insults. Kurei's visits were only a monthly nuisance for them.

He walked past them, completely ignoring their existence as always, while he made a vow deep inside that one day, they will be disintegrated until not even ashes are left.

They entered the gigantic house and walked past all the rooms filled with guards, until Kurei led them before a traditional Japanese sliding wooden door. Kurei knelt down without a word, and the boy followed. The door quietly slid open and a woman in her kimono gently embraced Kurei. "It's been a long time, mother." Kurei said.


Mori Tsukino is a kind woman who adopted Kurei soon after his arrival to this modern age and treated him like her own son. She almost created a home for him to make him leave his dark childhood behind. But fate prepared one more twist for them as she turned out to be Mori Koran's wife, the wife of an evilly ambitious underground boss who would stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Tsukino became imprisoned in this house far out on an unknown mountain in the countryside named Tsuki no Miya as his means to force Kurei to do his bidding.


A flash of lightning lit the darkness outside. With the roar of thunder, came small droplets of rain which quickly turned into a shower.

Tsukino looked at Kurei for a moment then said, "Kurei, how are you these days?" She paused and continued, "...and how is Koran?"

Kurei said, "We've always been the same. He acts like a good father most of the time."

Tsukino looked at him sadly, and said, "Please Kurei, take care of yourself when I'm not with you, and be kind to Koran."

Kurei said gently, "You're too generous, mother."

The boy who knelt down behind Kurei suddenly smiled and said to Tsukino, "You don't have to worry about Kurei-sama, because I will take care of him."

Tsukino looked at him with a pleasant smile and asked, "Your friend, Kurei? This is the first time you've brought anyone else along."

The word "friend" seemed to puzzle Kurei a little, but then he nodded, "Yes, a strange guy that I met last night."

Tsukino laughed and said, "Well, aren't you going to introduce us? What is his name?"

Kurei glanced at the boy, "That is the reason why he is here."

The boy bowed down and said, "I grew up in an orphanage, and was only recently taken in by Mori Koran-sama to serve Kurei-sama. Tsukino-sama, please grant a name to this nameless soul. I shall honor your choice as that of my parents'."

Tsukino suddenly understood so much of the pain in this boy's shortened childhood from his brief words. The brilliant smile reappeared on the boy's face. Tsukino looked thoughtfully out her window just as another flash of lightning passed by. She looked at the boy and said, "Your unexpected entrance strikes as a sudden light in our life. Raiha." She smiled, and continued, "I'm glad Kurei found a friend like you."

Raiha bowed to her once again and said, "Thank you." For giving this name or for their acceptance?

Suddenly, one more flash reflected on the sky and subsequently, an explosion echoed in the distance. Kurei and Raiha looked out the window and discovered that the thunder had struck in a valley near by. Kurei's expression changed for a second but he immediate returned to normal. But Tsukino realized the anxiety he felt, and asked, "What's wrong, Kurei?"

Kurei didn't lie to his mother. "There are people down there, mother."

Tsukino said, "But how would you know? You..." She stopped when she saw the look on Kurei's face, and said, "I see, Koran has his people there. Then you must go to them, Kurei."

Kurei was caught by his emotions. "This is the most treasured time in my life. I will not have it shortened by insignificant men working for father." He persisted.

Tsukino said, "No, we can always see each other again next month. You must help those people, now go."

Kurei sighed in the moment of parting and Tsukino said softly to Raiha, "Would you come with Kurei to see me again? I wish to speak with you longer."

Raiha smiled at her gently and said, "Of course I would, Tsukino-sama."

---

In the valley below, Kurei and Raiha found a whole camp burning in flames, destroyed by the lightning. The few remaining survivors trembled in their traumatic aftershock. One man, seeing Kurei, continued his mumbling, "I... I don't know anything... what happened?? how... how??? a flash of light from nowhere struck us down... everyone... where is everyone else?" He stared blankly at the burning camp.

Kurei and Raiha walked around to make sure there were no other survivors when Raiha noticed a cave opening at one end of the valley. Kurei examined it and said, "It was made by the lightning."

Raiha looked at him curiously and asked, "How do you know?"

Kurei didn't answer, instead, he pointed to the ruins of the camp and said, "What do you think these people were doing here?"

Raiha glanced at the half-destroyed equipment lying around in the dirt, trucks, giant drills. There was a light smell of fire powder in the air. He said very certainly, "Digging. The explosion we heard earlier was not caused by the lightning but flames which had reached the explosives."

Kurei nodded, "Yes, they've been here for month, unsuccessfully looking for the entrance to that cave. Until today, the will of heaven opened it for us."

Raiha smiled, "Then I'm very curious to find out what Mori-sama is searching for."


They quickly walked through the maze of tunnels. The cave was lit from the inside by small crystals carved into the wall. Raiha suddenly said to Kurei, "Kurei-sama, I have a feeling Mori-sama is not the only one interested in this cave."

Kurei stared at Raiha for a few seconds but he was unable to read anything off of that ever smiling face. He debated for a moment and began, "Four hundred years ago, there was a ninja clan called the Hokage. Their people specialized in making madougu, weapons with elemental powers. When they were defeated by Oda Nobunaga, their madougu were either destroyed or lost; buried beneath the earth or deep under the sea. Recently, my father has been attempting to gather all the weapons that he could find." He paused, trying to catch Raiha's reaction, but Raiha was only listening faithfully. Kurei continued, "But my interest is not in helping my father gather these weapons. I am the last remaining generation of the Hokage. I was born 400 years ago, and sent to the present time by unknown means. My real father was the last leader of the Hokage Clan, Ouka!"

Raiha's eyes changed many times as Kurei told his story. There was surprise, amazement and wonder; but he never doubted anything Kurei said. "This was one of the locations where my father's men detected a powerful madougu." Kurei explained. "Over the years, many sites have been excavated, and none contained such power. As the successor of the Hokage Clan, I have the right to claim all of our lost weapons." He pointed to the small lighting crystals on the wall, and told Raiha, "These crystals are a type of non-combat functioned madougu used to light this underground world for more than 400 years." Each crystal had the word "lamp" on it.

Raiha felt the heat emanated from the crystals. "Very clever, a small light bulb created 400 years ago."

As Kurei explained other madougus, they reached a split path. Raiha's eyes became more and more clouded and before Kurei did anything, he took the left path and said, "This way, I'm sure." Because it's calling me.

Soon, the path led them to a giant gate. "Please don't go any further, Kurei-sama. These door are meant to be closed." He took out one of the lighting crystals they found on the walls and pointed it to on top of the gates. There, carved into the stone wall, were four large characters: Ten Dou Ji Goku. "We have approached the gates of Heaven and Hell." Raiha said.

Kurei placed a hand on the gates but he immediately jumped back. If he was half a second slower, a wave of electric current would have struck him. Another crystal framed on the gates suddenly shone in brilliant light. A word emerged, the character of thunder, Rai.

The expression on Raiha face was unreadable, but he slowly approached the crystal. It's calling me. His hands touched the crystal, but there was no shock to force him back. The thunder crystal easily dropped into his hands; a small voice faint from within the crystal said, "Yoroshiku, goshujin-sama. My name is Raijin."


End of Part 2

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