Mikoto: Past Present Future
by Majokai Yukiko

Chapter Three - A Star Reborn

“Raiha-han!!!”

 Raiha woke up with a start.

 If he knew who’s the one who woke him up from the wonderful dream about a certain violet-haired girl, that person was going to get it from him real bad.

 Raiha got up from his bed, and walked to the balcony.

 He looked down.

 “Hi, Raiha-han. You finally woke up.”

 With one single leap, Joker landed next to the ninja on the balcony.

 “KAWAII!!!”

 Joker suddenly grabbed the purple-haired ninja by the shoulders and turned him round and round in circles.

 Stars started singing around Raiha’s head.

 “What’s your problem this morning, Joker? And why are you spinning me around like that for?”

 Raiha held on tightly to the railings lest he fall off the balcony.

 “I’m trying to admire that Pikachu nightshirt of yours more clearly.”

Raiha looked down at himself, turned crimson red in the face and threw Joker off the balcony.

 “Come up by the front door. I want to change!”

As Raiha walked down the stairs, he heard some noises in the kitchen.

"Come on, Mikiyu-han.”

 “No…no, Joker-sama.”

 “Don’t be scared. Just stroke it gently.”

 “But it’s so hairy…and big.”

 “What kind of statement is that? Of course it’s hairy. It’s supposed to be hairy.”

 “But I’ve never seen such a big one before.”

 “That’s why you’ve got to be gentle with it. Stroke it and let it feel real good.”

 Raiha’s eyes grew wide and at lightning speed, he dashed into the kitchen, shouting, “Joker!! What do you think you are—“

 The man with the baseball cap turned around to face Raiha, and cradled in his arms was a huge cat with orange and black strips.”

 “Yesh, Raiha-han?”

 “—doing to Mikiyu-san?” Raiha finished weakly.

 “I’m just trying to let her cuddle Garfield. What do you think we are doing?” Joker added with a wink while the Raijin-wielder blushed furiously.

 “You wanna cuddle Garfied as well?” Joker asked, throwing the cat in Raiha’s direction. The ninja quickly spun around and ran out of the kitchen, with Garfield hot on his heels.

 “JOKER!! GET YOUR CAT AWAY FROM ME!!!”

 “Why?” The cat-owner smiled.

 “I’M AFRAID OF CATS!!! AND YOU KNEW THAT!!!”

 “Guess we would just have to help you grow out of that fear then.” Joker was obviously enjoying himself at the sight of his best friend’s plight.

 “MIKIYU-SAN!! HELP ME!!”

 The blue-haired girl just giggled. Too bad she didn’t have a camera within arm’s reach.

 As if reading her thoughts, Joker took out a video camera from his bag and passed it to Mikiyu. The girl took the proffered camera and grinned.

 “Gomen ne, Raiha-kun. But I’m submitting this to Japan’s funniest home videos.”

The two best friends could finally sit down and relaxed, after the traumatizing events that had happen to the ninja that morning.

“Joker…”

“Yes, Raiha-han?”

"Don’t ever, I repeat, DON’T ever do what ever you did to me today again. Or even mention it to anyone, especially NOT Kurei-sama. I don’t want to be question about my abilities.”

 Joker made a pathetic attempt in looking innocent and asked, while smiling sweetly at the same time. “What did I do, Raiha-han?”

 “You know what I mean, Joker. No more entering my room using the balcony. Enter the house in a civilized manner, by the front door. No comments about my nightshirt. And certainly no cats thrown in my direction.”

 Joker nodded. “You had forgotten one more thing.”

 “What—” Raiha suddenly felt the room twirling around him.

 “No more drugging your drink when you were away.”

 “You—“ Raiha could not say anything else. He had blacked out.

Joker walked slowly into the kitchen, looking as proud as a peacock,

He was about to finish his mission. 

“Hi again, Mikiyu-han!”

“Oh hi.”

The blue-haired girl turned around, looking confused.

“Joker-sama. I thought you were having a talk with Raiha-kun?”

“I was. But he’s taking a break right now.” Well, at least it was close enough to the truth.

“Break? You two just went up 5 minutes ago.”

“Well, Mikiyu-han. Actually, the reason I came here today was you. Kurei-han wants you.”

Mikiyu blushed to the roots of her hair, turning it red.

“Joker…Joker-sama. How could you just come up to a girl and tell her someone else wanted her?”

“Baka! Not in that way. It’s that he wants you to join the Uruha.”

“Uruha?” That word seemed to ring a bell in the young girl’s mind.

“Kurei-han is the adopted son of Mori Kouran. I guess you know him don’t you. Taking his influence in the political world. And Uruha is a group of assassins working for Kurei-han, who in turn worked for Mori Kouran.”

“Assassins?”

“Hai. Assassins. Both Raiha-han and I were in the Uruha Jyushinshuu, one of the ten assassins who worked for Kurei-han personally. We answered to no one except for Kurei-han. Even Mori Kouran had no say over what we do.”

“Nani? You mean both you and Raiha-kun kill people?”

Mikiyu suddenly felt scared of the smiling face in front of her.

“Don’t worry, Mikiyu-han. If we wanted to kill you, you would had already been dead for God knows how long.”

That’s true. Mikiyu felt assured, somehow, by the power of those mere words.

“Now, Mikiyu-han, what happen is that Kurei-han sees some potential in you and wanted you to join the Uruha.”

“Me, Uruha?”

“Hai.”

“No.”

“NANI?! Why? It’s not often that Kurei wanted to employ someone so badly.”

“I don’t want to kill.”

“You sure? You had already killed before anyway.”

Shock plastered itself all over Mikiyu’s face.

“How do you know about…about him?”

“Well, you could never hide anything from Kurei-han. And you were in love in Raiha-han, weren’t you?”

A slight blush tingled on Mikiyu’s cheeks.

“Well, there’s one more thing about the Uruha that I had not told you about. Raiha is in charge of training the new comers. And I’ve heard that Raiha had very unique training methods. Like water-based trainings, training camps etc. Sometimes I do join in during the camps though and ended up announcing all his secrets to everyone.” Joker grinned proudly.

The temptation of seeing Raiha in briefs and knowing all his secrets are far too much for Mikiyu. Daydreams started to sprout in her mind.

“Help me! Raiha-kun! I’m drowning!!”

There’s a sudden splash and before she knew it, she felt a strong arm holding on to her and pulling her out of the pool.

Mikiyu tried to open her eyes, but in vain.

“Mikiyu-san, don’t scare me. Don’t die on me! Wake up! Open your eyes! I…aishiteru.”

“Oei, oei. Mikiyu-han?”

Joker waved a hand in front of the dreamer before delivering a hard slap across her face.

Mikiyu stared at him.

“Why did you do that for?”

“To wake you out of your dreams!”

She blushed.

"So, are you joining Uruha?”

 Mikiyu turned around and looked at the man whose eyes were hidden by a baseball cap.

 “Hai.”

 Yoohoo! Hokkaido, here I come!

 Raiha-kun…

Finally! Another chapter completed. I’ve got quite a lot of trouble trying to find a way of getting Mikoto (or Mikiyu) into Uruha. As in, no one in her right mind would happily join an assassin organization for nothing, right? So, I placed for her an irresistible temptation. Well, if there were a job that I could get to see Raiha/Kurei/Mikagami in briefs…I would have accepted in without second thought. Okay, okay, I’m desperate. Whatever…

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