Yorodien Samurai Troopers:
Another Story

Everyone stood in an uncomfortable silence when Seoul had finished her little piece. They were all gathered in the dining room area in search of answers. Seoul stood in front of the fireplace, levitating a few feet off of the floor. Her eyes were fixed upon the wall on the other side of the room, never moving to glance at something else. Her arms rested at her side and hadn't moved an inch. She neither moved nor tried to fidget. She looked as though she was a mere statue.

Byakuen shifted in his seat over by the edge of the table. He fixed his brown eyes upon Seoul, as if he were searching her soul.

There's something familiar about her, he thought to himself. It's as though we have met before, but from where? And how? Ara, Kaosu-sama, give me the strength to go on.

"What is kitty cat looking at?"

Nasuti, who had Chibi Shu on her lap, lifted her head up and blinked a couple of times. She and the other Masho were watching Seoul, who had gone over to Byakuen and was patting the top of his white hair as though he was a pet.

"Nice, pretty... Seoul likes kitties..." she said in a playful voice.

Byakuen emitted a low growl from his throat, much like he had done when he was a tiger. He felt his entire face grow bright red and a huge sweat drop appeared on the side of his head. But what surprised him was that Seoul knew that he was really a cat!

"Er, Seoul?" Rajura spoke in a indecisive voice.

Seoul quickly flew backwards, back to her original position, and threw Rajura a reassuring smile. "Excuse me, Gen Masho Rajura-san. I have much to explain."

Naaza felt a muscle twitch in his jaw. "Yes, do tell."

"Aww, I'm hungry," Chibi Shu whined. "Can we have dinner yet?"

"I still wanna go home," Chibi Shin moaned timidly.

Anubis slammed his fist onto the table, his blue eyes seething in frustration. He snarled, "Will you brats shut up?!"

Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin quickly closed their jaws shut and hid behind Nasuti. The young woman threw Anubis a harsh glance. "Please calm down, Anubis," she told him, her voice somewhat stern. "We're all a little tired from what's been going on lately."

"Gomen, Nasuti."

Anubis drew his fist back to his side and forced himself to relax. Nasuti couldn't blame him though. He and the others were under a lot of stress lately and unfortunately it looked as though it wouldn't get any better. Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin peered from Nasuti's back and started making faces at the blue-haired man. However, a strict look from Kayura made them behave once more.

"Seoul understands how you all must feel," Seoul said, as though undisturbed. "Seoul is willing to help you in returning everything to normal. It is particularly Seoul's fault for how the way things are."

"What do you mean?" Byakuen asked.

The apparition twirled a lock of hair between her long, slender fingers as she spoke. "Seoul shares a terrible past with Sachiriku, the mad woman whom you seek. In order to restore order, Seoul must reunite with Sachiriku into the Final Stage."

Naaza folded his hands across the table and inquired, "So... are you somehow implying that in a way, you are connected to Sachiriku. How? Is she your sister?"

Seoul shook her head in dismay. "If that were only it, Doku Masho Naaza-san." She stopped playing with her hair and hung her head, her eyes fixed to the floor. "You see, Sachiriku is more than just a sister to Seoul. Sachiriku is Seoul's other half--we are, in reality, one whole person."

"This is boring," Chibi Seiji complained as he rummaged through Anubis' closet. He wrapped his little fingers around a black leather jacket sleeve and gave it a hard tug. Suddenly the entire jacket fell on top of him, covering him like a blanket. Seconds later, the hanger fell from the closet and bounced on top of his head.

"Ouch! Hey look. Anubis is a biker!" Chibi Seiji's muffled voice exclaimed. "Check out his biker jacket, Ryo. Ryo? ...Ryo! Hey! Somebody get me out! I can't see!"

"Quiet, Seiji!" Chibi Ryo hissed from the end of the hallway, which wasn't that far away. "I'm tryin' to listen to what they're saying."

"Nani? But..." Chibi Seiji managed to removed the jacket off of himself, flinging it onto the floor behind him. "They're all talking boring big people stuff. We're still kids, remember? We need to have fun! ...So I think I'll go get some ice-cream. See ya!"

The charming blonde-haired boy trampled over the crumpled clothes he and Chibi Ryo had thrown out of the closet earlier and ran out of the room. Chibi Ryo didn't notice his friend's disappearance, instead he continued listening to the conversation being heard.

From what he learned, Seoul was actually a part of Sachiriku. That she and Sachiriku were two halves of a whole person. Because of an incident that occurred centuries ago, a woman named Lelani was captured by Arago. He had detected a hint of power hidden within this Lelani person and decided the only way to draw that power out was to take the soul out of its body. Upon doing that, Arago unleashed Lelani's soul, which then suddenly split into two: one was a demoness, capable of creating mass destruction (and whom would later be the cause of the Troopers' current state), and the other was a lost soul filled with purity, innocence and confusion.

Left alone, this befuddled soul (later known as Seoul), was to end up wandering the world, not knowing exactly what to do or what to think. It was only recently that Seoul was able to understand what was going on and that was how she was able to find the Chibi Troopers and company earlier. Kiyemon had already been aware of what was to come and she had made it possible for Seoul to find what she desired. Unfortunately, Kiyemon was no longer able to help the others with their mission. Seoul mentioned something about Kiyemon breaking a 'time taboo' and her being punished severely by some 'beings of unknown'.

Sitting back against the wall, his side facing the top of the staircase, Chibi Ryo drew his legs up to his chest and hugged them. He wrapped his arms around them and buried his face in them. He sighed in frustration.

I don't get it. Seoul-san says we're s'pose to be big peoples. But that Sachiriku lady hurt us and Kiyemon-san made us into little kids. Why? Why'd they do such a thing? We never did nothing to them!

Chibi Ryo lifted his head from his arms and stared at the bedroom door which stood right across the hall. So I really am a big person. Does that mean papa won't ignore me anymore? That I'll get to see him again? It feels like I haven't seen him in a million years. Doesn't he still care for me? Maybe he'll let me go on his safari hunts and let me watch him take pictures of jungle animals! That would be so cool.

"Ryo."

Tearing his eyes away from the door, the dark-haired boy found Chibi Touma and Chibi Seiji standing beside him, their eyes filled with uneasiness. Their faces, normally bright and cheery, were now drawn and a bit pale. The book in which Chibi Touma held in his hand, was suddenly forgotten as it fell onto the ground. He reached up and removed a huge baseball cap from his head and placed it next to his feet on floor.

"Ryo," he said, saying his friend's name for the second time. "We need to talk. About what's going on."

Chibi Ryo nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Gee, I can't believe that we're really adults," Chibi Seiji said in a somewhat contented voice, yet it lacked any real emotion. "That witch Sachiriku..."

"So, you guys were listening?"

"Well, duh!" Chibi Seiji tossed his head to one side and watched as his blonde hair bounced up and landed in its same spot over his right eye. "We may be kids, Ryo, but we still listen to important stuff. That's why my grandfather told me to 'always listen, because the things you don't hear may be the key to your answers.'" He frowned and shook his head. "No wait, was it 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'? No, it was 'Enjoy life, because you only live it once'. Wait! No, wait... I think it was..."

Chibi Touma rolled his eyes upward. "Seiji no baka."

"That was weird," Chibi Shu commented as he sat and played with the toy truck out in front of Nasuti's house. The truck's wheels rolled along the dirt, creating a perfect trail of tire tracks. "I mean, the part about us being grown ups. Pretty cool and all, but..."

Chibi Shin gave his friend a worried glance. "Something doesn't feel right," he told him in a rickety voice. "She says we're supposed to trust her, and the grown ups do trust her, but I don't trust her for some reason. I-I don't know why I feel this way, I just do."

Chibi Shu didn't say anything, instead he continued playing with his toy truck. He got onto his knees and started driving it around Chibi Shin, making car noises while doing so.

"Vrrrrroooooommmm! Beep beep! Outta the way, road hog! You're in my lane!"

He whirled around and made the truck do a U-turn--right into somebody's foot. Chibi Shu scowled and said, "Hey! Get outta the way, you--?"

A dark shadow fell over Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin, who had gotten up and squatted next to his friend. The two young boys lifted their heads and found a familiar sullen figure standing before them. Yellow and black eyes glared at them and for a moment, a spark of hatred ignited in them but quickly faded.

"Hey. What're you brats up to now?"

"Kokuen-Oh," Chibi Shu growled as stood up and took a fighting stance. "Whaddaya want? If you wanna fight, then I'm your man, buddy! C'mon, let's rumble!"

"Where were you, Kokuen-Oh-san?" Chibi Shin asked in a more polite manner. He stood up and took a few steps back, not wanting to have to stand so close to this mean person. "We, um, missed... you."

"That is none of your business," the man told him distinctly, his short raven hair flowing evenly in the gentle breezes. He cracked his knuckles in front of his face, the loud cracks heard clearly. Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin winced at those sounds but didn't say a word. Kokuen-Oh's eyes drifted from the boys over to the house. They narrowed as they glared into the window. "I see you've got a visitor."

Chibi Shu nodded. "Yeah, her name's Seoul. She's a weirdo."

"Shu!" Chibi Shin scolded. "That's not nice."

"Well she is! She kinda freaks me out. The way she'd be talking for one minute and the next minute she's all hanging on the ceiling or petting Byakuen on the head-- it's too weird! It's weirder than weird, Shin." Chibi Shu wrinkled his nose at Kokuen-Oh. "You gonna stay with us this time?"

Kokuen-Oh shrugged. "Perhaps. Until the time comes, of course..." His voice drifted off, his mind lost in thought. Excusing himself, he began walking away from the house until he suddenly 'bumped' into something.

"Nani kuso?!"

Whatever it was that Kokuen-Oh had collided into caused him to fall back on his heels, his arms failing outward. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... WHOA!!"

Chibi Shu and Chibi Shin quickly scrambled out of the way as he fell onto his rear end. Kokuen-Oh simply sat there in a daze, his yellow and black eyes dilating like crazy. He lifted a hand and held it to his temple. "What the..."

"Hey, Kokuen-Oh-san," Chibi Shin said as he went to his side and placed a tiny hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Kokuen-Oh nodded, smiling weakly. "Yes, I think so--" He felt his cheeks grow red with discomfiture. With one hand he smacked the boy away and swiftly got to his feet.

Damn human legs, he thought abruptly. So dainty and brittle. And too thin at that. Not enough muscle in them. That wasn't what bothered him entirely. It was the fact that he was actually somewhat nice towards the children. His cool attitude had slid just a bit, allowing some positive feelings to get loose. He was rarely nice to people. In fact, the only person he would ever listen to was Kenboukyou. However, he was long gone, and Kokuen-Oh had no choice but to follow Byakuen and the others. For the time being.

Glaring at them from the corner of his eyes, Kokuen-Oh watched as Chibi Shu helped Chibi Shin to his feet, telling him that everything was going to be okay. A smile curled upon his lips. Little do they know... but what did I just walk into? Frowning in dismay, he took a few steps forward and held out his hand. A tiny shock flowed through his fingers as they brushed against some kind of invisible wall. "What in the hell...?"

"It is Seoul's barrier."

Whirling around, Kokuen-Oh discovered an odd looking yet strangely attractive woman coming towards him, accompanied by Nasuti and Byakuen. He immediately sensed something wrong with the woman but he forced himself to remain calm.

"You must be Seoul," he proclaimed, putting on his usual dark facial expression.

The woman nodded. "Yes, that is right. You must be the other half of Byakuen. Nasuti-san has told me about you."

"Hmm, has she now...?" Kokuen-Oh scowled as he turned away from the trio and faced the direction he wanted to go in. "Can't you open up this barrier of yours? What's its purpose anyway?"

"To protect everyone within the barrier," Seoul explained with a sweet smile. "Seoul wants to help you all so much. The Masho have announced that they would begin training immediately if they want to stand a chance against Sachiriku and her evil army."

Chibi Shu's face brighten. Grabbing onto Nasuti's wrist, he shouted, "Oh! Nasuti-san! Can we train too? I wanna help, I wanna help!"

Chibi Shin nodded in agreement, his eyes shining with excitement. "Yes, we wanna be able to be grown-ups again, huh Shu?"

"Hai!"

Byakuen chuckled and messed up Chibi Shu's hair. "They're all inside getting ready. You'd better find them before they start without you."

The two boys screamed with joy and quickly sprinted past Byakuen and towards the house. Once they were gone, Byakuen turned to Nasuti and Seoul.

"Please excuse me, but I must talk to Kokuen-Oh. Alone."

Nasuti nodded. "I understand, Yaku." Then turning to Seoul, she offered her a hand and said, "Why don't I show you around the house?"

"Arigato, Nasuti-san. I would like that very much." Seoul began to take Nasuti's hand when suddenly she twirled in the air, and before anyone could do anything, she threw her arms around both Byakuen and Kokuen-Oh, hugging them fiercely. "Seoul just LOOOVES kitties!"

"Grr, don't touch me!" Kokuen-Oh snapped, baring his white teeth.

Byakuen seemed less aggravated than his other half. He gave Seoul a weary grin and sighed.

***end of chapter nine.

Chapter Ten