This is Harry Potter/Tenjou Tenge (manga, not anime) cross, with emphasis on Tenjou

Tenge, but Harry is the main character here, for the most part. It isn't a one shot, more
like a prologue. Or something. People who know Tenjo Tenge will know the characters
and setting instantly, those who don't might be a bt lost. Anyway, sleep calls so as always
feeel free to shoot holes in case of mistakes, I don't mid any constructive criticism that
will help me to improve.

Lotus

Harry Potter/Tenjo Tenge crossover by Fosfor.

Prologue: Crimson and White. And bit of Violet.

Step up.

He didn’t expect it.

He expected a block, maybe the oh-so-famous dodging skills.

Well not this time.

He is fast. Aggresive.

But he is trained fighter.

A warrior.
So this is warrior’s agression.

Raw kind of aggresion. Potent anger.

He goes about his life like every other student here.

Might makes right.
So he’s mighty.
He’s strong.

He swaggers, looks cool and shows he’s the big player.

Dangerous.

Fairly radiating his aggresive aura all over the place to show he’s all that.

Good

I have some aggresion too.

But mine... I store mine.

Contain it.

Let it grow.

I weave with a bemused glance, duck with an amused exclamation, whine coming hair’s
breath from harm... And I smile.

And I fight without aggresion.

Storing it.

I train.

Enchancing it.

I raise to the challenge with heavy sigh, flippant comment and careless wave of the arm.

Focusing it.

And then...

I enter the guard.

I close in when I should be running.
I attack where I should be retreating.
I smirk briefely at the flash of bemusement... and fearful understanding that flashes in his
eyes as my hand moves, my body coiling, palm open.

And he hits the wall, sliding down, unconscious before he touches the ground again.

And there is sudden silence.

And there are shocked eyes.
And there is so much surprise that anger is slow in coming.

Don’t worry, my shocked fellow classmates.

No anger?
Hesitation?
Lack of initiative?
I’ll help you.

And with calculated boredom I straighten the shirt, that special, silk shirt she gave me.
One that got so many laughs and amused looks.

Can’t be a good warrior, so at least you try to look like one, indeed.
You had your laugh.

It was all fun and games, and I would even admit it was funny.
To a degree.
I would like to say it was all water under the bridge but...
I would lie.

Now don’t get me wrong.

I have no problem whatsoever with lying.

But I HATE to lie to myself.
Too much of that in my life before.

So I straighten the shirt.

I flick the nonexistient dust.

And I’m suddenly tempted to do Maya’s „you are beneath my notice, you are worms and
I tolerate you but don’t push it because I’m faster, I’m stronger and I’m just better in any
possible way” stretch, you know the one that would piss the saint off.

But I don’t.

For the first time ever, I don’t smile, I don’t throw bemused glances and I most certainly
don’t fade away.

Instead, I rise my eyebrow.

And agression is unchained, if still held in iron grip.

But they can feel it.

Oh, can they feel it.

And suddenly it gets to them.

I am an enemy.
Moreover, I’m dangerous.
And I just casually put down one of their own.
And I diss them.

Casually.

So they rise.
Cracking their knuckles, stretching their necks, reaching for weapons, looking all
omnious and threatening. You know the drill.
I almost smile at that.

There are no friends here.

I came here just for that reason.

And with smile in my heart, I casually open the window and jump down.

I hear muffled curses as I touch the ground.

The curses rise and I smile, hands in my pockets.

And they realise I don’t run.

And they jump against me.

They smile, becaue to them, I sacrificed my only asset now that I have to fight in open
space instead in cramped clasroom that would have them getting in each other’s way.

And I almost burst laughting, but instead I smirk.

And raise my eyebrow mockingly.

And they lunge.

And I kick the first, straight at the solar plexus and hsi eyes bulge as he falls down
unconcious but I don’t have time to admire the effects.

I put my leg down and make that long step-jump stolen from classic fencers and I sweep
my arms from behind me, straight into soft tissue of my next targets.

And I catch the arm holding a staff before it can give any energy to the nearly started
swing and I jab at the nerve cluster, making it useless for hours.

I spin and strike the nearby jaw with a quick palm strike before strafing left to make a
quick use of my elbow before I sweep low and then strike hard.

I twist, catching the double fist, turning, twisting, redirecting the energy into painful
throw.

I intercept the kick, twisting the ankle and kicking in that painful spot just under the knee.

I use classic atemi to break the nose before I break the arm, and then my fingers jab at the
tonfa, Hazue ripping the wood apart and I turn, slashing, my Hazue turning my fingers
into deadly weapon capable of gouging and cutting through flesh and steel alike.
And when one comes that avoids the hand and ducks under the kick... I smirk.

I stretch out my palm.

Suddenly there is lot’s of fear in the air as the Red Lotus blooms and raw power crackles
for a split second before it crushes bones and turns schoolyard into bowling alley.

I stop, folding the arms behind my back in very kung-fu master manner.

My shirt is pristine, not a smudge or wrinkle adorning it’s pure white silk.

I wait for a while, letting dust settle, shock to pass and pain to set in.

„You have until tommorow.” my voice is oddly cold and alien even to my ears „If not, I
will come back. You won’t be able to hide. You won’t be able to run. I will find you. And
I will break you in a way that will give sickest nutjobs in this school nightmares for years
to come.”

„Okay, what the FUCK was that?!” was practically the best way for Ryuzaki to sum up
the Eforcement Group emergency meeting.

Oh there were other comments, plenty of them. Some calling for heads to roll, some
disbelieving, some angry at blatant breach in pecking order.

‘But Ryuzaki, for all his crass, ill mannered and undisciplined self managed to sum it up
perfectly.’ though Emi bitterly, trying not to rise her hands from under the table, where
they shook ever since the tape from the courtyard were played.

Although it was her own idea to make the activities of Enforcement Group easier by
installing the cameras in some areas of the Todo campus, now she regretted the passion
she argued with for the sake of that idea.

Against her will, her eyes slowly went to the VCR with sick fascination, the tape paused
near the end of the fight, before she forced herself not to look.

She was by no means squamish. Despite her delicate looks, she was an Isuzu, born and
bred for generations to fight. She had seen much, done worse, witnessed the worst a fight
between human beeings had to offer.

But she didn’t want to see...IT. Or be remindied of...IT. Never. EVER again.

But she knew that at the end of the day, when all was said and done, she would go and
visit the Todo-paid hospital to look at that last one, poor bastard, to look at his chest
where that deceptively delicate yet so utterly terryfying flower bloomed in the morning.
The unfortunate student would live, the technique had been extroardinaly carefully
executed to avoid it’s full, deadly potential but the victim, for there was no other word,
will bear the proof of Red Lotus mark for some time.

‘Knowing Ren, he propably planned it this way, goddamn him.’ her jaw tensed at the
thought ‘Using JUST the right ammount of force with goddamn overkill at the end to
make them remember and shit themselves at the thought. And that’s just when you lulled
this whole goddamn school into sense of false security and your own coat of bewildered
harmlesness. Force and artful application of barbaricity under the harmless veneer. That’s
so like you... Kagami you utter bastard’ she didn’t know if she hated him for that or
admired him all the more.

That she was scared shitless of the seeminlgy harmless, black haired, green eyed gaijin in
comical uber-martial arts chinese silks... Well that she knew a long time ago.

She used to see him as part of the crowd once, just another tagalong, never to ammount ot
any REAL power. That he was a Jyuukenbu and HER friend only added tot he
satisfaction. Let that bitch Maya collect yet another useless fighter, like that Sagano
lecher. All the better of Isuzu Emi to crush her for Mitsuomi-sama’s sake.

Now she knew better, even if most of the schools didn’t.

‘Or rather didn’t until now.’ she corrected herself before one of the comments interrupted
her reverie.

„WHAT did you just say?” she asked slowly, her eyes on some unfortunate Enforcement
Group member that just uttered a Damn Stupid Comment

The man gulped, feeling furious eyes of Vice President of the group, before repeating

„Well, we must decide on the punishment, since it was the break of school...” he didn’t
manage to finish when a thrown knife embeded less than a centimeter from his dick with
a force that was felt through the entire chair.

„Listen up, and listen up well, you bloody idiots” she said slowly, as if to a child „No
one, and I mean NO ONE in this fucking room or Enforcement Group will so much as
touch him. Is. That. Clear?”

„WHAT?!” Predictably it was Ryuuzaki, the resident loudmouth „He breaks rules set by
us and you are just letting him go?! He has to be punished!”

Contrary to the usual pattern, there were plenty of murmurs agreeing wit the fire user.

She cursed Mitsuomi. For all her love for the man, his lack of presence for such matters
didn’t help the discipline in the slightest.

Before she managed to find a riposte, the lazy voice cut into the tense atmosphere like
one of her knives.

„And who is gonna do this, you?” asked Tawara

Ryuzaki grinned, that cocksure grin she detested before repying.

„Sure, why not, the guy’s a small fry. Not much needeed to roast him.” – he commented
liting his hand briefely, flames dancing wildly

Tawara looked at the boy for a few seconds, his face utterly blank. Then there was a
silent, but growing noise that, Emi suddenly realised, was a snigger. Which quickly
errupted into full blown laughter that virtually lifted Bunshichi from the chair as he
laughed his ass off, crying and howling at verious intervals.

It took good several minutes for Special Advisor tot he Enforcement Group Tawara
Bunshichi, aka the Double Impact Tawara and propably only man in the school that could
give high and mighty Mitsuomi Takayanagi, head of Enforcement Group roughly even
fight, to stop laughing and drag himself back to the table. And he still erupted into mad
cackle now and then, even if the bulk of his amusement was done with.

„Maaaan...” he wiped a tear „Now that was fucking funny. I haven’t laughed like that
since sweet lil’ Maya-chan knocked out that Vale Tudo guy with her tits two years ago.
Heh. Knockers indeed.” he sniggered before calming down for good

„Now as an advisor, I agree with big boobs Vice President there”

Emi didn’t even stew at the comment. This WAS tawara, after all

„And there will be no action whatsoever against Jyuukenbu OR Ren. Had Mitsuomi been
here, he would have agreed with me. The matter’s closed. But...” he came up to Ryuuzaki
and laid a hand on his arm in friendly manner „If you want to go against him on your
own, without Enforcement Group to hold your hand, be my guest. Just remember to tell
me when and where. I have yet to see Red Lotus,” he gestured at the freeze-frame of the
explosive ki erupting from white clad man’s outstretched palm „at full power. Seeing
somebody’s chest getting caved in with a touch should be fun to watch. Otherwise settle
down... small fry.” witch nonchalant swipe of his arm, Tawara sent the fire user to the
ground.

All the way down.

Through the table.

He turned to the Enforcement Group commite.

„What are you fucking morons looking at? This meeting is over.”

It took nearly ten minutes for Emi’s arms to stop shaking after the VCR was turned off
when the Commite left. Ten minutes of wishing Tawara just LEFT her the fuck alone and
fear he owuld actually do so, letting her remember.

Finally, she just lost the patietnce and with calm detachement she stole Tawara’s newly lit
cigarette and took heavy drag.

„Babe, if you wanted a kiss, you should have said so.” he grinned lecherously „No need
to be coy with indirect ones.”

Emi just looked at the powerful brawler, her face carefully blank, before she released the
smoke in one, heavy sigh.

„Shut. UP.” she said dispassionately takling another drag

He sighed, going serious for once and lit himself another cigarette before sitting next to
her. For once he didn’t try to cop a feel, gaze on her tits or look uder her skirt.

He just sat there, his face throughful.

„So... You’ve seen it, huh? The white one?” he broke the silence finally, shocking her

„Don’t be so surprised. That thousand yard stare, glassy eyes, shaking hands... I’ve seen
them once few years ago. You don’t forget that kind of look” he sighed „I know it’s ugly
but...”

„It is not ugly, Bunshichi.” she said, her voice silent „When you look at it, it is the most
beautiful thing in the world. Perfect. But after...” she shuddered

„I don’t get why are you so freaked out” asked Tawara „Mitsomi’s Forged Needle can do
roughly the same, only from the outside. Hell, your knives can slice up and good...”

„Maybe. But Bunshichi...” she said, her voice distraught and her eyes sad and lost „Tell
me... How can something so beautiful be so fucking deadly?”

He sighed, feeling old for the second time in his life, the feling not as numbing when
Shin died but still bitting deep.

„I can’t answer that, you know it.” he said after a while of silence „But I can tell you a
story. Wanna listen?”
„What am I, fucking child?”

„Just listen. Humor me this once.” he said calmly

She nodded slowly.

„There was once a kid,” started Bunshichi, settling himself better on his seat „Not terribly
smart, but not stupid. Just average.

He lived alone. He was an orphan or his parents left him? Who the fuck knows?

He wasn’t japanese, he lacked the japanese features and had impossibly green eyes. His
hair were messy no matter wha he did, his eyes almost glowed during the day and
spooked others in the night and he was a littlle bit strange, no matter how you looked at
it.

He stood out.

Not good for a lonely kid. Even worse, he had the worst kind of luck.

Bullies wanted a piece of him, teachers didn’t like him, strange things happened and he
was always in the middle. To top it off, he had extremely poor health. He just drew
trouble to himself like a magnet.

But he was a stubborn kid and not bad sort, so he gritted his teeth and moved forward,
going through his fucked up life with the rabid determination of a pissed off bulldog.”

Tawara threw a quick glance at Emi, who was apparently spellbound by the story so he
continued

„Then one day, the bitch that is karma looked at his account and thought that the poor
SOB got fucked over all his miserable life, so she needeed to repay him somehow. But as
she was a bitch, she did it in sneaky, underhanded and just fucked up way. And that day,
the kid met Lilac Haired Meneace.”

he took a drag before getting back to the story

„Since karma is a bitch and she knows it, as far as first meetings go, this one was rather
memorable one. He got his ass kicked by mistake, she got her clothes ripped by accident,
she got teased and he got his ass kicked yet again.

And he didn’t give up.

That was a start of a beautiful friendship, even if both would deny it it even in front of a
rifle squad back then.” he smiled to his memories before pickin up the slack
„The girl was from old noble family but she was far from spoiled princess. She was apple
of her brother’s eye and could leave easily, but she had the same rabid-buldog
determination like the kid, even if she was a brat.

Like calls to like and amid property damage, teases, rows and violence galore courtesy of
Lilac Haired Meneace, the friendship grew, strenghted and blossomed into a tight bond.
And despite kid’s secrecy, Lilac girl found that her friend’s health was poor. ASo she had
an idea.

She said – Hey, I’m martial artist! From family of martial artists since, like, forever! And
Martial arts equal better health! So why not practice marial arts to get better? But as they
found out, the boy couldn’t.

He got tired easily no matter how much he trained and he coughed up blood if he
strained. But Lilac was nothing if persistient. She dug, she asked, she cajoled, she
searched and finally, in her family’s library, she had found the answer.

It wasn’t a martial art, but it was breathing, it was health... It was life. So she gave them
to the kid and told him to practice and he will get better for sure. The boy doubted, but
did as he was told.

Now that Lilac girl had a brother who wasn’t a bad guy really, but he was one scary SOB
when he wanted to be. And that brother decided tha near-street level urchin is not good
enough friend for his precious sister. So he forbade them from meeting.

Lilac girl, however was rebelious, and the kid had long history of not listening to pricks
who though themselves his betters. So their bond only grew stronger for that. But finally
the brother got tired, got pissed off and was in general bad mood. So he went to the kid,
and said he will kick his ass so hard that the ancestors would feel it and if he would be so
kind as to keep away from his sister.

The kid looked at him and said no.

Unusually patient, because he didn’t want his sister mad at him for turning her friend to a
pulp, the brother kindly explained that weak, sickly trash are not to keep his precious
sister away from her training and her duties to the family.

The kid said no again.

Barely controling himself, because his patience was at it’s last legs, the brother asked the
kid if he REALLY wanted to die so badly.

The kid looked him in the eyes, smiled and said that he wants to live the most.

And then the kid struck out with his palm, right at brother’s chest, actually managing to
force the big, powerful and strong brother back with a strike. One that left the angry, red
mark of a blooming lotus flower on his chest.”

Emi’s eyes widened considerably at that.

„The brother, instead of smiting the fool tot he kingdom come, got the oddest look on his
face as he rubbed his pained chest. And then, the Lilac girl came, standing between her
brother and her friend, fearful but determined.

Then, the brother, to kid’s great disbelief, started to snigger. Then chuckle. And then howl
with laughter. And still howling with laughter, the brother said that he could see his sister
any time he wished and left utterly perturbed kid and confused sister behid.

And it so happened afterwards, that the kid stopped being sickly and actually became
strong enough to beat the shit out of nearly anyone but none save the Lilac girl and her
brother knew of it. And when the brother died, Lilac girl came to the kid, full of grief and
purpose. She came, she said words, the arguments escalated and the meager apartament
the kid had was no more. So the Lilac girl, as if it was most natural thing in the world,
told the kid to move to her home. And the kid did, but that’s comepletely different story
altogether.”

There was nary a sound for a few minutes before Emi turned to Tawara with a strange
expression on her face.

„Bunshichi...” she said slowly

„Yeah?”

„...You utterly suck at telling stories, you know?”

He sighed heavily before rising from the chair

„I know.” he said turning to leave

„..But...” she said before he went out of the door „You aren’t such a bad guy, after all.”

He smiled at that, somewhat wistufully, somewhat mockingly.

„I know” he repeated as he went away, leaving her alone to ponder and remember a
younger girl, full of hope and madly in love with dashing young hero who was friends
with most powerful man she had ever met and didn’t have only few years left to live and
obsession with leaving his mark on the world before he died.

A good distance away from that room, young man smiled as he came to the door of
ancient house built in style not seen for centuries even among most traditional families.
His thin, wiry frame and it’s compact, powerful muscles hidden under the chinese silks,
bright eyes of most unreal emerald color shone in the moderatly handsome, delicate but
clearly masculine face. His unruly, midnight black hair swayed in the autumn wind as he
stopped for a few seconds, looking at his reflection in the small koi pond, remembering
other young man whose eyes didn’t shine as brightly despite the same hue and whose
face didn’t bear the easy, confident grin, and whose brown bore more than just figurative
mark of his stress, before shaking his head and entering the house.

There, just by the hall, stood a woman with lilac hair, for once her form volomptous of
woman in her late teens, not the small chibi she was so fond off. Her yukata, while better
than her „after change” clothes that left almost nothing to imagination, fit her well, but
while it covered all, it was snug enough to suggest everything.

„I’m home.” he said

„Welcome home” she smiled, throwing him an amused look „Hard day?”

He cocked his head thoughtfully, before shaking it with a small smile.

„Nah. No more than the usual” he said before inspecting the violet yukata „Nice one, the
color really fits you.”

„You think about the color looking at it, I’m dissapointed” she smirked

„Oh I wouldn’t say ONLY about color” he gave her that easy, boyish grin, slightly self
mocking, bright, full of mischief and all him that made her warm inside and brought
smile to her face. „But you usually get some jeans and blouses when you lounge in adult
form, what gives?” he asked curiously

She grinned, closing the distance and then passing him, going straight for the locks.

„Jeans are fine, only when they are not” she said cryptically, passing hi again as she went
through the hall, deeper into the house. He followed her, as she clearly wanted to.

„And when they are not?” he asked puzzled

„Why, when they are troublesome, of course!” she said with a secretive smile that made
his stomach jump in a very weird manner

„And troublesome means...?” he asked carefully as he tried not to stare at her back and
the..lower parts of her back and was failing badly.

„Problem with jeans is that I like them snug.” she sighed theatrically „And snug..” she
stopped in the middle of the room they entered, before turning to him slowly, rather
disturbing, predatory grin on her face „don’t come off easily” she finished, her grin
growing, if it was even possible as she loosed the obi, shedding the gown.

His eyes become the size of the small plates. He had seen her naked before, or almost
naked in few situations, their first meeting or latest hotspring trip coming to mind but this
was different. Way different.

„Oh my”

And that was about the only thing Kagami Ren, master of Hakuren Ryu who was once
Harry Potter managed to say before Natsume Maya, Jyuukenbu captain, occasional
teacher, his best friend and woman he was stupidly in love with for years (even if he was
a moron and didn’t notice until recently) lunged at him, only this time there was different
kind of physical extertion than their usual training involved.

--------------------
Okay, Lotus part 2. It is odd just HOW this little bastard just keeps writing itself when
I'm not looking. Quick clarification for those that didn't read part one. This is a Harry
Potter/Tenjou Tenge crossover. With some ah...minor additions. Kagami Ren = Harry
Potter after some life changing expiriences, some of which will be hinted at here. Another
important character here is Hokuto Sumeragi, the eccentric little onmyouji straight from
Tokyo Babylon. Why her? You'll see later. She's important in many ways. As per norm
for Lotus, this piece jumps a bit timline wise.

He changed his clothes before he went up.

He didn’t know why.
There was no point.
After all, it’s not like he would have honored that place with his attire.
Not with pure white mandarin jacket and silk pants.
Not in ancient japanese temple.

He thought that he must have looked rodiculously out of place.

Face of gaijin, silks of mandarin and japanese temple, forgotten by time.
It was so out of place, so utterly ALIEN . He wanted to laugh.

Or cry.

Or both.
But he did neither. He just changed the clothes and kept on.
He didn’t know why he came here. He really didn’t.
There was nothing there.

Even the stone steps awere so eroded by teeth of time that they were no different than
natural rocks found through the mountains.

Locals, who harbored legends and local fary tales long after history forgets didn’t even
know there WAS a temple on that mountain. Much less it’s name.

If not for Maya’s digging, he would have never come here.

But Maya dug. Maya asked. Maya bribed, cajoled, teased and outright ordered.

Because like with the white silks straight out of Wu Xia movie from the
seventies, bad dub and all, like with that old katana, covered in rust and with the
Hakuren, gathering dust somehere on the shelf... Maya cared.

And for someboedy like him, that is worth more than any treasure, any secret technique,
any power in the world.

When they called him a loner, an „aloof bastard” as the Sagano, the illustrious „Asshat”
was fond of saying left and right... He didn’t know if to laugh or stare at them in utter
bewilderement.

Loner?

HIM?

„People.” He wanted to say then „You don’t KNOW what loneliness is!”

He did.

What he had now, was so far removed from loneliness as it was possible.

Sure, Aya might be clingly brat, naive and childlish to the world and far too caring for her
own good. Masataka might have the spine of the jellyfish and perverted preference for
younger girls and utter fixation on Aya. Maya might be overly aggresive, tease
mercilessly, behave like goddamn sailor on shore leave and be a sadist that goes from
bratty, old-man talking six year old to most gorgous sixteen years old you have laid your
eyes upon on a whim with that Natsume Ki Molding #23 crap.

Asshat might be annoying perv who somehow went from loser to halfway decent brawler
and supreme pervert (how he manages to have FOUR girlfriends, at the same time, that
KNOW about each other and still are in love with him, AND share him, and sometimes
each other he’ll NEVER know) and Kurei, that little alien, is beyond weird

„Now that is rich, comming from me.” He muttered with a rueful chuckle

Still... There was that quiant little something. That little, warm spark. One that kept it
together.

For her childlishness, Aya was better than good eighty percent of the Todo Gakuen and
had surprising depths, Masataka, for all of his Aya-fixation and mild-mannered behaviour
kicked some SERIOUS ass once he got going.

Asshat was so goddamn loyal to Maya that he would have stood up to Mitsuomi for her if
he had to, and that goddamn superman-wannabe scared him more than anything in the
world.

Kurei... Well, Kurei was friends with Asshat but who the hell knows what Kurei thought?

And Maya. Gorgeous, unstoppable Natsume Danjou Maya, Juukenbu Shihandai, head of
Natsume Clan and master of Natsume Goshin Ryu... Maya who, for all her outward
cocksure (hah!) manner had heart torn by grief and more issues than yours truly.

„And THAT takes some screwed up life.” he muttered with a rueful grin

Whatever.

Time for thinking or such pointless was long gone.

Jyuukenbu, MAYA’S Jyuukenbu, was reality now.

He threw his dice, grabbed the blooming lotus knowing he would have to play the game.

And he will cheat as all get out to win.

He’d been wrong. He would have known the place even if he stumbled on it acidentally.

There was a... feeling there.

Nothing he could describe, but it was there.

A little bit like the Natsume family main compund, only different.

More familiar, as absurd as that seemed.

In Natsume Clan dojo, you could feel the heavy atmpsphere of history, old power that
was passed down from generation to generation of the Natsume family for so long that
the feel of Natsume’s ki mingled permanently with the aura of the very ground of that
place.

In the reuins of Hakuren Temple, the power was ancient, the heavy aura merely a faint
memory... But the power...

It was like blooming flower, like the budding lotus growing after years as a seed,
forgotten and unattended but still very much alive and willing to grow.
Each step he took through the stone floor, where once the main courtyard must have
been... He could feel it.

Whispering that grew louder with each stone he touched. Worn down stone, worn in a
way that illustrated countless generations of monks going through Ichirin, Single Flower,
the Hakuren beginner excersise, stone chipped from years of practcing the deceptively
named but deadly Hazue and several other Hakuren techniques.

And if feelings, small sings and th aura were too subtle, the countles lotus-like shapes
ground into hard stone from practicing the Guren were more than enough.

This was Hakuren Jinja, heart and home of Hakuren Ryu, the White Lotus. Martial art of
an enlightened assassin, forgotten by history and martial world. One whose all
practicioners were long gone, save one.

Him.

And as he stood there, among the rubble, old history, old power that resonated with his
own and mingled with his thoughts, he realised one fact.
This ruin, this pile of rubble... And he felt at home here.

But he wasn’t home.

Despite the absurd familiarity of the aura of this place, this wasn’t home. It was a good
place, a fine place and he would like nothing more then buy this ground and build a home
here. Someday.

This was still heart of Hakuren Ryu, even if it had only one practicioner left alive and
should be treated as such but...

Home was several hundred kilometers away, at an equally old Natsume compound, with
naive brunette practicing her battoujutsu and where bratty lilac-haired shihandai kicked
his ass all over the place when she was bored.

This wasn’t home.

Someday it might be, but for now it was just emotionally charged pile of ancient rubble.
He looked at the courtrayd and the remaining part of the wall.

It had an empty place among countless half-eroded lotus marks crushed into it, as if
inviting him to take a place among them.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and taking a loose stance.

He could have made it quick, but it would be wrong. This was supposed to be done right.
No sloppy side-leaks, no backlash.

Pure, focused, perfectly molded inadulterated power and elegance of blooming lotus.

And with a growl that started somehere in his solar plexus and grew in force and volume
steadily, a flowing warmth of focused ki, potent but still subtle, gahered in his hand and
stayed there for a split second as he basked in it’s warm glow.

And then, with growl of rapidly displaced air and released power added to his own, the
Crimson Lotus bloomed from his outstreched palm. Crushing, cutting and pressing the
hard stone until a shape near-identical to the others, only fresh and untouched by teeth of
time stood in previously empty rock.

He smiled, truly smiled for the first time in a long while watching the fading violet sparks
of leftover chi dancing on his palms until they finally vanished. Then he bowed to the
ruins of the Hakuren temple, fist in his open palm.

Although the air stood still, he could feel the currents, ancient but powerful as they
washed over the temple, carresing him, touching, murmuring and whispering. The
sluggish echo that he felt before was gone, replaced by the sound, faint and weak but he
knew it would grow and the seed would bloom into a flower once again.

Even faint, the feeling vibrated with power, potent, ancient power that resonated with his
own, fed from it but also nurtured it.

„I won’t fail you. I promise” he said before turning and vanishing into the mist that
covered the mountain.

And on the barren ground, dead for centuries a single seedling rose with unnatural speed,
sprouting with gentle firmness, promise of a great flower to come.

„Don’t you regret it?”

„Regret what?”
„Normal life, I guess. Getting up to get to school with only fifteen mintes to spare, when
the walk alone takes ten, worrying aboutt he classess you cut and how to explain to the
teachers lack of homework instead of waking up with the sun to practice how to bash
someone’s skull more effectively or how to draaw sword faster than eye can follow,
worry about what opponent will challaenge or not challenge you, hwo to be that little bit
stronger, little bit faster...”

„Honestly? No.”

„No?”

„No.”

„What do you mean, no? I grew up with it all, it’s all normal to me and even I get
thoughts like that from time to time.”

„Ahh... So because I’m outsider...”

„Wait, no. It came out wrong, I didn’t meant it that way.”

„Okay, no harm done. But about mormal life, ordinary highschool, homework... No. I
didn’t think about it even once ever I came here. And by here I don’t just mean the
Todou.”

„You’re kidding? Not even once? Say, when that cute little pixie from 1E kicked your ass
all over the classroom with her Mizongquan?”

„Not even then. And while I’m not the masochist, this is propably one of the more fun
beatings I got in my life.”

„All right, now you’re startng to scare me.”

„Heh. Believe it. Once she was done kicking my ass, she apologised, treated my wounds
and gave me some home made bento. We talked a bit, all pleasant and stuff. And man,
can she cook! I can get my ass kicked by Ayame any time if she feeds me afterward.”

„Un-fucking-believable.”

„Yeah.”

„But, pleasant, god I can’t BELIEVE I say that, beatings aside... I think you’re
bullshitting me. There were some situations that had you seriously banged up, whinning
and cursing martial arts to kingdom come.”

„Oh? Name one.”

„Beating you got from Tagami.”

„I didn’t whine after Tagami.”

„Yes you did!”

„Fuck no!”

„Fuck yes! You got so freaking beat up you vomited blood and you still had breath to
whine, bitch and curse the whole Todo Gakuen but good!”

„Okay, let’s get something straight here. I bitched, okay. But not Todo, or
Tagami, but myself.”

„You hear something new every day. But let’s SAY I believe you. Why WOULD you
curse yourself?”

„Lack of ability, contemptous ease that Tagami displayed kicking me around even before
he used that pole of his... Take your pick. But honestly? I cursed myself for not knowing
when to give up. Tagami gave me a way out after I went down for the first time, but I just
kept getting up.”

„Wow. That is, like, utterly moronic even for your stubborn ass. I really thought you are
smarter than that, with that inner nerd sleeping under the surface and all...”

„Aww, but you know you love me!”

„Don’t push it, you peony”

„ANYway, back to the question – as you can see, I didn’t.”

„Kanekita!”

„Bastard cut my favourite shirt! The silk one you gave me for my birthday! I didn’t
BITCH, I was fucking enraged!”

„So okay, Kanekita case doesn’t count... Emi?”

„Emi didn’t beat me.”

„Hello?! The french-braid girl nearly skewered you with those anki knives!”

„Yeah, and then I went Kayou on her using the paper from my notebook”

„You fell from the window! If it wasn’t first store, you would have died!”
„Yep. As would she. It was a draw.”

„I can’t believe you! Are you suicidical?”

„Nah. I just hate to loose to sexy chicks. Makes my dating prospects bad.”

„Ren, you don’t HAVE dating prospects! Or at least you'd BETTER not have any”

„Sure, cut me to the quick, ruin my hopes, why won’t you?”

„What hopes? You are antisocial, paranoid, moody maniac and you know it. No girl
besides me would STAND you, much less date you.”

„Hey, I resent that! I’m only ociasionally maniacal. I’m mild mannered otherwise.”

„Apathetic, more like.”

„You say tomato, I say tomahtoe.”

„There is no reasoning with you, is there?”

„Well, you know how it is... If theory doesn’t comfort to facts...

„...Too bad for fact, yeah, I know. But you really don’t regret it?.”

„I have many regrets, some minor, some major... None of them about being here, doing
what I do.”

„You know, listening to that, someone might actually think you BELIEVE in
Jyuukenbu,”

„Maybe somewhat. Ir’s not so bad. But what I really believe in, is you.”

„I... Really don’t know how to take that”

„Take it as you will. But I mean it. I believe in you. Whatever you do, I’ll stand behind
you, ready for anything. And not because I owe you. I believe in you. I will stand by you.
It’s that simple. Just so you know. And Maya?”

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"... Bastard... Telling something like that out of the blue."

"There is nothing quite like perfect timing."

"But... It's nice."

"Oh? I need to work on beeing annoying more. I'm clearly slipping."

"Basatrd. But Ren..."

"Yes, o lilac-haired meneace, light of my life and "Great Lilac Hope of the Martial Arts
world?"

"I love you too. Even if you are moody, annoying bastard most of the time."

Aoyama Chizuru observed her guest curiously. Curiously and carefully. Although she
couldn’t place the exact reason, there was something... off about the young man.

He was curteous, polite and well mannered and she couldn’t fault his behaviour in the
slightest, even if his white mandarin silks looked out of place on the ancestral Aoyama
grounds but something irked her. And for love of the kami she couldn’t place what it was.

When one of the younger pupils came unusally flushed from her run with news of
chinese-clad stranger asking an audience with the Aoyama matriarch, she was surprised
to see clearly western face. A handsome face, she noted with amusement at the
appreacitive gaze the female student that brough him in. And she honestly couldn’t fault
the girl.

He had midnight black hair, not long but not short either, slightly wild in untamed but in
flattering way, well proportioned, even somewhat delicate face for a man and pair of most
intrguing eyes she had seen in her life. They were pure, polished jade, so vibrant that they
seemed to almost sparkle when the light shone just right. With his slender frame and pale
skin he was nearly bishounen in his appearance. Only the flowing step and fluid, nearly
serpentine grace betrayed that that deceptively frail frame contained a warrior’s spirit.

A considerable spirit, at that, if she red him right. There was power about the young man,
faint and hidden but she was a master and the young warrior, for that he was, she had no
doubt judging by his impressive control, had a long way to go hide anything from HER.

She was, after all, master of Shinmei Ryu, most powerful sword school in Kyoto.

„And,” she thought with a small, inward smile that was bittersweet, as always when
thinking about her eldest daughter „most propably in the world.”
But even with that thought, she couldn’t help but feel small thorn of trepidation biting
into her composure. Something was wrong. And whoever he was, the young man was the
reason.

She frowned inwardly, trying to get better feel of the man’s ki. It was strong and potent,
even the faint trickle she could sense told her that much but there was something odd
about it. Odd and famliar but in a way she couldn’t place. She extended her senses trying
to divine more only to duddenly run into a wall that rebuffed her with a near physical
force. She choked, her cup falling from the startled hands.

„Now that,” said the young man with a faint smile as he sipped from his own, seemingly
unperturbed „was rude, Aoyama-san. Very much so.”

The matriarch quickly regained her composure. Whatever that was, it was POWERFUL.
She had never in her life witnessed or heard of anything even remotely like it. Most
masters could cower opponents with their ki and intent alone, but that took years of
training and didn’t feel even remotely similar. This was like a physical blow directly to
her senses. What WAS that boy?!

„Forgive me, young man.” she smiled apolegticaly „It’s not that often we get guests with
aura as... potent, as yours. (‘Or as odd.’ she thought privately) I merely wished t...”

She froze. Where there was trickle of faint power before, now there was nothing. Not
even a blank space, one that so many martial artists leave by hiding their presence, but
nothing. If she wasn’t able to see the white garbed man sipping his tea with an amused
smile she would have sworn there was nobody in front of her.

She ressited the urge to swallow nervously, for the first time since she was little girl.

It was nearly impossible. What the young man, a boy really, was doing wasn flat out
impossible for one so young. Shinmei Ryu prided itself on the more esoteric aspects of
the art. As it was demon hunting school, it came with the territory.

The ki manipulation that Shinmei Ryu swordswomen were capable of was legendary, as
was thier sensory capability. It was said that advanced Shinemi Ryu adept could track
somebody by the faint trace oft heir aura alone, and it wasn’t far from the truth. The skill
had been refined over the centuries of demon hunting and without any false pride, hiding
from an Aoyama was extremely difficult task for even a seasoned warrior. And that boy,
that whelp, had just done it. Casually. Sipping tea. Smiling that strange, small smile that
only served to rise her ire.

„Who are you?” she said, her tone suspicious. Wha she had done was rude, true, but the
way he rebuffed her was almsot hostile. In the old days men were cut down for less.

„Ah, isn’t this easier, Aoyama-san?” he put down his tea „Asking, I mean.”
„You are trying my patience, young one. I will NOT ask again Who. Are. You? What is
your purpose here?” she said through clenched teeth, still trying to get a grasp on hi ki
presence and failing

„My, my... Even when asking you are so rude.” He tsked „And here I was led to believe
Aoyama were traditional... Where is your courtesy towards a guest? And I was ready to
compliment your tea when you interrupted so rudely. Most delightful cup I had in a long
while, let me assure you.”

„You are no simple guest, boy.” she narrowed her eyes „You are no guest at all. Guests
give their names.”

„Well, you are not much of a host either.” he said flippantly „But you are right, I didn’t
introduce myself. An unforgiveable error on my part, forgive my rudeness.” he
straigtened somewhat before making most proper bow he could without standing up
„From Line of the White Lotus I am Kagami Ren, master of Hakuren Ryu. Delighted to
meet you, Aoyama Chizuru-san, current Mistress of Shinmei Ryu.

That whelp thought himself a master? She almost burst out laughing. He ddn’t look a day
over sixteen. His control was impressive, to be sure, but a master? And that White
Lotus... She hand’t heard of any such school in her years as a swordmistress and demon
hunter which meant it was either weak, therfore unworthy of attention, or it was
something recent, another attempt at desectrating the true Art. The new, so called
„schools” were not even enough to be called pale shadows of TRUE martial art, lacking
substance, thought, reflection and even a shred of honor. Either way, for that stripling to
have the audacity to call himself a „master”... Was he thinking himself an equal of
mistress of Shinmei Ryu?

‘Delusional fool.’ she thought with contempt, dismissing her previous trepidation with a
wave of pride

„Well then, Kagami Ren of the White Lotus line,” she said, emphatising the titles
mocking them „What brings you to our humble” her voice dearly dripped with sarcasm
„school?”

„So kind of you to ask that, Aoyama Chizuru-san” he studied his cup intently, swirling
the tea with gentle motions „It is actually rather old and boring matter, but one of
importance to me. I won’t bore you with details but I have come seeking answers only
you might give.”

„Oh?” she rose her eyebrow „And what makes you think that?”

„It’s very simple, since both questions involve one of your own.” he stopped swirling the
tea and raised his eyes to meet hers. The flippant smile and merry sparkle were gone,
leving two pools of hard, cold jade.
„Aoyama Tsuroko, assistaint master of Shinmei Ryu... Where is she?”

Chizuru stiffened. This wasn’t what she expected.

„Why should I tell you? What do you want with her?” she asked harshly

„What I WANT is my business alone. Mine and your daughter’s... Suffice to say it
involves matters oh honor long overdue. Where. IS. SHE.” he said, the jade going even
colder if that was possible

„If it is a settling of a grudge you want, young fool, you won’t find it and be thankful.”
Chizuru scoffed. That man sought to fight Tsuroko? He was not only a delusional fool,
but a suicidical delusional fool. Her eldest daughter would smear that arrogant pup across
the pavement with a flick of her sword. „Even I don’t know where she is right now.
Nobody does. She left two years ago and neither we nor anyone esle haven’t heard
anything from her since then.”

„So it is like I have feared. Damnable woman, making me go through all that trouble.
What is she up to?” the man muttereed thoughtfully

„You had your answers, young fool. Now go. You disturbed the harmony of this
household long enough” she said coldly

„Oh no. I’m afraid I can’t go yet.” the youth straightened „There is still one small matter
to attend to. Some time ago you came into posession of someting that belongs to me.
Your clan took it even though it wasn’t yours to take. I want it back. Now. ”

Chizuru did a double take, staring at the yong man with rising wonder. Did she hear what
she thought she heard? Was that...that WHELP accusing Aoyama Clan of common
THIEVERY?!

„You are threading on thin ice, Kagami. Very thin. Think carefully on what you just said.”
she said frostily, her iron will only thing preventing her boiling ki from exploding into
visible range. Even then, the faint trickle was enough to rise a slight haze, notunlike one
seen on a summer day from a sun burnt patch of ground, one that distored the air around
her.

But what that usually made even most hardened swordmasters rethink their positions
made no impression on the boy, who continued as if blind to the imminent danger.

„It is about two centimeters thick and the lenght of my palm, made of paper that would
seem cool to the touch and wouldn’t warm even when held over the fire. It wouldn’t burn
either. The upper part of it is very ornamental while the other is blank. It looks almost like
a deck of cards, but the cards themselves propably don’t allow themselves to be drawn...”
he trailed off, an amused glint in his eye „But I see that you know just what I’m talking
about... Don’t you, Aoyama Chizuru-san?
Chizuru stared at the young man with rising comprehension. She did know what the
„young man” was talking about.

Oh yes. She knew very well indeed.

She spent countless months trying to break the secrets of the artifact the man called
„deck”, assisted by most potent and knowledgable mystics Aoyama Clan could find, to
no avail and her undending frustration.

All sensed power, power that could be used for good of all in capable hands Aoyama but
the stubborn thing refused to so much as allow itself to be opened! But how did that whel
kne...

She froze. She looked at the young man carefully.

The silks were misleading, as was the calm confidence and initially amiable manner that
made her dismiss him before but now she looked at the surface, not at the depths she
concentrated before. The eyes. That chin, the face... It was fuller, smoother in a way and
the deep, confident to the point of amused arrogance gaze were new, as was the smooth
gait akin to the giant cat but...

„It is YOU.” she said her eyes widening „But... Impossible! The seal! You...! Zanma Ken
Ni no Tachi...”

„Was utterly useless because, and listen carefully” he winked consipratorly „I am

genuine, 100%, beyond shadow of doubt, unavoidibly H.U.M.A.N.” he spelled with a
cheerfully malevolent grin

She stared at the smiling abomination in front of her dumbly. Well, not exactly
abomination if what he said was true. If she could believe him, which was doubtful at
best.

„You lie, wretch! If you think I’m falling for your petty...” she started

„Still not believing what is in front of your eyes, still not capable of admitting mistakes,
eh?” the man laughed mirthlessly „You Aoyama women are all the same, bigoted, self
raighteous, holier-than-thou and arrogant to the core. Nothing has changed in the last ten
years, nothing has changed indeed. But it’s not my place to point out your faults, even if
they are legion. Give back what you had stolen and I’ll be on my way.”

„You think I would GIVE item of such power to YOU?” she said incredously „It is a
property of Aoyama Clan, safe from the greedy, unworthy hands of the likes of you!”

„Greedy, unworthy hands?” he raised an eyebrow „I wonder how is it „greed” when I

want to take what was mine in the first place. And unworthy...” he snorted amusedly
„That coming from the thief who can’t even use it! You are a regular riot, Chizuru-san!

„We will.” she narrowed her eyes „It’s not the first time that we studied foreign artifacts,
we will figure in out in time like we did before. Aoyama Clan has long standing tradition
of...”

„Of what? Thievery? Oh now THAT’S wonderful.” he snickered „Not only did you steal
from me, you have apparently stolen from others as well! The more I speak with you, the
more I find the „glorious clan of demon hunters” to be a glorified bunch of thugs with
thieving habits!”

„YOU....!” She grolwed before composing herself „I won’t argue the matter with you,
wretch. It seems that our last meeting taught you nothing. One would think you would
keep away after that, but you are smiply too stupid to comprehend, are you.” she paused,
before looking at him thoughtfully, evaluating him. „Or maybe you thought yourself
strong enough to take the property of Aoyama Clan. If so you are even more delusional
than I thought and in ten years you learned nothing. Which only proves your stupidity.”

„Nothing? How...droll. And I suppose it was that quaint little ‘nothing’ that almost made
you break that fine china, hmm?” he asked with an amused tone

„A nice trick, but still only a trick none the less.” she dismessed it with a snort

„Oh I have plenty of tricks, Chizuru-san. Some of them even better than that one.” he
assured her with a smirk

„Of that, I have no doubt. But if you think yourself a Shinmei Ryu equal... You are in for
some real lessons” she said and let her aura bloom with blue fire as she rose, reaching for
her sword. „Painful ones.”

„I was always the ‘hands on’ type of a student anyway.” he said rising as well

„I shall simply RELISH educating you, young man.” Chizuru said with a sickengly sweet
tone at odds with meneacing aura she displayed

„Well you know what they say, older women can always teach you some interesting
things” he said waggling his eyebrows, his stance still casual

Her patience spent by the last comment, Aoyama Chizuru lunged forward, aura blazing.

If one would look atth e Aoyama grounds one would find rather odd sight. Usually
bursting with dignified activity of students training, tending to the manor or shrine, now it
was eerily silent, the cherry tree blossoms strewed liberally all over the compund, despite
it not being even remotely the season. The grounds were also liberally strewn over with
bodies of women, children and, very few, men, most of the looking as if they fell in the
middle of a walk, cleaning, training or other activity. Even the very air was still, no sound
breaking the omnious silence.

That is until the wall of the main compund exploded violently, shredded to bits and
strewing mass of paper and wood debris all over the countryside. Then, as suddenly as it
was broken, the silence returned, only to be broken by a sound of pained coughing.

Few seconds later, a dark haired, middle aged woman staggered out, pained grimace on
her bloodied face, kimno halway torn and ripped and swor din her hand. Despite her age
she was clearly very attractive woman... Or would be, if not for the blood from her cut
forehead coating left side of her face generously, the right half covered in good deal of
fresh bruises.

Just as she managed to stagger away from the falling dust, the new form emerged, one
clad in a silk jacket that used to be pure white but was now coatred in dust and spotted
several nicks, one clearly deeper than the others, the crimson hue at the edges clear
testament to the sharpness of older woman’s sword. Another cut adorned his left arm, the
blood flowing down in small rivulets but clearly nt bothering the youth, judging by his
grin.

„No matter your faults Chizuru-san, I must admit that you can fight.” he said flexing his
wounded arm gingerly, checking the injury „I haven’t had to sweat this much since Maya
ordered me to do the Suicide Run. Congratulations.”

„Y...you... im-impossible...should be..dead...” the woman ground out, spitting blood „H-
how? J-just a...whelp! How...can you...?!

The man laughed , shaking his head.

„If I had a yen for any time somebody said that, I’d be a bloody millionare.” he sighed
„Had enough? Just give me the deck and I’ll leave.”

„I...will not YIELD to YOU.” she growled, finally getting herself together „Even if I lose,
you won’t escape... The grounds... You are trapped here!” she said, glint of triumph in her
eyes „Others will come even if I lose, they WILL defeat you!”

„Fool.” he said shaking his head „ Didn’t you find it strange that nobody came when we
tore through main compound during our little scuffle? Cherry blossom petals didn’t seem
a little strange out of season and not only outside but INSIDE a building as well?
Arrogant, clueless fool. Look arround yourself, clueless fool. Look around yourself.

She froze, feeling a wave of grief as she spied the bodies. She fell to her knees, sword
falling to the ground followed by her tears.
„Monster... You monster... All dead... You killed them all... Even children... The innocent
CHILDREN! And for what?!” she screamed, her voice breaking from the sorrow she felt.

„Killed? Well, in a way.”

She froze. It wasn’t the voice of the abomination. It was higher pitched and clearly
female but had the same wretcheddly smug tone as the one belonging to her tormentor.

She stared dumbly as the countless petals swirled in the air, growing thicker for a few
seconds, dissapating before leaving a teenaged girl, her eyes crimson counterparts to her
opponent’s jade, her face delicate but as the smugness of the tone, her amused gaze was
identical.

She was very slender, almost elfin but her curves were that of a woman, only accented by
her outlandish garb.

Black leggins, strange designs cut into their sides that showed more skin than most
women would be comfortable with on her legs, accompanied by thick belt with silver
buckle and a tiny shirt that displayed her bare midriff and barely covered her breasts,
what with that keyhole dsign in the cleaveage. Over that she had a large trenchcoat in
shade that was idnedtical to that of cherry blossom petals and gloves tinged with crimson
at the edges.

„Don’t worry, oba-san. They aren’t dead. In fact, they dream some nice dreams right
now.” she smiled „Very nice dreams, indeed. Especially that one girl... What an
imagination.” she giggled „Ren, you nasty heartbreaker, you! Maya will hear how
naughty pervert you are” she sing songed

„Hey, hey!” he said defensively „ So the girl has overactive imagination. Not my fault!
Besides, I’m not the one spying on her innermost fantasies, you perv!”

„Well I wouldn’t have to if you were quicker about it” she frowned „Honestly, I know
you wanted some revenge but that’s pushing it. Do you know how long I had ot wait for
you?

„Easy, killer. Just wrapping this up.” he said placatingly

Chizuru stared dumbly at the obviously friendly bickering, but most of her attention was
on the girl. The eccentric, damnably familiar girl that she was sure she had seen before,
somwehere, heard that sing-soged „obaa-san” and that teasing tone... The realisation hit
her like a hammer when it came.

„Sumeragi...” she breatheed in schocked disbielief, finally placing the face „By the
kami...Hokuto Sumeragi..!”
„Bingo!” the girl sing-songed with a cheerful smile „I knew you would remember, obaa-
san!”

„But you are...”

„Dead?” the girl laughed „Oh I was! But it is dead boring!”

The man groaned.

„Bad pun, Hokuto-chan, bad, bad pun.” he deadpanned

„Shut up you...you peony you!” the girl fumed comically, shaking her fist at her comrade
before turning to Chizuru „Please just return the deck to Ren, obaa-san. I don’t want to
see you hurt even more. Just give it back.”

„You come back to life...Helping HIM of all people and you ask me to return it to
that...that abomination?!” she shrieked „Have you lost not only your life, buit also
common sense along with Sumeragi pride and dignity girl?! You are descendandt of most
prestigious Onmyouji family in all of Japan... You are sworn to FIGHT monsters, not
HELP them!”

Chizuru barely had the chance to fnish the sentence when the cheerry blossoms exploded,
whirling around the young woman, her vibrant, crimson eyes (‘Crimson? They were
emerald before.’ She wondered absently) dimmed, taking on the collor of fresh blood,
smile morphing into an angry scowl.

„Chizuru-san,” Hokuto said, her tone cold, clipped and formal „do refrain from calling
Ren-sama monster in my presence ever again. Or I might...” in a flash of the whirling
pettals she was suddenly behind the Shinmei Ryu swordmistress, short, dagger like shape
that looked as if built from cherry tree blossoms but still deadly sharp, as the youg
woman proved ncking her throat just enough to let loose some blood „...become angry.
Do you understand...” she drove the dagger little bit deeper but still not enough to cut
seriously „..Chizuru-san?”

The last shock broke through Aoyama matriarch spirit and as soon as the girl dispelled
the dagger into stream of blossoms, she nodded tiredly.

Hokuto Sumeragi, twin sister of current Sumeragi Head, Subaru Sumeragi, was a sweet,
if eccentric girl, loved by all. Her death was considered tragedy not only in the SUmeragi
familiy and many would give anything to see the vibrant young woman up and about. But
now...

„You didn’t need to do that, Hokuto-chan.” Ren sighed tiredly

„Forgive me, Ren-sama. It just...irks me. The hypocrisy, I mean.” her tone was still cold,
but it warmed almost immdeatly as she turned to the white-clad man.

‘By the kami of Earth and Heaven, what happened to you, Hokuto?’ thought Chizuru,
suddenly feeling old and tired beyond her years

„The artifact is in the smaller shrine, near the eastern wing of the compound.” she said
tiredly „There are wards but... I doubt you will have much trouble, having a Sumaregi
with you.” she said bitterly, looking at the crimson-clad girl „Take it... Take it and never
darken my doorstep again.” she said, closing her eyes and leaning on the nearby tree. She
was so tired...

The man nodded to his companion and went tot he shrine at lesuirly jog, leery of
aggravating his injuries.

Chizuru opened her eyes, feeling the feather like touches on her face, only to see Hokuto
carefully cleaning her head from blood and grime, bandages in hand.

„Why...?” she asked, as Hokuto finally finished

„Why not?” the girl shruggged with a smile „You were always good to me, obaa-san, I
have only good memories of this place and you.”

„You serve him.” She said after few seconds of silence

„Serve...” she nodded thoughtfully „In a way I think you might call it that, yes.”

„Why? He is... evil.” the woman said carefuly, remembering the girl’s
uncharactreristically violent outburst from before

„Ren-sama? Evil?” the girl stared at the matriarch for a second before bursting out
laughing „Obaa-san,” she said finally calming down „Ren-sama is many things...
Ruthless, competitive, vindictive... Yes. But evil? No. One might say that if you needeed
an example of a true hero, one that exists in fairy tales and legends... Ren-sama would be
it.” She said with a wistful smile. „And he is kind... So very kind...

The woman looked in utter astonishment at the girl she used to consider nearly her own
daughter in growing understanding.

„You love him.” she said in astonishment, at which Hokuto reddened slightly and shiffled
her legs.

„By the kami... You really do love him.” Chizuru breathed out „Does he even know?”

„No. But Maya-san does.” she muttered with a far away gaze

„Maya-san?” Chizuru raised her eyebrow speculatively „And just who is that ‘Maya-
san’? He kept mentioning her during our fight.

„Oh I don’t doubt it.” Hokuto laughed softly „Maya-san... Maya-san is hard to describe.
She’s a little bit like Tsuroko. A tidal wave. Very hard to stop once she gets going. She is
also the woman Ren-sama loves.”

Ah. The woman after her own heart, thought Chizuru with a small smile. She truly pitied
the boy if he had his eyes set upon that kind of woman.

„And does she love him as well?” Chizuru asced curiously. In normal situation she would
have wondered if she lost her mind, gossiping about the love life with devoted servant of
dangerous enemy liket he Kagami, but her mind had too many shocks to function
properly for now.

„Oh yes” Hokuto curved her lips in a smile „She most certainly does.”

„And she... allows you to be so close to him?” Chizuru’s eyebrows met her hairline

„Oh Maya-san and I... We have an... understanding.” she smiled the cat-that-ate-the-
canary grin, before stepping back „Ren-sama needs me now, so I must go. Take care, oba-
san.” And just like that, she was gone, vanishing in the swirl of cherry blossoms.

Chizuru pondered for a while after the girl’s departure.

There was that familiar, dreadful glint of mischief in her eyes, one that Chizuru
remembered appearing before on of her more hairebrained stunts. If what she suspected
was true...

She laughed.

„Oh you poor, poor fool... You have NO idea what you are in for, don’t you? Caught
between two women like that... I pity you, boy.” she choked out before laughing again. „I
truly pity you.”

--------------------
Now this, ladies and gentelmen, is Lotus Chapter 3. Mostly finished, if still a draft.
Wanted it longer, but I won't have much time till the end of the week, so it gets here now,
in a slightly cut form.

This is a unique chapter, because good ol' Harry aka Kagami Ren doesn't play a very
prominent role in it. Don't be alarmed, he's still the focus and hero of this story. Just to
show some things, I was needeed to give spotlight to other character for the second part
of the chapter.
Fear not. Harry will return in the blaze of glory during Chapter 4 . Usual warnings
about Lotus fromchapters 1 and 2 apply. If you haven't red first two, you'll be dman lost.
Hell, you might still be even IF you managed to read first two. Fortunately, it begins to
get clearer with chapter 4, so endure.

Now, without further ado...

Lotus

A Harry Potter/Tenjo Tenge/Tokyo Babylon crossover fanfiction by Fosfor.

Chapter 3

Storm Warning (Yeah, I DO ocasionally name chapters)

He checked his watch.

'Quarter to four... So if the information has been...' He blinked, before lowering his head
and smiling.

'Right on time. You're getting predictable... Or is that your goal?'

He slid back a couple of paces, leaning on the wall.

A second later two young man, one in white not unlike his own, other in rusty browns
passed him, yelling threats and screaming bloody murder.

He watched them vanish in the distance with a bored look.

He sighed, shaking his head.

"Honestly... Four years and you haven't changed at all."

Blur of black and red landed with nonchalant grace, hands in the pockets, pigtail twisting.

Two men in silks looked at one another for a while.

"I had a feelin' it was you." The one in red said with a sigh "Felt you skulking around at
the edges since mornin'. Seems like I'm not the only one ta avoid changin' 'round here."

Man in white chuckled.

"Why change..."

"...what works." finished the pigtailed youth with a smirk. "Nice to see ya, Kagami.
Though I suppose I'll be changin' my mind soon, knowin' you."

"Ah, you know me well." Ren said with a sage nod

The youth in crimson shook his head with a heavy sigh.

"Let's find some place ta talk." his stomach growled "And ta eat somethin'."

"Well there is a nice restaurant I've seen few streets back. They have steaks too."

"Meat?" They crimson youth perked up "Im SO there. Hope you have the cash cuz yer
footin' the bill."

"Of course." Ren rolled his eyes "Don't I always?" he muttered

Pigtailed man looked at him speculatively.

"Cool jacket." he said finally with a grin

"Thanks. So is yours."

"Don't ya know it." the pigtailed man smirked, before closing his eyes in obvious
concentration.

Ren frowned, feeling the subtle shift in ambient power.

"What are you..."

Pigtailed man raised his hand, cutting him off before opening his eyes.

Without a word he reached for his belt and pulled out a small shard of black plastic.

He stared at dispassionately before crushing it between his fingers.

Ren cocked an eyebrow.

"A bug. No sweat." the pigtailed man shrugged

"A... bug?" Ren asked

"Well ya know, listenin' device an' stuff." The man shurgged

"I know what a bug is." Ren frowned "Question is just WHY are you bugged?"

Pigtailed man waived his hand airly.

"Nothing ta worry 'bout, man. Just my supposed faincee's sister, is all." he said
nonchalantly. "Does that kinda stuff all the time."

"Your fiancee's sister?" asked Ren incredously

"A yup."

"Your fiancee's sister puts BUGS on you?"

"Mhmm." The pigtail bobbed.

"Bugs." Ren rubbed his forehead, feeling first vestiges of migraine "And you just trat it
like an everyday occurence?"

"It isn't?" asked the youth innocently.

"..."

"What?!"

Ren palmed his face with a sigh.

"I was wrong. You not only changed. You actually managed to get worse."

Ranma beamed.

"For the record... I hate you." Ren muttered tiredly.

"Why thank you. So nice to feel appreciated for a change." said Ranma with a beatific
smile on his face as he began whistling a jaunty tune.

Ren STARED.

He'd seen much in his life. He saw men waving wands to change reality. He saw people
crush concrete with bare hands and manipulate powers that defied logic or explanation.

Watching Ranma inhale the food still amazed him.

"Where do you put it all?" He asked in wonder. "Don't you get sick?"

"Well, martial artist lives by his body. And body lives by the stomach." Ranma nodded
sagely, chewing on the toothpick in his mouth

"I am a martial artist and you don't see me change into a living trash compactor every
time I eat." Ren deadpanned.

"Well I AM the best." said pigtailed man with a disarming honesty.

Ren couldn't stop it. He just burst out laughing.

"Damn... Only you could say something like that with a straight face." the Hakuren heir
said with a chuckle after controlling his laughter "Don't ever change, Ranma."

"Not plannin' ta." said the pigtailed man smirking briefely before becoming serious.
"Now... Knowin' you like I do you wouldn't haul yer lazy ass all the way here just for a
laugh or two, so... Talk to me."

Ren sighed.

"Unfortunately, you are right. This is not a friendly visit." he said pulling out a small
metal disc and sliding it to the pigtailed man. "What can you tell me about it?"

Ranma froze, staring at the small piece of metal before picking it up carefully. His eyes
widened before narrowing as he noticed nearly eroded pattern on the otherwise smooth
surface.

"Where did you get it?" all the traces of jovial, lazy speech were gone from his cold voice

"From a pile of rubble near Kyoto. I found it by pure accident when I have been looking
for something else. It just laid there, out in the open." Ren shrugged "I have no idea why I
noticed it at all, to be honest... But after I held it..." Jade eyed man grimaced "There is
something about that is... I don't know..."

"You took it." Ranma said dispassionately "From the rubble. Just took it. Picked it up and
walked away. That's it."

"Well, more or less." Ren nodded in confusion.

Renma stared at the engraved disc, his eyes blank for a while.

"This... is not good." He said finally "In fact this is VERY bad."

"Bad as in 'interesting' bad or...?" Ren cocked an eyebrow.

"Bad as in 'four years ago bad' bad enough for you?" Ranma said emotionlessly

Ren's eyes got very wide.

"Well... Fuck."

"Gee, ya think?" Ranma deapanned

"So... What is it exactly anyway?" Ren asked after a long silence

"You got smokes?" he asked finally

Ren threw him a fatigued pack of Royals. Wordlessly, Ranma took one, liting it from his
fingertip with burst of ki. He stretched at his seat, staring at the ceeling for a few seconds,
taking several deep drags before looking at him again.

"What do you know about the Shihin?" he said finally

"Well, aside from that mess four years ago and you taking off on them in the fallout..."
Ren shrugged. "Not much more than anybody in our little community. Four mystical
beasts, each representing one elemental force of nature, also called the Four Gods, the
Four celestial Guardians, the Four Heavenly Lords and so forth. Aside from represening
an element, they also preside over the directions. Suzaku, the phoenix for the South,
Seiryu the dragon for the East, Byakko the white tiger fot the West and Genbu, the black
turtle, for the North. "

Ranma nodded.

"Mostly right." he said, exhaling a long burst of smoke "Only there are not four beasts but
five. There is the final beast, one rarely mentioned. Koryuu. And this, my friend, is it's
seal." He frowned, taking a long drag from his cigarette that ended burning nearly half of
it. "Problem is, this little piece of SHIT is supposed to be sealed so tight a bunch of
Sumeragis at full power wouldn't be able to get it to budge. Much less remove it from the
shrine. That it is out in the open... Not of the good."

"And why is that?" Ren asked curiously

"Well gee, I don't know... Maybe beacuse Koryuu is totally uncontrollable, impossible to
reason with and a fucking menace?" Ranma said sarcastically.
"Or maybe because it has such bright, sweet and joyful nicknames like 'Hell Dragon',
'Messenger of Death', 'The Destroyer' and so on?"

Ren winced.

"Ah. I see your point." he muttered "If it is so dangerous, why would anybody bother
unsealing it?"

"Dunno, but there are pelenty of power hungry fucks with more ego than brains." Ranma
shrugged, before his eyes narrowed "Though the real million yen question is WHO
unsealed it in the first place... And, which is even more troubling, just why hadn't anyone
noticed." He muttered, staring at the small lump of metal thoughtfully "Those things were
selaed up nice ant tight by all of the Four Heavenly Kings, way back in the heyday of
their strength. You'd need a shitload of power to so much as budge one of the seals. To
actually unseal the damn things... "
he shook his head slowly "There just aren't that many people in the world with that kind
of power these days. It would take dozens of high level mystics... That would be like a
fucking red alert for any mildly sensitive person in the world right off the bat. And it's
been rather calm on that front lately."

Ren's eyes narrowed as he mulled over the information, before widening in realisation.

"Ranma..." he said slowly. "Hypothetically... If the Heavenly Kings sealed it in the first
place... Would a Heavenly King be able to free it?"

Ranma frowned thoughtfully, before nodding slightly.

"A Heavenly King who'd know EXACTLY what he was doing, had serious power to
burn, devoted time to study the seals and had chi control refined enough... Yeah, it's
possible. Hard to do, but possible." He said slowly. "But this doesn't add up. No Heavenly
King would do something so stupid... Hell, I wouldn't do something so stupid, no matter
the reason and I'm the big bad renegade. We all know just what kind of a danger Koryuu
is... Letting it loose... A fucking disaster in the making."

Ren stared at the metal, before looking at his friend.

"Among the Heavenly Kings... who holds the most power?" He asked, his voice hollow.

"Well technically, all Heavenly Kings, like the Great Celestial Beasts, are equal in
power..." Ranma scratched his chin thoughtfully "Or at least that's how it's SUPPOSED
to be. Seiryu of the East had been weakned since the World War two and has yet to
recover." the pigtailed martial artist started counting out. "One or two out of of Byakko's
Seven Heavenly Generals are still around. Called forth by kami knows what and kami
knows why, but they are still around. But Byakko's Heavenly King just up and vanished
during the Meiji era, so they are kind of directionless and tend to run around like headless
chickens most of the time... And we all know what happened with the damn thing that
can't decide if it is a snake or a turtle." He smirked, touch of mockery in his voice "So
that would leave Suzaku as the most powerful heavenly King of the bunch right now,
even if she didn't call forth most of her Heavenly Generals to service. Not that she needs
to, really, being a goddamn force of nature given flesh and all." he shrugged "And since
Tsuroko would never let Seiryu's Heavenly King to unseal the damn thing, that leaves out
the Heavenly King as a culprit."
Ren chuckled hollowly.

"Uh Ren... You're starting to scare me, man." Ranma said looking at his friend's face
contorted in a strange grimace.

"Ranma... Tsuroko VANISHED nearly four years ago."

Ranma blinked, before leaning forward.

"What the FUCK do you mean VANISHED?" he asked flatly "A major Power like a
Heavenly King of the goddamn Suzaku doesn't just 'vanish'!

"Vanished, as in gone away. Split. Left. Gone. Without a bloody trace. Nobody had seen
her or heard from her since four years ago. Not even her own family." Ren said slowly

Ranma's eyes got wide, his brain freezing for a second, before it started to work overtime
as the pigtailed man started to mumble under his nose, his voice going progressively
louder.

"...fuck... Of course..." He muttered. "Power...control... More knowledge than a cabal of

mystics... and acess to the Aoyama archives..." His eyes got even wider. "So that's what
she did back then... THAT'S what she actually meant by 'time' five years ago! To get
TIME. Time to STUDY the bloody SEALS! Get the needeed data without attracting
attention... It fits... It fucking FITS! Goddamit, she played us all for fools and used as all
as fucking guinea pigs!" He spat angrily. "But... WHY? Koryuu is a fucking
uncontrollable disaster package. It CAN'T be controlled and Tsuroko knows this. Freeing
it is just asking for major trouble. This doesn't make SENSE!" he growled clenching his
fists furiously, his knuckles white.

"Shit, shit, SHIT! I just knew things were going too fucking well! Karma you fucking
BITCH!" he roared slamming the table, force of his blow nearly reducing it to sawdust

Ren flecked the splinters of his silks with a sigh. Ranma was incredibly hard to REALLY
anger, but once he did...

"Feeling better?" he asked wryly.

"A little." Ranma admitted, still steaming with anger, his chi in nearly visible spectrum.
He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

Ren waived at the scared waitress.

*
"Honestly, I can't take you anywhere." the white garbed man muttered

"Oh shut the fuck up." muttered the teen "I had to vent somehow or I'd explode."

"Yeah, becasue it's so much easier to punch something than deal with it like normal
people." Ren rolled his eyes

"And we were normal since... when?" Asked Ranma with a cocked eyebrow

Ren halted, befor resuming the walk.

"Point." he admitted "So, what are we doing?"

"'WE' are doing nothing." Ranma said litinganother cigarette "'I' am going giong to make
some phone calls and arrange things that need to be done, YOU are going back home."

"Oh no. I don't THINK so." Ren's voice was pleasant and silky like his clothes, but it's
undertones made Ranma's hair stand.

He turned slowly.

True to form, Ren's natural jade eyes now shone with purest gold and the killer intent in
the air was so thick that he could taste it.

Ranma bit back a curse. When he was firendly and polite it was easy to overlook just who
and WHAT Ren was. As long as the eyes stayed green, it was all fun and games. Once
they went gold... The True Assasin of White Lotus line was out to play.

'Great. All that shit and now HE gets all riled up...' Ranma thought sullenly
'I fucking HATE dealing with him when he's like that... If I could find the dumb fuck who
created that fucking style in the first place...'

"I have an unfinished business with Tsuroko." the eyes glowed with molten gold even in
the afternoon sun "And I won't be denied."

"Listen," Ranma said trying to be as reasonable as possible "First of all, if Tsuroko

vanished into the woodwork, she obviously doesn't want to be found. Locating her will
take TIME. Lot's of it. Secondly, we can't go all half cocked. Strange comming from me,
I know, but let's not be idiots here. If she really went off the deep end, then I'm sure she
secured some allies and called forth rest of her generals and pooled her resources. And
let's not forget that this is the person that managed to fight four out of seven Heavenly-
fucking-Generals of Seiryu. Fully powered ones. WITHOUT using Suzaku's power. At
the same time. And WIN." He pointed out. "If anyone of us tried to go against her now,
we'd most propably die. I don't think I'd be able to defeat her as I am now - you wouldn't
stand a chance. And that's before she'd start upping the ante and using Suzaku's power. If
she's actually pull all stops, she'd SMEAR both of us across the landscape form here to
Osaka. The-fucking-END. Go home. Use the time we have. Train. Learn. Get stronger. I
won't leave you out, but you won't be getting any revenge if you're DEAD."

Ren stared at him for a long while, before nodding reluctantly.

Ranma sent a small prayer when he noticed the eyes dimming back to their usual jade and
relaxed.

He could take Ren. Even without the...extras, he could come out on top if they fought.
Not that the white clad man was weak, but Ranma had been breathing, sleeping, eating
and living martial arts since he was six and he had an extraordinary talent. It wasn't him
bragging, it was a fact. Ren was good, he was just that much better. He KNEW that. But
while Ren was more than a decent martial artist normally, once he tapped into that
accursed thing and went all gold...
He wasn't a martial artist anymore. He was a killer. A Sinless Manslayer. An Enlightened
Assassin of the White Lotus line, one of the deadliest killers ever.
A living, breathing murder weapon.

And if that's how he was before completing the full Hakuren training...

Ranma felt a brief shudder.

He really didn't want to know. Martial art whose main goal was killing was bad enough,
but when you got to the brass tags, all martial arts were like that. Beyond pretty words of
mental and physical perfection, of harmony and self defense, martial arts were about
hurting people before they hurt you. Killing them before they killed you. No matter what
pretty words you used, that was the thruth. He himself knew more than enough of nasty
moves that could be labeled as killer moves witohut hesitation. Five years ago he even
used them, like he had to with Saffron lately. But consciously, calculatingly tapping into
that kind of inner killer with such ease was whole another kettle of fish.

It required more than just killer intent, more than just willingness and ability to kill. It
required an intimate understanding of death, of facing that little oblivion within your own
soul and skating that edge until you knew what killing and dying was all about.

It just creeped him out. More so that he was one of the few people in the world capable of
sensing the exact vibes that satsuki of his gave off.

Ever since he understood just what deadlier parts of Ren's style were fueled by, he had
found something he never suspected to be true before.

There were some martial arts techniqes he really, REALLY didn't want to learn.

EVER.
Ren sighed, last specks of gold vanishing into jade of his eyes.

"Well, I guess you're right. No point in wasting time then, right?" He smiled sadly. "Take
care, Ranma."

The pigtailed man nodded.

"Take care. And be careful wit that murder ki. It's a slippery road, man."

Ren laughed bitterly.

"You say that as if I had any choice." He shook his head. "Don't worry. No matter what
you think, Hakuren actually helps to contain it. Gives it... direction, in a way. I won't
slip."

"All the same, better safe than sorry, right?" The pigtailed man shrugged. "Focused,
ready..."

"...guard up and eyes wide open at all times. I know. I haven't forgotten the rules."The
young Hakuren master turned with a lazy wave "See ya."

Ranma watched his friend walk away with a frown, before shouting.

"Ren!"

The white clad warrior turned with a questoinning look.

"Tell that cute little sakurazukamori of yours 'thanks'." The pigtailed man smirked "She's
great keeping the morons off my back. She's welcome to anytime she feel like it."

Ren cocked his head, hiding his palms in the sleeves of his mandarin jacket like some old
chinese sage from the badly dubbed kung-fu flick straigth out of 70', right dawn to the
infuriatingly cryptic half smile.

"She's happy to hear that." He bowed slightly winth a wink, before his form dissolved
into whirl of swirling cherry blossosms that shortly left only few scatered petal and a
faint smell of blooming cherry flowers.

Ranma blinked in surprise, before putting hands in pockets and chuckling.

'Cute little sakurazukamori indeed.' He thought with amusmenet, before his good mood
evaporated.

He lowered his head, unncaring of the sharp wind that tugged his hair or the increasinly
darker coulds that the wind chased.
At least uncaring until the first drop of rain touched the ground, a messenger of what was
to come.

For the briefest of momments his voice took on the qualities silky and raspy at the same
time.

"I'm NOT in the mood." He hissed lowly , his pupils becomming slitted and disctinctively
reptilain for a fraction of a second.

The sky broke, letting loose a donwpour of rarely seen intensity, ground bombarded with
hammer made of literal walls of uncomonly cold rain that would continue to fall without
a pause for the next few hours.

Ranma Saotome arrived home an hour later, as the storm reached it's peak.

Warm, male and completely dry.

The rain continued to fall.

She laid by the fire place, her body, clad in a loose, crimson yukata, seeping in the
warmth of the blaze with lazy acceptance. Her deceptively delicate hands turning the
pages every so often.

The widows, left slightly ajar, slammed open, battered by the wind's mournfull howl, the
blaze of the fire place dimming as the gust of wind swept through her hair and made the
pages of her book dance and...

She blinked.

She looked at the window, cocking her head with curiosity.

The sky, clear and cloudless just a half an hour ago was dark, the clouds swirling wildly
as they hammered the earth with torrent after torrent of water.

Carefuly, almost daintly she touched her cheek, wiping a slightest trace of moisture
carried in by the wind.

She looked at the clear, fresh water and giggled.

"My my.... How bold of you... my beloved." She murmured, licking the water from her
fingers slowly, seansually. "What are you doing, I wonder, hmm? What are you up to?"
The rain falling through the open windows filled the room, droplets growing larger and
twisting together into small pools of water, nearly dimming the fireplace.

Her irises flashed crimson and the flames exploded, burning with new vigour. But the
rain was't to be disuaded. The raindrops grew wilder, faster as trashed arounf the room,
her soaked yukata sliding down her shoulders.

Her eyes widened.

And even as the rain soaked her silky mane of hair and her yukata darkened from the
absorbed rain and kept sliding teven loser, Tsuroko Aoyama threw her head back and
laughed.

Ranma took of his slippers and stalked to the phone.

He hated to do that HERE, of all places, but it wasn't like he had a cellphone or even a
few quarters for the phone booth.

Nabiki cleaned him of them quite throughly this morning. Her 'trouble managment' fee,
she called it.

He smiled wryly.

Not like it would change anything. He wasn't so naive to think he'd be able to keep THIS
mess under wraps.

Still, no matter how you looked at it, the fallout wouldn't be something he'd be looking
forward to.

At least the Amazons won't be a problem. Cologne was arrogant, but she wasn't an idiot.

The rest...

He shook his head, before sweeping the room, sighing heavily.

This wasn't home. He never HAD home. He never needeed one, either.

Still...

He growled.

'Tsuroko you arrogant, sneaky, underhanded Suzaku BITCH! What the FUCK do you
think you are doing?' He thought styalking towards the phone 'Scheming, plotting...
Okay. Part of the package. Hell, why not? Knock yourself out. Awakening Koryuu?
Ruining my VACATION? Fuck you, bitch. I'm going to kick your ass six days from
sunday for that alone, unless Ren gets to you first. And that's a fucking promise.' He
thought sullenly.

He liked it here. He really did.

Adventures without strings attached up the wazoo.

Combat that even sometimes challenged his power. His skills. Exotic styles that were just
DAMN amusing to watch.

And, best of all, no duties. No responsibilites.

But plenty of fights at a drop of a hat. Rivals crawling up from the woodork. Free food.
Free entertainment too, if he put his mind to it. Exotic rivals, road trips to places
shrouded in mystery, old legends coming back to life, beautiful women all around, curses
and hijinks left and right, fights, fights FIGHTS...! Hell, it was like his personal slice of
paradise. And he barely had to lift a finger to keep it all running. He just could kick back
and enjoy, with occasional subtle nudges to keep the ball rolling.

His very own carnival. Just for him.

And she had to go and BLOW it all.

"Bitch." he muttered petulantly, picking up the reciever and pushing the right buttons.

It barely took a signal to hear tell tale sound of established connection and a a sleepy
voice at the other end.

"Yatoji here..."

'Trust Satsuki to spend the day in front of a computer. Or should that be IN computer?
Whatever.'

"Rise and shine, princess. Time to face the world outside the silicon walls. Preferably
NOW."

There was brief silence, before the came again, this time clearly awake and alert.

"RANMA?!"

"I dunno, am I?" He deadpanned

"It's been... certainly a long time sine I saw you last."

"You know I just MIGHT think that... if I didn't know that you had been cross-
referencing and hacking government databases for a slightest ghost of my name to appear
once I get back to Japan. I'd be willing to bet you know where I am, what I do, my school
scedule AND what I had for breakfast this morning.

"..."

"Heh. I KNEW it. Satsuki-chan you electronic little voyeour you." He smirked.

He rolled his eyes at the troubled silence in the reciever.

'Honestly... That girl... I really need to work on her emotions some day. She's not as bad
as she used to but... Feh. Colder than my Hiryuhyotoppa, she is. And denser empoional
moron than me.'

"Now as much as I'd like a talk wit ya, I need you to get crackin' with that mad skillz
foyours."

"Of course. What is it that you wish?"

He sighed mentally.

'Woken up, speaking to me the first time in three years... and she just goes as if we never
left off. That's Satsuki for ya.'

"First of all, I need ya to find Yuto. I don't care what he is doing, you can tell him to dust
off his spells and clean that sai of his from rust. His days of pimping in that ridiculous
pink shirt of his and playing nice little beaurocrat are over. Tell him to recover the Suigen
and bring it to me as fast as possible." He could hear a sharp intake of breath when he
mentioned Suigen, but he ignored it. "Then I need you to find out mutual friend. I have
no idea where he is, so you'd need to start from scratch. From this minute, his days of
leisuire are effectively over and done with. If I have to sffer, so does he. Once you find
him, send me a trustworthy messenger. I need to send him a package, and I don't trust
ordinary delivery men with it." He leaned on the wall. "Second task is harder. I need you
find Tsuroko Aoyama for me. I don't care what you have to hack and which laws to break,
I want her found and I want it yesterday."

There was a brief hesitation in Satsuki's voice.

"Aoyama Tsuroko... THE Aoyoama Tsuroko-"

"...The Heavenly King of Suzaku, Mistress of Shinmei Ryu, yadda yadda yadda and a
heap of other titles. Yes, THIS Tsuroko. Start the search at about four years ago, since
that's the time she had vanished off the radar."
"Yes. Anything else?"

Ranma frowned thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Send me a celphone. I don't have one. Preferably a sturdy one."

"Understood."

"Groovy." Ranma smiled "See you soon, Satsu-chan."

"Ranma..." her voice was different from her usual monotone. Warmer.

"Yes?"

"It... I... I.. am really happy to hear from you."

The pigtailed man sighed, running his palm through his bags.

"So am I. Shame the circumstances are so shitty. I'll see you soon, I promise."

"....Understood. And Ranma...? Welcome back...Dai Sui-ou-sama."

"Yeah." he said tiredl, closing his eyesy.

"Yes."

The connection was cut.

Ranma put down the reciever and stared at the pouring rain.

There was a brief lull, endless torrent changing to mere drizzle for a few seconds.
"Yeah." He whispered

Outside, the cold rain resumed hammering the ground rellentlessly.

Comments?

Glossary:
Shishin: lit. 'the four gods', meaning Seiryu, Byakko, Genbu and Suzaku.

Onmyojutsu: Tao or ying/yang sorcery. It deals with summoning/comversing

with/exocrcising spirits, curses, possessions, shikgami (guardian spirits) and few other
things. Sumeragi and Sakurazuka families are THE Onmjouji in X/Tokyo Babylon
universe. And Hokuto is kind of both now.

Sakurazukamori: lit. 'Cherry-tree grave guardian'. Most powerful Onmyouji in Japan (and
propably in the world) next to Sumeragi, Sakurazukamori use onmyojutsu not to help
people, but to kill. Specifically, each Sakurasukamori is tasked with assassinating people
who threaten the stability of Japan. There is only one Sakurazukamori at a time since the
sucessor must kill his predecessor to assume the mantle. Not terribly nice people, and
that's putting it lightly. They are usually cold blooded, amoral sociopaths incapable of
feeling remorse, guilt or shame and playing with people like toys. Well, that was until
Hokuto came along. People the kill, they feed to the mystical blood-drinking cherry tree
that grants them their power. Sumaeragi Hokuo, former victim of a Sakurazukamori, now
holds the mantle.

Hakuren: lit 'white lotus'. Ren's nee Harry's martial art style. As explained by Ranma, it's
a nasty piece of work relying on complete emotional understanding of death for the
higher techniques. It's a 'murder fist' style, aka ansatsuken.

Dai Sui-ou: lit. 'great water king'. One of Ranma's titles as Genbu's Heavenly King.

Satsuki (the energy, not the girl ): lit 'kill ki' or 'murder ki'. It is akin to murder intent,
just not 'I'm going to kill you' but 'you're already dead, you just tdon't know that' type'.
Sort of like Dark Side of the force or something. People who use it tend to become
murderous sociopaths and later psychopats living for the kill. Well, unless you use
Hakuren, which is built around satsuki and it's uses.

Heavenly King: basically, an incarnation of one of the Shishin, sharing nearly all of it's
powers and authority vested in one person. Scarily powerful people easily int he calss of
Kamui from X, andd that guy has the 'Authority of gods' as his main power. Each
Heavenly King has dominion over different element and can call forth Seven Heavenly
Generals - henchmen, warriors, servants and support all rolled into one. Heavenly
General, once he or she is called, tend to feel deep spiritual and emotional bond to thei
King and there is no such thing like disloyal or tratorous general. Heavenly generals, like
Heavenly Kings, are gifted with supernatural abilities and enchancements to help thier
leaders in and out of battlefield.

New characters:

Ranma: Does he really need an introduction? He's exactly the same way he is in the
manga. On the outside. Inside, well.. He's a bastard. But he's a likeable bastard. Oh, and
he's Genbu's Heavenly King as well. Only he's kind of renegade. Not that it matters to his
Generals in the slightest. As Dai Sui-ou, Ranma is basically a living incarnation of
Genbu, which means major power. Power that he sealed and hadn't used in four years. As
Genbu, Ranma's dominio is water, darkness, ice and cold. And rain. He can also order
any Mizutsukai (water sorcerers) in the world to do anything he wishes.

Kigai Yuto: Of the X fame, so many might not now him at all. Yuto is handsome,
pleasant, smiling and unwaveringly polite guy with penchant for pink shirts. And he isn't
gay. Seriously. He works as a run off the mill beaurocrat by day, stamps marriage licenses
to the newly weds and keeps the bland smile strong. All in all, a very likeable guy.
Unfortunately, Yuto is anything but. He's a mizutsukai (water sorcerer) with ability to
create/direct/command water currents at will. He also has a stupidly sharp sai with a
whiplash attachment that can slice a city block in half. He's amoral, manipulative and
deadly bastard who uses people like toys, though he has some good qualitites. Yuto is
Ranma's Heavenly General, one of the three that were awakened (against Ranma's will)
to his service four years prior to the current events in the story. Once Yuto comes to
Nerima... People will either get wise and shape up or start dying. It's that simple.

Yatoji Satsuki: also of the X fame. Second of Ranma's Heavenly Generals, Satsuki is a
young black haired woman with contempt for humanity and trouble relating to her own
emotions. She's a cybermancer, basically a person who can speak/comminucate/control
computers at will with a thought. Nedless to say, a Hacker extraordinare. As Ranma's
Heavenly General, she also h as several other abilities, but tends ot avoid combat unless
she has to. Infatuated with Ranma to the point of stupidity, she would happily slit her own
throat if it pleased him.

--------------------
Akamatsu-verse is good for inspiration, especially when you read all of Negima in one
sitting when suffering from a fever. Since I am taking alonger break from Naruto fics and
felt inspired, Lotus gets an update. For those who didn't read earlier chapters - you will
feel completely lost. For those who did - you will also feel lost, just less so. Though
this chapter starts to move things in the direction of the main plot and starts explaning
things as well, giving large hints about who, what and why.

Thanks go to Skelethin, who was kind enough to edit despite not being all that familiar
with the material, and MageOhki for daring to read the raw version despite not being
familiar with the source material at all.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Tenjo Tenge nor anything else in here save the plot.

Lotus
*

Chapter 4

"Dead man's hand."

"He must be dealt with."

The voices were faint, he wanted to hear but he was so... sleepy. So...

"He is just a boy, Chizuru." The man's voice, calm and refined but also stern.

"You have felt him. We all felt him. This... poison that runs in him, out of his very aura...
No. He is too much of a threat." Woman. Stern and unyielding. Sort of like... like
McGonagall but... younger.

"Wouldn't it be better to-"

"I will not leave him in hands of the East, Eishun!" The female voice snapped. "Have you
already forgotten your roots, boy? Already forgotten the tradition and our _duty_? They
will prod him, test him and let him run unchecked! This is just inviting a disaster! No. He
must be deal with, here and now!"

"Chizuru... Your daughter already used Zanma Ken on him and you saw how it ended!
You can't be seriously considering-!"

"He is a menace, Eishun. Look at him. Just _look_ at him. The aura of death hangs
around him like a funeral shroud. If I didn't see him breathing, I'd swear he was dead! Are
you _that_ blind, Eishun? He is a poison. His very presence is a blight on the land, a
curse!"

...what?

"A curse that is his to deal with, Chizuru. He is just a child, I don't think he even knows-"

"He is a child with power. He draws in and expels that power as easily as breathing. What
happens if he breathes in a little bit too deeply, Eishun? Well?"
"He can be taught."

"Taught what, how to _kill_? How to spread that poison until somebody puts him down
like a rabid animal, for that's how it is going to end? Are you out of your mind Eishun?
Letting something like _this_ loose... Do you want to have the lives it will take on your
conscience?"

"So now you're calling him _it_? Denying him humanity? Chizuru you-!"

"I do what must be done. I do what is my duty - safeguarding people from monsters."

"He is not some demon, or spirit that you can just get rid of! He is a child, Chizuru!"

"He is a man of power, and a poison. Poison I will see dealt with before it can spread and
bring misery and death upon us."

"Chizuru... It doesn't need to be like this... Tsuroko already sealed him and the boy was
burning out as it is. Please, reconsider what you are-"

"It is done, Eishun! We will speak no more of this!"

"Mother..."

Another voice. Younger. Softer but one that made hims so... scared. Voice that held
nothing but pain and blood and promise of memories he really didn't want to remember.

"Forgive me, but... Maybe Eishun-san is right. Maybe there might be a... different way."

"No. This matter is over." The older woman's voice snapped.

"So you will just let him _die_?!" The man protested angrily. "Then at least allow me to
take take him from here! Make his last days easier! Let him die like a _man_, not like
some... thing!"

"This matter is _over_, Eishun!"

"...Yes."

...why? Why are you people...?

"I know you are awake. Don't worry, they are long gone."

...how...?

"You can't fool me, you know." The young woman's voice was amused and chiding at the
same time. "The effect Zanma Ken had on someone like you... I didn't expect it. But I can
feel you, you know. We are bonded now."

...what...?

"You are a strange one. A mage, right?"

He wanted to speak, even as he more felt than heard a slight rustle of the cloth next to
him, a warm hand on his brow.

"Poor boy... You can't even feel the call of your magic, can you? The world is now empty
to you, isn't it?

...what? But how...?

Panic.

He couldn't.

There was only emptiness, only void, only silence where there was a melody before.

Death.

Only death remained.

'...neither can live while the other survives...'

"You won't die, you know." There was strange smugness in that tone, and an odd ring of...
satisfaction? "Mother thinks you will, but you are _strong_. I know. With the first stroke
of my sword, I knew. You won't die. Not you, oh no." A chuckle was like a music to his
ears, so warm and soft... And he shivered, despite not being able to so much as speak.
"After all, there is no death that can eternal lie... Not for you."

"...w-wh..."

It was useless. His throat was raw, and his body felt sluggish. The pain reverberated in
him like a gong.

"Don't strain yourself." The warm touch combed his hair gently, softly. "It is not the time
for you. Not yet. Just live. Just breathe and live for the sake of living."

"...W-wha..."

He was nothing if not stubborn.

"Sshhh." The clothes rustled, and he could feel a strangely soft, yet strong embrace that
seemed to soothe his pain. "Not yet. Not yet."
The humming was strangely hypnotic, something between a lullaby and a haze that
enveloped his senses, leaving it all so... unreal.

"Listen to me. Who you were then... is dead. Death claimed you, so whatever was, was."
Her voice was even more hypnotic than her wordless humming. "You will live. I am sure
you will. But you have lost much, and I have taken the rest."

Even in pain, he stiffened.

The voice... The _voice_!

"...y-you...!"

"Sshhh." She hugged him, whispering into his ear. "When the time comes... you will
know. But until then... you are dead, Harry Potter. Dead... for you have never lived. Now,
I will give it to you. When you will survive, when you will wake, you will be as free as
you can... and you will need a name."

"...ho-how... can-!" His throat constricted. Even those few moments of coherence were so
painful... Cruciatus... Cruciatus was a joke to him now, comparing to this.

"A name. Yes. It all starts... with a name." There was a slight pause. "Dead twice... And
yet blooming. Yes. Ren. Lotus. You are like a lotus. Waiting patiently to bloom for years,
if it needs to. Kagami Ren... Yes, the mirror always reflects the reverse image, doesn't it?"

He tried to speak but he couldn't utter even a sound anymore, slumping into her arms as
his strength left him.

"Mirror reflecting the Lotus, yes. Bloom, my dead friend. Bloom and live again."

The kiss on his forehead was gentle yet raced like a spark through him.
"They won't find you. I'll help you. But as you are, you won't learn anything."

He felt dizzy. Something was... not right. It felt almost like skele-gro, only in... reverse.
His skin burned. It was as if his frame was two sizes too small, as if-

"Grow well, Ren."

Vertigo... So much-

"Grow well and when you are ready, when you want to regain what you lost... come after
me."

So... much...
"Come after me. I will be waiting."

"It was easy, you know." He swirled the alcohol in his cup, gazing into it.

"What do you mean?" Hokuto looked at him curiously.

"It was very easy to... just get lost in it." For a moment, his face looked so lost.. No, not
lost, more rather 'younger' in the way that had nothing to do with age.

Maya frowned. She knew that look well. When he talked of his past, it was the same look
that he had then. That subdued, far away gaze. She hated it. Kagami Ren was Kagami
Ren, the brat she befriended who just didn't quit, the kind warrior she fell in love with.
Seeing that strangely lost look on usually so stubborn face...

"Stop being so melancholy, flower boy." She whapped his head lightly. "I hate that."

"Melancholy? Eh. Maybe a little." He chuckled. "But it was. Easy, I mean. Looking at
that empty flat, a kid's body in the mirror... It was easy to just go with the flow. Just think
it was some kind of bad dream, or something like that. Magic? What magic. It never
happened! It was all a delusion, a bad dream. There was no one after me, no one to press
me, no one... No one at all. Harry Potter... a dream. A bad dream." He leaned back, only
to wince as the elbow found his bruised rib cage. "What was that for?!"

"I told you I don't like it!" Maya scowled. "Have some pride, o great Hakuren master!"
She huffed. "Geez. A name is a name, you know. You could just have changed it. If you
wanted to be 'Harry Potter' again... There is no philosophy in that."

"I could have." He admitted. "And you're right. But what Tsuroko said..." A frown marred
his face. "In some way, she did me a favor, you know? At that point, all I really wanted is
to leave 'Harry Potter' behind and... that was the opportunity."

"Running doesn't solve much." The young onyouji said gently.

"It doesn't?" Harry quirked an eyebrow sarcastically. "No, really?"

"Now now, Ren-sama. Please behave." Hokuto rapped his fingers gently and the Hakuren
master winced, his hand sneaking back from the cookies.

"Evil woman." He muttered.

"Some patience wouldn't kill you, flower boy." Maya teased, poking his rib cage again.
"They are still hot."
"I like them hot!" He protested.

"Yes. Yes I know." The silver haired girl smirked, leaning into him and Ren stiffened,
swallowing as the breasts slid over his hand. Maya really liked that yukata, it seemed.

He could feel his eyes burning at the frank stare from his girlfriend and the curious look
from his onmyouji.

Even... after, he still couldn't really help it, dammit!

The two girls exchanged a look, before bursting out laughing .

"Man, the big, bad assassin of the White Lotus line... defeated without throwing one
punch!" Maya crowed, not stopping her chuckling. Which, of course, did... things to her
body. Her body, that was leaned on him, rubbing on him-

'Why is she doing this to me...?' He thought, halfway between embarrassment and
excitement.

The cup wavered, few drops making out...

"Seems like you made a mess, Ren-sama." If Hokuto's grin was any more smug, she'd
spot cat ears and tail any moment.

"Ooh. You're right!" Maya peered down her yukata, looking at the drops of tea that slid
down her cleavage slowly. "What are you going to do about it, hmm?"

"Maybe clean it off?" Hokuto suggested, the same cheshire cat grin going strong. "But we
don't have any wipes..."

"Umu. I think we can think of something, no?" The silver haired martial artist looked at
her lover coyly. Or as coyly as she could with that disturbing grin on her face.

Harry, or Ren, or the ex-boy-who-lived, master of the ancient assassination style...

whimpered.

Hokuto and Maya burst out laughing again, even louder this time.

"H-he... He blushes more than my brother!" The onyouji wiped the tears of laughter from
her eyes. "I mean... I didn't think it was possible! Atomic rogue!"

"Yes. He is cute like that, isn't he?" Maya smiled, patting Harry's head.
"...Oi. I am not a _dog_ you know." He glared.

"Nah. You're just a nice blooming little lotus flower!"

The women chuckled again.

"I think we killed that pun dead a long time ago." He muttered.

"Not nearly so, Ren-sama." Hokuto poured him some more tea. More than the cup could
hold, ever so slightly, just enough to let it slide down. Again.

"There are moments I sincerely hate you both, you know." The Hakuren master said with
a sigh.

"You love us. Admit it!" Maya's eyes were laughing and Harry couldn't stop smiling at
that. She was carefree, spirited but... That kind of laughter was so rare ever since Shin..
passed away.

He could let her laugh at him, if she smiled like that. He could let her laugh at him all his
life, if it meant she was smiling.

Still... Harry Potter. How _odd_ it was, to hear that name used again. His documents said
'Kagami Ren', people called it with easy familiarity of a face, of a person behind the
name - he himself started to think of himself like that so far back and yet... Here he was.
Harry Potter.

'Seems like you can't kill memories as easily, huh?'

"Oi!" Hokuto glared. "No angsting! We just had a spectacular success here, you peony!"

"Not peony. Lotus, dammit _lotus_!" He shook his fist.

"What difference does it make. It is still a girly name." Maya shrugged.

"Lotus is a proud, honorable name. You know, like the Buddha sitting on the lotus flower,
symbol of life and so on." Harry huffed. "It is not _girly_!"

"Sure it is." Maya said with a shrug. "Flowery, girly... hell, you even have a mirror to
look at and prance in front of, like some lady from the Heian era!"

"Ren Monogatari, indeed." Hokuto said solemnly. "The tale of flowery prince in pursuit
of happiness among the ladies of the dojo! Yooo!" She snapped her fan open, not unlike a
kabuki artist.

"Oh. You do that very well, umu!" Maya nodded in appreciation. "That classic education
is good for something, I see. Just like some old man in the theater."

"Maya... You philistine!" Hokuto pouted. "How can you say such bad things to me?" The
Sumeragi girl sniffed, her eyes large and misty. "After all I have done for you... How
mean!"
"There there." The silver haired woman rubbed the onmyouji's hair consolingly. "Here,
have a cookie."

Hokuto nodded enthusiastically, munching on the cookie, tears gone as if they were never
there.

'...A cat. I swear. She simply must be a cat animagi.' Harry thought.

Hokuto stopped her munching, looking at him for a moment, before smirking and making
a paw-like move with her hand.

"Meow!"

"...I give up." The former boy-who-wouldn't-fucking-die sighed. "You two are impossible
together."

"Yes, We are just that awesome." Maya nodded sagely. "Aren't you happy that two
awesome babes allow you to hang with us? Now, be a good pillow and don't move
much," She poked him again, before leaning on him and, as promised, using him like
some stuffed chair.

"Yes, yes, Natsume-oujosama. Whatever you say." Ren sighed.

"Isn't that tiresome?" Hokuto cocked her head.

The black haired man blinked.

"That... confusion." The onmyouji clarified. "Each time I feel it..."

"Oh. Right." He muttered. "No. Not really." He let his chin rest on Maya's head. "I am
dead, after all."

"Only once." The onyouji said cheerfully.

"One, but a good one." Harry shrugged. "I... lost too much, I think."

"Baaaaka." Maya sighed, flicking his forehead. "You let that bitch get into your head too
much. I told you before - if you really wanted to, you could have retained it. It was easy.
You didn't lose anything. You just let it die. Shelved it."

"It... heh." The green eyes twinkled briefly. "Maybe. But if I am the same person, what
does that tell you?"

"Idiot." The silver-haired woman huffed. "I told you already, didn't I? Ren is Ren! Stop
trying to make it all so complicated. Kagami Ren, or Harry Potter... who cares? Ren is
Ren! it changes nothing. It is all up to you, in the end, idiot."

Harry frowned, contemplating it for a moment.

"I think I like Ren more." He decided finally. "Here and now... Yeah."

"See?" The woman said with satisfaction, leaning on her living chair with smugness.
"Idiot. You always over complicate things. Let things be simpler, geez!"

"Yes. Maya-san is good that that. So simple minded, isn't she?" Hokuto smiled cheerfully.

"...Oi." The Natsume heiress glared. "Are you having a problem with me, cherry girl?"

"Ah, my. Don't like cherries much?" Ren smirked. "Probably why you lost yours so
early."

Maya blinked, looking up at her lover.

"...Whoa." She blinked.

"Indeed." Hokuto shared a look with silver-haired girl, before two, identically evil smirks
bloomed on their faces. "Ohohoho... Ren-sama... Was that wise?"

"Fu fu fu...!" Maya chuckled evilly. "Flower boy... This means war!"

Harry sighed.

'...Why can't I just learn when to shut up?'

The fight, using implements of var ranging from peanuts to scantly clad legs, flashes of
clevage, smooth skin and sharp bits of innuendo wielded slyly and ruthlessly commenced
a moment later.

"So, not going to open it?"

Harry blinked, before following Maya's gaze on the still-sealed deck next to him.

"Are you fine with that? Letting it just lay there, after storming that place for it?"

"I don't know." He said reluctantly. "I wanted to get it back... But I don't even know if it
is going to work anymore, that thing."

"What is it, exactly?" The silver haired woman asked curiously. "You never went into
details with that."
"That's because I don't really know." He admitted. "I... Never had a lot of time to learn
what it could do."

"You won't learn until you try, you know." She shrugged.

"Ah. Magical artifacts... Some things are not very good if you experiment with them
blindly." Hokuto muttered, looking at the cards. "If you have no idea what it is..."

"I know what it _is_. I don't know exactly what it can do. Not all of it, at least."

"Oh." Hokuto blinked.

"So?" Maya said, after a pause. "What it is then?"

"Cards." Harry said calmly, sipping his tea.

"...That much we can see, I think." Hokuto glared.

"Not just any cards, though."

"No, really?" Maya scowled, poking him. "As if the fact they don't burn, don't get wet,
and even a sword can't cut them wasn't enough of an indication?"

"It isn't?"

"...Don't push it." Maya's eyebrow twitched.

"All right, all right. Bloody hell, you are both so impatient." He muttered, rubbing his
ribs. "In fifteenth century, a man named Bernard of Treviso, an Italian alchemist, decided
to fashion a deck of Tarot cards. For what reason nobody really knows - he started to be
both secretive, and a little deranged at the end of his life. As far as what was known, that
man traveled all around the world, in search of a way to make a philosopher's stone. What
he learned no one knows - he took all of his research to his grave - quite literally, since he
burned all of it before he died. The important fact is, that before he died, he created a
series of the so called 'Decks of Fate' - and those survived the following years."

"Wait, 'decks' as in plural?" Maya frowned.

"I'm getting to that." Ren raised his hand. "Anyway, it took him exactly a year to fashion
a whole series of decks - each a little different, each made for one of the signs of zodiac."
He tapped the upper part of the deck. "Each would have a symbol it corresponded to one
House on the back."

"But this one doesn't."

"Oh it does." Harry said darkly. "Trust me, it does." He traced a faint outline over the
deck in a fluid movement and Maya blinked.

"...Well, this doesn't look like any European sign of zodiac I know of." She squinted at
the twisted form. "In fact, it is a-"

"It is." He said sourly. "See, what many people usually think, is that there are twelve
houses of zodiac, but it is not exactly true. There is one more."
"The Ophicus!" Hokuto snapped her fingers. "I remember hearing something like that!
The so called 'thirteenth' sign of zodiac!"

Harry nodded.

"Ophicus?" Maya looked at the duo.

"Snake, Maya." The man sighed. "The last sign of the zodiac - or the first, depends on
how you look at it, is the 'thirteenth lost sign' - the Snake."

Maya frowned thoughtfully.

"...Wait, can't you...?"

Harry smirked, nodding.

"Ah." Maya nodded. "So because you are... parselmouth, you can use it?"

"Exactly. I didn't know that at first, though. I didn't know much of it when I got it, to be
honest. I bought them as a sort of a joke." The young assassin shrugged. "My divination
teacher was a flake, and tended to foretell all kinds of nefarious, mysterious and oh so
gloomy and dark deaths for me."

"Actually, technically she was both wrong and right." Hokuto said with a grin. "It did
happen, but it didn't, since you were already dead."

"Technically." The Hakuren master muttered with glare.

"Technically." Hokuto said cheerfully.

"Anyway, I bought them... then forgot about them for a good long while. A mistake." He
said with a wince. "I should have known better than to trust anything from those cheapass
flea market vendors..."

"Would you be so kind and say what do they actually _do_?" Maya said with irritation.

"All right, all right... Seesh." The dark haired man rolled his eyes. "I just wanted you to
know what's what." He coughed. "Anyway, this deck is part of Bernard's 'Decks of Fate'.
What they do isn't exactly specified - they... vary." He frowned thoughtfully. "From what
I managed to learn, each has a... connection to the things associated with their zodiac
sign. For example, one of the most infamous decks is the Ram deck - it is based around
wealth, and gain. If used right, it is said to make a person wealthier, though how I have
no idea - the details are very sketchy, and most decks were long gone and scattered by the
time I got mine. Besides, not many people messed with those willingly, unless they were
stupid or seriously off their rocker."

"Why?" The Natsume woman asked curiously. "I mean, if you say this can make you
richer...?"

"Because there are drawbacks. Huge ones." Harry winced. "See, they are not called
'Decks of Luck' but 'Decks of Fate' for a reason."

"Don't tell me." Maya said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "They are cursed."

Harry smiled sheepishly.

"I knew it. I just KNEW it!" The young woman sighed. "Ren, I love you, but... Why the
hell does _everything_ you stumble upon must be cursed in some way? Is it a twisted
hobby, bad karma, what? Did you offend a kami or two? Or a legion of them?"

"Well it is not exactly... Cursed. Not per se." The assassin said carefully. "You see, Tarot
decks are used in divination, to predict the future. Those can do the same thing, in a way.
When you get a 'fresh' deck, and if you are the right person... The first cards you draw
give you a 'reading' of sorts. A poor man's prophecy, in a way."

"So you get your future read, what's so bad about it?" Maya shrugged.

"You know my luck with prophecies and you even ask?" He said sourly, before sighing.
"But that alone isn't so bad. What's really bad, is that the prophecy is a 'self fulfilling'
type. See, the Deck doesn't really read your future - it 'reads' your desire, and how to get
it. With its own, unique... twist. Considering their maker was a little off his rocker and
breathed in way too many potion fumes, and that my deck was the Ophicus one..."

Hokuto winced.

The silver haired woman looked at the onyouji curiously.

"Ophicus is called the 'lost' sign of Zodiac. While both astrologically, and astronomically,
there _is_ such a House, it had been 'removed' by astrologers because its number.
Thirteen is... Well, not exactly metaphorical in this case. It is its actual number in the
succession of Houses." The young woman explained softly. "Moreover, the Tarot cards
and astrological magic are two different disciplines. I don't know much about them but if
their creator wasn't stable, and created a deck mixing those..."
Maya blinked. While she didn't use to put so much stock in superstitions, ever since her
perspective changed, and she started dabbling in the... odder aspects of the esoteric, she
began to see that some superstitions were bullshit, but others were much more 'fact' then
a mere superstition.

"Oh my indeed." She said finally. "Your karma can be a real bitch, Ren."

"No, _really_?" The Hakuren master said sarcastically.

"Okay, what I don't understand why do you even want this... thing." She pointed at the
deck as if it was a live snake. In fact, if it was cobra she'd feel far less apprehensive - last
time one happened to swing by, she was a privy to her lover and the snake having a
pleasant little chat over a bowl of milk. In fact, she was still living somewhere in their
garden, if the Natsume woman remembered right. "Why not throw it away, or even leave
with those Ayoama idiots? Would serve them right, really."

"Because I can't." Harry sighed, leaning. "I don't know how it works - it might be a
'genuine' prophecy power, it might be astrology, it might be... damn, it might be some sort
of glamour, I don't know. Thing is, twisted and odd, the deck _does_ work. And after the
first 'reading', it is usable. Besides, it was 'fresh' when I got it - I don't have a choice. This
thing is bonded to me until the day I die." He glared at the offending item.

"'Fresh'. You used it before." Hokuto said thoughtfully. "What do you mean by it?"

"Decks become bonded to their wielders. Why or how - no one knows. Or at least I
didn't. Not that I had _time_, running from Voldemort because of that Fletcher idiot." He
said darkly. "Anyway, until they happen on a right wielder- meaning zodiac sign, talent,
person - whatever - they are just a deck of tarot cards. Odd and not something anyone
would like to use for divination, but that's it. When they 'bond' - they become this." He
tapped the deck. "Unusable to anyone else. I think they feed on the magic of their user,
but I can't be sure. I do know they block spells though. Soak them, you might say. What I
do know, is that unless previous wielder dies, the deck remains a property of one person
only. You can't get rid of it, you can't throw it away, you can't even lose it - it, in usually
some bizarre way, always comes back to you eventually, no matter what you do. There is
no known way to get rid of it." He snorted. "Believe me, I tried."

"Lucky you." The onmyouji chuckled.

"Yeah, don't I know it."

"What I don't understand is why did you have to even go for it in the first place." Maya
said with a frown. "If it was going to get back to you any way..."

"Because the last time I tried to mess with it and get rid of the thing, I ended with my
magic gone, Tsuroko using Zanma Ken on me and sealing me up, turning my memory
into mush for two years and becoming a chibi gaijin in a country that doesn't much like
such." Harry glared. "Any other stupid questions?"

He never liked Mitsuomi's office, even before it was technically Mitsuomi's office, back
when the old bastard Dougen resided in it. It was spacious and well designed, true, but
that huge phoenix on the wall was just so... tacky.

Despite the obvious signs of power and showing who was the boss quite explicitly, Ren
suspected Mitsuomi didn't like it much either. Though that might have been because of
the bugs. Or those little black suited toadies that were like bugs, he couldn't really decide.
Not like it mattered.

The little summer home, on the other hand, one on the other side of town, or out of town
really, he liked just fine. It wasn't opulent, as far as Takayanagi family went. It had that
nice lived in quality that he learned to treasure and Mitsuomi tended to be much less of
an aloof, self important prat in there. Making him more like the helpful young martial
artist Harry met when they were younger than the cold, regal and tight-fisted master of
Takayanagi fortune and Todou, as well as a large chunk of the martial world.

The tea was good, the crackers as expensive as money could buy and Takayanagi
Mitsuomi was sitting by the table like a statue, that ridiculous strand of hair he started to
sprout sometime after Shin died even longer than the last time Harry had seen him. As
always, the 'perfect warrior' said nothing, sipping on his tea, not even bothering to order
the servants and saying nothing, barely glancing at his guest.

Harry sighed faintly. Sometimes getting something out of Mitsuomi was like pulling
teeth, even if he was the one setting the meeting. It was always the same, even when he
wanted something. Especially when he wanted something. Two years back, he was able
to walk up and ask. Now, as the master of Takayanagi Phoenix, as well as the corporation
and prestige that went with it, Mitsuomi... changed, almost as much as he initially did
after Shin's death. In some way, this was not a man Harry knew anymore, despite
knowing him for almost five years.

Any other day, he'd be content to let him do his superman routine, but he had things that
demanded his attention. Catering to the whims of the head of Takayanagi family was not
among them, even if the man was a friend. The only reason he had come here was
because the peace between Jyuukenbu and the Enforcement group was tenuous at best,
and more like an armistice at best and he did put his brick to that wall. More than one,
actually. He was a somewhat neutral party here, even being a Jyukenbu member and
Natsume family ally. Aloof asshole he had become in recent year or not, Takayanagi
Mitsuomi still remembered who his friends were. Considering he had a total of two of
them now and that number included Harry himself, meant that he was not going to do
anything too stupid. Though this was Mitsuomi, after all. Nowadays, you never knew
how far he'd go. Not anymore.
"What do you want, Mitsuomi?" Harry said, finally getting tired of the silence.

"Want?" The powerfully built man raised an eyebrow. Mitsuomi bulked up, Harry
noticed. Quite a bit, in fact. gone was the lanky youth he knew back in the first year - the
Takayanagi heir's frame was muscular and bulkier now, though not losing that lean build,
just transforming it into something more solid. "Why would I want anything?"

"Because you always do when you send your lackeys for me." Harry sipped the tea. It
was worth more than clothes he had on his back, and those silks weren't exactly cheap so
he was going to enjoy it while it lasted. "So, what do you want?"

"I have an assignment for you." the taller man said calmly, pouring himself some tea. It
was an oddity about Mitsuomi - he expected people to do his bidding and cater to his
whims, but he still did things on his own, despite having a legion of servants. Had any of
them been in this room, they'd be probably getting apoplexy at the informal atmosphere
and the lack of proper etiquette. Emi herself probably tried to burn holes through the
walls with her sheer indignation and stare alone, like she usually did, this very moment.
Though considering how subdued she was during the ride...

Well it wasn't his problem. Unless she tried to be so stupid and move against Maya on her
own, he'd leave her alone. Live and let live, after all.

"I am not one of your little lackeys, Mitsuomi." The Hakuren master said, sahking his
head. "Go and find someone else. I don't work for you, nor will I."

"No, but you do take contracts." The Takyanagi lord riposted, not looking perturbed by
the tone in the least.

"Not from you." Harry snorted. "Forget it."

"Oh? And here I thought White Lotus masters gave each contract a fair chance.
Especially those involving Ashura."

The silk-clad assassin stiffened slightly, his eyes narrowing.

He had lived as Kagami Ren for over ten years. It was easy to see himself as such, but he
never stopped being 'Harry' even if he was not 'The Harry Potter' anymore. But when it
came down to situations like this, that cold calculating side that he once might have
called his 'inner Slytherin' and now associated with something completely different came
to the fore, it was easy to lose sight of Harry and leave only Ren in his wake. Tsuroko
was right - mirrors did show the reverse reflection, but a reflection none the less.

"You know a lot, Mitsuomi. A little too much, really." He said flatly.

"I have my ways." The taller warrior smiled faintly. He always liked to deal with Ren
more when the assassin started to be serious, nowadays. Surrounded all that groveling
and fear, seeing that cold, irreverent spark in those eyes was just refreshing. Sometimes
he wondered how it would be to fight the White Lotus assassin. The gap between them
was vast, of course, Mitsuomi wasn't called the 'perfect warrior' for nothing. But with all
that killer intent chained between those usually jade orbs and ready to kill without even a
pause... Yes, Mitsuomi did wonder sometimes.

Ren looked at him for a moment, before a smile quirked his lips.

"Tawara... Dammit, that bastard could never keep his mouth shut." He said finally. "All
right Mitsuomi, talk to me."

"Two weeks back, I heard of a rather strange rumor concerning an exceptional student in
Shizuma family dojo." Mitsuomi snapped his fingers, a traditionally clad young woman
woman walked in with a bow, a tray with a thin folder in her hands.

"Shizuma, Shizuma... As Shizuma Nagare Kobujutsu?" The Hakuren master frowned.

The taller man nodded.

"When I sent people to confirm the reports. I got this instead." He motioned to the folder
and the servant girl bowed, giving to Ren.

The silk clad man opened it, his eyes slowly widening.

"...Damn." He said softly.

The fighters employed by Takyanagi were no second stringers - those men were _good_.
But according to the short report and some pictures, they were decimated by an unknown
assailant. Four trained, strong professionals. Not just killed - killed barehanded, with
rather obvious signs pointing toward quite a bit of violence rather than simple brutal
murder.

"A day later a similar event took place at Shizuma Dojo. Every person inside was killed,
all bearing distinctive signs of Nagare Ryu Kobujutsu. All, as we learned, by one man."

"It was good I moved swiftly." Mitsuomi said, his tone even. "Even though I learned of
their fate later than I wished, some good did come out of this." He looked at the servant,
who bowed again, before walking out.

"The murderer's name is Shizuma Bakin, son of Shizuma Akio, 19th master of the Nagare
style." Mitsuomi took a sip of his tea. "A powerful and talented martial artist, by any
means, he started to behave somewhat.. erratically some time back. He seemed to calm
down three weeks ago."

"Yeah, and then he calmly murdered every person in that damn dojo." Ren looked at
Mitsuomi. "That report is a little thin for my taste."

"I didn't see a need to bog it down with unnecessary details." The taller man shrugged.
"You will have an occasion to hear everything from the source."

"...Source?" Harry blinked.

"One person survived. No, you might say she was... 'let go'" The Takyanagi Heir's face
might as well have been cut out of stone for all the expression it held. "You will be able
to talk to her this evening, if you so wish."

Ren froze briefly, before his face hardened.

"I see." He said, his voice even. A little too even to Mitsuomi's ears.

"You will be compensated by Takyanagi family as per high class contract and offered any
aid you should require. Your mission is to find and terminate Shizuma Bakin as fast as
possible."

The servant walked in, carrying a simple envelope with Takayanagi Phoenix seal. Even
without looking, Harry knew what it contained. He took it calmly, putting it into the wide
sleeve of his silk jacket.

"I accept the contract." He said simply.

Mitsuomi smiled faintly.

"I thought you might."

The cherry petals were few and far in between, but the very fact they were in the air was
enough of a clue.

"One of these days, Mitsuomi will catch you, and force you to sit through the oh so subtle
ploys to recruit you." Harry sighed while Hokuto smiled sheepishly.

"I am not even here, you know. Currently Maya and I are eating some Rocky Road ice
cream and contemplating using some eggnog to spice things up." She said, leaning
towards him conspiratorially. "Magic, you know." She winked.

"Yes, and cherry petals everywhere." Harry sighed. "At least you didn't flood the whole
car this time."

"Ah, Mitsu didn't mind." She waved her hand airily.

"If he hears you calling him 'Mitsu' I think he'll snap." Harry said dryly.

"Nah. He's way too stuck up for that." Hokuto grinned. "He might do the eyebrow trick,
tho."

"Watch it, or Emi-chan will get jealous." He smirked.

"While I can admit Mitsu-kun is handsome as all get out, his personality is a total turnoff.
Bleah." She pulled out her tongue in disgust. "I like my men behaving like human beings,
thank you. He's way too creepy, especially with that 'Mr. Perfect' routine of his.

"He's not so bad. Maybe just a little obsessed, but he's not such a bad guy."

Hokuto gave him a flat look.

"I wonder if you were saying this if he was still after Maya."

"Hmm... Maybe." Harry shrugged. "But then, if he tried anything, I'd probably kill him."
He said calmly.

"Declarations of love, Hakuren style." Hokuto smirked. "So romantic, Ren-kun. It just
makes my heart melt."

"Ooh. You are developing the snarky sense of biting humor." He noticed. "A new fad?"

"Hmpf!" She crossed her arms, sticking her nose high. "Meanie!"

"I need to get you some gel and a black vampire cape. Then you can prowl around the
corridors and curse 'those damn arrogant Potters'." He said lightly.

"Ugh. Don't even start." She shuddered. "That total, complete, and utter lack of taste...
Bleargh! How you could stand that man is beyond my comprehension, and those were
just second-hand ones, too..."

"I told you dream-walking me is a bad idea." The Hakuren master said mildly.

"Oh I don't know." She flashed him a quick grin. "I do know how you happen to like your
ice-cream served."

Harry froze, his eyes widening.

"...wha... How?!"

"Se-cre-t!" She sing-songed, a finger on her lips.

"You know, where I come from we tend to call it voyeurism." He said dryly.

"So?" She grinned.

"You don't have even a grain of shame, do you?"

"Not really." The young onyouji shook her head with glee.

"And to think you are older than me..." He sighed. The petals swirled, dispersing and
leaving a scantier clad Hokuto, a bowl of ice-cream in her hand in the place of the
illusion as he shed his shoes on the genkan.
"Actually, considering you had an of decade of growing up - again - you are like an old
man." She said with cheerfully. "Seducing innocent young maidens... Why, Ren-kun, you
dirty old man!"

The Hakuren master blinked.

"You know, I never thought about it that way." He said thoughtfully after a moment.
"Though it does open one interesting possibility."

Hokuto looked at him curiously as they walked up to the genkan.

"Spanking unruly brats, Hokuto-chan." Harry snickered as Hokuto's eyes widened.

Hokuto scowled before her face took on a strangely pleased look that rung his alarm
bells.

He turned to see Maya's well-endowed form leaning on the wall.

"Does it, really?" She said sweetly. "Didn't know you were so kinky, flower boy. Well
since variety is spice of life, I will have to get those shibari manuals from the closet.
Maybe some wax as well, hmm... Since sis is on holiday and all..." She frowned
thoughtfully, walking deeper into the house.

Harry stopped mid-step, his eyes widening.

Hokuto smirked, flicking his forehead, before pecking his cheek.

"Owned!" She crowed, before humming and sashaying away after the silver haired
friend.

Harry stood by the door, not able to utter a sound.

After a long moment, he shook his head, a familiar, stubborn glint appearing in the green
eyes.
He was not going to win. He knew that - he wasn't stupid. But he sure as hell was _not_
going to give up for anyone.

He squared his shoulders, walking - or rather stalking - froward with determination. The
slight warm feeling all over was pointedly ignored.

Deeper in the house, Hokuto ostentatiously looked at her watch, while Maya sighed,
befroe handing her a a small wad of cash.

"Pleasure doing busines with you." The onmyouji said with a grin, counting the
banktnotes with obvious relish.

"Oh the pleasure is mine." Maya said mildly tugging at her hair with a small, satisfied
smirk. "All mine, let me assure you."

Hokuto blinked, watching as the Natsume clan head walked away, before cursing under
her breath.

The silver haired woman allowed herself to both feel and look smug, to the point of
grabbing one of the more ornate fans and waving lazily - she planned it welll, and Hokuto
would be even more incensed.

Troublesome situation or not, it were thos elittle gems that made it all worth it in the end.

"...Awww! No FAIR!" Hokuto whined, stomping her feet with a huff. "Maya, you dirty
little...! This _so_ wasn't fair!"

Maya chuckled

'Oh yes. Worth it. More than worth it.'

She was foolish enough before, had enoguh hearbreak thanks to her own, stubborn pride.
This time, she wasn't going to let herself miss it, come hell or high water. She snapped
her fan open, gazing over it at the famialir, silk-clad form that was currently stalking the
young onmyouji.

Harry stopped, feeling the gaze on his back and blinked, turning to her.

"Is something wrong?"

"It is fine." Maya said, grinning. "Everything is just fine"

TBC...
*

Before anyone asks - no, Harry is not immortal. Yes, the confusion is deliberate. Yes, it
will be explained, in fact there are many hints over the past three chapters, though some
are very vaque. It will become clearer as the story progressess.

Eishun introduced at the beginning of this chapter is of course Konoe Eishun of Magister
Magi Negi fame, the Shinmeiryu master and the head of Kansai Magic Association, as
well as Konoka's father.

About Ophicus being the '13th sign of zodiac' - it is true and not fiction in the slightest.
From the astronomical standpoint, there should be thirteen Houses of zodiac, not twelve,
and orignally there were, with the Ophiscus being the 13th House. However, the it was
omited because of the connection to bad luck and a few other reasons. Ophicus means
snake, or rather 'snake holder/charmer' but it is usually referred to as just 'snake'. Both
ironic, and fitting to use it in this case, considering Harry's luck with prophercies and
snakes in general.

Bernard of Treviso, known also as Bernardus Trevisanus, was an actual italian alchemist,
as well as a poet, medic and who knows what else - a true rennsaince man, if one of less
known. He traveled practcally whole known (at the time) world, from Germany and
Baltic countries, to places as far as Persia, which was an enormous achievement in that
time.

While indeed a little odd, he was praised by his peers and rivals alike. To my knowledge,
he was never interested in tarot but, like the rest of his contemporaries, in the
philospoher's stone. Though considering that tarot was gaining popularity then and he
traveled a lot, he might have been quite familiar with it.

--------------------
Lotus chapter 5 is here. Keep in mind - this fic is odd, and confusing so far - it is written
to be this way. Chapters 4 and 5 set it alll up, but I promise you that by chapter 8 you will
understand most of the threads that are slowly spread in each cahpter as they start coming
together. Some of Harry's past is hinted at here, some questions asked, some answered.

Edited by Skelethin

Lotus
Chapter 5

"Killer Queen."

"...Excuse me?"

Maya leaned in with interest, snagging the paper from his hands. For a moment, he
debated with himself if to let her, or take it back, but finally decided against it. He felt too
lazy. The typical autumn weather and rivers of rain puring down from the sky really
didn't make him all that eager to so much as move from the warm couch, and from even
warmer body next to him even less.

"Oh." The silver eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh my."

"Please... No." Harry sighed, burying his face into her hair, taking in the familiar scent. "I
really-"

"Ho ho ho, isn't it just oh so very... interesting." He didn't need to look to know that Maya
had that familiar, lazy yet aggravating smirk on her face. He knew that tone, oh did he
know that tone... It was the 'I have an offer you can't refuse' tone.

'...Well crap.'

"Those little kiddies think they can just... pilfer a member of the Jyuukenbu?"

"I am not going." The Hakuren master said.

"And why not?" He could hear the distinctive sound of crumpled paper. "Brats need a
lesson in manners."

"Oh give it a rest, Maya." Harry said lazily. "They'll get bored of that and let it go. Jeez,
those are just kids!"

Kids. It was odd to think so about them, they were just some first year students - but to
him, they really were kids, and it wasn't just about age.

"It is all your fault, you know." She groused "What on earth possessed you to go and
trash the entire 2-B?"

"You damn well know what." He said tiredly.

"...Yes, yes I know." The silver haired woman let her body lean back more with a sigh.
"Ren... You can't fly off the handle each time it happens. I don't like it, I hate it but... You
can't do that anymore. I hate that, but the Enforcers are g-"

"She deserved better than that." Harry said simply.

Maya sighed, closing her eyes.

"Yes. Yes, she did."

They let the silence cover them like a comfortable blanket, gazing at the falling rain
lazily. The weather was slowly cooling down, as it was bound to do, though there were
still traces of summer, if one knew where to look. Natsume garden, disregarded by Shin
and almost religiously restored by Ren, was still green, much to her amazement, though
not surprise. She didn't know if it was because of her lover's heritage, or his unique
'talents', but plants seemed to bloom right under his fingers with zeal that professional
gardeners would kill to have. Hell, the first time she introduced him to bonsai, his tree
looked better than hers just a year later, and she was at it since she was five!

'Though he is an 'old man' isn't he?' Maya thought with amusement, letting Harry's
warmth seep into her slowly. If it was up to her, she wouldn't move out of the bed for
anything in the world, not even training. Hell, they've already skipped school today, and
would skip tomorrow, if she had anything to say about it. If not for Masataka's overly
diligent personality, they wouldn't even get the letter.

"So, what do you think about him?"

"Takayangi the younger?" Harry shrugged. "To be honest, I have no bloody idea. He is
completely different from Mitsuomi, that's for sure."

"Yes. And so desperate, too." She muttered, rubbing a strand of her silver hair in her
fingers absently. "He wants to measure up to him in some way, and justifies it any way he
can. Poor kid."

"I don't envy him. With that bloody bastard Dougen..." Harry scowled. "Say what you
will, but I'd pick Mitsuomi as a brother than Dougen as a father _any_ day of the week.
That guy makes Dursleys look actually likable. And I can't believe I actually said that."
He added with a grimace.

"Considering what you told me I can't believe that either." She chuckled. "At least
Dougen would have let you grow up strong."

"I'd rather not deal with either of them, if you would." Harry snorted. "I wonder when
Mitsuomi'll weed out enough of the old man's supporters to finally call for his head
openly." He blinked. "Hey... that might be a really-"
"You are _not_ going to assassinate Dougen, Ren." Maya jabbed her lover in the ribs.
"Ousted from power he might be, but that man has far too many friends where it counts."

"So have I." He pointed out, wincing at the sharp pain. "It'd be-"

"Are you so desperate for new trouble?" Maya rolled her eyes. "You have Tsuroko, your
'job', the Jyukenbu, restoring the Hakuren style, gods know what else and you already
made some enemies in Todou besides. I think you have enough on your plate, hmm?"

"True that." He admitted with a grimace, before frowning. "Though when you put it that
way, I think I can squeeze one- Ow! Easy!" He yelped. "That's just some idle thinking!"

Maya huffed, draping his hand over herself and using Harry as a cross between a blanket
and a pillow.

"Suggestion understood, oujosama." The assassin sighed. "I'll let the old bastard be for
now. But if he so much as toes out of line..."

'Not 'if'. When, more like.' Maya thought privately.

Dougen was not going to let the things be. For now he lacked the power, especially with
all of the old masters of the Takayanagi Phoenix - both Red and White feather families -
ousted from power by Mitsuomi in his coup d'etat. The Clans were in disarray, with
young heirs slowly getting the hang of commanding the vast resources at their disposal.

'Or maybe not so vast...' She frowned thoughtfully.

There were curious rumors of the infighting or, at the very least, some resistance to the
forceful takeover by Mitsuomi and his little lapdogs. The young wolves had the hunger,
but lacked the skill. Mitsuomi was doing what he could, but he was just one man in the
end.

'That's not the time, nor the place.' Maya shook her head. Politics wasn't something she
liked and not exactly her forte, especially with the way Mitsuomi started to play his hand
recently. 'Bastard... He is suppressing anyone with even a shred of power without looking
at the consequences.'

She knew why he was doing it, of course - the coup was too rapid, the heirs under
Mitsuomi's thumb too young. Dougen had the allegiance of the 'feathers', even if some
disagreed with his methods. But the old man was smart, kept his cards close to himself
and knew how to play the game. Not to mention had enough allies to pull it all off. While
coups did happen in the history of the Takyanagi family, it never happened like that - it
had always been an internal struggle. Not that it wasn't vicious, but what Mitsuomi did,
using mercenaries, Triads and outright abusing anything and anyone that got in his way
by even slightest of margins...
'Damn it all to hell! What is he _doing_?! Is he _trying_ to cripple us all?!'

Granted, the campus was far from a peaceful place at the best of times, but it was to be
expected - the school was created to breed a new generation of warriors, for kami's sake!
Not only the esoteric 'powers' of the 'red feathers', or the long standing martial tradition of
the 'white' ones, but also to absorb and cultivate new talents. For all of his conceited,
greedy nature, Dougen did have a good idea - it didn't matter if you were a heir of a style
that was centuries old, or an exceptional brawler. If you had the talent to go the distance,
Todo did its best to get you. Of course, the old man had the ulterior motive, but the
martial community still benefited from it. It kept not only the old tradition from dying
out, but it gave a rise to new ones, which were desperately needed.

Maya had no illusions - hers was a dying breed. Real martial arts were waning, becoming
diluted and corrupted with each recent generation. She was young, but she wasn't stupid -
something had to be done. It seemed Todo gave at least the beginning of the answer,
paving way for the new and improved generation that started to reconnect to the old arts
and embrace the new without losing the edge. But now... Dougen had an ulterior motive,
she knew that. The old man's obsessive, catastrophic need to mold his oldest son into the
'perfect warrior' had to be part of it, she was sure of that. She hated the man - he was
responsible for her brother's madness, at least partially. Ryugan or not, Dougen helped to
shape Shin into what he was becoming at the end, had his hand in it all. But for all her
hatred, seeing Mitsuomi enforce his new order...

Families fractured, entire styles suppressed just because they didn't bow to the
Takayanagi Phoenix, internal powerplays erupting all over when they could ill afford all
that shit! Especially _now_. It was too much. Too much, too fast and it could very well
push them all back so far they might never stand firmly again.

'Not that I am any better.' She thought bitterly.

Her own need to see the Enforcement group and their hold over the Todo broken was
almost as obsessive as Mitsuomi's own need to further his own plans, gods knowing what
they were.

She knew that. She knew it all but... She still wanted Mitsuomi cast down and broken.
She knew Dougen had been manipulating, she knew that he'd been pushing Shin into
becoming what he became but... Mitsuomi didn't need to take the path he did. The
Takayanagi heir's obsessive need for superiority ended costing her a brother and what
might have been, as well as their 'fighting paradise'. She would be _damned_ if she let
that bastard win completely.

In other circumstances, it might have been just revenge. It still was, to be honest, but she
had seen things... differently now. Not as black and white anymore. Too many shades of
gray were introduced into her life recently to let her afford that luxury of naive blindness
anymore.
But that could wait. Mitsuomi had to go down and that was that. There was no other
alternative. For her own sake and for her brother.

Oh, she wasn't so stupid - she was not going to get into Mitsuomi's face and go on some
mad crusade right this instant. Weakned or not, the Takyanagi Phoenix still had loyal
feathers that made up its wings, and Jyuukenbu was not strong enough. But she had time
to sharpen the blade that would crush that wananbe superman into dust before his time
ran out. Leader of the Takayanagi and all around resident hotshot Mitsuomi might be, but
the world was a big place. Bigger than his little empire, bigger by far. Besides, not even
he could change some things if he wanted to keep Todo Gakuen together. In some way,
this was still a fighter's paradise, not just his fiefdom. Maya was going to remind him of
that in a quite painful way, welcoming any assistance that came her way.

Though she had to admit, Takayanagi's own brother coming and all but begging to join
the Jyuukenbu she honestly didn't expect. She didn't know much about the boy, but if
there ever was an antithesis to Mitsoumi, his own brother was it. Indeed, the two men
were complete opposites, from looks to behavior and even fighting style.

Where Mitsuomi was tall and showed the signs of his future powerful build even before,
Masataka was shorter, slender and lean, with a mop of straight dark hair that seemed
perfectly ordinary, unlike his brother's blond, quirky bangs. Even fighting, the two were
like fire and water - Mitsuomi favored the Takayanagi style above all, while Masataka, to
her surprise, eschewed the straight forward power it provided almost completely, instead
falling into softer, internal arts that couldn't be farther from the more power oriented
Mitsuomi's style. It wasn't a bad choice, considering his build, but she had to wonder if he
did that because his skill leaned in that direction, or if he simply did it to spite his brother.

"Well, he did come to Jyuukenbu, so it not like he likes him all that much." She muttered
thoughtfully and Harry looked at her for a moment.

"Masataka?"

"Yes. I was wondering what made him choose to favor kung fu over Takayanagi Ryu."

"Ah." The Hakuren master nodded. "Yes. Seeing him fight was a surprise. Baquazhang...
Who'd have guessed a Takayanagi to go for the internal branch of kung-fu?

"Mitsuomi can't be too pleased. Nor Dougen, for that matter. It is like the brat doesn't
_want_ to use Takayanagi style and flaunts it." Maya mused. "That's a little stupid,
throwing away his own weapon before the fight even begins...".

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure. This might actually be more than you think." Harry said
thoughtfully and Maya frowned.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiosuly.

"Dougen dragged Fu Chien from Taiwan to teach Mitsuomi, and he'd been here for quite
few years. He had plenty of time, we both know that."

Maya scowled, remembering the arrogant Chinese master. It had not been a pleasant
memory for them both, and she was honestly glad he was dead. Though the manner he
died in...

She still regretted that. It had almost broken Harry - not the act of killing Fu Chien, but
the aftermath of it. Snide, arrogant and brutal Fu might have been, but he and Harry...
bonded on some weird level she couldn't quite understand. Though they were both
outsiders in a foreign country so that might have been that, although she wasn't quite
sure. The concept of that smug bastard liking _anyone_ was just wrong to her.

She leaned back into her lover softly. She hated Fu Chien, that was true, but she knew he
meant much for Harry.

"Are you suggesting he actually taught him?" She muttered thoughtfully.

"And why not?" Harry shrugged. "Think about it - we both know he detested teaching
Mitsuomi, and Mitsuomi never cared for him either. Fu needed to keep close, or Dougen
wouldn't pay him. He had to pass his time somehow. "

The platinum haired woman frowned, mulling it over. Fu was smug, conceited and
arrogant, but she had to admit he was a superb fighter and a very effective teacher.
Though for him to teach a Japanese, much less a son of the family he detested...

"Well, he _did_ teach you." She said thoughtfully. "So I guess it might not be too much of
a stretch."

"Teaching Masataka and gearing him towards Baquazhang just to spite both Dougen and
Mitsuomi while apparently doing his job?" Harry rolled his eyes. "Maya, that was right
up his alley, and the guy was bored most of the time just enough to do it."

"Loyal, wasn't he." She muttered dryly.

"He was here for the money." The young man shrugged. "If Dougen didn't pay him a
small fortune, he'd never even come here."

"Why did he hate the old man so much?" Maya asked curiously.

"Because he thought that Dougen's obsession with the 'perfect warrior' was foolish. He
often said that cramming everything and anything into one person in some inane attempt
to distill strength from that was a stupid idea that would end up in a disaster." He sighed,
shaking his head.

"Seems like even assholes can be right sometimes." The girl snorted.
"Sifu was a bastard, but he knew what he was doing. Well... most of the time." Harry
smiled ruefully.

The shrill, highly pitched sound resounded through the room and Maya cocked an
eyebrow, looking at Harry, who frowned.

"...What the...?" He muttered, looking around.

The tone was distinctively, like a cellphone, though the sound was louder than any he had
heard before. It had an odd, muted note to it, as if it was muffled, though it was still quite
loud regardless.

Maya cocked her head to the left, frowning.

"...It sound like it is... out." She muttered curiously and Harry nodded, getting out of the
bed and pulling a loose yukata over his body, tying it as he went, following the signal out
of the room and through corridor to stop at the door.

There, on the floor, was a large envelope, not unlike the ones used for office documents.
It was smooth and unmarked, save for his name in the upper left corner, and nothing else.

It was also vibrating periodically, the shrill sound accompanying each vibration perfectly.

Harry raised his eyebrows, picking it up curiously. It was heavier than he imagined, and
felt solid, as if it housed more than some papers.

Curiously, the young man ripped it open, blinking as he found a smooth, black plastic
shape, with another, smaller rectangular attached to the side via some kind of a wire,
though it was rather thick to be called such.

"...All right, now this is weird." He muttered.

"I'd say." Maya looked at the devices. "Who'd send you a cellphone and a laptop?"

The Hakuren master blinked, before gazing at the smooth, featureless shapes.

"...Oh I have a pretty good idea." He said, a ghost of the smile on his lips as he flipped
the smaller device open. "Hello?"

There was a minute silence on the other side, before a familiar, smooth voice responded.

"Did you get the package intact?"

"Why hello there, Satsuki." Harry smiled. "If you mean that black laptop, then sure." He
nodded.
"Turn it on. It had been loaded with the data I managed to gather so far. There is not
much of it, but I have just began the inquiries."

"Why yes, thanks for asking." The dark haired man said pleasantly. "And how are you?"

A brief silence reigned for a few moments.

It wasn't that there was any bad blood between him and Satsuki - quite the opposite. He
didn't hold the flat monotone against her either - Satsuki was Satsuki was Satsuki, and
getting pissed at the technomancer for it would achieve nothing. Not even a change of
inflection, or some shred of anger - Satsuki didn't operate like that. Instead, she calmly
juggled the data, twisted the information and altered the records until she made your life
an unbearable hell that had no equals, and all of that without lifting a finger in a violent
manner.

It was the closest thing she had to a hobby, really. But she'd not get angry, or emotional. It
wasn't that she couldn't, she simply found it... uncomfortable. And Harry had to admit,
emotional Satsuki was all kinds of wrong - the girl had really hard time understanding
other people or her own emotions on a deeper level and when she got 'in touch' with them
she tended to go a tad overboard. Very, very disturbing.

Though amusing, as long as it wasn't aimed at him, of course.

Let it not be said, that Yatoji Satsuki, the techno witch extraordinare, was without her
own brand of sense of humor.

"I know how you have been." Came the simple answer.

Harry cocked an eyebrow.

'...How did she...?' He thought with surprise, before halting and palming his face.

"...Computers, right."

'Smooth, you idiot, smooth.' The boy thought sarcastically. 'It is not like she isn't the
greatest technomancer living and has computers wagging their little cable tails at the
mere thought of serving her, of course not.'

"Telephone lines, school records, e-mail accounts - the net is vast, and even beyond it, the
data can be found anywhere, if you know how."

Harry blinked.

Was there a... smug tone in Satsuki's voice?

'Oh. That's... kind of new.' He thought dumbly. Satsuki's abilities... were. Just were,
nothing more or less. She was proud of them, but they were more means rather than ends,
and as such she rarely acknowledged them as anything more than that. Or she _seemed_
to, anyway.

"Taking the contract from Takayanagi was unwise."

The assassin sighed, leaning on the wall.

Sometimes, Satsuki could be such a mother hen. If she could, she'd wipe every record of
his existence just to keep him off the grid, of that Harry was sure.

Well, it wasn't that she couldn't - she damn well could, being the crazy data juggler and
the info witch that she was. It was just Harry never exactly let her - or rather didn't agree
to it. Kagami Ren had been something that was 'pushed' on him, but it was also 'given'
and he made his hardest to make it live. It was a life now and losing everything again,
even in a more abstract sense, didn't sit well with him. It was too much like dying. Again.

"I know. But I didn't exactly have a choice." Harry rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"Takayanagi Family and their corporation employs dozens of highly qualified

mercenaries and warriors. I fail to see the problem." There was no anger in it, just a
simple statement of fact. On the other hand, he knew that those 'statements' were
something Satsuki could dish out for several hours, if needed be - all in the same
deadpan, flat monotone. Girl was stubborn like that.

"Yes, well none of the mercenaries ever dealt with an ashura gone off the deep end."

There was another pause, and Harry had no doubt the countless terrabytes of processing
power the occult hacker had at her disposal was being employed. It was fascinating, if
you thought about it - in technical sense, her technomancy wasn't even a strictly occult
power, yet it packed more mystical 'punch' than most mages could muster in their entire
lives. And that's before the young woman tapped into the powers as the Heavenly General
of Genbu. Sure, they were more passive than some, but...

"Ah. The murders, the nature of death of Shizuma family and the Takyanagi retainers do
make sense now. As well as choosing you specifically, then."

'No wonder the Illuminati, Dragons and every other secret organization that even
suspected her existence wanted her. Jesus...' He thought dumbly. 'It took her... what, five
seconds to access all those records? Sure, the police encryption's prolly shit but... Bloody
hell...'

Of course she could have finished that earlier and had it on standby, but still... Satsuki
wasn't simply impressive - she was magic in the every sense of the word.
"Taking the contract directly is still risky." The girl admonished, though most wouldn't
find that reproachful note among the flat monotone. Of course most people didn't bother
to look beyond the cool efficiency and unblinking, expressionless stare of those cool,
deceptively soft eyes. When you saw the owner of that usually detached stare cry her
heart out, things became a little... different.

"He already knows. There is no point in cloak and dagger." Harry said blandly.

"I see." If her tone was any flater, it'd be a parking lot.

"Oh come on, don't give me that." The martial artist bristled. "It is not like I could keep it
a bloody secret in that mess anymore than I could then!"

"It is of no concern to me." She said coolly.

'Yeah, and I am a bloody flying wombat.' The young man thought sourly.

He not only had a healthy dose of respect for the kind of power the girl commanded, but
he genuinely liked her, he really did. After that whole Shishin fiasco, and the Camp, it
was impossible not to. It was them against the world then and though he didn't exactly
miss the constant feeling of danger that left good old Voldemort days in the dust, there
was something good to it. A nerve wracking, gut-wrenching 'oh god, oh god we're gonna
die' kind of something, but still good.

"Still... It is good to hear from you." He sighed. "Seems like we are all gathering
together... How nostalgic. Another Carnival..."

"Yes. It seems so." She said, before pausing. "It is strange no one has seen it coming."

"We were too stupid back then. We just didn't see anything." The ex-wizard muttered,
rubbing his forehead. "Still... We at least know _now_. That's some advantage, I guess."

"I... can't be certain of that." Satsuki's voice lost her usual smooth quality, the bits and
pieces of doubt slinking it.

"What do you mean?"

"The appearance of several factors, and Tsuroko-san's nature... How we all learned of it
despite no one else noticing... It is all very convenient."

"And here I thought I am just that lucky..." Harry chuckled weakly. "You crush my
dreams, Satsuki..."

"I'd say sorry... But we both know how it is." For a moment there was something between
pity and joy, as odd as it sounded, in her voice, but it disappeared quickly.
"Yes. We do. Seems like I am just cursed to live in the interesting times." The assassin
said, before smiling. "No matter. I played it all up to this point, I think I can sit in for
another hand or two."

"Kagami..." Satsuki hesitated for a second.

"I know. Don't worry. I am not going to take stupid risks like that." He sighed. "I grew up
a little... Or so I'd like to say."

"...understood."

With a faint click, the line went dead.

Harry frowned, looking at the phone for a long moment.

"Carnival... huh?" His lips twisted into a half-smile, half-scowl. "This is just getting more
and more interesting, doesn't it?"

"So... are you going?" Harry blinked, looking up at Maya's somber face.

"Huh?"

"Don't lie." She said softly. "I've seen that expression.... then."

"I..." The assassin hesitated. "Not yet. We don't know... anything yet."

His girlfriend snorted, turning away.

"Last time you didn't know anything either."

The Hakuren master slumped slightly.

"...True that." He muttered, only to freeze when Maya's hands sneaked around him from
behind.

"Is it so wrong...?" She whispered into his back. "Is it so wrong not wanting for you to
go? Am I too selfish?"

"I am not going... far." He shrugged slightly. "It is just-"

"Liar, liar... You're on fire." She whispered.

"...Yeah." Harry sighed. "I guess you're right."

"You people are really cruel." The Natsume family head said after a long moment of
silence. "'Carnival'... It is so macho and stupid and irritatingly inane..."

Harry chuckled.

"I guess it describes Ranma to a t, eh?"

Maya only squeezed him tighter in response.

"Sometimes.... I really, really, really hate that I showed you that scroll..." She whispered
almost inaudibly.

"It isn't your fault..." He patted her hand awkwardly. "I... I don't know how much of it
was already there but it really wasn't anyone's fault. Not even Tsuroko's. Things just...
happened, eh?"

"Don't you dare to spout that 'no regret' Hakuren macho crap at me, oh great priest." The
young grumbled.

"I won't." He laughed. "Not this time."

"It happened out of the blue." The voice was monotone, even, toneless and without
inflection. The face was even deader, if that was possible. And it was a real shame, Harry
supposed, because it was a very pretty face. Not a stunning example for the cover of
some fashion magazine, but the nice, round face of a pretty teenage girl that would look
mischievous and lively in any other circumstances.

As it was, Shizuma Yukari's face was just devoid of any expression save for blank focus
as she parroted words she probably said to Mitsuomi's goons several times already.

"He came in the evening, we ate supper, and then he simply vanished." She droned on.
"When I came back the next morning, there were bodies of my cousins littering the inner
shrine and the dojo, and Bakin was fighting my father. He was winning."

No expression, not even a hitch of inflection

Just - 'he was winning'. Winning against his own master, a person who trained him, his
own father who knew him better than anyone. Winning after already fighting and killing
several people with his bare hands. And Harry didn't douibt that it was fighting - when
someone who was a martial artist of certain caliber went ashura like that, it was always
about proving his dominance and newly found 'power'. 'Just' plain murder came later. Not
much, but later.

He tuned out the details as the girl went into grisly details - he had no need for that, he
already knew what he wanted to. The girl's aura, placidly shocked as it was, had the
stench of murder ki all over it. Raw, untamed and almost singing to his senses of death
and battle lust.

'Noisy youngster...' He thought distractedly. 'But a skilled one. That kind of thing doesn't
come from being a small fish in the ocean. And that means he's both smart and patient
enough. Bloody hell.... That just might be a bit of a problem...'

Especially if Bakin was not only arrogant enough, but had enough of self control to leave
his sister alive despite becoming as murderous as he did.

There was something about that just... didn't feel right. Either the young master had
godlike layers of self control... Or didn't simply slip upon the bloody road he was now
walking, but rather took the deliberate steps on it. And that indicated some kind of a
reason, if plenty of stupidity.

Satsuki was a dangerous, and very slippery road in this day and age, and most of the
martial artists, no matter how well trained, simply weren't ready for the burden. Even less
ready for accepting and taking a plunge into that pool of raw, murderous intention right
off the bat.

Realization that one was a natural killer was never a pleasant one, especially for someone
priding themselves on self control and restraint.

Still... Martial arts was a weapon, and weapons killed. It was the bare, cold truth that
never changed. The world of Akasha made sure of that, the things simmering under the
surface as they were.

In the end, humans were the most dangerous weapons of them all.

"Shizuma-san..." Harry put down the cup of tea he had been drinking out of while
listening to the girl's story. "That might sound a bit odd but... you said that two weeks
before your brother behaved... oddly. When did it start?"

The young woman blinked, looking at him.

"I... I am not sure what you are-" She said hesitatingly. "He just... started coming home
late. At first we thought he had a girlfriend but... He broke with Suyanami-san in winter
and it was too rapid-"

Harry's eyes widened.

'...Winter? But...!'

"Shizuma-san.... That 'odd behavior'..." Harry said slowly. "When did it start exactly?"
"I..." The girl, for the first time, had a flickering of momentary surprise in her eyes, as she
lowered her head. "I am not certain but... I guess he started coming in late in spring."

"Spring." Harry said tonelessly.

"Early spring. It was... shortly after Akira-kun..."

"Ah." He said blankly.

'Early spring. Summer and a bit of autumn... Oh sweet Buddha on a bike...' Harry
thought, feeling the ants dancing their mad yet ice-cold flamenco on his spine. 'Over half
a year... Jesus...' He froze. "Akira-kun...?"

"He was... a friend..." The traumatized girl, looked down - obviously the memory wasn't
pleasant.

"Was he... important?" He hated to pry but.. Half a _year_? How far gone _was_ that
guy?!

"Akira-kun was... Akira-kun was... Bakin's best friend. They... they trained together
with... with father before the... accident." She whispered.

"Yukari-san... Please. I know it is hard but... I need to know." Harry said forcefully.
"Lives are at stakes here. If your brother is as far gone as I think..."

The girl looked at him, her eyes tearing up and shedding the emotionless facade for the
first time.

Harry kept on staring at the thin folder blankly.

He didn't bother rising his head from the papers even as Hokuto took the 'client' away,
shoji closing gently not to startle the unconscious, traumatized Shizuma girl.

"Complicated?"

Harry looked up at the rafters, where Maya was resting lazily, a thermos beside her, and a
glass of steaming tea in hand.

"You might say that." The Hakuren master said blankly, before rubbing his eyes. "Trust
Mitsuomi to find me a really bloody, convoluted and complicated assignment."

Maya turned, letting the gravity take her and she landed almost soundlessly before the
table.
"I knew there was something wrong with it... Now I know what. More or less." The
white-clad teen sighed. "Bloody hell..."

"So... That Akira is important?" Maya asked sitting next to him.

"If I am reading it right? The core of the whole problem. If what the girl says is _right_
then he was the one slated for taking over the dojo."

"An outsider, with no martial tradition... An average guy from the street." The Natsume
clan head murmured, looking at the documents. "That had to sting."

"That's just it." Harry muttered. "Why would Bakin go crazy enough to start digging into
something like satsuki - and get enough will for it - after the guy was paralyzed? It
doesn't make sense!"

"It is really eating you, isn't it?" Maya asked curiously.

"I need to know how he thinks to predict him. He acts nothing like your run of the mill
psychopath going on a satsuki-fueled killing spree usually does. And that worries me."
He admitted. "There is something to that whole thing that just doesn't... fit right."

"Well... It is not like it is your job to play detective." She let the papers fall on the floor.
"You are just hired to kill him."

"True enough." Harry nodded with a sigh.

The shoji opened, a whisper of paper and wood an unneeded announcement considering
the sweet smell of cherry that preceded the onmyouji.

"I put her to bed." Hokuto said somberly, before looking at Maya. "Before she went to
sleep again, she asked if she could stay. Just a day or two."

"I guess that Mitsuomi is as much of a stand-offish, cold prick as she usually is, huh?"
The silver haired woman sighed, before nodding. "Put her up in one of the guest rooms. It
won't hurt, I guess."

"I already did." Hokuto smiled. "But thanks for the thought."

Maya glared at her briefly.

"Oh, don't mention it. It is not like it is _my_ family home. Really." She
grumbled."Dammit, what are we, some shelter for the traumatized? Dammit Ren, your
jobs always turn so damn _weird_..."

"Sorry." Harry said sheepishly.

"You're paying for that, buster. With interest." She tapped his chest. "Shopping,
restaurants - the whole nine yards. And I don't care how much you'll have to spend."

Harry bowed, his imaginary hat sweeping the floor.

"Your wish is my command, Natsume-oujosama."

"So, I guess you are going, huh?"

Harry blinked, looking to the side, at the powerful, unshaven figure leaning on a classic
bike.

"Tawara?" The Hakuren master blinked .

Bunshichi Tawara was, in Harry's personal opinion, among the oddest and at the same
time simplest men he had ever met. Considering the people he rubbed elbows with in his
life back then and now, it was saying something. Problem was, Harry had no idea what
exactly, so he decided to let it slide.

Though powerfully built, Bunshichi was no hulking brute. He lacked the lither, leaner
frame of a martial artist for one simple reason - he wasn't one. Tawara Bunshichi, at one
point the flat out strongest man in Todou, former Katana gang's 'main attacker' and
probably one of the most dangerous fighters in his generation did not spend even a day
receiving any kind of formal instruction in the arts of combat whatsoever.

Bunshichi was an anomaly - a pure, through and through street fighter, brawler and a
scrapper who could slap around masters of styles with centuries of tradition. When he felt
like it, that is. Because fierce and veritable tank of a man that Tawara was, he was also
one of the most lecherous, lazy and easy going guys Harry met in his life. Demon in
combat, a complete, careless slacker otherwise - even Shin's death didn't change the
Double Impact Tawara. At least not outwardly.

Harry knew Tawara for a long time, the guy was the one who stopped Shin's urges to
decorate pavement with his face whenever the older man got particularly annoyed about
his friendship with Maya. They struck an easy rapport, being the two 'normal' guys in a
company of 'freakin' weirdo' martial artists with supernatural powers. Of course, Harry
was an ex-wizard turned inheritor of an assassination art and Tawara was prone to
throwing cars around when he was annoyed, but then no one was perfect.

"What are you doing here?"

"I dropped the girl off. Someone had to." The Enforcement group advisor shrugged.
"Playing an errand boy for Mitsuomi?" Harry tssked. "The high and mighty Double
Impact Tawara? Man... You're getting old!"

"...You bastard... You are making me so nostalgic..." Tawara's eyebrow twitched. "So
much I'm itching to give you a most nostalgic asskicking."

Harry smiled, rising his hands placatingly.

"Sorry, sorry." He chuckled.

"You don't look it at all, you asshole." Bunshichi sighed, lighting a cigarette. "Is it okay?
Leaving her alone, I mean?"

"She's a big girl." The white clad teen shrugged. "And she still can slap me around seven
out of ten, you know."

"So she can." The 'Double Impact' nodded. "But sweet lil' Maya-chan ain't no killer. And
those boys are starting to play hard, Kagami. Too much impatience, too many things
happening too fast. One day soon, someone is going to lose it and things will get ugly,
make no mistake."

"Who's saying that - the Katana's Double Impact Tawara, or the special advisor to the
Enforcement Group?" Harry asked curiously.

"...Shit, but you like to dig out old things." The older man took a long drag off his
cigarette. "Actually, neither. You might say it is Tawara Bunshichi crying for his bygone
rose-colored school life. That's all."

"'Bygone'?" Harry blinked. "But you failed the exams."

Bunshichi's eyebrow twitched.

"Hey now..." He gritted out. "You are really askin' for it, you know."

"What?" The Hakuren master shrugged. "You are still technically a student! So it can't be
'bygone', you know."

"But it ain't rose-colored no more, moron." Tawara rolled his eyes. "Freaks like you drain
all that shiny color away. You tyros really can't enjoy life worth a damn, getting all emo
and serious like that. Feh."

"Actually, I'd say I enjoy life more than you do... Dateless Wonder." Harry chuckled.

It wasn't that Tawara was so unattractive or stupid that he couldn't get a date - he was
strong, not bad to look at and could show a girl a good time. Hell, as one of the strongest
fighters - if not 'the' strongest, because Harry still wouldn't know on whom to bet if
Mitsuomi and Tawara ever went at it seriously - he even had his own fan club. Problem
was that Tawara tended to enjoy girls a wee bit too much, and his mouth often worked
faster than his brain, spewing lecherous comment faster than a machine gun. To put it
simply - Bunshichi was a lecher among lechers and he was almost absurdly proud of that
fact.

"Feh." Tawara snorted ."If Maya didn't take pity on you, you'd be so pathetically alone
you'd be humping trees."

"Most probably!"

Both young men blinked as the familiar, lithe figure somersaulted off the cherry tree to
land between them. "However, Bun-kun!" She raised her finger pointedly. "You must
remember something... If it looks like that..." She stretched, her tight, bare-midriff shirt
getting even more brief than it already was, and the mini skirt showing that yes -
Sumeragi Hokuto had great legs. "The tree is fine too!"

"Oh hey. They grew!" Tawara looked at Hokuto's chest with interest.

"Yep!" Hokuto nodded cheerfully. "A lot of milk, attention and right exercise makes
wonders!"

"I'd say. Not my favorites, or Maya-chan's sweet jugs, but those are still nice! Very
squeezable." Bunshichi leered.

Harry sighed, palming his face.

"Thank you, thank you!" Hokuto smiled sweetly "But if you touch, I'll have to kill you in
a most gruesome manner involving a lot of pink, you know?"

"Eh, they are nice, but I like 'em bigger. No offense." Tawara shrugged.

"None taken." Hokuto said cheerfully. "But you aren't here to comment on my boobs, are
you?"

"Nope. Just dropping the girl off." Tawara flicked the butt of the cigarette away.

"Isn't that Emi-chan's job?" The onmyouji blinked.

"Usually." The older man agreed, before frowning and looking at Harry. "By the way,
Kagami... Look out for Isuzu while we're at it."

Harry raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"She'd been odd lately, and she's got it bad for Mitsuomi." Bunshichi sighed. "I don't
know what's going in that french-braid head of hers but... She's hated Maya as long as
I've known her, and she has no love lost for you either."

"Like that's news." The Hakuren master grimaced. "She hates every Jyuukenbu member
on principle, and for me she reserves twice of that nice sentiment."

"This is different." Tawara cautioned. "Listen... Things are bad as they are, with Dougen
gone and all... things are way too unstable. Just watch your step, okay?"

Harry shrugged.

"I can't speak for Maya, you know."

"I'm not worrying about that. It is not like Jyuukenbu can make a move as things are,
right?" Tawara smiled mirthlessly. "Not before the Election tournament, anyway." Tawara
paused, snapping his fingers. "By the way, I almost forgot to tell you. Asshat's getting
back in a week or two."

"Sagano?" Harry blinked. "Damn. I thought that that coward changed schools!"

"Like he's gonna leave four sexy, devoted girls behind." Hokuto rolled her eyes. "As IF!
He stupid, but not _that_ stupid."

"Coward he might be, but that guy has his priorities straight." Bunshichi grinned. "That's
one sweet deal he has going with those Heavenly Divas of his... Heh." He fired the
ignition, the powerful engine rumbling. "When he gets here, we'll have to give him a
warm welcome, eh? Ask about sordid details and get him drunk until he ain't yellow
anymore."

"I hear that." Harry smiled. "Take care, Tawara."

"I always do. It is tyros like you and Mitsuomi that give me ulcers." The older man rolled
his eyes. "I lost all hope when it comes to 'mister perfect', but you should take Maya, grab
the cherry princess and go away so you can fuck like rabbits until the new year."

"That's your recipe for all, isn't it?" The white clad man said dryly.

"Yep. And it is a good one. There isn't a situation that a good pair of boobs and a nice
fuck won't make better, you know." Bunshichi said sagely. "Later, Kagami. Hokuto-
chan."

The high powered engine roared, Tawara kicking in the gas without care for such
mundane things like speed limits.

"Cheery, isn't he?" The onmyouji said softly.

"He's the bloody Double Impact Tawara." Harry shrugged. "Never one for being down
too long, that guy. In any way."

"True enough, I guess." The woman turned to her partner. "Speaking of bringing down... I
reserved the tickets, but we have to hurry if we want to catch the train, Ren-sama."

"No need to tarry any longer then, is it?" Harry stretched slightly. "Lead on then, my
good lady Sumaragi."

"As you wish, my kind lord." Hokuto curtsied mockingly with a wink, her long coat
breaking into hundreds cherry petals and twisted, surrounding them and blurring out the
vision. The cherry whirl smothered his senses in velvet, swallowing them both, scattering
only to leave empty ground and a few petals that flew away with the wind a moment
later.

Maya balanced a sake bottle carefully, pouring herself a saucer.

"Have a safe trip." She murmured, toasting the large, yet clearly far from old cherry tree
in the inner courtyard of the possession. "And don't let him do anything too stupid,
okay?"

The tree shook briefly, the ever-blooming sakura shedding a few petals into the alcohol
and over the young woman's head gently.

Maya breathed in the deep, sweet scent, before taking a careful sip of the cherry-flavored
sake.

"And who said blood makes it taste worse?" She chuckled, looking down. "Bet you know
all about it, sister."

The large cobra looked at the woman lazily, before closing her eyes and curling in the
sunny spot.

"Ah, that's a good idea." Maya laughed softly, rising the sake in toast in the snake's
direction. "Kampai, I guess."

TBC...

Don't be confused by the term 'Akasha' - it is not randomly thrown in to sound 'cool' and
will be explained come next chapter. Come to thing of it, a lot of things will have some
light shone on them in the next chapter.

Some might be confused why I used 'Killer Queen' as title for this piece, given that it is a
calm chapter with no action whasoever and based heavily on dialogue. The 'Killer Queen'
is a title of a song by Queen and its lyrics are both highly ironic and I felt ideally describe
women in Harry's life - starting with Maya and Hokuto, through Satsuki and finally
Tsuroko who is the real Killer Queen of the mix, though the other three are certianly no
slouches themselves. For those who don't know it, listen to it - Queen songs never get old
and are as good as ever.

For the record - don't read any romantic subtext between Satsuki and Harry here. They
are just very good friends who went through some very hard times together, that's all.
Sort of 'us against the world' kind of bond. It will be explained and shown in later
chapters, as well as elaborated on in the short side-story 'Reign' that focuses on Ranma
regaining his position as Genbu once again.

The snake that rests next to Maya in the ending sequence of this chapter is the cobra
mentioned in chapter 4 that Harry offered home and shelter to.

--------------------
Lotus chapter 6. Some of you might be surprised, but I felt like writing it tonight, so out it
goes. Raw, so probably some spelling mistakes still remain. My thanks to MageOhki,
Cornuthaum and Griever for useful comments and help.

A little bit of a flashback, alittle bit of a mystery to keep thngs going, and the Carnival
beings anew.

Welcome to the chapter six of Lotus - the Lethal Garden.

Lotus

Chapter 6.

"Lethal garden"

*
It was a nice cafe.

Clean, filled with a smell of cofee and two nice, if a bit bland waitresses. Far enough
from the city center to avoid incredible expensive rent, and close enough to be a good
choice for a number of salary men and shoppers to order a coffe or a lunch.

It was filled with middle-mannered men in cheap suits and women whose dreams of
career ended when they hit infamous 'glass ceeling' ending with a career of an office lady
and a caucasian youth in white silks out of a wuxia tale should stand out like a sore
thumb.

No one raised their heads when he entered, no one paid any attention when he passed
through the caffe, or picked a seat. People moved out of his way, or he weaved around
them in the afternoon crowd and yet no one spared him more than a passing glance. Not
even the usually giggly schoolgirls, which was odd as the young man, with his lithe build
and handsome face would evoke some interest in them. Yet he never did.

If anything, the tall, handsome man with the newspaper sipping his espresso lazily
provoked more curiosity than the outlandish stranger, even if by the fact he possessed
only one eye, the other white and milky, clearly unseeing.

The man in the suit folded his newspaper, putting it on the table, gazing at the stranger in
a strangely dispassionate, yet somewhat curious manner.

Out of all people in the cafe, he seemed the only one who looked and saw, and yet, to his
amazement, he didn't exactly 'see' anything.

Well, the young man was 'there' but... he wasn't. The silk-clad body sat on the chair
obviously breathed given the rise and fall of the chest. But at the same time to the well
honed senses of the Sakurazuka Seishiro, the boy could just as well be dead. The flower
on one of the windows next to Seishiro seemed to have more life than the person sitting
in front of him. In fact, if the boy stopped breathing, Seishiro, with all the professional
authority of the Sakurazukamori onmyouji, would declare him well and truly dead.

And yet, the boy lived. Lived enough to breathe, to walk and have trouble sleeping
judging by the shadows under his somewhat unfocused green eyes.

Seishiro pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pushing it slightly towards the youth.

The boy shook his head once. It was neither fast or slow - perfectly ordinary in a way that
clashed with the strangeness the young man wore like a cloak.

The Sakurazukamori lit his cigarette, taking a long drag, still watching the silk-clad man
curiously.
The boy wasn't a shikigami - that he would sense fairly quickly. He was no spell, no
arcane trick or illusion of any kind - of that Seishiro was very sure, having a lot of
experience with both. He was not a spirit either - in fact if anything the boy seemed to
'lack' spirit completely, having even less of it than any average person did.

'Or... it seems so at first.' The part-time veterinarian and full-time assassin quirked an
eyebrow slightly. there was something there. Well hidden and controlled, showing that
the person clearly knew what he was doing, yet not flowing like it should. More like...
flickering. In and out of visibility in minute intervals, and even that was only on the
barest fringe of Seishiro's senses. Which was rather odd since the boy didn't look like a
fresh corpse, and that's exactly what that kind of state indicated.

"Sakurazuka Seishiro."

The Onmyouji quriked an eyebrow.

"I am afraid you have me at disadvantage...?" the older man said politely.

The youth ignored him, cocking his head slightly to the side.

Silence reigned again, for a long moment, before being broken by the young man.

"A few years back, two people met." The boy's voice was perfectly ordinary, though there
was a distinct lack of awkardness or misplaced accent that most foreigners he met
displayed. In fact he spoke like a native, another bit of a mystery Seishiro found himself
intrigued by. "They met under a single cherry tree and a bond was formed, a sort of
promise made. One marked the other and told him they would meet again. And if the one
marked didn't evoke any feeling in him, he would die. Or rather, the one who marked him
would kill him."

Seishiro stiffened slightly.

Now this.... was unexpected. He didn't know yet if it was unwelcome or not, but it was a
little bit surprising.

"The marked one grew from a child into a young man. Kind and naive, pure of heart. And
years later, the two met. The boy was still marked, and the man still remembered what his
victim has forgotten. Or rather... was made to forget?" There was a strange, bland smile
on the youth's face that made Seishiro frown slightly. "For a year the two people were
meeting, coexisting, and the bond was re-forged. The boy didn't remember still, and he
was too naive to notice when his time was up. On a certain night, the man decided the
bond was not enough and that he saw nothing of worth. So he decided to kill the boy."

Seishiro looked on curiously. Any other person might be disturbed by the revelations,
especially since they touched him personally, but Seishiro was not most people. And on
some level the whole story was fairly amusing to him, even if he witnessed it first hand
sometime back.

"Only the boy was not alone." The jade eyes seemed to focus for a moment on some
point just above the table and it took a moment for Seishiro to realize he was looking at
his right hand. The same hand that, on that fateful night, ended coated in blood of the
'sacrifice'.

His eyebrows quirked a little higher.

The boy just rose from merely interesting to really intriguing in the Sakurazukamori's
eyes.

"The boy had a sister. A twin. Not as naive, if good. Not nearly as powerful, if wise. The
sister saw, and decided." The twin jades snapped to Seishiro's face, and the assassin noted
that they were bloodshot - clearly the boy slept less than he had suspected after seeing the
shadows under them. "And then died. Or was killed, rather. Speared by a hand of her
brother's lover. Ran through like a piece of wood and killed with just as little emotion. Of
course seeing as her killer didn't see 'people' but 'objects', that is understandable."

Seishiro smiled faintly, exhaling some smoke.

"You are certainly a well informed man." He said with amusement. "Quite a story telling
talent you have there, almost as if you saw it yourself. Very nice."

"I never wanted to kill anyone. Did you know that?" The young man said thoughtfully,
ignoring the question. "I mean, I didn't want to really 'kill' kill somebody. I never wanted
to see someone dead by my own hand. Not even back then. I just wanted to live and it
was 'him or me' kind of situation." He leaned back, looking at some point over Seishiro's
head, and staring something only he could see, deep n thoughts "Even after all that, I... I
had those moments. Anger, rage, fear - all that yes. But I never wanted to kill someone in
cold blood just because I want to see them die."

"So, tell me why do I want to kill you so badly?" The bloodshot green eyes stared into
Seishrio's single dark one with unwavering, though strangely... 'off' calm. "Can you tell
me that, Seishiro-san?"

The man shrugged, his faint, bland smile remaining as unwavering as it was before.

"Tell me, Sakurazuka-san, what happens to those that are burried under that tree?"

The calm, dispassionate tone of voice made Seishiro pause. Very few people knew of that
particular tidbit - even less of them lived to tell the tale.

"Well, well." The Sakurazukamori chuckled softly . "Aren't you well informed? Almost
disturbingly so."
"Disturbing..." There it was, that strange, unfocused gaze again. "Funny you say that."
The man in silks leaned back again. "I don't sleep anymore, you know. Not since coming
here. Each night... every night... I can see it. Non-stop. I can feel it. I can smell the blood
on your right hand, you know that?"

Seishiro's eyebrows rose slowly.

No wonder the boy was so well informed, then. He probably really saw it all in his dream
visions. It was surprising - yumemi were an incredibly rare breed, but those who could
actually see things celarly like that were even rarer. In fact, he personally knew of four,
and neither fit the description of gaijin youth before him.

He was right, the boy _was_ interesting.

"And what are you going to do about it, seer?" The older man asked with curiosity.

The jade orbs, so captivating even in their tired state, were now pure, almost shiny amber.
A disturbing hue Seishiro met with before, which always ended bloody.

The presence, so muted before, was now bubbling to the surface, and Seishiro could
finally see clearly, the strange, off feeling he had ever since he met the young man finally
becoming clearer with each moment.

"Oh, nothing much, really." The youth said blandly. "I am just going to kill you."

The silks weren't white anymore, but instead covered with dust, grime and a hefty dose of
blood. One sleeve was gone, the other soaked with the blood flowing from a slashed right
arm. Another gash, this one on the boy's stomach, was clumsily tied over with some silk
ripped from the jacket. There were relatively few bruises - most of the wounds were open
gashes, some looking like talons and other more clear-cut.

The golden eyes stared forward, unwavering, right at the cherry tree standing in the
curiously empty lot.

If someone bothered to look, he'd never see the tree, nor the boy himself. For it wasn't 'a'
tree - it was THE treee. Only one of its kind, and intelligent - though not in the same way
most might think.

It was aware, though.

As such, when it tried to bond with its new partner, it was surprised when it couldn't. The
killer became the next Sakurazukamori - such was the rule. The bond was transferred
immideatly, there was no way to avoid it. Only somehow it didn't work. The bond was
there... but wasn't. It was almost as the partner was... well, 'not there'. Only he was. But
wasn't.

The tree was rather confused.

The new partner wasn't dead, but the bond wasn't working. It was impossible, and yet
happened.

In its centuries of existence it never met with that kind of a problem.

The tree was a potent mystical being. Extremely so. In fact, it was so powerful that even
if the next partner was a mundane mortal with a magical affinity of a brick, he would
become one of the most potent onmyouji regardless - such was the gift it bestowed upon
the partner. It wasn't a parasite, not really. But it had to eat.

So the lack of the new bond was a very serious problem. As such, the tree decided that
extreme measures were in order.

Reaching, though it wasn't really that, beyond its location, it summoned its partner.

The Ueno park wasn't its location. The tree was halfway between dream, halfway
between real - if it had an anchor, it could just as easily be reached from Osaka or
halfway across the world, if needed be. Even easier form the certain campus in Ohtori
considering its own half-dream, half-reality existence.

But its former partner used Ueno park and as such that was the image it conjured.

Everything was done right, the new partner was present showing that he was indeed alive
and well and ready to feed it.

"Hullo, you cherry piece of bloody shite." The partner said darkly.

The tree ignored the jab. It was a tree - it didn't much care, one way or another, and the
partner would learn to love it soon enough.

It needed to feed, though, which it didn't hesitate to convey through the bond.

"Not bloody fucking likely." The new partner said calmly.

Were it human, the tree would have blinked.

Its partner... refused to feed it?

That didn't happen before. Ever. The partner loved it and it loved the partner. That was
the way it worked. The partner was _not_ supposed to say no.
"Well, I do so. Get used to it, you ruddy piece of wood." Ren said with a snarl, before
frowing. "On the other hand, you don't need to."

The tree stilled. Quite literally - its branches stopped moving completely, the illusory
wind of its small world dying as its partner laid his hand on the bark.

It was white. It was cold. It was dreadful.

The Sakura knew exactly what it was.

"Huh. Smart bugger, aren't you?" The partner said pleasantly. "Yeah. You know what it is,
don't you?"

The tree sent a spike of uneasy, desperately hoping to reach the obviously insane partner
and calm him down.

"Not likely." The assassin snarled. "You know what it is. You know what it does. You
know who and what I am. You know that I can kill you."

The Sakura's answer was as panicked as it got for the quasi-immortal spirit plant.

"You know what I want."

The tree panicked. It knew what the 'other' wanted, all right. And he wanted the
impossible.

Ren looked at it impassively, ignoring the flat out begging tree's rising panic.

The white haze rose around the assassin's hand, invisible in the normal world, but more
than visible in the spirit realm and easily felt by the Sakura.

The tree's previously off-red petals turned crimson, and Harry blinked as the bark seemed
to... bleed?

He took a step back, the first wisps of Hakuren growing on his palm, ready to slay the
tree at the merest hint of foul play, but t hen the tree started to bloat and grow in size -
particularly in width.

The bark smoothed, stretching like rubber, before flowing and hardening to a strangely
oval shape.

The petals fell, swirling and dancing madly, obscuring Harry's vision, yet he still could
see the stretching and cracking bark that seemed to bleed even more now.

The young man's eyes widened, a loud screech resounding through his mind, sending the
assassin down to the ground in agony.
The tree was in pain. In extreme pain it had never felt before. But it wasn't agony, Harry
knew almost instinctively - it was something else.

For all the pain, there was something strangely pleased and profound in that screech.
Triumphant, even.

The Hakuren's master eyes widened, resembling saucers as understanding dawned slowly

"...oh bloody fucking hell." He said with disbelief, staring at the shuddering tree. "Don't
tell me-"

The bark broke in several places, but then one, long break, almost resembling an incision,
appeared right in the middle of the tree. It was bleeding, but not blood - petals. Cherry
tree petals, crimson like the blood before.

They were wet as well, he realized after touching one and smearing the red coating on his
fingers. Strangely, it didn't have the metallic smell of blood - just cherry tree blossom, if
deeper than what he was used to. In fact, it was so strong he could damn-near taste it on
his tongue and still grew in intensity.

And then the roots seemed to explode from the ground, grabbing the weakened man and
locking him in a tight, yet strangely comfortable hold.

"...the hell you-?!" The golden eyed man snarled, the wisps of satsuki gathering on his
fingers, before fading away as he blinked. "...oh."

Even as the satsuki died, the roots grew, becoming longer yet not thickening.

Even held by the roots securely, Harry almost doubled over as the wooden apendages
pierced his abdomen and hands.

The haze of pain covered his senses as the small veins started to bloom inside his body,
seemingly stretching him to the limits, drinking his life blood greedily, though with a
sense of purpose, leeching the energy straight form him.

It was just a second, but for him it felt like eternity of constant pain. The constant, ever-
growing pain he felt form the tree certainly didn't help.

If not for the help of his new 'partner', he'd have fainted from the sheer sensory overload
as the roots retracted, leaving no wound, or even scar, as they twisted around him
securely.

"...oh... bloody.... fucking... hell..." The ex-wizard heaved "...I should... kill you.... for
that... alone."
The tree didn't bother responding, but then it was in far more bit of pain itself for the long
incision broke even further, the petals turning into full, rich blood smelling of cherry
blossoms. The red flowed down freely, the bark opening even further with each moment,
and Harry just stared in stupor, his pain forgotten.

He had seen a lot on his life but...

The boy-who-finally-died blinked slowly as the blood coating the bark trickled down,
revealing a naked, bloodied silhouette inside.

'This is what going mad must feel like.' He thought absently as the woman - for it was a
woman - opened her eyes. Or rather they seemed to be eyes - they were red, a deep,
crimson red of the petals and blood covering her.

With a wet squelch the red eyed woman fell down, landing on Harry, petals and blood
splattering all over him.

The red eyes stared unblinkingly at him, their faces inches apart before she started to
shake, her eyes tearing up.

A second later, a shaky, though surprisingly strong figure was holding him in a vice-like
embrace, smearing even more blood all over as she cried.

Harry froze.

This... wasn't in the plan.

Saving lives yes - at least this once? Most certainly, at least he'd be able to sleep again.

Having a really nice, quite naked and bloody girl that was - as insane as it sounded - born
out of the vampiric tree embracing you and crying... less so.

Especially a girl who was feeling cold from the wind and the only bit of warmth was the
skin she touched, and that blood was so uncomfortable and she really needed a shower
and she was so happy to be alive and so sad she died and so _pissed_ and so-

His eyes widened as he felt a strange, foreboding sensation as the flood of foreign
emotions continued to almost drown him.

The ex-wizard allowed himself one moment of calm, reasonable reflection about his
current situation.

'I am so screwed.'
*

"Yuck."

"I told you not to do it." Harry said blandly.

"I can't stop it, you know." Hokuto smiled cheerfully. "Having you so close and so lost in
thought... daydreaming is called that for a reason."

"Oh." The assassin blinked. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Nothing I haven't seen before." She waggled her eyebrows comically. "Though
it goes both ways, no?"

The dark haired man reddened slightly, turning to the window.

"Aah. Not a virgin anymore and still blushing." the Sakurazukamori sqealed. "You are
_so_ cute like that!"

Harry just blinked owlishly.

No one called him 'cute'. Ever. Not as a child, not as a teenager, and certainly not when he
took the mantle of Hakuren. And yet, Hokuto did.

The only other person who did so was Tsukuyomi... but then Tsukuyomi was a
bloodthirsty freak of nature who got off on slicing people. She made for a good friend
when you had a feud with Shinmeiryu, though.

He wasn't kidding himself - if not for contacts and the chaos left in the wake of the last
'carnival' and the 'backlash pact' he would have been either confined or dead.

'Dead, most likely.'

"Oh I don't know, you beat obaa-san quite good."

"Surprise, mostly." Harry winced, rubbing his shoulder on refelx. he’d bear some scars
from the Shinmeiryu nominal head for a long time. "There were moments there she had
my number. If she wasn't so angry and didn't underestimated me at first..." he shuddered.

Shinmeiryu was hellishly powerful. Chizuru wasn't Tsuroko but god, that woman was
_strong_ for a stay-at-home master who stayed out of battle for almost two decades.

"Besides... If I went all out... I'd have probably died." The Hakuren master leaned back on
his seat, looking at the passing terrain. He always found trains both soothing and fun to
ride, even before Hogwarts.
"That lack of balance of yours is really inconvenient." The onmyouji sighed. "Having a
half of your power taken like that... sucks."

"It is not just that. Or not 'only' that." Harry shrugged. "The satsuki isn't something one
can just 'use' like some 'power'"

"I guess that's true." The young woman sighed, leaning sideways on the window, staring
at the blur beyond the shinkansen's window. "Are you worried? Fighting another satsuki
user, I mean?"

"Partially. But it isn't about the power factor, really." Harry shrugged. "Those kids... they
always think they are invincible and unstoppable. Still..."

"This one is different, hmm?"

The ex-wizard quirked an eyebrow.

"My, but you're nosy today." He murmured. "Spying on my dreams again?"

"Of course." The onmyouji shrugged nonchalantly. "What, you expected anything else?"

"Not really." Harry smiled lightly.

"Who's Tsukuyomi anyway?" Hokuto frowned. "...and why was she so flushed and stuff
in your dreams?"

The Hakuren master froze, eyes widening.

"...you saw that?" He sqeaked.

Hokuto's eyebrows rose up slightly.

"O ho ho ho..." She chuckled lowly, eyebrow twitching. "Is there something I should
know?" The young sorceress asked sweetly.

"...uh, well... it is not exactly like... you're thinking." Harry fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Tsukuyomi... well, Tsukuyomi's... hard to explain."

"We have a lot of time." Hokuto's voice could as well be honey. Of the sweet but
poisoned kind.

"Ah... well." The Hakuren master rubbed his neck with embarrasment. "Tsukuyomi is a
Shinmeiryu swordswoman but she's... different. She's a loose canon. Or so they think."
Harry couldn't resist a small smirk at that. "God, are they so horribly right."

Hokuto quirked an eyebrow quizzically.

"Yomi is skilled, powerful and rather nuts." Harry explained, tapping his temple
suggestively. "She loves violence, adores combat - the bloodier, the better. She loves it so
much, in fact, that she has been known to get off on it on rare occasions."

Hokuto stared at her partner incredulously.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was." Harry rolled his eyes. "That girl is skilled, but she's also a first class nut.
The only reason she joined the Carnival on our side was because the odds were against us
and that meant a lot of targets to cut."

"So... the memory I saw wasn't you and her doing the nasty but-"

"Fighting, yes." Harry's blush deepened. "Let's not bring it up again, please?"

"Talk about enthusiastic." Hokuto muttered, shaking her head. "You attract some od the
oddest people I have ever met. Are Maya-chan and I the only normal people you know?"

Harry stared at the onmyouji incredulously.

"What?" The young woman frowned.

"Maya is a descendant of a family with an esoteric martial style, supernatural bloodline

and a feud on her hands, while you are a scion of a family of _sorcerers_ and spirit
mediums and an avatar of a blood-drinking spirit cherry tree. A previously _dead_ avatar,
I'd like to point out." Harry deadpanned. "Yes, a bloody lot of normal here."

"Yes, and considering the company you keep, we are also among the most well adjusted,
mature and sane people you know." Hokuto pointed out cheerfully.

Harry blinked.

"You know... the really scary thing is you just might be right." He muttered thoughtfully.

"I told you so." Hokuto said with a smirk.

Oddly enough, the first feeling Harry got stepping out of the train was of a nice town. Not
big, not small - the kind of town where people knew each other and said hello as you
passed the street. Nice, peaceful place you'd love to settle in, if a tad boring.

For some reason it was just so surreal it made him pause. In some way it made him think
of Surrey, of Wisteria Lane and how everything there seemed just so perfectly normal,
ordinary and _nice_ at a first glance. But Wisteria Lane, with its overly neat houses, fake
smiles and gossiping housewives was a dud, all things considered, since most of the
people living there were like Dursleys. All show, no depth. The Kimira town, on the other
hand... wasn't.

"Nice place." Hokuto absently munched on some pocky she bought during the ride.
"Peaceful."

"Very." Harry muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I mean... the town that small
and..."

"Yeah." The crunch of a pocky stick resounded loudly. "I know what you mean. Strange.
You think people would be on edge and stuff..." She trailed off. "I spent time in towns
like that as a kid, on vacations. When you sneeze the gossip is out before you get a
tissue."

"My point exactly." The white clad man nodded, observing the passing residents as they
walked. "Where is the Shizuma residence exactly?"

"Near the eastern edge of town, by the mountains." Hokuto waved her hand in a vague
direction. "Some ways off. Why, you want to see it?"

Harry nodded.

"I want to see that house. Something stinks about this whole deal, and I want to know
what. This is as good place to start as any."

"The police might have cordoned the area off, and getting through them might be
troublesome." The onmyouji pointed out, before smirking. "Aren't you just so glad to
have the little old me?"

Harry just chuckled.

"The Cherry Tree Express is moving and your ever-huggable and cute Hokuto-chan is
driving so fasten your seatbelts!" Hokuto twirled in a pirouette as the petals swirled
about. "Next stop - Shizuma manor!"

"Wow." Harry blinked, staring at the sizeable property with a bit of awe. It was clearly
old, and not in that 'new-old' style some nuveau-riche families craving to show off their
money and superficial nod to tradition preferred. This was the genuine article - he had
lived in Natsume house long enough to recognize it without fail. Although wooden, Harry
would bet that the house remembered the Tokugawa, but was obviously expertly cared
for. "Those people had to be bloody rich to hold onto something like that in this day and
age." he whistled.

"Shizuma family is old, very old." Hokuto nodded. "They are 'old money' and not in the
Meiji style either. They didn't get their cash through some corporation - they had it and
just invested it over the years."

"Hmm... maybe that's why...?" He ducked under the police tape, carefully sliding the
doors open. thankfully, they both had the gloves so no fingerprints would be left. Not that
it would matter anyway, given Satsuki's skill and Mitsuomi's involvement. Still, in his
business paranoia wasn't a mental illness - it was a survival trait.

"For money? No." The onmyouji shook her head. "He'd inherit a sizeable chunk anyway.
Besides, those old nobility types aren't as much about money as your average guy, trust
me on that."

"If you say so." Harry shrugged. "When I was a kid they all seemed to be, though." He
said doubtfully, remembering Malfoys and other pure bloods he encountered. Status was
one thing, but they certainly liked their money well enough.

"Trust me. I'm that old nobility myself, rubbed elbows with them a lot." The young
woman grimaced. "I know how those guys think. Besides, going satsuki just to kill
everyone for cash is a wee bit extreme, don't you think?" She frowned, walking inside,
before shuddering and taking a step back. "...ugh! I'll never get used to that!"

Harry just nodded, grimacing as the familiar feeling hit him. He was an assassin, he once
took part in an event that ended with blood of dozens on his hands, but he never could get
used to the 'scent' left behind by a massacre. While any smell that might have been in the
dojo was long gone, the imprint of violence remained if one had sharp enough senses to
catch it. Harry unfortunately had more than enough ability to do so. Far more than he
would have liked in any way.

"...Jesus..." He muttered, his gloved hand tracing the floor as he kneeled. "Here... and
here..." He tapped the point on the floor, before sliding his hand to the left.".... my god.
That kid isn't playing around, is he?"

Hokuto cocked her head curiously. There was nothing on the floor that would make it
special - no bloodstain, or even a trace of violence whatsoever. And yet, it was enough to
stop her partner cold.

"Satsuki?" She guessed.

"I'm amazed you can't feel it." The assassin stood up with a grimace. "Mitsuomi was
right... the kid is _strong_ - I can feel his ki all over the place. Even with so many deaths
so recently it shouldn't have stayed around as much. He didn't just _kill_ here. He was so
angry he spilled satsuki all over the goddamn place like some leaky faucet!"
"So he went berserk." The onmyouji shrugged. "Those types do it, right?"

"No. Satsuki users are not berserkers. It is a _focused_ killer intent." The green eyes
darkened. "It is all about the kill - anything else becomes irrelevant. Sharp, focused intent
- yes. Berserk rage on that kind of level? No."

The woman blinked in confusion, looking at the ex-wizard.

"But you said they get off on it, right?"

"That's a wrong term." Harry bit his lip. "It is more like... there is a kind of focus on
killing. They snap, yeah, but... it is different. More like sociopaths than your run of the
mill butcher kind of psychos, if that makes any sense."

"Ah." The Sakurazukamori nodded slowly. "So..."

"So this is all kinds of wrong." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. The whole
murderous miasma was making him edgy - another price he had to pay - and he could
feel his own instincts stirring. "It is the murder ki, but... hell, I don't know. Something
isn't right here."

"Then he did have a purpose." Hokuto murmured, frowning. "He didn't just snap."

"Snap?" Harry laughed mirthlessly. "Hokuto... the level of focus I feel here... you don't
just snap. You have to hone it, you have to train it or you're just like a kid playing with a
sharp knife. Sure, a kid can kill someone, but it will be messy and awkward. This?" he
pointed at the dojo. "This is as if a master chef suddenly decided that his customers
would look good as cutlets and started to carve them with steak knives."

"Oh." The girl's eyes widened. "Then... you say he _trained_ for that?"

"Oh yes." Harry nodded grimly. "Trained, and diligently at that, on a level I haven't seen
since I got the Hakuren scrolls. Someone is playing with killing techniques straight out of
Sengoku here, Hokuto, and there is some kind of purpose behind it." He scowled, staring
at the dojo floor. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Now that... is something I'd like to know as well." A calm voice made the both teens
freeze in their tracks. "Among other things, of course."

Harry and Hokuto turned slowly, to see a tall, well built man in a dark blue leisure suit,
accompanied by a a pretty young woman dressed in a female equivalent of a similar suit
in red, a pair of glasses on her delicate, attractive face.

"Fujita Kyoshiro, this is my partner, Saga Midori " The woman nodded politely. "And I'd
like to ask you a couple of questions." He drew a police badge out of the suit's jacket.
"Starting with who are you and what are you doing on a cordoned off scene of a multiple
homicide."

"...achaaa...!" Hokuto hissed, palming her face with embarrasment.

Harry blinked, before looking at his own partner.

"Don't look at me like that!" The girl said defensively. "I have no idea how they got
through without me noticing!"

The Hakuren master quirked an eyebrow.

"Really?" He deadpanned. "I didn't notice."

"...you just love to drive it home, don't you?" The onmyouji huffed, crossing her arms in
an outraged pose, turning away. "Meanie!"

"Kids, I really don't have patience for that." Kyoshiro said pointedly, pocketing his badge.
"If you don't want to answer, I'm going to take you in and we'll see how chatty you two
are on the precinct." He paused, frowning. 'Truth to be said, I will do that anyway.
Midori, if you would?"

The woman nodded, drawing a pair of handcuffs.

"That really won't be necessary." Harry looked at he policeman, reaching into his jacket,
only to blink as a small female hand closed over his wrist with surprising amount of
force.

"I rather you wouldn't, sir." The policewoman said politely, the grip not budging an inch.

"Those are just my credentials." The Hakuren master said placatingly.

The woman simply looked at him, gaze unwavering.

"Kyoshiro-san?"

"Check it." The tall man pulled out a cigarette, putting in his lips, a picture of relaxation,
but Harry could see that the watchful eyes didn't leave him and Hokuto for a moment. It
was as if the man was almost daring them to do something.

The policewoman nodded, reaching into Harry's pocket for his ID, before reaching her
hand out to Hokuto, still not sparing a glance away form the Hakuren master. Hokuto
looked at Harry in askance, before giving her papers as he nodded in agreement.

Harry raised an eyebrow as the woman threw his ID over her shoulder, Kyoshiro catching
it deftly, before repeating the same with Hokuto's papers. All that without sparing even a
glance in her partner's direction.
"Interesting." He said mildly, looking at the policewoman for a moment. Midori said
nothing, only pushing her glasses up with a free hand, her politely dispassionate mask not
budging an inch.

"Now that would be my line." Fujita quirked an eyebrow, looking from the identification.
"You don't look very japanese to me, mister Kagami."

"What can I say, a lot of foreign blood." Harry shrugged. "That's not a crime nowadays, if
I am not mistaken?"

"That remains to be seen." The policeman murmured, looking back to the document sin
his hand, before pausing. "...a private detective?"

"I did tell you there is no cause for alarm, Fujita-san." The jade-eeyd man smiled fiantly.
"We are on the same side here."

"Is that so." The tall man said mildly. "Well, well, well... an A-class? With all the bells
and whistles as well. You look awfully young to have a license like that, Kagami-san." He
raised an eyebrow mockingly.

"I am good at what I do, what can I say." Harry shrugged.

"Not good enough if you barge into a crime scene." The policeman pocketed the
documents. "I think you two and I are going to have nice, long chat at our precinct while
I check out your 'credentials', kid."

"Ah. About that..." Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I think... that's not possible right now."

"I don't think you get it, boy." Any trace of amiability vanished fro Fujita's face as the
man straightened out. "I'm not asking. You are suspects found breaking and entering at a
scene of a crime, and I want to know why. It is in your best interests to cooperate here."
he raised an eyebrow mockingly. "Or should I run those nice 'documents' through the
database to see what pops up, mister 'private detective Kagami-san' who can't even shave
yet?"

"I'd dearly love to cooperate, detective-"

"Inspector." The policeman interrupted.

"Inspector, then." Harry nodded. "As I said, I'd dearly love to cooperate but..." Midori's
eyes widened as her hand suddenly went numb and she was sent sliding back. Regaining
her balance, the woman reached for her handcuffs only for a swift palm strike to send her
back straight at Fujita. "it seems we are out of time."

"Midori, you all right?" The inspector grabbed the woman, barely managing to stop her
momentum thanks to the wall.

"...that boy... is fast." The woman said, shaking her head, before pushing her glasses up
and straightening. "Thank you, Kyoshiro-san."

"Hokuto... I was wrong." Harry said calmly, turning tot he onmyouji. "I am sorry for
doubting you. I should have seen it earlier, the reason why you couldn't detect those two."

The onmyouji's eyes widened.

"You have _no_ idea just how much shit you found yourself in now, boy!" The inspector
growled, reaching for his gun, only to stiffen and freeze, as something seemed to choke
the air out of his lungs.

"...the.. hell...?!" he choked out, swaying as he clutched his troat.

"...Kyoshiro...san...?" The policewoman blinked, before paling, her hand reaching for her
own gun even as her partner slid on the wall, desperately trying to tug at his necktie.
"...you...!" she raised her gun shakily, pointing at Harry. "...I... should have... seen...!"
Midori's eyes widened as the metal came apart, slashed neatly in the middle.

"...what...?" She whispered, before sliding down, desperately heaivng for breath.

Harry stiffened feeling the waves of killer intent wash over him.

"Ren... is it...?" Hokuto shook her head, trying to chase away the oppressive feeling.

"...yes." Harry nodded slowly. "The reason why it was so overwhelming, why you
couldn't sense those two cops..."

"Good morning." A tall, teeanager in a standard, dark blue gakuran said mildly, hands in
his pockets as he stepped over the choking policemen. His face was thin boned, almost
bishounen in appearance which was only enhanced by the long, brown hair tied in a
ponytail. But Harry ignored that completely, instead focusing on the eyes, ones almost
glowing with amber. "You aren't falling to the Shin no Ippo that easily. That's a real
surprise, I have to admit. I didn't think there was anyone capable of just ignoring it like
that. You weren't surprised by it either." The young man said with interest.

"Shin no Ippo...?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I don't know anything like that. But..."

Shizuma's eyes widened as something seemed to just crumble about him, before
tightening with oppressive force.

"Sokai, on the other hand, I know well enough." The Hakuren said blankly, as his eyes
slowly lost their green shine, turning into vibrant amber shade. "Satsui as well."
"Oh." Shizuma nodded slowly. "She didn't tell me there was another."

Harry froze, eyes widening.

"...what did you just say?" He asked stiffly.

"Ah. Sorry." The other fighter smiled. "Seems like I said too much. Not that it matters..."

It was fast, so fast that the strike should have carved Harry in half, if not for the long
hours spent honing his natural speed into something flat out supernatural.

"...you...?" Bakin stopped, his back to the Hakuren master. "...you... saw... through...?"

"You shouldn't have cut that gun in such a flashy way." The white clad man said blankly,
not even bothering to turn. "I saw it then, that claw strike of yours." Harry flexed his
fingers. "Not that it mattered. My Hazue is sharper either way."

Bakin's eyes widened as the clothes on his torso split open, the flesh following suit.

"I see." The brown haired youth slid to his knees, choking, to look at Harry's back. "You
are... the Carnival's... Hakuren..."

Harry stiffened.

"...what did you just say?" he asked, turning to his kneeling opponent, only to freeze.

"Surprised...? She told me... you would come." Bakin smiled, the cut on his torso
bleeding nothing but ofuda. "I will fight with you... later. I still have... things I must do.
So for now... this is a goodbye, Hakuren-san." Bakin smiled, before bursting into a
myriad paper scraps.

"...like HELL!" Harry snapped, turning to his onmyoji. "HOKUTO!"

"...sorry." The girl shook her head apolegtically. "It was some kind of shikigami but... the
'original' can be anywhere. I can track him but it will take time." She picked up one of the
ofuda, looking at it for a moment with an unreadable look. "For now that round goes to
him... and to whoever helped him." The Sakurazukamori let the ofuda fall down to the
floor slowly, only for it to catch fire as it fell.

Only ashes reached the floor.

TBC...
*

Sokai - lit 'one's original intent'.

Satsui - 'it. 'intent to kill'.

The first part was a flashback to Harry and Hokuto's first meeting, which should explain
some of thier past and current partnership, at least a little. For those familiar with Tokyo
Babylon - yes, Seishiro is quite dead, though it was far from easy. Harry just fucked up
the end of the world something fierce without even knowing about it.

About Ruroni Kenshin - yes, there are plenty of references in Lotus to it, there were there
since the beginning. Though now they are becoming more blatant, with Kurogasa's Shin
o Ippo and all the rest. Makes Kenshin's 'Battousai' persona seem all the more dangerous
in this context, doesn't it?

And now for something completely different. Maybe.

--------------------