YOSHO! EPISODE TWO: YORITOMO ARRIVES By nik, Finished 9-1-99 j.michael@pmail.net DISCLAIMER! I don't own these characters, AIC/Pioneer owns them. I don't intend to make money off this because I don't want to get a lawsuit. I'm too poor for that. But this is my original story concept, so don't plagiarize! Author's notes: This is the second part of the story so far, so if you didn't read YOSHO! EPISODE ONE: THE SON RETURNS, you will have no idea what's going on, just wanted to let ya know that before you start reading. This chapter deals with Yosho learning to understand his new friends on Earth, also, something is being kept secret from Yosho. As you read, you Japanese history buffs may notice I refer to several important events and people from the late 1200's. Y O S H O ! The sun broke through the hills of the Yokohama countryside, illuminating the path through the dense forest. The four men on horseback had seen the dying smoke rising through the forest hills since the dawn broke, but were unaware of it's origin. The riders reached the last hill overlooking the village and looked down onto the small town to see smoke rising where several fires had obviously marked the land. The front rider looked down onto the village and smirked to himself... *** The screen door to the Masaki house slammed shut quietly. Miyoko Masaki walked as quietly as she could through the sleeping house. Miyoko thought to herself. She opened the door to the back bedroom and looked inside the pitch black room. Miyoko quietly shut the door and walked over to a desk at the end of the room. She slipped off her kimono, draping it over a chair. and then opened a closet and pulled out her sleeping garments. She thought. Seeing her sleeping blanket in the middle of the floor, Miyoko walked over to it. She thought to herself. Miyoko pulled the sheets up and jumped into bed. *UUFF!!" Something had made a noise. "HUH?" She said. Miyoko had landed on top of something... someone was in her bed! Miyoko quickly pulled the sheets down over the head of the person in her bed. Yosho looked up out of the sheets... something had landed on him... He pulled back the sheets to see that a beautiful girl with short black hair was sitting on top of him, straddling his waist. "Wha...?" He managed to stammer out. Miyoko and Yosho looked into one anothers eyes for a brief moment until Miyoko broke the silence... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" EPISODE # 2 YORITOMO ARRIVES The villagers always got up early in Yokohama. They had to. They had a hard days work ahead of them. Down on the creek, a poor young village boy was trying to catch a fish in the creek with his bare hands. The young boy bent down slowly and silently, trying to catch the unwitting creature... he carefully placed his hands deep in the water, ever so close to the fish... he opened his hands to snatch it out of the water... *SPLASH.* The fish darted off quickly. Something had stepped into the water, scaring it away. "Wha...?" The boy saw that right in front of his face, a hairy grey leg was standing right where his fish had been. The boy looked up to see that the leg belonged to a large grey-white mare. Looking further up he noticed the rider of the mare, a man in his early-thirties wearing a black robe. The man was obviously a Japanese nobel. The nobel looked down at the child and gave him a mean look, as if he wanted the boy to get out of the way. The boy scooted back away from the horse and let it pass by. The four men on horseback made their way through the crowded village street. The townspeople saw the noblemen and separated the road as they passed by, looking on in fascination and almost ... fear... *** "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!!!!!!!!!!" Miyoko screamed. Yosho glared at the beautiful girl in confusion. "I.... I..." Yosho said. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" She screamed again. Mariko ran downstairs in her gray kimono, at the foot of the steps she saw Naoko and Yumi running towards the backroom. "What was that ? !!!" Yumi asked. "I don't know! I thought it was one of you two!" Mariko said. "No! It came from the back room... where Yosho is!" Said Naoko The three girls reached the end of the hall where someone was still screaming, they threw back the sliding door... Miyoko stopped screaming and went silent. The three girls looked in to see Miyoko sitting on top of Yosho, who was lying with his back to the ground... Naoko shielded Yumi's eyes and turned her around. Miyoko jumped up off of Yosho and raced over to Mariko and her sister. "HEEELLLP!!" Miyoko yelled. "Calm down Miyoko! Let us explain!" Mariko pleaded. "WHO IS THIS?!! AND WHY IS HE IN MY ROOM??!!!" Miyoko screamed. "Your room?!" Yosho said, still not understanding the situation. "Yosho, this is our cousin Miyoko." Mariko explained. "We didn't expect her to be here so we put you up in her room." "WHAT'S GOING ON??!!!" Miyoko demanded. "Lord Yosho stayed in your room after the fire was put out." Naoko said A look of confusion and frustration crossed Miyoko's face. "Fire?! What fire?" "You mean you don't know?" Mariko asked. Miyoko looked confused and shook her head. "The village was on fire last night!" Naoko said. Miyoko looked at her cousins' faces in confusion. Naoko straightened up and looked at her cousin in a suspicious manner, her face tightened and she raised her tone. "Were you out partying at the Suzuki sons' wedding all night?" "Yeah, so...!" "Hurmph... odds are you were so busy drinking and flirting that you didn't notice that half the town was on fire... I'll bet you just now got home, didn't you?" Questioned Naoko. Miyoko looked out the window and noticed the sun had just come up. "Miyoko...." Mariko chided. "you shouldn't DO that... your father would kill you if he knew... " "I bet that's why you came here instead of going hack home." Naoko added. Miyoko became very defensive towards Naoko's observations, soon both the girls were yelling at each other loudly. For a moment it seemed as if the two girls would break into a fight. Yosho, still sitting up in his sleeping bag, silently watched the two girls scuffle in mute fascination... "Miyoko, Naoko... please... " Mariko said, trying to calm the girls down, but knowing it was a futile attempt. Mariko broke into a smile. Yosho watched Mariko smile. Mariko turned her head to Yosho, seeing Yosho was staring at her. Mariko pretended that she didn't notice, and merely continued to smile... *** The sun was shining brightly over the treetops, there wasn't a cloud in the sky over the countryside, the birds chirped happily and the trees swayed in the cool breeze. It was a beautiful day. In a beautiful land... if you didn't count the huge gaping crater in the middle of the forest... At the center of the crater was a wreck of twisted red, gray and black rock like metal. Upon further inspection, one could notice two fools looking down a hole, reaching into the bridge of the Ryo-ohki. One of them had a dead fish on the end of a spear. "We should hurry, and get whatever we can out of this thing before anyone else does." Atsushi said. "Hmm... I don't know. It could be cursed!" Yuji said. "And it could have a lot of stuff that could make us rich." Atsushi added greedily. "I don't know, it may not be worth it if we get cursed." Yuji said apprehensively. "Yes, but if we DO find some rich stuff we'll be able to buy whatever we want! We could show that jerk Seikou who's boss! We could buy a big house and not have to sleep under that damn tree anymore! Plus chicks love rich guys! Who the hell cares about being cursed when you've got chicks?!!" Atsushi yelled excitedly. Yuji considered it for a breif moment. "Ok, let's do it! Hold on I'll get a rope." Said Yuji. "Ha, ha, ha! We're gonna be rich!" Atsushi said. "But first we're gonna check it out." Yuji added, leaving to retrieve his tools. Without looking back he remembered to warn Atsushi. "Hey, we're pretty close to that hole you fell in last night, so watch your step." "Okay I,-AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" *CRASH* Yuji groaned to himself. *** Yosho opened the door to the Masaki house and stepped out into the morning sun. He looked around into the beauty of the forest, beams of light cascading through the trees, his eyes wandered down to a long dirt road running uphill, and then Yosho remembered, he went up those steps last night after the incident at the Seikou house. < Oh, yes... I was so tired after last night I went straight to sleep when the old man finished showing me his home.> Yosho recalled to himself. Yosho then remembered the steps led up to a shrine. With his eyes he followed the dirt road up the mountain and sure enough, the shrine was there, not a hundred yards away from the Masaki house. *** Yasunori Masaki carefully wrote his latest proverb on the piece of paper he held in his hand. He tried as hard he could not to make a mistake, for ink was a rarity in the Yokohama country, the old man slowly finished the last word and read it aloud to himself... "... even though you may not know the truth in the heart of a stranger, be kind to him as if he were your son." "Hmm... " *Knock, knock, knock.* The old man looked over at the door screen, already guessing who it was. "Come in." Yosho pulled the door screen back and entered silently. "Ah, hello Yosho. I trust you slept well." "Yes sir. Thanks for letting me stay the night, your family has been very kind to me, I'm grateful for your hospitality." Masaki got up off the floor and walked over to the back wall of the shrine with the piece of paper. Without looking back he continued his conversation with Yosho. "Hmm... you're welcome, I'm just happy my family has treated you kindly, the people of this village are mainly just poor farmers and fishermen, but they're quite friendly, I'm sure you will have no trouble getting along with them." "Thanks, but I doubt I will be staying too long, maybe a few weeks at best." Said Yosho. 'You are welcome to stay at my house as long as you are here." "I guess I'd better explain myself then." Yosho said. "There's no need for explanation." The old man said. Yosho looked puzzled. "You don't want to know who I am?" Yosho said with a blank face. Masaki continued pinning the proverb to the back wall. "No." Again, Yosho was puzzled, and now a bit suspicious. "You don't want to know where I came from, or what happened last night?" "No. " He said again. "All I need to know is that you have done a great thing for my village and risked your life to save a stranger. I think you've proven to be a good man, so there is no need for interrogation. "Thank you... but what if I wasn't? Wouldn't you want to make sure I was a good man before you offered to let me stay at your house?" Masaki finished hanging the proverb and turned around to face Yosho. "You've done nothing to show that you were not a good man, it would be wrong to treat you like a theif when you have only done good for my people, besides, I have a gift for reading people. Yosho didn't know what to think of that, and merely accepted it. "Have some tea." The old man said. *** The horsemen made their way through the dirt road of the village until they ran into a crater in the street. The front rider on the gray horse held up a hand and the other three riders stopped. The man in the black robe dismounted his horse and looked at the hole in the earth and frowned. He turned back around to his companions and stared at one of the horsemen, a large burly man with a thick black beard and mustache. The man had no hair on the top of his head but a long, thick mane of hair extending down past his legs, and wore a scar over his eye. The man in the black robe gave the sinister looking scarred man a sharp look and subtlely nodded his head. The bearded man nodded back in response and left towards the center of the town. The remaining riders watched the bearded man leave and turned around to the man in the black robe. "Wait here." He said commandingly. The man in the black robe started up the path to the Masaki shrine. *** The old man poured Yosho a cup of green tea. "So... you're up pretty early for someone who has had such a busy night... I like that in a man, a wise man rises early. You'd be surprised at what it takes to get some people up in the morning." The old man said. "Uh.... yeah." Yosho said sheepishly. "I was hoping you would show me around, I'm... new to this place and not very familiar with the area." Yosho explained. For a brief moment Yosho looked at the shut screen window and for a second thought he saw a shilouette of someone listening in on their conversation, but quickly dismissed the idea, thinking he had been seeing things. The old man took a sip of his tea and held the cup in his hand. "Hmm... yes, well I won't be available for most of the day, but maybe one of my daughters could give you a tour of our village." "That would be great." Yosho took a sip of the green tea, however his eyes suddenly shot wide open and his face grew bright red. He thought to himself. Yosho almost spit the tea out onto the floor until he realized the dissrespect in doing so. He wondered if the old man had noticed the pain he was in, but he looked over to see the old man had opened the side window and was looking out at something. Steam rose from Yosho's head as he forced himself to swallow the scalding liquid. "...you had better go right now." The old man said with a tone of worry in his voice. "What? Why?" Yosho inquired. He noticed the old man was still staring at something outside, and walked over to the window to see what the priest was looking at. A man in a black short sleeved robe with white trim was halfway up the dirt road to the shrine. The man was fairly thin and lean, he wore his hair tied back in a knot and looked rather reagle. "Who is that?" Yosho asked. The old man made a sour face. "A problem for you." He said maintaining his sour face. "His name is Yoritomo, a trader and land buyer.." "... it would not be safe for you to be here until he's gone." The old man added. Yosho was confused but did as he said and left through the back door. "Stay out of sight until he's gone." Masaki warned. Yosho walked over to a window that was cracked open slightly and watched as the old man opened the door and stood with his hands behind his back as the man in the black robe stopped in front of the shrine. Yosho stared at the man entering the shrine, he focused on his eyes... eyes like ice... "Masaki-san, so good to see you." He said insincerely. "Hello Yoritomo-san." He replied with little enthusiasm. "I'm glad to see you haven't died of old age yet." Yoritomo said mailiciously. The old man dismissed the comment. "Won't you come in?" Yoritomo walked up the steps and into the shrine. Once he was inside he took off his black robe and wore the blue-gray kimono underneath it. Yosho continued to watch the two through the slit in the window, until he noticed a small noise, as if someone had taken a step. He turned around to see Naoko, her hands held behind her back and her head lowered. She kept her eyes on Yosho, a smile on her face... Yosho noticed the smile and the way she held her eyes... almost seductively. A bead of sweat formed on the back of Yosho's head. "Hello Yosho." She said, a hint of flirtation in her voice. "Hello Naoko... what are you doing there?" "Well what are you doing there." She snickered. Yosho got down off the steps and approached her. "Nothing, I was just leaving." "Yes, I know." Yosho thought to himself. "Want to get out of here?" She asked. Yosho looked back at the shrine and remembered the old man's warning. "Okay, but let's stay away from the town, maybe you could show me the north end of the village." "Allright, let's go." Naoko said. *** The scarred man on the horse got down and knelt over the eight-foot wide crater in the ground. So far he had seen six others just like it. The crater was scorched black... and was slightly smoking. The man with the scar across his eye bent down and laid his hand on the side of the crater... it was hot. **** "What brings you here Yoritomo?" "I understand that you had some trouble last night." Yoritomo said inquiringly, but without any compassion. "Yes, a fire broke loose in the village." Masaki said, pouring a cup of green tea. "That's all?" He asked suspiciously. "From what I hear the people in the next village saw something more than just a fire." He said almost accusingly. "What do you mean?" "The people from the East village say they saw lights in the sky. They say they saw fire fall from the stars. One old man even told me he saw a dragon, heh..." He gave Masaki a grilling look. "You don't know anything about that do you?" Masaki looked up into Yoritomo's eyes. "No." Yoritomo looked across the room at a table where a cup of green tea stood, steam still rising from it... but the old man already had a cup for Yoriotomo and himself in his hand... "That's interesting... so nothing happened and the village should be fine." "I should think so, the damage is not too bad, in a few weeks the village should be back to normal." "I'm glad to hear that... you should have no trouble paying your taxes to the Shogun this season." He said intimidatingly. "We will have the money this time..." Masaki said. "Good... you were late on your last three payments." Yoritmomo added searingly. "I know... but the Shogun can't expect so much from simple farmers, we are hard pressed as it is." Yoritomo almost took a sip of his tea, but instead slammed it down onto the table. "I could fix your problem." He said angrily. "Sell the land to me. Then it won't be taken from you." He threatened. "We will not sell the village." The old man stated. Yoritomo straightened up. "I would suggest you make a deal with me, otherwise you will lose it to the Shogun and get nothing. Besides... selling me the land would prevent any unfortunate... confrontations. " He said menacingly. "I think you will regret not doing buisness with me." Yoritomom added. The old man looked frustratedly at Yoritomo. "Thank you for the suggestion." Yoritomo frowned and took a sip of his green tea, his eyes went wide and his face turned red. He forced himself to swallow the hot tea. Yoritomo got up and walked through the doorway. He stopped, and turned around. "... you must admit... the days are getting darker for you." He said. "Thank you for coming, Yoritomo-san." "See you soon, Masaki-san." Yoritomo left the shrine and made his way down the dirt path. Masaki was left standing in the doorway, his head hung low. *** The two figures walked slowly through the forest. "So, you have come from far away?"Naoko asked. "Yes, I have, I'm from Jurai." Yosho replied. "Oh, I've never heard of Jurai before." Naoko said, hoping Yosho would elaborate. Yosho smirked to himself. "It's very far away, I don't think anyone in your village has heard of it before." Said Yosho. "Sounds exciting!" Naoko said enthusiastically. "I'll bet it's very pretty ." Naoko added. " It is." Yosho said quickly. "But I must admit, this place... I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful land in all my life." Naoko paused for a moment, watching as Yosho looked around the forest, completely absorbed in it. "Really?" She said. Yosho nodded his head. "Sometimes I think I would rather be anywhere else in the world than here." Naoko said sadly. Yosho looked at her concernedly. "Why?" Naoko was caught slightly off guard by the question. "... well, I...I just get tired of this place. The people. The scenery. The same thing. I've been here my whole life, and nothing's new... nothing is special." She wanted to tell him more than that... "You think so..." Yosho said. "I think this place is beautiful. I mean, just look around." Yosho pointed his hand out into the forest. "The way the light shines through the tree leaves, the way they float to the ground... and the noise the wind makes as it passes by..." Naoko watched the world as Yosho described it, and for a breif moment it really did look beautiful. "... maybe after a while some people forget how special it is." She again stared into his face, fighting back her emotions. "Yes... I know." Naoko said. "Yosho?" Naoko called softly. "Yes?" He replied curiously. "Do you ever feel like this place?" Naoko asked. At that moment a group of three small children ran by almost running into Yosho as they passed. "Whoa! Look out!' Yosho yelled. Another group of children follwed the first. "Where are these kids coming from?" Yosho asked. Naoko's face dropped and her eyes went wide, she started ti sweat and looked rather panicked. "Nowhere. Let's get going, shall we?" She said, taking a hold of his harm and ushering him away. "Huh?" Yosho said. "Rei,, Yumi, Oyu, Kikuchiyo, come back this way." A soft voice called. Yosho looked back to see Mariko with a group of small children. "Hello Yosho-san." Mariko said happily. "Hello Mariko" He called back smiling to her. Naoko gritted her teeth and growled. "What are you doing there?" Yosho asked, placing a hand behind his head. "I look after the smaller children during the day." She replied. "Oh." Yosho said. "I am not small." A voice called out. It was Yumi, her size hiding her from Yosho's sight. "I'm the biggest kid here." Yumi stated. "Yes, you are." Mariko said. Yumi looked satisfied with Mariko's answer and smiled. Mariko smiled back at her. < There's something about that smile. > Yosho thought to himself. "Is your cousin allright?" Yosho asked. "Miyoko? Oh yes, she's fine, she's just a bit grumpy m that's all. We told her what happened last night and she didn't believe it, so she went to go see it for herself." Mariko explained. "So, Yosho, where are you going?" "Your father told me to stay away from the village today..." Explained Yosho. "A man came into the village and your father said it wouldn't be safe for me to be seen here... I think he said the man's name was Yoritomo..." Mariko's eyes widened slightly. "You can go back home now, children." Mariko said. The children ran off to play, except for Yumi, who stayed behind with Yosho, Mariko and Naoko. "Come this way, Yosho, we'll take a walk." "Okay." Yosho replied. The group left down the path. Naoko waited for a minute, still frustrated... and then followed after them... *** "Yuji, why did you bring festival lanterns instead of real lanterns?!" Said Atsushi, a string of eight festival lights wrapped around his body. "It's all I could get." Yuji retorted defensively The interior of the crashed Ryo-ohki was pitch black, except for the light Atsushi and Yuji were giving off, the light was just bright enough for the pair to read the expressions on each other's face. "We've been down here twenty minutes and haven't found anything!" Yuji yelled angrily. "Well perhaps if you hadn't been stupid enough to get festival lights instead of a lantern we would have found what we are looking for!" Atsushi screamed loudly. "DIIIIIIE!" Yuji screamed, grabbing Atsushi by the throat. *GAAK! GAAK!* Atsushi choked, trying to remove Yuji's hands from his neck. Atsushi turned blue and began to lose consciousness, but just then he took his index finger and middle finger and jabbed them between Yuji's eyes, Three Stooges style. "AAHH!" *PUNCH!" "OW! *KICK!* "OOF!" The two continued fighting each other, biting and and hitting and screaming obscenmities at each other, until... "Why you dirty little..." "MIIIIIIIIIYAAAAAAA!" The noise boomed through the entire ship. The two stopped in mid punch, their lights had gone out, and all that could be seen was their eyes, wide open in the dark room. "What was that?" Atsushi said, meekly. "MEEEEOOOOOOOOOW!" The noise echoed again, this time however the whole ship rocked, knocking pieces of debris off the ceiling. The vibration caused a seceret compartment over Atsushi and Yuji's head to open up, spilling an orb-like object on Atsushi's head, almost knocking him unconscious. "Ouch! My head!" He welped. "That really hurt! Ohhhhhhh, Lord... I think I need a doctor,Yuji...Yuji?" Yuji wasn't listening, his back was turned to Atsushi. Atsushi crawled around to the other side of Yuji. "Hey, Yuji, are you listening to..." Atsushi then noticed why he wasn't responding, Yuji was staring off onto the floor, at a glowing spherical object resting in the rubble, it was the same object that hit Atsushi on his head. Yuji and Atsushi walked over to the orb and picked it up. It was barely small enough to hold it in a persons' hand. The orb was smoothe like marble to the touch, and cold. The orb was dark grey, but there was a depression circumventing the center of the sphere, revealing that inside, something was glowing bright red. "What is it?" Atsushi inquired. "I dunno." Yuji flipped the orb around to it's other side revealing a green triangle etched into the orb. Yuji put fis thumb over the green marking. The green marking light up bright ly, causing Yuji to drop the orb to the floor. The orb rolled around on the floor until the green light eminating from the green triangle dissapeared. Once the light died down, the orb split in half, but inside the orb, another sphere appeared, glowing a dim red light. Atsushi and Yuji had frozen ever since the green light appeared, but then goy up to investigate the glowing red object. Yuji picked it up off the floor. "WOW!" Yuji said. "It... it looks like a gem! An opal!" Atsushi said "IT IS A GEM!" Yuji screamed delightedly. "But it's huge!" "EXACTLY!" Yuji said greedily. Atsushi placed his hands on the glowing gem with Yuji. "IT'LL MAKE US RICH!" Atsushi proclaimed. "EXACTLY!!!!" The two friends formed greedy and joyous looks on their faces, the two were unable to blink, let alone take their eyes off their new fortune. "OH, MAN! WE'RE GONNA BE RICH! WE'RE GONNA BE RICH!" Atsushi yelled. "We could buy all of Japan with this baby!" "Shh! Not so loud! We gotta get this outta here!" Yuji commanded. "Oh, yeah." Atsushi said, still not blinking yet. "We're gonna be rich!" He said quietly. Yuji nodded his head. The two laughed, insanely. "Hee, hee!" "Hee, hee!" "Hee, heee!" "Hee, hee!" "Hee. hee!" "Hee, hee!" "Shhhh!" *** Miyoko stood in awe at the huge crater in the middle of the forest. What set her even more into awe was the huge twisted mass of black and gray metal in the center of the crater. "Shit!" She said in amazement. Miyoko had not beleived her cousins explanation.... who would have? Demons, dragons, fire falling from the sky. It was a lot to take in. There were many homeless people in the village, people who lived on whatever they found lying in the road. Most of these homeless people were quite old, as was the case with the man who was now dangling in the air. Before, he was merely sleeping the day away against the side of a house, until the man with the scar across his eye picked his sleeping form off the ground by the collar and shook him awake. "Old man! Wake up now!" The Scarred Man said in a deep threatening voice. "Huh? Wha!!" Said the old man being jerked awake. "Old man! I'm going to ask you something and it would be best for you to answer it." The Scarred Man said. "Hey! What do you..." "Listen! I want you to tell me what happened here last night." "Hey! I don't know what you're talking about1" The old man screamed. The man with the scar across his eye drug the old man into the shadows where no one would see. "Last night. What happened?" He said menacingly. "There was a fire! That's all I know!" The old man said. "Who started the fire?" The Scarred Man ordered. "I... I don't know, I... OOF!" The Scarred Man slammed the old vagabond up onto the wall, and pressed hard against his chest. "You know something! Now tell me! What happened here? Who started the fire?" The Scarred Man said angrily. The old man started to cry in fear. "I don't know! I looked up and saw fire coming out of the sky, and when we put it out Masaki-dono said not to tell anyone about it! I swear! Please just let me go!" The old man whimpered. The Scarred Man dropped him to the ground. He looked down at the old man sniveling and hiding his head. "Now I am telling you. Don't talk to anyone about this." The Scarred Man said. The Scarred Man left the old man in the dirt, crying and shaking heavily. *** Atsushi and Yuji pulled the rope attached to their salvaging equipment up out of the hole in the Ryo-ohki, both of them were obviously pleased at their discovery within the depths of the space craft. "What are you doing?" Yelled a voice from behind them. Atsushi and Yuji turned around to see the gorgeous form of Miyoko Masaki right behind where they were standing, her face was one of anger, as she no doubt knew the two were up to no good. Yuji hid the red gem behind his back when he noticed Miyoko. "Oh, look Atsushi!" Yuji said cynically. "The bitch is back!" Miyoko growled in anger at the remark and she hardened her face. "What are you two simpletons doing here?" Miyoko asked. "Ha! Like we'd tell an upitty rich girl like you!" Atsushi yelled. "You had better tell, or else I'll tell the entire town that you were down here!" Miyoko threatened. "Hey, what do we care? We already got all the good *MMPH!*" Yuji covered Atsushi's mouth before he could finish his sentence. "If you'll excuse us, we have a country to buy." Yuji said. "Ha! Two poverty-stricken morons buying a country! Please!" She insulted. "Rrr..." Atsushi growled. Atsushi grabbed the opal from behind Yuji's back and waved it in front of Miyoko's face. "Atsushi, NO!" Yuji screamed in protest. "Not so poverty-stricken now , are we!!!" Yelled Atsushi. "WHA!? Where did you get that?!?!?" Miyoko screamed. "It doesn't matter! It's ours and it's none of your buisness." Atsushi taunted. "You stole that!" She screamed. "Rrr, No we didn't steal..." Started Atsushi before Yuji moved in front of him, breaking his sentence. "Yeah! We stole it! And the guy we got it from will never know who did it, so there! There's nothing you can say about it, so don't bug us!" Said Yuji, trying to be smoothe about the gems' origin. "Well I'll tell you what, if you give me half the gem I will forget about it." Miyoko offered. "Ha! Sure, go sell crazy somewhere else." Said Atsushi. Yuji and Atsushi got down from the Ryo-ohki and started to walk away. "My father is good friends with the magistrate in the next village, and I'm sure he'd be interested in that gem of yours!" Miyoko threatened happily. Atsushi stopped dead in his tracks, and his mouth hung open at the prospect of being arrested, Yuji, however, was not too intimidated. "Yeah, you just go tell your father, and while you're there explain to him what happened at the Suzuki son's wedding last night! Ha! Ha!" Now Miyoko's mouth dropped open. "Hey, how did you know..." She started. "Grrr..." She growled, clenching her fists. Yuji and Atsushi stepped up out of the crater area and entered the forest. "Yuji, what if she tells?" Asked a frightened Atsushi. "She won't tell. She's too greedy to tell." Yuji soothed. Atsushi's spirit's rose with Yuji's explanation. "She's got a nice rack though." Atsushi said. "Oh, yeah! Very nice." Yuji agreed. *** Yoritomo approached his servants on horseback and waited as the Scarred Man joined the group. Yoritomo's servants stared deeply at him, expecting an answer or an explanation for their journey here. Yoritomo threw a mean look of agitation at his servants and they lowered their eyes in fear of invoking their leaders' anger. The man with the scarred eye trotted slowly towards the group of nobels and stopped his horse turning it to face Yoritomo. "Did you find what I needed to know?" Yoritomo asked blankly. "Yes." Yoritomo didn't reply to the scarred man's answer, he merely turned his horse around, and headed back down the road away from the village. A moment later his servants and the Scarred Man followed him out of the village. *** Atsushi and Yuji lounged beneath a tree on the edge of the village, it was the tree that they had slept by (and in) every night since they were eleven years old. They reclined with ease, Yuji holding the "opal" they had found as one would hold a newborn. "So, uh... what do we do with it now? Atsushi asked. "Whadda ya mean?" Yuji asked. "Well, who do we sell it to? Y'know, to get the money..." "You idiot! We don't sell it right away! You hide it!" Yuji said angrily. A look of befuddlement crossed Atsushi's face, he scratched his head in confusion. "Uh... why?" Atsushi asked, thinking that he might not be smart enough to understand Yuji's plan. "That's what everyone does! When they get rich stuff, they hide it! They BURY it!" "Gee... if we bury it doesn't that mean we don't get any money?" Atsushi asked. "You just don't understand, do you?" "No." Atsushi said blankly. "You just don't have a mind for buisness." Yuji said. "OK, so where do we bury it?" Atsushi asked. "There!" Yuji said. Yuji pointed up towards the top of a large and quite steep hill on the north end of the village. "We'll bury it on the top of that hill." Yuji said, stabbing his spear into the ground. "Right now?" Atsushi asked. "Yeah, so go get a shovel." Yuji ordered. Atsushi and Yuji grabbed a shovel and headed off for the top of the step hill. Miyoko watched Yuji and Atsushi leave for the hill. Having overheard their entire discussion, a plan formed in her mind. < I knew they were too stupid to keep that gem for long. > She thought to herself. < Once they bury it I'll just steal it back and find it's owner and collect the reward money. > She schemed. "Heh, heh, maybe the owner will have a son..." She dreamed. *** "His father fought with the Shogun against the Mongol attacks twenty years ago." Mariko explained. "That was Waru Yoritomo." She continued. Yosho listened to Mariko explain the history of the man he had seen at the Masaki shrine. "His father lost his left ear in one such battle." She added. "After the war with the Mongols, the Yoritomo family became one of the most promient families in all of Japan due to Waru's friendship with the Shogun." Mariko explained. "I still don't understand why he's here." Yosho asked. "He wants this village." Naoko said sadly. Yosho turned to face Naoko and Yumi, who had been listening intently as Mariko told Yosho of the villages' dark history. "The man you saw today was Ashikaga Yoritomo. He grew up in one of the richest and corrupt families in Japan. Unlike his father however, Ashikaga Yoritomo hides his history of killings. He is known as the third largest land owner in all of Japan. He owns the villages to the north and to the west and east of our village, Yoritomo bought those villages years ago and has been trying to get his hands on this village for seven years." "Seven years?" Yosho repeated. "He's still trying to buy this village after seven years?" "Yes." Mariko said, stopping in her tracks. "We are only nine miles to the north of a large trading center, Yoritomo wants the village so he can control the passage and trade routes without us cutting into his buisness." "It's not just that..." Naoko said. "He hates us." She said, causing Yosho totense at the remark. "You can see it... you can see it in his eyes... he hates us, our way of life, our people... the very fact that we're poor." Naoko said with distaste. "I see. So he has made things difficult for you." Yosho said. "More than difficult. He has made sure that no leniency has been made for us when it comes to taxes... and not only that, but in the past six years we have had more attacks from bands of "theives" then this village has had in the last fifty years combined." Naoko said. "And they never steal anything." Mariko said blankly. "They only burn." Naoko finished angrily. Yumi hid her head in fear against Naoko as she remembered a scary dream she once had... "So he's after this village." Yosho surmized. Naoko and Mariko gave him a look of acknowledgement. "Can you keep it?" Yosho asked. "What do you mean?" Naoko asked. Yosho looked across their confused faces. "I mean , can you pay the taxes on your village?" Yosho asked. The question left Naoko and Mariko blank faced, which slowly shaped into a saddened look... The silence had answered Yosho's question. "We're just poor farmers and fishermen..." Said Mariko. Yosho understood the answer and after a moment, he returned to his original question. "So why did your father tell me to hide in the woods?" Yosho asked. Again, Naoko and Mariko paused, looking across each other's face for a way to tell Yosho what he wanted to know. "Well..." Mariko started. "Hey! There goes my big brother!" Yumi screamed pointing to the figure of Atsushi and Yuji sneaking suspiciously up the side of the hill. Atsushi and Yuji heard Yumi's observation and looked down the side of the hill to see Yosho, Naoko, Mariko and Yumi heading right for them. Atsushi and Yuji's eyes shot open and they gritted their teeth, quickly stashing the gem in Yuji's shirt and running off at full speed up the side of the mountain. A few seconds later the group noticed Miyoko chasing after them, running as fast as she could in her formal kimono after the two. "What's going on?" Naoko asked agitatedly. Yumi started to run after them. "Hey Big Brother! Wait!" She called, running after them. "Yumi!" Mariko cried as the little girl ran off. Seeing Yumi chase after the others, Yosho, Naoko, and Mariko took off after the rest of the group. Miyoko watched Atsushi and Yuji reach the top of the hill and waited for the right moment. < I'll give them a few minutes to bury it, then I'll go dig it back up. > She thought to herself. *** Atsushi and Yuji reached the very top of the hill, exhausted and panting heavily. "HUFF! Do... you think...WHEEZE!... they saw us?" Atsushi asked "Yeah." Yuji replied. "So we better get this thing buried as quick as possible, before they find us." Yuji said. Atsushi grabbed the shovel and started digging into the earth. After a second, he stopped. "We could share it with them." Atsushi offered. Yuji's face twisted. Yuji pulled the opal out of his shirt and held it up close to Atsushi's eyes. The gem was huge, and was probably worth more money than Atsushi had ever heard of, his eyes watered at the sight of it. Yuji just waited for Atsushi to react. Atsushi quickly resumed his digging at a more vigorous pace than before. "OK, it's done." Atsushi said. Yuji held the gem out in his hand and was about to drop it in th hole Atsushi had dug, when he heard a noise. Atsushi and Yuji turned around to see that forty feet or so down the hill Yumi was making her way up towards the two, stopping momentarily to free her shirt where it had caught against a tree branch. "Oh no!" Yuji screamed. "Quick! Drop it in!" Atsushi yelled. It was at the exact moment when Atsushi had finished his sentence that the gem in Yuji's outstretched hand made a high pitched noise, accompanied by a streaking beam of blue-green light erupting from the side of the gem. The light caused Yuji and Atsushi to hit the floor and drop the gem to the ground. The gem rolled around in the grass for a moment before settling in the hole Atsushi had dug. A shocked Atsushi and Yuji looked down at the gem in bewilderment. "What the Hell... " Said Yuji. *** "I don't care what it was! Just cover it up! They're coming!" Replied an angry Yuji in response to Atsushi's question about the green light. "Hey, Big Brother! What are you doin'?" Said Yumi. "Shit!" Yuji said to Atsushi. Atsushi covered up the gem with a thin layer of dirt, leaving part of the gem exposed. Yuji looked down at the littlegirl in annoyance. "Hey, Squirt. Why don't you go run off and bother someone else ok?" Atsushi taunted the child. "Don't call me Squirt!" The little girl demanded, stomping her foot to the ground. "Squirt!" Atsushi retorted childishly. *SMACK* Yuji smacked the back of Atsushi's head. "Don't say stuff to my sister like that." Yuji said calmly. Atsushi rubbed his head in pain. Yuji knelt down to Yumi's level and talked to the girl on her level, in a sugar coated tone of voice. "Now, Yumi... I'm sure there's lots of stuff a big girl like you can do without interrupting our important buisness, okay?" Yuji said, patting the girl on the head. "Why don't you go home and help Dad rebuild the house?" Yuji offered. "But Naoko and Mariko wanna know what you guys are doing." The girl said blankly. Yuji's face dropped, his complexion went ghost white. "Mariko and Naoko! Where?!" Yuji asked franticly. "Down there, with Yosho." Yumi said, pointing to the the aforementioned not but twenty feet away. < Aaagh! > Yuji thought to himself. Atsushi gtugged Yuji's sleeve and whispered in his ear. " What do we do?! They're gonna find the gem, and I bet that Yosho guy'll kill us for taking it too!" Atsushi whispered. "Don't panic, we'll just lead them away and come back later." Yuji consoled. Yosho, Mariko and Naoko joined the three, looking around suspiciously at Yuji and Atsushi, who were OBVIOUSLY worried by their presence. "Yuji... Atsushi... what are you doing?" Mariko asked nicely. "WE'RE NOT HIDING ANYTHING!!" Atsushi blurted out. The others dropped a bead of sweat. "I mean... uh... we're not... uh... DOING anything, heh, heh." Atsushi corrected. Yuji acted fast to change the subject. "Oh! Hello there Mister Yosho! Nice to see ya again! Hope these lovely ladies have been treating you nicely." Yuji said, greasing Yosho over. "They've been very friendly." Yosho answered. "GEE, I'M SO GLAD WE'RE ALL FRIENDS AND WE WOULD NEVER KILL EACH OTHER!!!" Atsushi blurted out again, to the complete surprise of everyone. < I'M going to kill him if Yosho doesn't. > Yuji thought as he sweated nervously. "'Oookaaaaay, well we are about to go back to our house for dinner, would you two like to join us?" Mariko asked. "Ohnothankswe'rejust finethanksanyways!" Yuji and Atsushi said simultaneously. "Are you sure?" Mariko asked. "Yeah, we uh, got a lot of things to do right now. Maybe tommorow?" Yuji said, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, then maybe Miyoko would like to. Where is she?" Naoko asked the pair. "MIYOKO!?" Yuji yelled. "Yes, we saw her following you up the hill, did she go back down?" Naoko asked. Realization suddenly crossed Yuji and Atsushi's face... < Where is she?! > Atsushi and Yuji thought. *** < Well, they should be done burying it by now! > Miyoko thought. Miyoko stood up and brushed the dirt off her kimono. She turned around to see if Atsushi and Yuji were gone yet and saw... < What! > Miyoko thought, seeing her cousins and that new guy talking to Atsushi and Yuji. "They conned me! How dare they make a deal with them and not me!?" Miyoko yelled. Miyoko stomped her way up the hill and confonted the "conspirators". "Oh, shit." Yuji said silwntly to himself, seeing Miyoko stomping towards him. "Hi Miyoko!" Yumi said. "Miyoko... where did you come from?" Mariko asked. Miyoko didn't reply. She merely got up closely in their faces, with a look that could melt steel. "Uh, heh, he, Miyoko, we were just talking about you...heh, heh." Atsushi said. "I'LL BET YOU WERE! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! NOT INCLUDING ME!?" Miyoko yelled. Everyone save Yuji and Atsushi were confused as to what she was talking about. Miyoko threw her hands in the air. "RRR! I CAN'T BELEIVE THIS!" She exploded. "Heh, heh, there now, Miyoko we don't know what you mean!" Yuji said, trying to shut her up, and putting his hands on her shoulders. "You know exactly whatI mean!" Miyoko yelled. "NO, they don't!" Said Yuji trying to clue her in. "YES YOU DO!" Miyoko yelled. Yuji was getting frustrated. "No they DON'T!" Yuji said through clenched teeth. Suddenly, it donned on her. "They don't?" "No." "... " "Oh! Heh, heh. Well, then, what are you doing?" Miyoko asked. The others gave her a side-ways look, noting her change in demeanor. Unseen to anyone, a beam of green light shot out fromthe pile of dirt behind the group. "We were about to go back o the house for dinner, the sun is about to go down." Yosho said. "So it is!" Miyoko said. "Well why don't you guys go back without me... I need to talk to Atsushi and Yuji for a while." She smiled. Atsushi and Yuji frowned deeply. Another bolt of blue-green light shot out of the dirt. Yosho caught it out of the corner of his eye. At first he dismissed it, but then he turned his head and noticed that it seemed to come from the hole in the ground behind him, a freshly dug hole... Atsushi noticed Yosho looking into the hole and tugged on Yuji's sleeve, pointing out Yosho's curiosity. "Yosho..." Mariko called, noticing that he was fixated on something in the ground. "Well, I guess we'll be going then." Naoko said cheerily. Yosho looked closer into the ground, noticing a small glowing red light in the dirt... "See you three later!" Naoko said. Mariko was now concerned, looking at Yosho, who was acting strangely. "Yosho are you -" Befor Mariko finished her sentenced, a huge beam of green- blue light shot out from the hole in the ground, accompanied by a high pitched squeal, frightening everyone. The light stopped, and everyone now loomed over the pit in the ground to see the gem Atsushi and Yuji had found, now exposed and glowing red. The gem now had a small crack in it;s side, where the light had apparently eminated from. Miyoko Atsushi and Yuji jumped on top of the gem scrambling to get a hold of it. "Mine!" Miyoko yelled. "No it's not!" Yuji and Atsushi yelled. "Stop it, all of you!!" Mariko ordered. Yuji yanked the gem away from Miyoko and held it to his chest. "Oh, my." Naoko said. The group now noticed that Yuji was holding a very large gem. "Where did you get that?!" Naoko asked. "They stole it from someone!" Miyoko accused. "What!?" Mariko said. "Daddy's gonna be mad at you, Yuji!" Yumi said. "Hey! We didn't steal it! We found it!" Atsushi protested. "You liar! You told me you stole it from some wealthy family!" Miyoko yelled. "Who are you calling a liar? You lied too!" Yuji yelled. "Where did you get it?" Mariko asked calmly. Yuji and Atsushi looked fearfully at Yosho. "Inside that thing in the middle of the field." Yuji said sheepishly. Yosho's eyes shot open. "What?!!!" Miyoko screamed. "My father told everyone in this village not to go there and that included you!!" Naoko yelled holding up a finger at Yuji and Atsushi. Yosho walked over to Yuji and took the gem from his hands. "Hey! I don't see what the big deal is!! We're the only ones that know about it so we'll all get rich!" Yuji said, trying to coax the others. He then turned his head to Yosho, still fearing his wrath. "If it's okay with Yosho." He added. Yosho stared intensely at the gem sizing it over. Yosho noticed something about the gem that Atsushi and Yuji apparently missed. On the side, there was a small white hieroglyph-like symbol. The girls looked at Yuji and his proposition with obvious dissaproval. "Okay Yosho?" Yuji said, still waiting for his answer. Yosho ignored the question. "You found this in that ship?" He asked, still staring at the gem. "Yeah, it fell right on Atsushi's head... why?" Yuji said. "Hey what's the matter?" Atsushi asked, looking at Yosho's confused look. "Is there a problem with the gem?" Mariko asked. Yosho remembered something... Ryoko floated through space, her eyes were red as blood as she fired a bolt of orange-red energy at the Jurai ship that had been shooting at her, the blast hit the Jurai ship in its mid-section, causing the ship to break in half and explode. Ryoko laughed a posessed laugh and flew back into Jurai's upper atmosphere. Yosho watched from the palace as two Jurai ships chased Ryoko. Ryoko dissappeared, and materialized inside the first ship right in front of the ships' owner, whomRyoko promply shot in the chest with a beam of energy. Ryoko reappeared and watched the ship crash to the ground. The second ship shot it's cannons at Ryoko, singing her dress. Ryoko gave the ship a look of pure hate, and flew at it head on. She sped beside the ship and blasted a small hole in its side. Ryoko materialized a marble-gray oval about the size of a rock in her hand. She pressed a button on the side of the object and opened the covering to reveal a red gem-like object which she threw into the hole in the side of the ship. Ryoko stopped in mid-air as the ship zoomed past her. A few seconds later the ship exploded with a high pitched squeal and a flash of light. The ship broke into a hundred-thousand pieces, as Ryoko watched and laughed... Yosho returned to the present and his mouth droped open. Everyone looked at Yosho with concern, seeing the look that he was making. "This isn't a gem." Yosho said. "Well what is it?" Naoko asked with interest. Yosho looked at the white symbol on the side of the gem. He pressed it, and a rectangular section of the gem broke off revealing what looked like a digital clock. The Jurai symbols on the clock had four place holders. Only one was left, and it was deleting itself very quickly. "You're about to find out." Yosho said, leaving no doubt in the others minds' that something very bad was about to happen. Another bolt of blue-green light erupted from the "gem". The bolt was followed by another burst of light... and another, and another... "What's happening!?" A frightened Yumi yelled Yosho dropped the gem back into the hole in the ground, immdediately Atsushi knelt down to grab it but Yosho grabbed him by the collar and drup him out of the hole. "No! Leave it!" Yosho ordered. "Come on! Everyone, we have to get away, start running right now!" Yosho said. They all gave Yosho a crazed look. "Yosho, what's going on?" Mariko asked. Yosho wondered how exactly he could explain to a bunch of back-water aliens what was about to happen. He decided there was no way. Yosho grabbed ahold of Mariko's arm and ushered her downward. "Come on! We have to go NOW!!" Yosho ordered. "What about the gem?!" Atsushi asked worridly. *BZZZZZZZZZT* *CHK-CHHHHH-CHKEIIIII* Yosho and the others looked back to the gem fire off another beam of light making e a noise, much louder and far more high pitched than before. The light intensified wrapping the onlookers in light and reducing them to speechlessness. "I think we better go." Said Yuji in a low voice , the fisherman was too horified to blink. Everyone agreed this time, and expressed it by hauling major ass down the side of the hill. Atsushi and Yuji ran down the first thirty feet, trying as hard as they could to not fall down as they went. Thinking they were safe, they turned around to see Yosho and the girls still running. "What are you doing?! Keep running!!!" Yosho screamed to them. Atsushi and Yuji got back up and resumed running alongside the rest of the group. Occasionally looking back, they could see the sky being lit by the bolts of light, now blindingly bright. Yosho looked back over his shoulder to see a huge pillar of energy rising to the stars accompanied by a deafing boom. "Oh shit!" Atsushi screamed to no avail, as the thunderous roar of explosion from Ryoko's grenade drowned his obscenity. Yumi and Miyoko screamed in fear as the top of the hill exploded. The blast sent whole trees flying past their heads as they ran down the hill, trying not to get hit by the airborne debris. The blast churned the earth into a tangled mix and mash of tree and rock and grass and dirt, which flowed like an avalanche only yards away from enveloping the seven helpless victims. The flood of debris kept coming, as if intentionally chasing them down. Little Yumi was having trouble keeping up with her older companions, and running at full speed left her little room to be careful. Running downhill, she snagged her foot on a root coming out from the ground. "Aaaah!" The little child screamed as she lost her balance and fell with a thud to the ground. Yosho scooped the girl up off the ground as he ran by, at the cost of a few seconds in which time the avalanche of trees had caught up with them. A large Japenese oak tree was uprooted as the avalanche made it's way down the hill. The huge oak tree was swept up in the rush of trees and was tossed from end to end as it traveled down the hill. The end roots of the huge tree swung out at Yosho still clutching Yumi, he ducked as it zoomed over his head, avoiding decapitation. Miyoko tripped as she ran and hit the ground face first, she then started tumbling down the side of the hill, unable to stop herself from rolling... until she slammed into the side of a tree. Woozily she noticed that she had fallen far past all the others, as she was now at the bottom of the hill. Miyoko looked up to see the avalanche still chasing her friends, who still had a good forty feet to go before reaching the bottom of the hill. Miyoko tried to stand up and get out of the way of the oncoming flow of earth, but was so dizy from her roll down the hill that she passed out, clutching the side of her head. Mariko watched helplessly as Miyoko stubbed her foot and went flying head first down the side of the hill. Mariko yelled for her fallen cousin but it proved useless, as she continued her way down the hill. Mariko looked back to see her sister, Naoko between Atsushi and Yuji as they ran down the hill at top speed, and just a little behind them was Yosho, carrying Yumi in his arms. "Yuji!! I'm going to kill you!!" Naoko screamed to Yuji, not a foot away. Yuji noticed Naoko screaming something, but the roar of the avalanche silenced her words. "What?!! I can't hear you!!" Yuji screamed. "I said I'm going to kill you!!!!!" Naoko screamed. "I can't hear you!!" "She said she's gonna kill you!!" Atsushi said, yelling in his other ear. "What?!" "Nevermind!!!" Naoko screamed angrily. "WHAT??!!" Yuji screamed. "She said never-WHOOF!!" Said Atsushi. If he had been paying attention to where he was going, instead of screaming in Yuji's ear, he might not have ran directly into the tree at top speed. "Atsushi!!" Screamed Yuji and Naoko, who unfortunately didn't have time to go back and get him before he was sewpt up by a wave of dirt and grass. Naoko and Yuji joined Mariko at the bottom of the hill and picked up Miyoko's unconscious form dragging her away from the foot of the hill as they waited for the others. Yosho had to jump in the air to avoid tripping over Atsushi's form. In a few moments, they would be at the bottom of the hill... unfortunately in a second the avalanche would overtake them. Yosho saw that a few feet ahead of him was a large boulder sticking out of the ground. A moment before the flow of tree enveloped them Yosho jumped up onto the boulder with a thud, then, pushing off with his foot, Yosho leaped through the air the rest of the distance down the hill and landed with a barrel roll onto the ground. Yosho let go of Yumi and looked up to see the avalanche still coming. He braced himself for impact as the avalanche aproached. Yosho closed his eyes and waited for the hit... which never came. The roar of the avalanche died down quickly as it slowed to a halt. Yosho opened his eyes to see that the avalanche had stopped about two feet in front of his face. He let out a breath and fell onto his back in exhaustion. Yumi was panting heavily, it seemed to Yosho that she was hyperventillating. Yosho put his hands on her shoulders and attempted to calm her down. "Hey, Yumi, it's okay, we're all right! Just breathe normal okay?" Yosho said in a soothing tone. Yumi looked up at Yosho with wide eyes, feeling the adrenaline rush begin to slow. "Okay." She said. "Hey Atsushi!!" Yuji screamed as he ran back to the foot of the hill. "Atsushi!!" He screamed again. "WHERE ARE YOU?!!" Yuji yelled at the top of his voice. Yuji looked around frantically for his lost comrade. Naoko heard Yuji's calls and helped him search for Atsushi. "Atsushi!! Come out!!" She screamed, cupping her hands over her mouth. Seeing Atsushi leg sticking out of the twisted mass of tree and dirt, Yuji grabbed Atsushi by the foot and yanked the rest of his body out of the ground. Naoko ran over to Atsushi, as Yuji flipped him right side up, and checked to see if the very dirty, and very beaten Atsushi was still alive. "Atsushi!! You're alive!! Speak to me!!!" Yuji screamed. "F'TOOWF!!" Was the sound Atsushi made as he involuntarily spit a big hunk of dirt and grass in Yuji's face. Yuji didn't blink. Which was unfortunate, as he now had a lot of mud in his eyes. "Good Lord!! Are you okay?!!" Naoko asked with concern. "I need a new change of pants." Said Atsushi . Yuji didn't bother to wipe the mud off his face and merely began to strangle Atsushi as Naoko watched on with dissinterest. Mariko sat Miyoko up as she regained consciousness. "Hey Myoko, I think you'll be okay. It looks like all you have is a nasty bruise on your head, how do you feel?" Mariko asked. "Ooooo... make it stop spinning." Miyoko said, still holding the bumped spot on her head. Mariko pulled Miyoko to her feet and led her over to the others. "I could have been at the Kajii wedding today... " Miyoko complained. Yuji, Atsushi and Naoko joined Yosho, Mariko, Yumi and Miyoko leaning against the side of a tree. Ignoring all others, Yosho walked over to Mariko first. "Are you all right?" Yosho asked with a genuine concern. "I'm fine." She said. "Miyoko on the other hand... " Mariko said, indicating the battered Miyoko who was desperately tring to keep herself from throwing up. Yuji and Atsushi dusted each other off and looked up to see the others, who were staring at them with a nasty look. Atsushi and Yuji lowered their heads, knowing they deserved what they were about to get. "You disobeyed the rules and almost got us killed in the process." Naoko said. They shook their heads in acknowledgement. "We're sorry." Atsushi apologized. "Sorry doesn't fix it! You lied to us!" Miyoko screamed. "Miyoko, I think that you need to watch who you're accusing. They weren't the only ones who were lying today." Mariko said. "Well, I uh... I'm sorry... I guess I screwed up too... " Miyoko admitted. "It's allright, we forgive you... " Said Yosho. "And we forgive you too." Mariko said to Atsushi and Yuji. The three looked happy at their reprival and again said their apologies. "Oh man... I'll never do that again!" Said Atsushi, rubbing a knot on his head. "Can we have dinner now?" Yumi asked in a sweet voice. Yosho's stomach growled. "Sounds good to me." Yosho said. The group made their way back to the Masaki house for a well-needed meal. *** Yoritomo and his servants were far beyond the limits of the village before they reported anything. Yoritomo looked around, and seeing no one in sight, he slowed his horse to match the pace of the Scarred man to begin his questioning. "What did you find?" Yoritomo asked. "Twenty-seven holes like the ones we saw in the town center." The Scarred Man replied. "All were burnt, as well." The Scarred Man said. "Interesting." "I didn't find what caused it." The Scarred Man said with a hint of anger. "More than likely they're trying to scare us away with taboos, and other nonsense." Yoritomo's other servant explained. Recalling the story from the east village, Yoritomo didn't beleive his servants' theory to be completely true... Seeing that the Scarred Man was puzzled by something, Yoritomo pressed further. "What else?" Yoritomo asked. "On the north end of the village, there is a hole not like the others." The Scarred Man said. Yoritomo waited for the Scarred Man to finish. "The hole is half the size of the village." The Scarred Man explained. Yoritomo's two other servants gaped in confusion, Yoritomo himself didn't flinch, nor did this seem to surprise him. "And there was something strange in the center of it." The Scarred Man clarified. Yoritomo dismissed the last bit of information, deciding to deal with it later. "Samurai?" "No." The Scarred Man said. "None that I saw." He added. "I know that someone was here. The old man was hiding something." Yoritomo said. "Will we continue as planned?" The Scarred Man asked. Yoritomo's face tightened in frustration. "The old man has given me no choice." Yoritomo said with hate. If you looked closely, you could see a smirk on the Scarred Man's face, as if he took pleasure in Yoritomo's answer. "You know what to do." Yoritomo ordered the Scarred Man. Yoritomo and his servants rode off into the hills, but the villagers problems weren't going anywhere. *** Eight people sat around the floor and ate dinner inside the Maski house. Atsushi and Yuji were unaccostomed to eating indoors, as they were practically never invited within the Masaki household, or any other household for that matter. Naoko spent most of her time at the table staring at Yosho, she felt something for him, but couldn't tell what it was, as she had never known the feeling before. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about him. "It sounds as if you've had a busy day." Yasunori said. "Too busy, I think." Yosho replied. "Tommorow, lets see if we can have a day where nothing blows up." Mariko said. "I like the action, myself." Yuji said. "That's 'cause you're stupid." Miyoko said as she bit into a piece of fish. Yasunori gave a Miyoko a nasty look and Miyoko blushed in embarrasment. Miyoko frowned and did what the old man wanted to see. With obvious insincerity she grabbed a bowl of fruit, stood up and walked over between Atsushi and Yuji in a formal manner. " (sigh)... Honored guest, would you please take some fruit?" Miyoko said through clenched teeth. Atsushi reached for some fruit when Yuji smacked his hand down. Atsushi looked at Yuji with surprise. " (Ahem) ... well, thanks anyways but I think we'll be going now, guess we'll get to bed early and all that, so take it away." Yuji said waving a hand. Miyoko sizzled in anger and sat back down just as Yuji and Atsushi stood up, offered their thanks for dinner and left. "Goodbye, Masaki's, see ya Yosho." Atsushi and Yuji said. "Bye." Yosho replied. Yuji and Atsushi walked down the steps of the Masaki shrine. "That Yosho was a nice enough guy." Atsushi said. "I'm just glad he didn't kill us, anybody that doesn't kill us is very nice." "But he's really weird though." Atsushi added. "Oh yeah, very weird!" Yuji confirmed *** "So you stayed out of sight all day long?" Yasunori asked worriedly. Yosho then remembered the strange events of the day, and remembered that he never did get an explanation. "Yes, I think so." Yosho said, taking a bite of fish. Naoko and Miyoko gave each other a look of worry. "Good." Yasunori said solemly. "We stayed near the north end of the village." Naoko said. Yasunori shook his head in approval. Yosho was beginning to get anxious about the seceret that it seemed everyone knew but him. Yosho stopped eating and placed his hands on his knees. "Your daughters told me who that man was." Yosho said. Yasunori threw an interested look at his daughters. "Yes. Yoritomo." Yasunori said. "I still don't understand why I had to hide today." Yosho said. Yasunori now put his food down. His look was dead serious, which was a stark contrast t his daughters, who were unsettled by his question. Yosho looked at Mariko and Naoko... their eyes were wide open, as they waited for their father to tell Yosho what he wanted to know, they looked at their father, almost in fear of what he would say. "Yosho." Masaki said sternly. "Yes." Yosho said anxiously. "Have you seen any samurai in our village?" Yasunori said, his eyes locked on Yosho's. Yosho considered the question, trying to remember the villagers he had met. "No." Said Yosho, who upon thinking about it, found it strange that he had not seen any so far. "You may have noticed that there is a shortage of powerful young males in this village as well." Yasunori said. Yosho thought about it, and yes, it did seem as if there was a shortage of young males in the village. "Yes, I suppose there is." Yosho said. "But what does that have to do with today?" Yosho said. The room fell silent for a moment as Yasunori considered his reply. "Yosho, there aren't any samurai here." Yosho looked puzzled at Yasunori's answer, Yasunori clarified. "Samurai don't come here." Yasunori said. Masaki's daughters now focused their attention to Yosho, waiting to see his response to what their father was about to say. "For the past five years, every samurai we've had has been murdered." Mariko and Naoko noticed Yosho's expression, it wasn't comforting to see. Yosho thought of one thing... the look of ice in Yoritomo's eyes. END OF EPISODE TWO Life is so full of hurry and hustle Sometimes I think it's passing us by The days are like hours, hours like minutes I'm caught up in it 'till I look in your eyes And to my surprise I find there is a heaven Timeless and real, making me feel free and alive You touch me, you kiss me, and time has no meaning I'm on a rocket to some other zone Baby, you thrill me - whatever you're doing Don't think of stopping until we are light-years away All alone... 'cause I want to keep this Treasure for my very own Your talent for love You touch me, you kiss me, and time has no meaning I'm on a rocket to some other zone Baby, you thrill me - whatever you're doing Don't think of stopping until we are light-years away All alone... 'cause I want to keep this Treasure for my very own Your talent for love PREVIEW OF NEXT EPISODE: A Royal Teardrop blowing in the wind. Funaho, materialized in the ground. Ryoko hanging in darkness. A young Yosho and two Juraians. Ryoko's cave. The Jurai Royal Palace. The Ryo-ohki, submerged in water. Naoko, watching something in the rain. A powerful looking hand against the side of a tree. Seikou, soaked, and kicking at the ground. EPISODE #3: Goodbye Ryo-ohki! Well, the deed is done. As always, I hope I entertained you. I'm sorry I deal with so many characters you're unfamiliar with, and I know it can be frustrating when you have to read a fic with characters some joe schmoe has made up, I personally hate that myself, but don't worry, my characters are better than everyone elses'. Sorry, that's probably not true. (I think they are.) If you're wondering how many more chapters this story has left, well, like the OVA I have six episodes and a special seventh episode which will tie up the series (and leave me some room for six more if I feeel up to it.). This chapter took so long because I had to return to Hell (school) and face Satan and his minions. Also, I really wanted to get this chapter done right, since it was so difficult to write. That and the fact that I got no e-mails on Yosho! ep 1. PLEASE send me c&c, (j.michael@pmail.net) as I need it badly! C'mon, help me reinforce my self-esteem! I would really appreciate it! Thanks!