[ Contents | Prologue | 1. The Student | 2. The Lord of Monsters ]

Yamucha's Student

By Dragoness Eclectic

 

Chapter 1. The Student

One Year Ago...

The young man stared at the door at the end of the hall, rocking from one foot to the other. He'd come a long way to get to this point, a long, tiring way across the city to this apartment; further yet in years and miles and hardship from the small village where he'd been born.

The dark-haired young man finally stepped forward, raising one hand as if to knock on the waiting door, and then lowered it again. What if no one was home? What if someone was home, but he had the wrong address? He knew he looked poor and unimportant; if the wrong person answered that door, they might call the police! The young man straightened the dark jeans and rust-brown tank top he was wearing, and combed his hair back yet again before re-tying the white headband that kept it out of his dark brown eyes. He hoped he didn't look too disreputable.

What if the right person was there, but he made a fool of himself by being so presumptuous? What if they said "No"? What if... enough! He'd never know if he didn't ask, and he'd never get to ask if he couldn't bring himself to knock on the door! Whatever would be, would be. He snapped his hand back up and rapped smartly on the door.

"Who's that?" came from inside, and then the door was flung open. A muscular, dark-haired man with a scarred face stared at the young man; a blue and gray cat clung to his shoulder, and meowed into his ear with an oddly unfeline squeakiness.

Momentarily frozen by his own shyness, the young man stared rudely into the older man's dark eyes for a long moment before remembering himself. He dropped his gaze.

"Yamucha-san?" the young man asked in a low, formally polite voice.

"Yes. Who are you?" the scarred fighter asked bluntly.

The young man bowed. "Habotan Saisei. You do not know me, but I have heard of you, Yamucha-san." Saisei looked at the cat sitting on Yamucha's shoulder; there was something unnervingly intelligent in the cat's wide-eyed stare. "Is this a good time to speak with you?"

"Uh, yes; come in." Yamucha pushed back his own uncombed hair and backed up, holding the door open so Saisei could enter. "This is my friend Puar," Yamucha said with a nod to the large cat. "Um, would you like something to drink?"

"No, I--uh, well, yes." Saisei looked around the small but comfortable apartment. He hesitated, not sure what to say next.

"Cola?" The scar-faced man poked around in his refrigerator, and finally found a few soft drinks behind the beer, one of which he offered to Saisei and one to Puar.

"Yes, thank you." Saisei accepted the cold drink gratefully. His eyes widened as Puar drifted down, picked up the cola and settled on the table to drink it. That was no ordinary cat!

Yamucha's eyes narrowed as he looked the young man over.

"You walked here from--?" asked Yamucha.

"I biked, from South Ward." The younger man gulped down the cold drink.

"Eeep!" squeaked Puar.

"Whoa! Why do you want to see me so bad that you biked all the way over from South Ward? You're not carrying a baseball, so I don't think you came for my autograph," Yamucha said, a slight, amused smile on his face.

"Your reputation as Satan City's best ballplayer made you the easiest to find, Yamucha-san." Saisei smiled briefly, revealing a handsome, brilliant sun behind the clouds of his serious demeanor.

"Easiest to find of what?" Yamucha was suddenly wary.

"Easiest to find of the Turtle Master Mutenroshi's senior students, Yamucha-san. I wish to become your student in the Way of the Turtle, and such other advanced schools as I may prove worthy of." Saisei bowed again.

"Eeep!" Puar squeaked again.

Yamucha sat down abruptly, incredulous. The boy was asking him to be his sensei? "Uh.. do you have any idea what you're asking?"

"Yes, Yamucha-san. I am not a beginner; I have mastered the arts of Karate and Aikijutsu; there is no more my sensei in those schools could teach me. My karate sensei told me of the legendary Kamesennin, the Turtle Master, and I sought him out." Saisei bowed his head. "Alas, Master Mutenroshi does not take students any more, but in his kindness he gave me the names of his finest students, and suggested that one of you might be able to train me."

Relief flooded Saisei; he had found the right person, and the words seemed to unfold themselves from his tongue. It was as he had been taught: from Right Thoughts flowed Right Speech and Right Action.

"Mutenroshi thinks you're one of his finest students??" Puar exclaimed to Yamucha.

Yamucha chuckled nervously, looking slightly abashed. "If he says so, I guess I am. Well..." He regarded Saisei thoughtfully. No one had ever asked to be his student before; no one.

"Maybe you do know what you are asking. But.." the scarred warrior looked intently at him, "talk is.. talk. Before anything else, we have to find out if you have what it takes for me to even begin to think about training you." Yamucha pointed a finger at Saisei. "There's a park around the temple east of the city on Cherry Blossom parkway. Meet us there at dawn tomorrow, and we'll see what you've got."

*      *      *      *

The next morning...

Saisei landed hard, tearing chunks out of the sod as he vainly tried to stop his headlong tumble. Finally he came to rest facedown, gasping, tears of pain leaking from his eyes. With slow, laborious effort, he pushed his right arm under him and managed to raise himself to a sitting position, only to find Yamucha in front of him.

"Yamucha!" Puar said, "Be careful! He could get hurt!"

"You're good," the scarred warrior said, "really good... You really did master two major fighting styles in less than ten years!" He chuckled nervously. "You know it takes most students decades to master one style, right?" Yamucha paused. "You learned a good set; those aikijutsu techniques let you fight a stronger opponent--but they don't help against a faster opponent."

"I know," gasped Saisei as he hauled himself to one knee, and then stood up, swaying. Blood trickled from the corner of a cut lip, a crimson streak against his deeply tanned face. "That's why I need the training."

Puar hovered beside Saisei, looking him over with concerned eyes; she'd already decided that she liked the determined young man.

"Yes." Yamucha raised one eyebrow. "Why you want to be able to fight opponents like that--you're good enough to defeat any ordinary fighter. Who are you planning to fight?" Yamucha asked suspiciously.

Saisei wiped the corner of his mouth. His eyes narrowed. "The dogs who murdered my parents and took my older sister."

"What??" chorused Yamucha and Puar.

"They came to our island when I was only eight; they wanted the island, but they didn't want any witnesses.. so they killed everyone in our village. Almost everyone; they took the older girls and boys away with them." Saisei's voice was tight and cold. "I was too young to be one of their slaves--I was beaten and shot and left for dead." The savagery in the young man's voice was almost palpable. "Do you know how much a child can hate? Hate kept me alive--I refused to die, because I knew they wanted me dead. I got out of there--the details aren't important--and I swore that I would avenge my family." Saisei's fists were clenched tightly at his side.

"Oh, dear!" Puar clung to Yamucha's shoulder, looking distressed.

Old pain shadowed Yamucha's face. "Yes, I know how much a child can hate. Who are 'they'? And why didn't you--"

"--get help? Call the police?" He laughed bitterly. "My home was on an island off the coast of your northern neighbor. No laws are ever broken by those in the favor of the 'People's Revolution'," he said scornfully. "No. I have to do this myself, and I have to be even stronger than I am now to destroy them."

Yamucha once again raised an eyebrow, and Puar looked worried. "Who's that powerful? You're strong enough to take on half the old Red Ribbon Army by yourself!"

Saisei blinked, then shook his head. "I don't know who or what they are, exactly, except that they have some kind of base on the island--I've gone back to scout once or twice--and that a few of them are very, very powerful." He said no more.

Yamucha regarded him thoughtfully for long moments, then he nodded. "Okay, I'll train you."

"Hooray!" cheered Puar.

*      *      *      *

One Month Ago...

"HIII-YAAAA!" A bolt of white energy streaked through the air from Saisei's cupped hands.

Yamucha twisted in mid-air, handily dodging Saisei's ki blast. "That's IT! Watch your energy and don't lose your focus afterwards. Now, BLOCK!" With that, Yamucha lazily tossed a small sphere of energy at his determined student.

Saisei's eyes widened, and he crossed his arms in front of his face--

WHOOM! The ki ball exploded, leaving a singed and smoking student in its wake; half Saisei's gi was burned away. Yamucha shook his head and sighed. "I don't get it--you have the power, you can channel ki just fine, but you just can't block them! I guess we need to work on that block some more..."

Saisei's power and skill had grown by leaps and bounds through a year of hard training--but that one thing continued to hinder him. He couldn't bring himself to block the dangerous blasts; he could only dodge them. There was an awful inevitability about the white flare of energy that froze him in place; he could no more block Yamucha's ki blasts than he could block fate itself.

*      *      *      *

"Saisei, what are you going to do afterwards?" Yamucha asked as he and Saisei cooled down by tossing a few baseballs back and forth after a particularly frenzied training session. Puar hovered near, now that training was safely over for the day. "There's more to life than revenge."

Saisei looked blankly at Yamucha. "I.. don't know." He clenched his right hand into a fist. "Everything I've done has been to the moment when I avenge my family! I don't think that I... I never really thought beyond that. It seemed an impossible goal to reach so soon, but now, with your training..." He smiled wryly. "I'm better than I ever thought I could be, and I'm ready, now--if you agree, of course, Yamucha-sensei."

"You're almost ready--well, you're all ready as far as training goes. You'll get stronger with time and practice, but there's very little more I can teach you...." Yamucha trailed off, his face suddenly somber.

"Sensei, what do I lack? Why do you doubt me?" Saisei was genuinely puzzled; after long hours of exhaustive training with Yamucha, he was on the verge of finally overcoming his weakness with ki-blocks. Over the last year, he had gotten stronger, faster, better--though he was still far from a match for Yamucha.

Yamucha paced. "Who are you, Saisei? What does your life mean to you? I hope it's worth something beyond one act of vengeance; I didn't teach you everything I know so you could throw your life away."

Puar nodded vigorous agreement.

"I.." Saisei stared at the older warrior and the cat helplessly. "I don't know. Ever since my parents were killed, I've done nothing but work toward avenging them, and what else I needed to do to sustain myself."

Yamucha smiled unexpectedly and put his hand behind his head. "Well, at least you know you don't know, if you know what I mean." He laughed nervously, embarrassed at his own awkwardness. "We're going to take however many days or weeks it takes for you to find out the answer." Yamucha grinned, and continued, "You're going to find out what life has to offer!"

*      *      *      *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2. The Lord of Monsters


[ Contents | Prologue | 1. The Student | 2. The Lord of Monsters ]

Disclaimer: See Credits.

Copyright 2001 by Dragoness Eclectic