Chapter 5

Sashi slammed the door behind her before she pulled on her hair before she tousled it before she screamed. She then sat down before she leaned forward and rested her head on a wooden rail on the balcony. She saw Nao out of the corner of her eye, she took a few moments before she said. “I take it that you heard that…”

“Yeah,” Nao said softly, “I didn’t mean to cause a fight between you two.”

“No, you didn’t cause anything. It’s not your fault.”

“Oh, okay…” Nao said with a sigh, “Listen, I’m really sorry, especially about what I said earlier, I didn’t know you were the last of your kind. I just…” She then groaned before saying, “I’m just remembering everything Tokyo has had me read up on, and I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s okay…” Sashi said, “You didn’t know, I perhaps got a little too angry.”

“You’re fine,” Nao said as she put her tablet at her side, “So…what did you mean when you said you wanted to be a mother again?”

Sashi sighed before saying, “It was years ago. Tokyo had set off on another adventure, and I stayed home. When he came home, he told me all about it. Anyways…it seems a bit weird, but I often tend to act a bit like a dog or a cat, it’s just a personality trait. I usually lay stretched out on his lap and then he rubs my tummy, kind of like you would a dog. As he was doing that he told me he felt something move, then he felt again and this time I felt it too.”

“You were pregnant….?”

“Yeah,” Sashi said with a smile, “However, I didn’t know I was pregnant until then. At that point I would’ve been about four to five months along. Of course Tokyo and I were overjoyed. With him being a Yokai as well as a Spirit, and me being a Guardian Beast, we didn’t think we would be able to have children. So we did what all parents did, we prepared a room, we had parties, and we thought about names. It was the happiest me and him have ever been.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I gave birth. We had a beautiful baby girl. I fed her, and held her, and eventually Tokyo got to hold her, and then I held her some more.” Sashi then wiped tears forming from her eyes, “It was only a few short hours….”

“Did she…die?”

“Well,” Sashi said, “Tokyo and I had gone to bed. I woke up when she started crying…I was still so weak from having given birth that I passed out the moment I stood up. Tokyo heard me fall and woke up and he came to my side. We then heard someone come inside our room, and Tokyo turned to attack them but he was then struck with something and rendered immobile. I was pretty much useless and all I could do was watch as…” Sashi then rested her face in her palms as she began to sob, “All I could do was watch as our baby was stolen right before my eyes! I tried my hardest to get up, I really did, but it’s all my fault! We sent search parties all over the globe but we couldn’t ever find her! So after a while we just assumed she was dead!”

Nao frowned as she moved closer to Sashi before only a small gap separated them, “I’m so sorry to hear that,” Nao said as she reached through the railing and then placed her hand on the side of Sashi’s head and began to pet her hair. Sashi perked up a bit as she started to react to her hair being stroked. “I really don’t know anything about having kids, but I know I’d hate to lose a child if I have one.”

“It’s fine…” Sashi said as she began to wiped the tears from her face,

“If your daughter was still alive, how old do you think she’d be?” Nao asked as she retracted her arm before leaning on the railing,

“Well,” she then turned to Nao and looked her over before she said, “She’d be about your age.”

“….you don’t think I’m five do you?”

“No,” Sashi said with a soft giggle, “You’re certainly fifteen.”

“That’s exactly what I told Tokyo when I first met him and he didn’t believe me!”

“Don’t mind him,” Sashi said as she looked out at the full moon over the ocean, “He says a lot of things, mostly things he wants to, but it’s just because he’s old.”

“Oh, I see,” Nao said, “How old is he? Is he as old as you?”

“No, he’s not as old as me.”

“How old are you then?”

“I’ll be 263 this summer.”

“Wow, that’s old.”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile, “Tokyo himself is pretty old. In about eight or nine years he’ll be turning 100.”

“Woah, he’s really that old?”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, “He was born in 1930. However, when he was 11 is when he started to get his powers. Japan had just entered World War II and people were dying. With Tokyo’s father dead, Tokyo then became the current Gashadokuro. Every time someone died from a bombing, Tokyo gained more power. Anyways, when he was 15 he had smuggled his way to Okinawa. When the Battle of Okinawa came and went is when Tokyo’s fullest power began to come out.”

“Is that when you met?”

“Yes,” she said, “He was there on the battlefield crying his eyes out after everyone had died. He was having severe Auditory Hallucinations, and so he was a bit of a mess when I found him. He tried fighting me, but all to no avail. However, since I was also doing a male Shisa’s role, I was able to silence all the souls inside of Tokyo’s head, and I then absorbed them and gave them peace. I guess it was then that me and him knew we were right for each other.”

“I feel like there’s more to that story, what else happened to him during Word War II?”

Sashi sighed as she said, “I really shouldn’t be telling you this, but I don’t think Tokyo ever will. Anyways, Hiroshima happened…and eventually Nagasaki, and Nagasaki is really what broke him.” She turned to Nao and said, “I take it you’ve met his sister Hanako, right?”

“Yeah,”

“Well, she died in the blast of Nagasaki. She was right in the middle of it in fact. He must’ve carried her incinerated body several hundred miles before he passed out. His mother was able to save Hanako’s soul, and as such she became a spirit. It was during World War II that Tokyo gained his hatred for the human race. Yet for some reason, he just can’t ever bring himself to kill one.”

Tokyo’s Yokai Realm

“I’m sorry, what….?” Zero asked,

“You heard me,” Tokyo said, “Now explain. How the hell are you part human?”

“You got all that from the taste of my blood?” Zero asked before he grinned, “Interesting,” he then sighed before saying, “Well, it couldn’t be simpler. My dad was a Kappa and my mom was a human, it’s just as simple as that.”

“How is that possible?”

“Do you not know how sex works?”

“How was it possible for your mother to love someone like your father.”

“Yeesh, don’t say it like that, you make it sound like all Kappa are monsters.” He then sighed as he squatted down and looked up slightly as he began to think, “Honestly, it’s a lovey tale of Beauty and the Beast when it comes to their love. She was a beautiful virgin woman whose family guardian spirit was the Kappa, one day she met a Kappa and the two went on lots of adventures. Eventually they fell in love and had me.” He then sighed as he closed his eyes and said, “It would make for a wonderful slice of life anime or perhaps a Hamoru Mosoda film.” He then stood up and placed his hands in his pockets as he said, “Now what does this have to do with me being alive?”

“It’s because you’re human.”

“Hm?” Zero said as he raised an eyebrow, “Don't tell me the big bad Tokyo Junkie is too afraid to hurt a human!?!” Tokyo sighed as he turned away from Zero, “Ah, so that is the case.” Zero then grabbed the bars of the cell and said, “Speaking of humans, how’s my Kawaii Little Butthole doing?”

“Compact Cans is doing fine.” Tokyo said as he leaned against the bars and folded his arms,

“Ah! I see, is she seeing someone? How’s her little web series going? And I also want to add, will I ever be able to see her again?!”

“Will you continue to be an absolute fucking creep?”

“Oh please, I don’t have a creepy bone in my body. Honestly I’m a bit insulted Tokyo.” Tokyo then sighed before Zero said, “So what’s got you down Bone Buddy?”

“There’s something in China, it’s so strong it was able to kill a Guardian Beast.”

“Good lord,” Zero said, “And you want my help?” Tokyo’s eye twitched as he looked away from Zero, “Oooh, so you do need my help?” Zero then moved over to where Tokyo was before he leaned close to his ear, “Come on, old pal, old chum, just say you need me.”

“I don't, I can handle it on my own!”

“If that were true you wouldn’t be here now would you?” He then leaned back and folded his arms as he said, “Tokyo, as strong as your race is, you and I both know that it’s going to take more than just you to deal with a threat like this. I even have a proposal.”

“And that is?”

“Train here with me! You and I can get loads stronger and then eventually go out and take down whatever the hell is out there!”

“I have all-power in this domain, the only one getting stronger would be you.”

“Not entirely true,” Zero said, “Tell me Tokyo, have you ever trained a day in your life? Or do you just use your naturally growing power whenever someone dies? You need to harness your strength, make it balance in all forms. You can hone it into your skills and be unstoppable.”

“And who taught you that?”

“Master Soba from the classic manga Draco Sphere! Haven’t you ever read it?! It uses loads of philosophies from real life martial arts!!!!”

Tokyo then looked to his palm for a few seconds before he said, “Fine, let’s do it.”

Okinawa

Nao and Sashi continued talking into the night. Nao had moved from her room over to Sashi’s where she sat beside her on the balcony. “Can I ask you something?” Nao said,

“Of course, what is it?”

“Are you and Tokyo married?”

“No,” Sashi, “We know we’ll be together for the rest of our lives, so we don’t see a point in it. However, if he asked me, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.”

“Do you think he’ll ever ask?”

“I don’t know,” Sashi said as she leaned back on her hands and looked up to the moon, “Tokyo is a man of many things, he’s always open and honest with me, and we almost never have secrets. However he does surprise me every now and then, so it’s likely. However I wouldn’t count on it.” She then looked to Nao with a smile as she said, “What abou you? Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Oh, uh, no, I don’t…” Nao said as she blushed and turned away,

“You’re blushing, so there must be someone.”

“Yeah, but…it doesn’t matter, he has a girlfriend.”

“Have you tried talking to him about your feelings?”

“No,” Nao said, “Honestly, I don’t know how he feels about me. He teases me a lot and sometimes he just comes off as mean, but for some reason it doesn’t stop me from being in love with him.”

“If he’s mean to you, then why do you stay?”

“It’s a long story….” Nao said, “I really didn’t have any friends growing up, and I was bullied a lot in school, so I dropped out and started making videos and stuff. I guess….he’s really the first person to ever hang around me, and actually stays.”

“So it sounds like you’re more in love with the idea of him instead of he himself.”

“No, I love him.” Nao said, “He’s really attractive, and he makes me feel safe, and when he hang out now and then it’s a lot of fun.”

“Sounds like you do have feelings for him,” Sashi said as she leaned back onto the railing, “Have you ever told Tokyo how you feel?”

“No! He’d probably tease me about it or-“ Nao then paused before she turned to Sashi, “Wait, how’d you know that I liked him?!”

“It was a bit easy to figure out.” Sashi said with a smile, “Besides, I felt the exact same way when I first met him.” She then sighed before saying, “Listen, I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but Tokyo isn’t going to ever return your feelings. I mean, it’s not that he hates you, it’s that you’re human. A human life is the blink of an eye when it comes to Demons, Spirits, Yokai and the supernatural. So he’d hate to try something with you only for you to die later on.”

“Oh….so….I don’t have a chance?”

“Not unless you become one of us,” She then gave a soft chuckle before she said, “Even if you did, you’d then have to fight me for him, and I won’t let him go that easily.”

“Oh yeah?! I bet I could beat you up!”

“You really think so?”

“For sure! Watch this!” She then punched Sachi’s shoulder before she then screamed in pain before she held onto her hand. “Why are you so hard?!??!!!” Sashi then snickered before she then burst out laughing. Nao looked to Sashi before she started laughing as well. Sashi then looked to Nao and said,

“Honestly Nao, you’re alright. You’re a little squirrely, but still alright. I can see why Tokyo chose to have you as a friend.”

“Tokyo sees me as a friend…?”

“If he didn’t then he wouldn’t have brought you here.” Sashi said with a smile, “He often brings in many supernatural beings, but none of them have ever been his friends. He just brought them along to protect them. You’re definitely his friend, especially if he’s been spending time with you for the past three months.”

“Oh…” Nao said, “I really didn’t see it that way…now that I think about it he has been helping me with videos, and keeping me out of trouble. Maybe I should thank him for all of that.”

“You definitely should.”

“Hey, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask. It’s about Tokyo.”

“What is it?”

“Why is he referred to as the King?”

“That’s a pretty good question,” she said with a smile, “It all stems back to the Sengoku Period. You’re familiar with Oda Nobunaga right?”

“Yeah, he’s the one who unified Japan, right?”

“That’s right,” Sashi said, “He was also known as the Demon King.” She placed her fingers on Nao’s temple to show her the past, “He was single handedly the most powerful man in the word. With one hand he could take on an army of thousands, with the other he could take on an army of supernatural beings. At the time of his death he was reborn as the first Gashadokuro. Everyone he had killed in his conquest was a part of him, both human and supernatural alike. Not only did he have the Gashadokuro’s powers and abilities, but he gained the abilities and powers of all Yokai, Demons, Monsters, and Spirits. When a supernatural being died he could easily replace its life with three more. He then ventured out into the universe and he began to fight more life and gain their abilities until he eventually became stronger than that of Gods.”

“Woah…” Nao said in utter disbelief,

“Nobunaga continued to fight until he met a stalemate. The two joined forces and became the Demon King and Queen. Their rampage came to a standstill when humanity discovered a way to exorcise the Gashadokuro. As such Nobunaga then decided he needed his power to live on.”

“So….is Tokyo like a reincarnation then….?”

“In a sense,” Sashi said, “Nobunaga and the Demon Queen, Bloody Mary, then decided to conjoin their power into one entity. So she possessed a young woman, and her and Nobunaga had a child, which was-“

“Tokyo…” Nao said as Sashi removed her fingers from her temple,

“Yeah,” Sashi said with a nod, “When Tokyo was born, he was born as Oda Nobuedo. Once Nobunaga was defeated Mary renamed him to Tokyo. Being the son of the Demon King, and having awakened his powers Tokyo is by all rights the King, even if he doesn’t have the physical prowess of his father.”

“So, was that Bones of the Past form Tokyo’s full power? You mentioned Nobunaga could use the power of others.”

“In a sense, yes. However, since Tokyo doesn’t have as much power as his father he can only use the abilities of past humans since they’re all relatively the same when it comes to physical strength and abilities. Although Tokyo is 91 years old, his power and abilities are still a baby. He’s got several hundreds of thousands of years to keep growing. So the Bones of the Past that you say was his fullest power as of now, but in the long run it’s only about one percent.”

“What?! That little?!” Nao said, “Geez…I can’t even begin to think how strong he’ll become…”

“It’s scary to think about,” Sashi said, “But I wouldn’t dwell too much on it.”

“Okay…” Nao said before she paused for a few seconds, “Hey, Sashi, how strong are you?”

“Me?” She asked, “Well, back when I was a baby I was able to move entire mountains, however, every passing month I seemed to keep getting stronger. When I was three months old I could move mountains, when I was four months old it became a mountain range, when I was five months old I was able to move entire islands. And I was about 12 months old when moving entire continents was easy.”

“Woah, you must be really strong then!”

“Yep!”

“Are you stronger than Tokyo?”

“For now at least,” she responded, “But don’t tell him I said that.”

“Your secret is safe with me!” Nao said with a smile, “So, I learned about Tokyo’s past, what was yours like?”

“Mine?”

“Yeah, what were your parents like?! Did you have any friends or anything?!”

“Well, my past is a bit sad.” Sashi said, “When I was first born my parents were killed in front of me. It’s not the best memory that a three hour old baby should have. Anyways, I started to call out for my mother because I was hungry. Eventually this farmer discovered me and he picked me up and took me home where he then fed me and raised me. He didn’t have any kids and wasn’t married so he kept me. I was kind of like a pet. I then grew up from pup then to cub, and when I became a cub was when I realized I could take on a human form. So I went from a pet to his daughter.”

“That’s so sweet!”

“Yeah,” Sashi responded, “I of course saw him as my dad, and I’d often get very over protective of him. Anyways, as time went on I only got bigger and bigger. When I wasn’t in my human form I got to be as big as a house when I was about seven. It was then that we moved to a different part of Okinawa where there was a huge field, so I could run around and play as much as I wanted without worrying about stepping on someone. I eventually continued to grow up and my dad only got older. As I grew older he helped me with my abilities and how to control them. We’d go from house to house trying to keep spirits calm, in a way we were like exorcists.”

“Wow, that’s pretty neat! What’s your favorite memory of your dad?”

“Hmmmm,” Sashi said as she began to think back, “Well, something my father used to do was paint. I remember when I was a teenager I’d transform and he’d sit on my head as he looked out at his surroundings. At that age I was well over fifty feet tall. However, my favorite time with him was when he sat on my head and I took him out to the ocean. We sat there for hours just watching the sun set. He of course told me how much he loved me, and how I was such a blessing to him.”

“That sounds like a blast, I couldn’t imagine seeing the world from so high up.”

“Neither could by dad,” she said with a smile, “Believe it or not, when I was born I could fit into the palm of your hand.”

“Really?! You were once that small?!”

“That’s right,”

“Well, how big are you now?!”

“When it comes to my human form, this is as big as I’m going to get. However, when I transform I’m 200 feet at the shoulders on all fours, and when I stand up and become anthropomorphic I’m 400 feet.”

“Wow, that’s a lot bigger than Tokyo. When I first met Tokyo he told me his height was 164 feet when he fully stands up.”

“Yeah, but, like his power, Tokyo is still a baby and is still growing.”

“Wow, so cool.”

Tokyo’s Yokai Realm

Tokyo growled as he began to stand up. He then screamed as he shot a laser from his mouth. Zero quickly dashed forward before he lunged over Tokyo and appeared behind him. He spun around and clasped his hands together before he pointed his index fingers, “Death Kappa: Death Kancho!!!” A giant blast then fired from Zero’s finger tips. Tokyo looked over his shoulder just as the blast hit him head on. Tokyo growled before he dashed through the smoke towards Zero, Tokyo conjured his giant Kunai as he jumped through the air and went to kick Zero in the face. Zero quickly dodged as Tokyo slid on his feet. Tokyo spun and swung his Kunai which Zero quickly backhanded causing Tokyo’s Kunai to sink into his shoulder causing Tokyo to scream in pain.

Zero sighed as he said, “We’ve been at it for a while and you still aren’t learning.” Zero then removed the Kunai from Tokyo’s shoulder as he said. “You’re putting all your energy and power into one attack, this leaves you open to the enemy as well as drains your energy and stamina.” Zero then helped Tokyo off the ground as he said, “You need to balance all your strength and energy evenly throughout your body. With that you’ll be able to attack more and for much longer.”

Tokyo sighed before his Kunai vanished as he walked off a few steps. He scratched the back of his head before he then turned to Zero and said. “This feels hopeless.”

“You say that you’ve greatly improved since you and I last fought. Perhaps we should fight using skill and not various blasts or anything like that. Once you get your fighting style down, you’ll be able to resonate your other attacks with it.”

“Alright then,” Tokyo said as he then activated Bones of the Past before he turned to Zero in a fighting stance, “Let’s try it.”

“Oh?” Zero said as he got into his own fighting stance, “I haven’t seen this transformation before. This’ll be exciting.” The two gave each other an intense gaze before Zero then smirked and they accelerated towards one another. Tokyo then lunged into the air and Zero turned upwards to face him.