Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Guardian Children ❯ Ayumi's Plan, Kyoji and Saeko's Past... ( Chapter 8 )

Okay, so I took a weeklong break. Sorry, but I sustained a back injury that I’m still recovering from. The pain last week was so unbearable that I could barely sit down or even walk straight. It was a wonder that no one noticed. Anyway, the worst of it is over so I can get back to work. Let’s get started!

-Kouji Tamino

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Legend of the Guardian Children

Book 1: The Light of Destiny

Chapter 8: Ayumi’s Plan, Kyoji and Saeko’s Past…

Shortly after the snake scare in room 2-A, Ayumi wandered over to class 3-B until things cooled down. It was there that she would initiate another part of her plan: Get the older brother out of the way. If he were around, he would surely get in her way and try to stop her. Thankfully, an older member of the Hoshino-sama Appreciation Club had let slip some info about Kyoji Shimohara, Saeko Kumihisha, and an old friend of theirs. Word has it that was bad blood between them. She has no idea what it was, but her goal was to bring them together and have the guys butt heads, possibly putting Kyoji out of commission for a while so her plan could play out. Searching the room, she scouted for the boy she was looking for. This time, she wrote two notes. One was addressed to Kyoji, the other to his former friend. After finishing, she had one passed down to the boy named Domon and quickly left for class 3-A. After getting Kyoji’s note sent to him, it was now time for her to play the waiting game…

Domon Togashi grunted as he was jarred awake by a tap on the shoulder. “What in the hell do you want?” The leader of the Red Hawk gang, he had quite the short temper. He was more violent and vulgar than Akito of class 2-A and unlike him, he didn’t have a code of honor. With his short, dark, unruly hair and his maroon colored eyes, he was quite a dangerous character. When walking the streets, he very rarely went anywhere without his gang. In fact, it was said that he and his gang once took turns stabbing someone just for bumping into him on a bad day. The unfortunate victim spent several months in a coma before finally awaking. They’re now paralyzed from the waist down. The only reason he was still in school was because such incidents happened on the weekend, outside of school, and the faculty did not want the school’s reputation ruined by a few ‘unrelated’ incidents. He hadn’t been arrested because any witnesses refused to talk whether out of fear or just plain apathy. As long as it wasn’t anyone they knew, they didn’t care. He was so feared, in fact, that he was also sometimes known as Domon the Demon.

As he was passed down the note, he huffed. “Meet me by the gym during lunch, huh?” he muttered as he read the note. Crumpling it up, he tossed it away, rubbing his temples in exasperation. Just what in the world was his ‘old friend’ thinking? Staring at the clock, he gritted his teeth, growing furious as he thought back to that faithful day.

Elsewhere, a class over, Kyoji was receiving his note. “What is this? Is he insane?” He never thought in a million years that he would ever talk to ‘that guy’ ever again, especially after the messy fashion in which they parted ways. He had no idea why he wanted to see him again, but he was curious as to why he wanted them to meet. He was so lost in thought, in fact, that he failed to hear the news of a girl in class

As lunchtime approached, Kyoji decided to tell Saeko about the note he had received. Listening to his story, she gasped in revulsion. “But you can’t!” she too had horrible memories of the day where everything changed. Offering to come with him, she sighed as he declined. Nodding somewhat understandably but still a little troubled, she pouted her lip. “Well, okay. But please be careful.” She didn’t want to see either of them get seriously hurt. She watched as he walked out of the room, staring at the doorway until he was long gone. Turning away, she quickly attempted to find something to calm her nerves.

Meanwhile, Kyoji was already outside and heading towards the meeting spot. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing, but he just had to know what was going on. He had a pretty good idea that the note was actually forged, but he wanted to know if Domon would actually show up. Whoever wrote the note, somebody wanted them to meet and he wanted to know why. Stepping into the small area behind the gym, he looked around with an apathetic look on his face. “Okay, I’m here”, he replied, hands in his pockets. “Now what?” He backed away hastily as several guys popped out from their hiding places in the bushes. Leading the pack was Domon, which of course meant that he was now surrounded by a good chunk of the Red Hawk gang. Just his luck… Shaking his head, Kyoji chuckled. “I see you still can’t go anywhere without your butt buddies, I see.”

The entire gang went into an uproar, and several members had to hold their friends and comrades back from beating the snot out of the guy in front of them. “Cut the crap, asshole!” Domon screamed, attempting to hold back his flaring anger. He did not come here to be insulted, especially by the likes of Kyoji. He despised him with every fiber in his being. “Now get to the point: Why did you bring us here?”

“I was just about to ask you that same question…” Kyoji began, now even more convinced that this was just some elaborate setup to get these two together, possibly to beat the ever living shit out of each other. If he had anything to say about it, however, that was not about to happen. He did not feel like getting his teeth kicked in today, thank you. If he could get out of the current situation without trading shots with Domon or possibly the entire legion of Red Hawks, it would be a good day. Giving his former friend a dead serious look, looked around awkwardly. “Look, Domon. I know we don’t get along too well these days, but how about we save ourselves a lot of pain, bloodshed, and ruined reps and just call a truce?” He suggested, scratching the back of his head. Seeing that he had at least secured a little of the gang leaders interest, he continued. “You see, I have a theory that someone’s trying to fool us. I know how much you hate that, so I thought that maybe it would benefit us both if we refrained from pounding each other into ground beef for once and just… work together a bit to find the bastard who’s trying to play us like a bunch of suckers.” Holding out his hand, he quirked an eyebrow, hoping that the Red Hawk’s leader would bite. “Whad’ya say?”

Meanwhile, back in class 3-A, poor Saeko was growing more and more anxious as she awaited the hopefully safe return of her best friend. Her lunch sat undisturbed on the table, her stomach churning way too much for her to take even a bite despite the fact that she was utterly starving to death. Thoughts going vacant for a moment, she came to a sudden realization. ‘He’ had been her friend as well, the boy named Domon Togashi. They had all been so close, why in the world had it gone so horribly wrong? Scoffing, she planted a hand on her face as she leaned back in her chair. She knew exactly why it had happened, it was just that she didn’t want to remember… It was because of her that their friendship had been torn apart. Biting her bottom lip, she began to think back to the days leading up to that fateful incident.

They were the best of friends, and they all loved each other like siblings. They went everywhere together and were like the 3 Musketeers. They had all met way back in Kindergarten and had been inseparable. They did everything together, and it was very rare to ever see them apart. Even then, Saeko had always been a bit of a tomboy, preferring to play in the mud with the guys in her shorts and tank top. Kyoji was much more tame and not very confrontational. Even now he preferred to get his way out of scrapes with his mind rather than his muscles.

Domon had always been a little rough, but he was much kinder and honorable back then. While he often used his fists to solve problems, he never fought anyone that didn’t deserve it. He was a bit of a fighter of justice in that aspect. He always fought to protect. She once overheard Kyoji say that he admired that about Domon, several years before things went wrong. It troubled her to think that his mind was so warped now.

The trouble started in their second year of junior high. After years of spending almost all of their free time together, all three of them present, things began to rapidly change. Both Kyoji and Saeko were spending less and less time with Domon. At first he simply chalked up to everyone simply becoming busier as they got older. He could accept that, although it did upset him a bit.

His suspicions began to strengthen, nonetheless, when he realized that whenever they couldn’t hang out with him, they both couldn’t. It was never just one of them, they always had ‘other plans’ at the same time, leaving him completely in the dust. It began to really chafe his hide and he became determined to find out what was going on. One day, after they left, he secretly followed them while in disguise. It was a very simple and usually ineffective cover of a hat, sunglasses, and long coat, but it apparently worked. The two didn’t even stop to look at him, perhaps thinking he was just a random weirdo and not wanting to risk attracting his attention.

Whatever the reason, he was able to successfully track them to their destination, which happened to be restaurant that was very popular with teenage couples. Bells began to ring in Domon’s head as realization of the situation hit him, but he attempted to rebuff it. Maybe they were just hanging out? No, that didn’t make any sense at all. If this was just a friendly get together, than why wasn’t he invited? The more he watched them, the angrier he became. They were dating behind his back? That was bad enough in the first place, but they were also completely disregarding his feelings. He had had a crush on Saeko since the end of primary school. How dare they lie to him and abandon him like that! Ripping off his costume, he rushed over in disgust. “What the hell do you two think you are doing?” The rest, as they say, was history.

Domon confronted the two of them, growing more and more hostile as he ranted. The worst of it had yet to come. He became more violent, eventually grabbing Saeko and knocking her to the ground. This upset Kyoji so much that he stood up and socked Domon right in the face. It was the first time that he had initiated a fight in his life. The brawl that broke out was so fierce and brutal, that it left Kyoji a broken and bloody mess. Saeko could only cry and cradle Kyoji’s head in her lap while a fuming Domon walked away, effectively ending their friendship right there. While he only suffered a black eye, broken nose, and a few scrapes and face wounds, poor Kyoji was much worse off. He ended up in the hospital with a few broken ribs, broken hand, and some light internal bleeding in addition to some other minor wounds. It was from that day on that Kyoji and Saeko swore never to date again, from guilt over keeping the relationship a secret from Domon as well as fear for what the now fiercer and colder boy might do to them both if he ever found out. It made their random flings much more risky, however.

Looking at her watch, Saeko sighed. There were only 6 minutes left of lunch and Kyoji had yet to come back. Dangerous or not, she had to check up on him. Getting up from her seat, she quickly left the class and made her way to the planned gathering spot. Pushing her way past students making their way back to their own classes after visiting friends, she pushed herself to walk faster, heart beating heavily in fear and mild exhaustion. Panting heavily as she arrived at the front of the gym, she made her way to the back, expecting to see a much messier and potentially deadly repeat of 4 years ago. What she did see, however surprised her in more than one way. Not only were the two former friends not trying to kill each other, they were shaking hands as the Red Hawk members looked on. Eyes widening in shock and confusion, she gasped as Domon and Kyoji looked towards her. The latter smiled, walking towards her as the former nodded at her in a surprisingly casual manner. Waving meekly, she greeted him uneasily. “Hey there… Togashi-san…”

Looking away for a moment, he and his gang began walking, completely passing her and Kyoji. Just when he thought that he was going to completely snub her, he stopped and turned his head slightly, looking at her through his peripheral vision. “Hey, Kumihisha-san. It’s… been a while.” He looked forward again, continuing to walk away. He had no aversion towards her, but she had still betrayed his friendship and heart. He wanted nothing to do with either of them, but he really wanted to get his hands on those responsible for this meeting.

When he and the others had disappeared from sight, the two began to walk back towards their own class. “So what happened back there?” Saeko asked restlessly, extremely curious as to what had caused them to shake hands. They couldn’t have forgiven each other, that’s for certain. Domon’s cold greeting to her had certainly assured that that was not the case at all. “Did he hurt you anywhere?” She started checking his body for any injuries, even going as far as to pull down his pants. She giggled as he frantically pulled them back up, realizing how carried away she was getting. “Sorry, I just worry sometimes.”

“Don’t worry ‘mom’, I’m fine…” Kyoji muttered, buckling back up his belt. With the weather getting warmer, the students had switched over to their ‘summer’ clothing, which required a short-sleeved version of the blouse with lighter fabric for the girls and short-sleeved button up shirt for the boys. This of course made Saeko’s little episode with his pants much easier. “Anyway, Domon and I won’t be at each other’s throats anymore, at least for a while… We’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Grinning with a somewhat unsettling evil smile, he rubbed his hands together maniacally. He was going to get to the bottom of this if tit was the last thing he did.

Watching from a secluded spot, Ayumi began to whimper pitifully. Her plan had backfired, and now she was quite possibly in a lot of trouble. She wondered if her parents had ever considered transferring to another prefecture, hell, a whole other region?

To Be Continued…

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“I’m gonna kill whoever’s responsible for making me see your lousy face, Shimohara!”

“Well it sure ain’t a picnic for me…”

“Oh no! Perhaps my plans were not as well thought as I thought they were!”

“Well don’t come crying to me… As long as this plan of yours works and I get back Kiri-chan, I don’t care! Wait, what’s that?!”

“That wasn’t part of my plan! Hoshino-sama, help!”

“Pleas help them, Iincho-san!”

“Great, more monsters? I’ll need a bigger bow and arrow… Next time on ‘Legend of the Guardian Children’: Operation Take Back Failed: A Fight for Survival? It will most definitely be a big headache waiting to happen…”