Alone

Chapter Fifteen: Training in the Wild

Tsubasa straightened up. “Now before I let you go, I believe there are a few things you should know. First things first, you need to keep your temper in check or you will destroy the mansion…”

“Destroy the mansion?!” she cut him off, shock in her voice. “How can I do that?”

“You have the power to create, but you can also destroy on the same level.”

“Maybe we should wait to free Raiden.” Thoughts of the mansion collapsing on top of Raiden because she lost control filled her mind.

“Why is that?”

“I just think it would be a good idea for me to learn how to control my powers better first.”

“I see. If that is what you wish, then I will do my best to train you.” She could hear the hurt in his voice. She knew the pain of knowing the person you care deeply about is only moments away, but you can do nothing to save them.

“Train me? Can you do that?”

“Yes, my dear, I can. Yumi prepared me in case of this.” He smiled reassuringly.

“Yumi?”

“My wife.” He looked to the sky, trying to control his grief.

“Oh, I see.” She felt dumb for bringing his wife up. Trying to change the mood, she continued with the previous conversation. “How are you going to train me though? I don’t understand.”

“I think we can have you ready in one week, easily. But we will have almost two weeks before I intend to attack.” His grief was pushed aside with excitement. He stopped for a moment, listening intently. "It would appear they are no longer searching for you." He whistled and within a moment a small brightly colored bird flew to his arm. "Can report what is happening within the mansion walls,?" The bird started to tweet and after a few moments, Tsubasa spoke again. "I see, the commotion was never about you." He smiled. "Looks like we have some more time on our hands."

“Alright, do we start today?”

“No, you should still head back to retrieve what you hold most dear. However, if you have rethought this, and have nothing which you will miss, then stay here.”

She stood a moment, pondering if there was any such thing, but concluded it could all be replaced. “No, I have traveled far with nothing. So, there is nothing of importance to me.” She peered back in the direction of the mansion.

“Is there someone back there you wish to give a message to?”

She stood a moment longer, his words processing. And then suddenly Katsu’s face appeared in her thoughts. Should I tell him what I have done? Can I truly trust him? Swallowing hard, she made up her mind. “I just want to tell him I’m safe.”

“Raiden?” he questioned.

She was snapped out of her thoughts of Katsu. “Yes, of course,” she whispered.

“What am I thinking? What are these feelings? I have to get them out of my head,” she thought to herself.

“Can we start now?” She tried to flush away the thoughts and feelings as quickly as possible. “What’s first then?”

“Strength, agility, and combat training.”

“All that in one week? Is that even possible?” She felt exhausted just thinking about it.

“No, that’s just for today and tomorrow.” He paused in thought, “Maybe the next day too. I hope to make next week a review week, as well as give you time to get your head into the right mindset.”

“If that is only for half the week, what are we doing for the rest?”

“Controlling your emotions.”

“Why?”

“Have you not noticed that your emotions are the trigger for your powers?”

“I guess not.” She could already tell this was going to be a hard two weeks and would end with a fight to save Raiden. How was she ever going to make it through alive?

“Enough with the talking. We have limited time today so I think it would be best we start immediately.” A large Bengal cat stepped up to her. “We are going to work on your speed and agility right now. You need to outrun her.” He pointed at the cat.

“I can’t outrun her. Are you crazy?”

“Well, either try or she’ll pin you to the ground.” The Bengal cat's growl rang out through the woods. “You should probably get going, stop at the mountain though.” Before Ayame could reply, the cat was nudging her forward. Taking a deep breath, she started to run.

Exhaustion fell over her once she stopped running. After what felt like hours, she had finally made it to the foot of the mountain without being pinned to the ground. She collapsed, sweat beading off her. Looking around she couldn’t find anything to refresh her, not even a stream, brook, lake, or pond to cool off in. “If you are looking for water, just make it yourself.” Startled she looked around, trying to find out where the voice had come from. “Ayame, I’m in front of you.” The Bengal cat sat down in front of her.

“You can talk?”

“Yes. Is it really that big of a surprise?”

“Well, yes. I don’t know any other animals that can speak.”

“Oh I see, you haven’t noticed, have you?”

“Noticed what?”

“That I’m not an animal, and I do have a name, Yuuki,” she practically purred.

“Huh?”

“I’m a demon. Goodness, I would have thought you could tell the difference, but it would seem not,” she said shaking her head in disappointment.

“Um, sorry?”

“You have a limited time to control your powers, and the fact you can’t tell a demon from an animal is not a good point to be starting at,” she sighed.

“Why? I’m not going to be fighting demons.” Ayame tried to reason with her.

“You know so very little, young one. Your fight may start with Master Tadashi, but he has many demons at his disposal.” She stood up on her hind legs. “Now I suggest you try to make a small waterfall come from the side of the mountain and get some water. Then your training will truly begin.”

“What do you mean begin? I’ve already started, haven't I?”

“You are so very young, but no, your training has yet to begin.” She shook her head, peering at Ayame as though she were a child.

Ayame decided to just do as Yuuki instructed, hoping her training would start and be done sooner for the day. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths, trying to bring back the feelings she had from earlier. Quickly she opened her eyes, bringing her hands up to point at the part of the mountain she wanted the small waterfall to come from. Her fingertips started to glow blue. She felt the energy once again flow through her, and then in a blink of an eye, a small waterfall sprang from the side of the mountain, gushing down into a pond. Leaning down, she cleaned off her sweat and drank as much as her stomach would hold.

“Good. Now we need to get back to Tsubasa.” Without waiting for Ayame to respond, she was gone. Ayame quickly followed behind, not wanting to get lost.

* * *

“Tsubasa, how much longer are we going to train for today?” she huffed.

“You’ve only been training for two days and you are already complaining?” he chuckled.

“Yes, because you’re really hard on me, and I’m still stressed over running away from the mansion. That was hard, you know!” she groaned. “I’m still afraid they are going to find me out here.”

“Now you’re just making excuses.” He shook his head. “You should know better than anyone why we are doing this.” He glanced back in the direction of the mansion. “They are searching for you, but without a tracker, they will never find you.”

“I know, but I never realized all the pain I would be putting myself through.” Sighing, she knew this was going to be hard, but was afraid of her own powers. “Are you sure they won’t find me?”

“Ayame, you can do this. I believe in you.” She was beginning to understand why Raiden was so kind all the time. “I am sure. I have been living here for many years and not once have they found me out,” he said.

“Fine, I will believe in you as you believe in me. Let’s just get this over with. What’s next?” She straightened back up with sweat beading down her face.

“That’s the spirit!” He smiled. “Yesterday we worked on your speed and agility, so today is combat. Just as Yumi said, you would be more capable of becoming strong in a short period of time because of your powers.”

“What do you mean?” But instead of answering her question, he thrust a sword into her hands, took up his own, and began to swing skilfully at her. She countered his every move, allowing his blade to graze her arm once. Breathing heavily, she continued to try and fight him. She knew his style of teaching and if she failed to block his sword it really could mean her life.

Time passed slowly, coming almost to a halt. All she wanted was to collapse from exhaustion, but she had to keep going no matter what. Their weapons were changed periodically, allowing her to get a feel for many different types of weapons instead of only for the sword. The sun dipped into the horizon as they dropped their blades to the forest floor. She was finally allowed to collapse to the ground and let her exhaustion claim her.

“Well done, Ayame. I believe you are ready to fight with just about every weapon thrown at you. I was going to work on your physical strength now, but I doubt you have enough energy to truly work hard enough to get anything out of it. So we’ll call it a day.” His words were like magic to her ears.

“Where are we going to stay tonight? I mean, I like sleeping outside as much as the next girl, but a nice bed and maybe a shower would be great too.” She looked at him with hopeful eyes.

“Don’t worry about that. I have a place prepared especially for you.” He smiled, leaning over to help her up. She willingly took his hand and stood to her feet. He proceeded to lift her into his arms and carry her further away from the mansion. Normally she would have objected to him carrying her, but she was too tired to care and appreciated not having to move anymore.

Closing her eyes she drifted off to sleep. By the time she woke up, she was inside a small house. Four logged walls surrounded her, with four windows and a sunroof above the makeshift kitchen. It was a humble place with the bare minimum. Looking around she was surprised to find some of her things beside the bed, but peering around she saw there was no one else in the one-room home.

“Tsubasa?” her voice echoed, bouncing off the walls.

“Yes?” He poked his head through the front door.

“Nothing, I was just confused as to where I am.”

“Ah, yes. Where you are is my home, or well, my new home.”

“New?”

“Yes. You see, I have not lived here long, possibly a few months.”

“Did you move here for me?”

“Not exactly. I was told by Akira to come here and wait. She said you would eventually come out this way.”

“Akira? I don’t understand. How do you know her? I thought you were out here for years?” Ayame waited for him to respond, confused.

“She’s my niece. I had her stay at Master Tadashi’s home to see what he was planning. But when you came into the picture she started to lose control. When you helped her escape she found me and had me come closer to the mansion.”

“Your niece?!” She nearly fell off the bed from shock.

“Yes? Why so shocked?”

“Because she acted like she was in love with Raiden.”

“Well, she was for some time,” he responded as he scratched the back of her head.

“But they are cousins.”

“Yes, however, they are not true cousins. They grew up together, well until we list Yumi.” He shrugged.

“Okay?” Her stomach began to turn. No matter how she thought about it. “That still doesn’t explain why she tried to murder me.”

“She has never really been fond of other women, especially around Raiden. Even with the knowledge of you being the Chosen Child, she couldn’t control her jealousy. I am very grateful to you for saving her life even at the cost of your own.” He came up beside the bed and leaning over hugged her. “As soon as you saved her life, letting her escape, she came to me.”

“How did she know where you were?”

“Akira is also a demon, a wolf demon.”

“So she sniffed you out?” She couldn't help the image that came to her mind. Akira had tried to appear so refined and so the idea of her on her hands and knees sniffing around brought a smile to her face.

“Pretty much, although she would have said she tracked me down.” He sat down at the edge of the bed with a small smile across his lips. “Don’t ever say she sniffed something out. It’s a bit of an insult to her breed of demon.”

“Where is she now?”

“She went back home to her family.”

“That’s a relief to know she is safe.” She didn’t comprehend what was really going on behind the scenes. Even though Katsu had told her everything he knew, there were still many things that had yet to make sense. “Did she find out his plan?”

“She came to a conclusion of what he was planning to do in the long run, but wasn’t able to figure out the whole of his plan before she slipped up.”

“And?”

“And his ultimate plan is to take over all of Japan. For that, he needs your powers to use as a weapon.” Katsu had said the same to her only a week or so ago, but back then she couldn’t bring herself to completely believe him. Hearing it from Tsubasa made it all too real.

“Is that all that I am?”

“No, you should know by now you are a creator. You have yet to destroy anything.”

“I know, but what happens when I do? Then I’ll be exactly what Master Tadashi wants me to be. I can’t control my emotions to the extent I need in order to control these powers. It’s just not possible.” Insecurities and fears filled her thoughts. She wanted to protect and save, not destroy. Why did she have to have these powers? Although she had yet to see how destructive they were, she feared what they could do.

“That’s why I’m here.” He placed his hand gently on her back, trying to comfort her. “We have another week or so before we plan to get Raiden out of there and face off against Master Tadashi.”

“Why do we have to do it so soon?”

“Is your birthday not coming soon? The quicker we move, the less likely Master Tadashi can take advantage of you.”

“Yes, my birthday is almost a week and a half from today. But wouldn't it be better to wait for my full powers to come and train with them?” She didn't want to make a mistake and destroy their chance of getting Raiden out of the mansion safely. Control. She needed to learn control.

“Not for certain.”

“Why? We would only have to wait a short time for me to learn control.” She tried to reason with him.

“There is a chance you won’t be able to learn to control your powers in the short amount of time you’ll have, while now you can at least learn to control what you do have and use them effectively.”

“But why would I have to learn to use them in a short amount of time?” She still didn't understand the rush. If he was willing to take time to train her, could they not also take a little more time to train at her full strength?

“Master Tadashi knows when your birthday is. He knows when you'll attack. He will be searching for you using any means necessary.”

“What kind of means would he use?”

“Ayame, must you really ask what he would do?”

She sat a moment in the silence, wishing she could answer no, but she knew all too well what he would do to those remotely close to her. She would have to go back to him and be a tool for his plan whether she liked it or not. Otherwise, death would fill her life again. “We will continue as planned then, and just days before my birthday we will make our move.” Her voice hardened as she made her resolve.