The Kurukawa Legacy

Plan

Kaitlin was standing besides Atreyu, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Atreyu... you're just like your family. You were a murderer all this time." she sobbed.

"T-that's not true!" He shouted. Suddenly the scene shifted. Atreyu was standing in a crowd of people in front of a large stage in what seemed to be some sort of stadium. People cheered as someone was dragged onto the stage with a bag over their head. A person in a white cloak removed the bag, revealing Kaitlin, who was tied by her hands and feet. He pulled out a rifle and pointed it to the back of her head, while her front was facing to the crowd.

"The Kurukawa-family as well as all their accomplices will die." the man sneered. Kaitlin looked up and stared directly at Atreyu, into his eyes.

"NO!!!" Atreyu shouted and started running and pushing through the crowd.

BANG!

Atreyu sat up in the bed with a gasp, sweating. He looked outside the window and saw the sun setting down on the horizon.

She's fine. he assured himself. He stood up and looked at a clock sitting on the wall, showing the time to be 4:37 in the afternoon. He walked to the door and pushed it open, after which he started walking down the hallway decorated with paintings and framed photos. He started his decent down the stairs when he heard Rowan's voice.

"Morning, Atreyu." he greeted. Besides him stood a woman with blond hair and on the couch sat a girl who must have been in her early 20's.

The woman welcomed him with a smile. "I'm Helen. Our daughter here's Jacquelyn." she said.

"Hi." Jacquelyn said, still sitting on the couch, with dark brown hair flowing down her shoulder.

Atreyu greeted them back, bowing as a sign of appreciation for letting him stay.

"Atreyu," Rowan said, "meet me outside. We have to talk."

Atreyu gulped. They were letting him stay here... right? They never actually said he could yet.

They walked outside towards the garden, and Atreyu could see Favian chopping wood in the distance.

"We're going to devise a plan." Rowan said. His hair was dark like his daughter's and shoulder-length.

"A plan?" Atreyu asked, confused. Rowan lit a cigar and stared at him.

"Are you capable of handling difficult tasks, Atreyu?" he asked. Atreyu didn't know how to answer.

"Well..." he asked, "what's the plan?"

"We're saving Hermit." he said.

Atreyu looked surprised. "You know where he is?"

"I have an idea, and it's not pretty." he said as he inhaled from his cigar.

Atreyu looked hesitant. "Explain it to me."

Rowan sat down on the grass. "Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"My uncle?"

"Through their eyes." he pointed the direction of the city and blew out the smoke.

"A Kurukawa-member. A demon."

"No." he replied. "Well, yes, but a special one. They call me Gekido. Means 'Fury' in Japanese."

"You're Gekido?" Atreyu exclaimed, dumbfounded. "I thought Gekido got killed weeks ago."

"They say a lot of things, Atreyu. They want the public to believe we've all been wiped out. They might not be too far from the truth, though. Most of us are wiped out, however, there's still a handful of us left."

"You know of more?" Atreyu asked.

"Yes, but for now we're focusing on your grandfather, Hermit."

I've got more family... Atreyu thought to himself, still shocked.

"So," Rowan continued, "your grandfather, my father, disappeared a fortnight ago. We never knew where he went, though he did talk about having plans to finish something he started a long time ago." Rowan took out the map from his back pocket, unrolling it. "We presume he's going this way." Rowan continued, pointing to a part of the map that was intensely drawn on. There was an arrow starting at the Aurington suburbs and pointing all the way to a spot that was to the right of the center. Next to the arrow stood a note saying 'underground tunnel'.

"That building, the one where the point of the arrow ends, is the palace of one of this country's most powerful individuals. This particular one, Derek Gray, happens to be your grandfather's arch-nemesis."

Atreyu remained silent.

"We're going to go help him, Atreyu." Rowan said as he continued smoking his cigar.

A murderer, just like the rest of your family. Atreyu remembered Kaitlin saying in his dream.

"I can't..." he said softly.

Then he remembered it. His mother's execution, all the students cheering at it... everyone calling him a murderer. He remembered how happy his Uncle, Rowan, and the others were about having him. He remembered how urgently his grandfather was pressing him to support his family's cause. Atreyu was confused. He didn't really know his family's motives. He was kept in the dark for most of the years for whatever reason. He just got taught that his family was in the wrong; a bunch of murderers, and that's the kind of image he got.

However... he glanced at his uncle, and then at Favian in the woods.

They must have some sort of reason for all this. he continued thinking.

"Gekido," he said with a sneer, "I'll be more than happy to help."

"Great." Rowan said. "Let me show you something."

They headed back into the house and entered Rowan's study room.

"Help me move this desk." Rowan asked, and together they pushed it about two meters away, revealing a large hatch in the floor. Rowan grabbed the hatch's handle and opened it, revealing stairs leading down into what seemed to be a basement. Rowan nodded at Atreyu and they started descending down it.

Once they reached the bottom Atreyu gasped. On the one metal wall, specially designed suits hanged in one long row. On the other wall were a lot of guns - rifles, shotguns, pistols and so on, and on another wall a large screen. So large that it filled half the wall. A big desk with a keyboard and a lot of buttons stood facing it, and in front of that, multiple chairs.

"Welcome to my fun room." Rowan sneered.

"What is all this?" Atreyu asked, amazed.

"Those suits are what the Kurukawa-members would wear during battles, and those weapons are what we use to fight, obviously. The suits have a lot of advantages to them, and they look nice, so that's what we'll be wearing when going to Hermit." Rowan replied.

"How did you get all this?"

"All it took was a visit from my cousin." he smiled.

"Your cousin?" Atreyu asked.

"Yes, you'll meet him soon, don't worry about it."

Atreyu nodded, his heart pounding. Was he really going to partake in his family's actions?

"Atreyu, you're willing to kill, is that right? I know you killed the former deputy chief, though I just want to be certain. You must have been living under quite the rock considering you didn't even recognize your family's symbolical suits."

"Y... yes."

"Are you sure?"

"They've always told me I'm a murderer... always wanted me to become a monster..." Atreyu said.

"I'll fulfill their wishes!" he exclaimed, determined.