• Chapter 20: Repraise

    My eyes stayed wide as I stared at this man. He was in fact Fushi-dono. But I couldnt wrap it around my head. We all saw fushi-dono turn into a pile of ash as he asended from us. So how is this possible?

    "you seem surprised," he said with a smirk. I shock out of it and bowed quickly. He soundly slapped me on the back of the head. The shock of the hit made me jolt up.

    "jeez. Didnt I tell you I passed my powers onto you now? I'm not the phoenix of the south anymore. You are," he said with a laugh. I sighed and chuckled abit. First time I did that in a few days. He smiled at me.

    "Sano-kun. I needed to talk to about somethings," he said. I nodded silently and waited patiently for him to speak.

    "As we stand here, your foe is starting to grow stronger. The split fire form, as you call it, is a bond between warriors who have engaged in combat. This bond will link your souls and share your knowledge with them. And vice versa," he said. I leaned against the rail and just listened. My wings pressed behind me.

    "so even if the one I make a bond with is my enemy, it is still a bond?" I asked.

    "yes. Your souls will be linked. To severe this link would be to end the connection, and their power lost to you," he said. I nodded. I didn't care what kind of 'link' formed between jonuku and myself. But I will use it to the fullest to end him..

    "be aware sanosuke. The tiger and tortose have also begun their plans. They will seek out those wortth of their powers. And bestow them onto those ones. What they do with them is there choice. And lastly sanosuke," he said looking me dead in the eye. I gulped and recoiled a bit.

    "the search for the gems of flight. Will lead you straight to the door of the tortose of the west. Good luck" he said softly. And with that, he transformed into his majestic phoenix form and vanished. I looked to the sky as his last traces vanished from sight. I turned my back to the sky and jumped down to the balcony of our room. So much had happened so fast. I was greated by the others when I re-entered the room. Each looking at me and I back at them.

    "you guys, I dont have to tell you whats coming next. Its pretty selfexplanitory. For right now, we shall live out our lives the way we have been," I said lowering my head. I heared marco growl slightly. I nodded to myself and lifted my head.

    "thats what I would say if we were normal people. But we're not. We six, we warriors, now have an obligation to this planet. And i'll be damned if I let that a*****e jonuku take it from the people of the world. That is why, we shall begin the search for the gems of flight. The six gems are in various places on the world, and I dont know how we will find them, but we will. And no one will stop us," I said confidently.

    "I wouldn't say that," someone said from behind me. The six of us prepared elemental bursts ready to attack. We looked in confusion at a man sittig on the ledge. He was wearing a toga, with a cloth wrap around his waist. In his hair was a golden reath. He wore romain sandles with wings on them. Kira-san was the first to speak. Her eyes wide.

    "Hermes! The messenger god!" she shouted. The rest of us clicked it right away. The messenger for the roman and greek gods was chillin out on our balcony. He was bitting an apple as he looked in on us. He smirked and looked in at us. Particularly marco-kun and myself.

    "so you guys are the new breed of 'gods' huh? Cant say im impressed," he said with a cocky attitude. I was about to say something when he appeared behind us. Sitting on the couch. He was fast. Way past fast. We whipped around and looked at him. "im not here to fight. Thats not my department. I am here to give you all something," he said. Within that instant he was gone again. Back on the balcony. Each of us had a scroll in our hands. "we await your challenge," he said finally vanishing. I looked at the scroll in my hand. They were issues of challenge.

    "To the reader of this tome. We have ruled this earth for mellinia. We born of chaos and darkness shapped this world into what it has become. For you to proclaim yourseelves deity is a direct violation of this ancient mandate. And for that, you lot will be punished. So fear the word of Zeus, ruler of mount olympus, for I have decread your existance, unacceptable. And for that, you shall be smitted" the message read. I looked at the others as they finished reading their copies. So now to recap, jonuku is the leader of the dragon group, the tiger group and tortous groups have yet to form, and now we have a letter of annihilation from the greek panthion.

    "Awesome," marco-kun said sarcastically. We all looked at each other.

    "another problem," Kimari-sempai said looking at us all. I nodded slightly and sighed heavily. What are we gonna do about this one? The greek pantheon? Didn't know they actually existed.

    "I vote bed rest and we talk about it in the morning," kira-san said softly. She got no arguments from the rest of us as we all just crashed on the floor and couches. The morning came with very little dialog between the six of us. We just wanted quite. The day went by swiftly. The six of us pretty much just hanging out like regular teenagers. It was a calming experience. We wound up going to an amusement park in the city limits. It was a lot of fun for our little group, but like all good things it had to come to an end. The class was gearing up for us to head back to kyoto tomorrow. The six of us stood in a small circle. All looking each other over and with a smile and a act of cheesiness, I stuck my hand out in the from of a fist. Marco-kun rolled his eyes and bumped fists with me. Kira-san and kagome-san placed their fists next to ours. Meia-san and Kimari-sempai putting theirs in to round it out the group. We stood united for the first of hopefully many times.

    "so whats our team name?" Kira-san asked. We just looked at her. Each of us throwing out random names, most were narcissistic. I thought about it and smiled.

    "fushi no josho/ rising phoenix," I said softly. The others looked at me. As if to repeat what I said. "Fushi no Josho," I said again. They looked at each other then back at me. Each giving a thumbs up in approval. I smiled and nodded.

    "then its agreed. Team name is Fushi no Josho!" Kira-san said with excitement. The others laughed at her hyper-ness. The bus was ready to leave. We said our final farewells and the four of us left Osaka. On the bus ride home, we talked amongst ourselves. It was once again a peaceful time. For us, the following months seem to pass like days. And soon came the end of our 2nd year of highschool. One more to go. To my personal surprise there were no attacks by the dragons since our battle in Osaka. They must be planing something. I know it. At the head of our 3rd year a program was just being launched. People gathered around the bulletin board and were murmuring about something. Myself and Kira-san went to examin the board. It was an exchange program with america. It was new to our school but wasn't uncommon between the two contries.

    "so what sap do they have goin to the U.S?" I asked looking at the board. My face drained for a second.

    "Oh.......its me" I said. After school ended the 4 of us headed home where I started packing for the coming trip

    "Why?! Why were you choosen to go to America?!" Kira-san shouted as I started packing my bags.

    "I already told you 3 times. They chose me randomly from the entire student body. Some would call that luck Kira-san," I said sighing. She still ranted and raved about it. Marco-kun came up and helped me pack.

    "So. America huh?" he asked.

    "Looks that way. I'm gonna need you to hold down to fort while im gone," I told him. He nodded and patted my back.

    "We got this," he said with a smug smile. I smiled and shook his hand. Kagome-san came in soon.

    "Sano-kun! I got some new styles in cloths for you to wear. I heared these were popular in america," she said pushing me to the back.

    "Kagome-san I can dress myself! Wait! Stop!! Dont touch That!!! That dosen't go there!!!" I screamed from behind the door.

    "Stop being such a baby Sano-kun!" she said. We came back out and marco-kun laughed hard in my face. I was wearing purple skinny jeans that were forced under my but, a shirt that said element, a sideways cap, and a couple of wrist bands. Needless to say. I wasn't happy about the cloths. I went back and changed into something more comfertable. Loose boot cut jeans, a black vest, my favorite red and black shift, and my favorite sneakers. Kira-san approved and gave a thumbs up.

    "just gotta go to the store and pick up some stuff and i'm set," I said heading to the door.

    " I'LL GO WITH YOU!!!" kira-san shouted running to the door with her wallet in hand. She smiled and pulled me out with her. Marco-kun and Kagome-san just stared as I was pulled out. I was dragged a good ways from the house. The two of us ending up on a bridge. She finally let me go and I gasped for breath.

    "Warnings would help Kira-san," I said panting. She was silent. I straightened up and looked at her. She had her back to me. As I reached for her shoulder I looked at the now changing sky. The sun fading into the horizon. I smiled softly and touched her shoulder. "you ok?" I asked. She turned and her emerald green eyes looked up at me. I felt my face heat up and I backed up slightly. Her eyes sparkled in the twilight glow.

    "Sano-chan. I know its not forever, but you are leaving soon. And I wanted you to know... how I feel about you," she said softly. She was blushing and looking up at me with those big eyes. I felt my face heat up more and more. Was she doing what I think she was doing?

    "Sano-chan....i love you. I always have, since the day you stood up for me when I first arrived at school. Your my knight in shining armor. And...I..."she said looking up. She threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. My eyes widened and I blushed hard. She closed her eyes tightly. I started to calm. I wrapped my hands around her waist and closed my eyes kissing her back. Our lips melded together in a soft embrace. We parted for a brief second. She looked at me and smiled. She pressed again and I met her half way. We stayed there and watched the sunset together. I didn't care what happened after this point. Everything was fine now. And I just wanted it to stay like this. Forever...

    End of Phoenix Rising