Half Demon Swordsman
Chapter Fifty: Four New Tsukinos

Asagi

At lunch, I heard Molly's cousin Fakir and his friends, some of whom were Serena's old friends, arguing about who had to do something. Finally, Fakir seemed to reach the end of his rope, because he threw his hands up in the air, proclaiming;

"Alright, fine. I'll do it!"

Inuyasha-sensei just silently raised an eyebrow, as if asking do what?

"Now this ought to be interesting." I muttered to my siblings, who nodded in agreement.

"Indeed." They agreed.

"Excuse me, Inuyasha-sama?" Fakir began nervously.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, what kind of advice you could give my friends and I for training ourselves?"

Both of Sensei's eyebrows shot up. "You've been training yourselves?"

"We didn't want to be useless anymore." Fakir offered by way of explanation.

"I see." Sensei said. "My advice would be to keep at it every day, no matter how hard it is. Also, do as many different exercises as you can, but play to your strengths because your teammates will be able to cover your weaknesses."

Fakir smiled. "Thank you."

So, he and his friends had been training themselves? Interesting.

"Oh, Fakir?" Sensei began.

"Hai?"

"Get your friends. I have something I want to ask all of you."

"Hai."

That question, as it turned out, was what qualities they possessed that would make them effective Rangers. And then he asked what qualities they possessed that would not make them effective Rangers. They listed off more of those than they did the good qualities.

"Thank you. That's all I need to know." Sensei announced. "I'm sure you've figured out by now my role in the Rangers' training."

"Yes, we've figured it out." Fakir spoke for all of them.

He looked at them. "All of you, brats. Come to the dojo later. The Tsukinos will brief you on the rules." He turned his gaze on us, as if daring us to disagree.

The eight of us stood and bowed. "Yes Sensei." We chorused.

"And my other students will make sure they're properly outfitted, won't you?"

The others stood and bowed. "Yes Sensei." They echoed.

"Why do you let him boss you around like that?" Someone wanted to know. I ignored them.

"He's that good?" Kuri, one of Serena's friends, wanted to know.

I smirked. "He's better." Was all I had to say, and my statement was greeted with an impressed whistle from Fakir and his band of friends.

When we came back from lunch, Jedite immediately had a request: "Sensei, can we do dodging practice later? Please?" The smirk Sensei gave him did not inspire confidence.

"Well, I think now is as good of time as any to start my demonstration." He said. "The main point of this lesson— excuse me, presentation, today, is to react. Whether you get the hell out of the way of a monster attack, or whether you actually do something that will help, it doesn't matter. The point is that if you just stand around, all you're doing is making yourself an easy target for the monsters. A target that the Rangers would have a harder time defending. They have a hard enough time watching eachother's backs. They don't need to have to watch yours as well because you can't be bothered to do something."

"So what would you know about reacting?" Some other poor fool demanded.

Thankfully, Lang, a girl with a violet aura, saved the poor fool like Greg did last time with a question. "And how are you going to teach us this?" She wanted to know.

Again, Sensei's smirk really didn't inspire confidence as he brought out a bag of baseballs. Jedite's eyes lit up as he pulled his baseball glove from Log only knew where.

"With these." Sensei declared. "I'm going to throw them at you as if they were monster attacks, and your job is to dodge them block them or catch them. If you catch them, you have to throw them somewhere else. Jedite, no throwing them at your teammates. Or your siblings." He added when Jedite opened his mouth.

Jedite snapped, clearly disappointed. I imagined he was only too pleased to be able to pelt them at his siblings, because he just loved making us mad. "Yes Sensei." He all but whined.

Sensei gave him a look. "You're not whining, are you Jedite?"

Jedite hastily shook his head. "No Sensei, of course not Sensei!" He hastily rushed to reassure him. Giving that one of the Golden Rules (which was to say, the written ones) was no whining, if Jedite got caught whining, then he would be in for a world of trouble.

Most people just stood there. However, the 'all of you brats,' Sensei's students, and his students to be, actually did something. Not all of them managed to dodge block or catch, or even take them in what would be a non-fatal spot, but at least they did something. After the second and third rounds though, everyone on the left side of the room successfully stopped the balls from hitting them in what would be a fatal spot.

After school we gathered up Sensei's students to be, including the ones he instructed to come to the dojo, and briefed them all on the rules. "Okay, the biggest rule of the Dojo is that Sensei's word is law." Nerissa began. "Of course, using your brain, not whining, not being late, and not being arrogant are also big, so make sure you remember that. Also, never ask how bad it can be. Sensei will find out somehow, and he will make it worse. He can always make it worse. Believe me, I've made a mistake very similar to that before."

Jedite, Joe, Rini, Rubeus, Sammy, Serena and I winced in unison. Once Nerissa had complained that something couldn't get any worse (I didn't remember what it was, but at this point I didn't really think it mattered), and then Sensei decided that he'd up the difficulty of the exercise we were doing, leading to her to complain "It just got worse."

"Let's not forget, unwritten rule one is anything goes." Serena added. "And I mean anything."

"Well," Rubeus put in. "Anything short of death or permanent maiming or death anyway, even if it feels like you're going to die or if you'd feel better if you just amputated your limbs."

The eight of us Tsukino siblings traded looks, knowing what Sensei was likely to do to them. Soon enough, our friends and fellow Rangers arrived with various gear that they'd need. Also, when she was going through the temple's weapons, Ray found a reflective bronze dagger that she figured Serena might like, being more of an extreme close quarters fighter. Even Jedite preferred to use a Kodachi, a short sword, instead of tantos or daggers, though he did have numerous knives stashed in various places on his body.

"Thanks Ray." Serena said gratefully. "Won't your grandfather notice it missing though?"

Ray snorted. "With the amount of rust I found on it? Not likely. I actually found it this morning because I had a vision of new Rangers so I decided that I should go through the temple's armory to see if I could find anything that be useful either to them or one of us."

Serena grinned. "Perfect. How much do you wanna bet Sensei's going to have me training with this for the next several weeks until I can master it, no clones allowed?"

"I'm not stupid." Ray told her dryly. "I know better than to bet against one of you Tsukinos. All of you, especially Jedite, have the devil's luck."

I grinned. "Indeed, that we do."

We led the 'newbies' as Jedite insisted upon calling our newest members to the dojo. There, Inuyasha-sensei had something that looked like an obstacle course set up.

After we recited the code/five golden rules, he informed us that we would be running it. Us Reds, which is to say us Tsukinos, were expected to get the best time. In addition, we'd be running the course first. If we didn't make it all the way across the first time, we had to do patience training. A few of the newbies stumbled a bit, but they managed to do fairly well.

Once class let out, I couldn't help but notice a boy and girl about our age. The girl had onyx eyes and black-ish purple-ish colored hair while the boy had brown eyes and reddish blond hair.

The most unusual thing though was that they gave off what I liked to call Red Energy, the same energy all of us Tsukinos gave off.

"Well," Serena remarked, turning to the rest of us. "This is going to be interesting."

"You have something in you." Jedite told the black-violet haired girl bluntly before anyone could say anything else. "And you need it sealed before it takes over you."

I whacked him upside the head. "Haven't I told you it works better if you aren't blunt as a sledgehammer?" I complained, wishing he didn't feel the need to say what he wanted to say, whether anyone else wanted to hear it or now.

And sure enough, the violet-black haired girl started to freak, as they say, the fuck out. "W-what do you mean, something inside of me?"

Rolling my eyes, I cast out with my senses to see if I could figure out what exactly Jedite was talking about, and sure enough, she had a parasite of some sort in her. "A parasite of some kind, but it's weird because it's almost like a Bijuu or something."

"And I can seal it." Jedite announced.

I rolled my eyes. "Well if you haven't forgotten Mister Fuuinjutsu Obsessed, it's not a matter of can you seal it, it's a matter of may you seal it."

"Alright, fine." Jedite complained. "I'm Jedite. Who are you?"

"Hotaru." The girl said, looking at him warily.

"Ichigo, her brother." The reddish blond haired boy added. "And yes, I know we don't look like siblings. We may not be siblings by blood, but we are in every other way that counts."

Hotaru blushed. "Ichi-nii, you give the whole 'we're siblings in every way that counts' spiel to everyone we meet after you tell them we're siblings. Do you really have to give that to everyone? What if they weren't going to comment on the fact that we don't look alike?"

"Well I wasn't." I felt the need to inform them. So what if they didn't look alike? None of us did. Granted, that could be because none of us, with the exception of possibly Sammy and Serena and even then I wasn't too sure, were related by blood.

Ichigo's eyes passed over all of us, taking in our appearances. "You're the Reds, aren't you?" He wanted to know. "The leaders and all that jazz."

I beamed. "You guessed it." I looked him straight in the eyes. "And if you wanted to, you and Hotaru could be too. You guys both give off the same sort of energy that we do." I turned on my Reikigan and looked at their auras. "No wonder. Your auras are tinted red around the outside. Yours is surprisingly bronze, Ichigo, and yours is a steely gray, Hotaru."

"Auras?" Hotaru asked curiously.

I frowned thoughtfully. "Well, it's kind of hard to describe it, to put it into words. But every person has one, and no two look exactly alike. Mine is silver, Serena's is gold, Jedite's is red edged in black, Sammy's is orange, Joe's is crimson, Nerissa's is white, Rini's is pink and Rubeus' is some sort of weird dark red color that kind of looks like a garnet, despite his name."

Rubeus' response was a prompt "Button it and zip it Asagi-nee." I was older than all the rest of us Tsukinos save for Joe, Serena, and Jedite.

I merely snorted. "No. No I won't. So how about it Hotaru, Ichigo? Will you join?"

I was interrupted by DZ and a monster, and a crash from nearby. Looking at my siblings, I dispatched Sammy, Rini, Joe and Nerissa to go check out the crash while Serena, Rubeus, Jedite, and I handled DZ and the monster. Hopefully, it wouldn't be a huge deal to take on.

"Let us come!" Hotaru protested as we all set off.

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay. In that case, Hotaru, go with Rini, Joe, Sammy and Nerissa and check out the crash. Joe, you're in charge. Report back via the communicators if you see or hear anything that might be important and check in every fifteen minutes. If you don't, I'll assume that something has happened to you and come and find you once the battle is over. Clear?"

"Clear. Imouto-sama." And with that, Joe took off running before I could catch him.

I huffed. "Oh, I'll get you one of these days." I turned to Ichigo. "Ichigo, I believe I have the perfect morpher for you." I handed him the Megaforce Ranger Sensei had informed us we would need soon. "I trust you know the incantation?"

"Incantation?" Ichigo asked, eyebrows raised.

I sighed and gripped my sword. "Incantation. Activation code. Whatever. Like this." In a flash, I had it out and raised, shouting "Moon Prism Power!" before taking off in the direction of the monster, trusting that Ichigo did indeed know the activation code/incantation/whatever for his morpher went. Hopefully, he did.

"Let's go Megaforce!" I heard Ichigo shout, followed by Serena's

"Lightspeed Rescue!" Then Rubeus'

"Quantum Power!" And finally Jedite's

"Jungle Beast— spirit unleashed!"

"Hey you, DZ!" I shouted at Zoycite's dark half, who was currently floating above the monster. Not to self: interrogate real Zoycite on how the hell she did that. DZ scowled. She apparently did not like the nickname. "Betcha tenner that my team can kick your team's asses from here to the moon and back, no sweat, any day of the week."

"I'll show you!" DZ screamed before descended to the ground and tried to kick me.

"A kick is inherently unstable." I heard Sensei's voice in my very first real, serious, not holding back spar with him, years and years ago. "Upset their balance." Quickly, I ducked under the kick and grabbed DZ's leg and hurled her to the ground.

"You'll have to try harder than that." I taunted.

She ran at me with a punch.

"A punch thrown at a run carries with it a large amount of momentum. Note the way the shoulders lean forward, ahead of the body. Disappear," I heard Sensei's voice again, from that very same spar. "Then move in."

I side-stepped, effectively stopping her before I moved in and decked her and then disappeared again, just as Sensei taught me.

"Hold still damn it!" DZ growled.

"An angered opponent is never in control. For your part, you can't give any clues that might hint about what you're going to do."

An idea struck me. With a chakra propelled leap, I launched myself into the air and then used Dark Zoycite as a springboard. Using the momentum I gained from jumping off of her, I managed to carefully angle myself and my sword so that I faced the monster.

Controlling my free fall with chakra gave me just enough time to coat my blade with the light and darkness energy that I controlled so perfectly.

"Twilight Sword Spear!" I shouted, making up a name for the technique on the fly.

Jedite ran at it, hands enveloped by flames. He punched the monster a few times before jumping back and firing the flames like a cannon or something. "Fire Fist Cannon!"

The monster disintegrated. DZ cursed up a blue streak and beat a hasty retreat.

My communicator went off. "Hey Asagi, where are you?" Joe's voice demanded. "I've been calling you for the past half hour but you didn't respond."

I shrugged, although I knew he couldn't see it. "Monster and DZ, sorry. What's the news?"

"Well . . ." He began. "I think we might have two new members. Mom and Dad are not gonna like this. Think we should maybe make a plan in case a parental confrontation does happen?"

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. Haven't we already been doing that?"

"Button it and zip it." He snapped. "And get your butt over here. The potential new Tsukinos are leaking Red Energy like Ichigo— uh, Kurosaki Ichigo that is— leaks Spirit Energy."

Rolling my eyes again, I wordlessly went through the handsigns for the Shunshin (Body Flicker), using Joe, Nerissa, Sammy and Rini's chakra as a focus. Once I got there and made sure no one else was around, I de-morphed so that no one saw the Element Force Red Ranger with a group of civilians and there was no monster around (that was just asking to get discovered).

"Alright, so who're the new members?" I demanded. Joe jerked a thumb at a boy and girl who looked to be only slightly older than Rini and Sammy.

"I'm Populan." The boy introduced himself. Taking a good look at him, I noticed that he had dark greenish colored hair with just a little fringe of a color that appeared to be orange or something similar, brown eyes, and oddly shaped ears.

"And I'm Amaterasu." The girl added. She had red hair pulled up into a weird sort of ponytail. Chances were, Sensei was going to tell her that it would have to go. A) it was too noticeable, and B) it would probably get in the way. She also had red eyes the same color as her hair.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Tsukino Asagi. So, has my idiot brother here ("Hey!") told you what the eight, now ten, of us are?"

"Red Rangers." They chorused. Then, grinning at eachother they added "Everything's our fault."

I snorted. "True, that. I'm surprised you two know that."

"Joe took it upon himself to teach us the Red Ranger Creed." Populan explained. "'To be a Red is to inherently have something to say. No matter how much you may think something is all your fault, chances are it's not. It's not. Finally, to be a Red is to protect the whole team no matter how much you may wish certain members weren't part of the team or that you didn't have to protect them. And above all, not everything is your fault.'"

I burst out laughing. "Who're you kidding, Joe? We all know that we Reds will blame ourselves for everything that goes wrong, whether it's our fault or not."

Joe sighed. "Alright, alright, so it's true." He turned back to our four potential new recruits. "So, you four interested in joining the ranks of the Reds?"

The four exchanged glances. "We'll do it."