Senran Kagura: Heart of Fire

Chapter 13: The First Snow

Note: Thank you for 600 reads, I honestly didn't think I would get this far, and I hope you guys keep enjoying the story, because I'll keep updating it regularly. Also, do you think I should add more comedy or stick to the more serious tone?

That night Rei and Shizuku come home and see that Tokei isn't back. Shizuku checks his room and sees that he left a drawer open. She sighs, closes the drawer, then leaves the room. She tells Rei he's just out, and that he will be back. Rei says she understands and she heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then heads to sleep. Shizuku stays awake in a sofa, waiting for Tokei to come back.

Tokei keeps walking with Naraku and little Kagura, and they pass a shop that Tokei sees a sign that says, "Eric Prydz live in Asakusa, Japan." He puts a big smile on his face and calls Naraku. When she walks back to him, he asks her if they want to come with him. "We have a lot of training to do, and you want to go to that?" Naraku exclaims with a serious look on her face. "(Sigh) Yeah, you're right." Tokei replies.
In the early morning, Tokei wakes up and gets dressed in a heavy track suit outfitted with weights in the ankles and wrists, but the suit was heavy overall. He goes outside and starts running.  Naraku woke up, five hours later, and sees that Tokei was doing push-ups. She goes up to him, and he drops to the ground, exhausted. "How many did you do?" Naraku curiously asks. "500 before and after, along with some other excercises." he answers breathing heavily. Naraku is surprised by the numbers he said he had done. "...Before and after?" she asks. "(Stands up) Yeah, I woke up early and ran around with the track suit you gave me." he says as he starts stretching. Naraku thinks to herself that the amount of excercise he had done was not of his level of experience, as that was third-year level of work.
As the day goes on, Naraku slowly teaches Tokei attack, defense, speed, and stealth techniques, while giving him a brief example so he could repeat it after her, with Kagura, back to being her adult self, stepping in sometimes to give them tips and bring them water and food.

That same morning, Shizuku gets woken up by Rei. She had fallen asleep on the sofa, waiting for Tokei. She stands up and goes to Tokei's room. Rei goes behind her and tells her that he never came home. Shizuku looks worried and turns to Rei.
In Hanzō Academy, Kiriya says that they will take the day slowly, so not as to sprain themselves too much. He gives a regular class, along with Ikaruga giving another after him, with the rest of the Hanzō shinobis changing between them. After some classes, they take a break, and Shizuku goes outside to get some fresh air. Katsuragi and Rei follow her, and Katsuragi goes up from behind her to then start groping her, trying to vheer her up. Shizuku is surprised by her, and when she turns around, Katsuragi stop and Rei slowly walks towards her with a smile on her face. Katsuragi asks her what's wrong, and Shizuku looks inside to see that Hibari and Yagyū were spending some time together, and Asuka and Ikaruga were talking to each other. Shizuku looks to the ground and then to the sky. "Tokei is gone now, and it seems like everyone is back to normal, I mean, look at Yagyū, she hadn't spent that much time with Hibari because of him, she spent almost all her time training to beat him, and Asuka was always on him trying to teach him moves, and you, you sort of stopped doing what you just did after he came along, it seems he really didn't fit here. Last night, he didn't even come home, after he said he would, I'm worried for him." Shizuku discussed looking worried. Katsuragi walks up to her, and starts looking at the sky too. An airplane was passing by, really high in the sky. "Well, what can I say, change is either good or bad, and Tokei was the latter, I guess, but his absence isn't exactly good either, because now, Yagyū no longer has anyone to strive to beat so she can be stronger, Asuka no longer has anyone to keep her company and listen to her explanations and tutorials, and after me, wanting to change my ways to prepare myself for the world, he was just what I needed to stop me, but now he's gone and I'm back to being my uncontrollable self." Katsuragi says, closing her fist. She puts her hand on Shizuku's shoulder, "Come on now, it's almost time for class to start." she says as she walks away. Shizuku looks at Rei, and when Rei starts to walk away, she turns back and looks at the sky again, then to her hand, which she has holding the Reincarnation Sphere with. She stares at it for a few seconds, it was starting to glow faintly, and she knew it was an indication that Tokei was starting to slowly reach his full potential, and acquire the power needed to control what was hidden within the Sphere. She closes her fist, tightly holding the Sphere, and walks back inside with the others.
One week later, at night, Shizuku tells Rei she is going out, and that she will be back soon. She walks outside, and she was wearing a puffy khaki jacket and a scarf around her neck to stay warm, she also had her hair loose, and she was wearing skinny black jeans and tall black boots. She slowly made her way around town, stopping near an alleyway. She looked up at the sky, and snow started falling slowly. She looks at a lamppost close to the entrance to the alleyway, and she crouches and places a bottle with beautiful purple flowers next to it. "It's been 8 years now since I killed you, this is my only way of saying sorry, because I can't say that enough times in a day." she says softly as she stands up and stares at the flowers, then slowly walks away. She makes her way to the shrine Kagura was staying, and knocks on the door. Tokei opens it and he is surprised to see Shizuku standing outside. Shizuku looks up at him and asks to come in. Tokei moves to let her pass and she goes in. She walks up close to the fireplace and removes her scarf, then Tokei asks her to sit down while he made tea. Shizuku slowly looks around the room, admiring the beauty of it. Naraku and little Kagura come out, Naraku was wearing her hoodie, with some short pants and ankle socks, and Kagura was wearing a big shirt from Tokei that went all the way below her knees, and she was wearing ankle socks too. They greet Shizuku and Naraku sits down in a chair next to her, with Kagura sitting on Naraku's lap. Tokei comes out of the kitchen with a tray with the cups and the tea. Shizuku asks how Tokei has been doing with them, to which Naraku answers that he's been a really great and helpful person. Little Kagura backs this up by saying a list of things he's helped them do. Tokei sets down the tray and sits in a chair on the other side of Shizuku Naraku was on. Shizuku grabs a cup and starts drinking the tea. "(Tears come down her eyes) Why didn't you come back, why didn't you say anything?" Shizuku asks. "It came to my mind after I said it, and I acted on my own, I'm sorry I didn't say anything." Tokei answers. "I was worried sick, I thought something had happened to you (sniff), but at least I knew you were alive." She said sniffling. "You can trust me on that, I will not die, I will protect you, and Rei, and everyone, I will strive to be the best Shinobi in the universe." Shizuku puts the cup down, "I see, I guess I can't stop you from what you want to do, at least, keep in touch, please." she says as she wipes the tears off her face. Tokei agrees and after that, Shizuku stands up and walks outside with him. She asks him if he wanted to go for a walk with her and he says that he will. He goes back inside to change into warmer clothes and comes back out. He was dressed with a jet black parka, a white beanie, black sweat pants, and white all-terrain shoes. They both go down the stairs and slowly make their way through the town.