~Chapter 2~
~Bitter sweet~
I starred up at the ceiling of the room Genkai gave me. I had called my parent's and told them I was spending the night at Keiko's. I'll have to come up with a long term excuse tomorrow. Demons, Changelings, Armies. It was all so much to take in. How do you deal with the fact that you're not really human? Well I guess that would explain why I'm so different from the rest of my family. I held my hand in front of my face, to observe it. The claws. The dream. Was that how I really look? And that place. It was so dark and desolate. Was that the Demon world? How do I know what it looks like? I don't understand! How could I be a Demon? I can't. I just can't. . .
Genkai's training was no joke. She woke me up at 2 AM and took me out running. She had me run 5 miles with no brake!
"Hurry up slowpoke! The snail's will get there before you!" she shouted. “Stop your whining! How do you expect to accomplish anything, if you keep wanting to take a break!"
We ended up at a small shrine like house deep in the woods at dawn. Its red paint was faded and cracked, it had no widows and just one small door. A stream gently padded behind the building. Grass grew all around it. The trees surrounding it grew in a perfect circle, and were taller than average.
"What . . . is . . . this place?" I panted
"Kade no Masoki, Gate to the spirit world." Then she continued having not broken a single sweat. "The ground here is considered holy and increases the spirit energy of anyone who comes here. You will come here every day for the duration of your training. Then at dusk, you will go back to my estate, to finish the day."
First in the Kade no masoki, Genkai taught me how to tap in to my spirit energy, Then she trained me to manipulate it. We spent 7 hours on this. When we were done she let me have a short break and gave me some homemade rice balls. Oishi!! I hadn't had any in a long time, I remember my grandmother- well the real Ketaru's grandmother used to make them all the time. I wonder what she'd think about me being a demon. Would she despise me?
After my so called breakfast, I got to meditate and concentrate on spirit manipulation for another 8 hours. After that she had me hold hot coal using my spirit energy to keep myself from burning for nearly 5 hours straight, and then she made me jog back to her mansion, and do 300 sit ups, 215 jumping jacks, and 200 pushups. The whole day she did nothing but shout out degrading comments and icy insults. I didn't get a chance to even think about calling my brother until after a quarter till 11.
"Hello?" I heard his groggy voice echoed through the old phone Genkai let me use after confiscating mine.
"Sai, I need a favor."
"Chipmunk? Okay, what is it?"
"Do you think you could tell mom and dad that I'm staying with you for a few months?"
"Wait why? Where are you Ketaru? They've been trying to get ahold of you all day."
"It's a long story. I just won't be able to come home for a while. Can you cover for me?"
"Are you in trouble? Of any kind. Just say it and I'll come to your rescue."
"No. Well nothing too bad, it's a long story. I don't think you'll believe me."
"Try me." I sighed. He was my brother I could tell him couldn't I? What would he think though? When he found out, we weren't really related? No I couldn’t tell him. If he reacted wrong he might not help me. He might even hate me. That would be worse.
