Dark Clouds

Chapter 3

By Amazon

Kenji shuffled through the pile of books on the shelf. He couldn't find the

book he wanted. It was Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell and it seemed that

the store didn't have it. He hated it when they didn't have the book he

wanted. One of the cashiers noticed him searching through the books and came

over to help him.

"Do you need any help, sir?" The cashier asked.

"Hai, do you have Hornet's Nest by Patricia Cornwell?" The cashier thought

for a minute before shaking her head.

"No, sir. But we do have Cruel & Unusual by her." The cashier plucked a

book from the shelf and handed it to him. Kenji looked the book over before

nodding.

"I'll take this one. Domo arigato for the help." The cashier smiled and

went back to the cash register with Kenji in tow. She rang up the book and

handed it back to the Kenji, who gave her the money for it. As soon as Kenji

got the book back he started reading. He walked out of the bookstore and

into the mall, nose stuck in the book. He weaved his way to the food court

where he would wait for Yoshio, who was somewhere within.

*****

Seiji finished writing the address on the letter before putting it in the

slot for 'Out of town mail'. He smiled as he headed out of the Post Office.

He always looked forward to sending the money out to his family. He was his

family's second source of income and the most paying. His mom's job didn't

pay much and the money he sent was always welcome.

Sam and Emily always sent letters about how school was and how Sandy, their

golden retriever, was. He looked forward to their letters since they were

the links he had to home. He was thinking about the last letter he had

gotten from home when a red haired man walked by him. He didn't jostle Seiji

or anything like that but Seiji stopped and looked at him. He had gotten a

feeling when he had walked past, like a warning or something like it.

He'd had that feeling before but it had been warm and fuzzy not cold and hard

like this one had. He tried to remember were he had felt it before and

was able to come up with the memory of a dojo room and two men, one was

actually a young boy. The older man had a crown of white hair with a

receding hairline and the younger boy had puffy blond hair and was holding a

Bo (staff).

He knew the little boy was his cousin, Sage and that the older man was

Grandpa Date. He had heard that Grandpa Date had died a year ago in his

sleep. The red haired man moved out of Seiji' vision. Seiji shook the

feeling off and started walking again. He never had liked Sage much, mostly

because that Sage was always defeating him in the 'friendly' spars they had.

Thinking about Sage brought back memories he didn't want to remember.

Friendly? Yeah right! Seiji stared at the ground under his feet as he

walked down the street. Friendly was not a word he would use about the last

sparring match they had had. He had been so mad that when Sage's back had

been turned he had smacked him across the back with the Bo and when Sage was

turning around to see who had done that he had slammed the Bo into his eye.

Seiji forced down the memory and continued to walk down the street, never

noticing the black figure on the corner.

*****

Yoshio dropped the bag of stuff he had bought onto the table where Kenji

was sitting. Kenji looked up from his book at the British boy and then at

the bag.

"Need I ask what's in there?"

"No." Yoshio sat down in the chair across from Kenji. "Another book? What

is it?"

"Cruel & Unusual by Patricia Cornwell. It's a thriller."

"When you're done reading that don't complain about the bloody nightmares

okay?" Yoshio joked lightly. Kenji rolled his eyes and returned to his

reading. Yoshio pulled out a brand-new cookbook and started flipping through

it. After a couple of pages he stopped. "Who're we waiting for?"

"ME!" Kinjiro pulled up a chair and sat down. "Hey is that another

cookbook? You got one last raid, why'd you get another one?"

"Maybe because Yoshio wants another cookbook. Didja ever think of that?"

Yoshio asked.

Kinjiro looked over at Kenji and groaned. "Not another one. Don't ya ever

get tired of reading?" Kenji decided to ignore Kinjiro and continued

reading. Yoshio and Kinjiro talked lightly for a couple of minutes before

Kenji interrupted.

"Did anyone feel that?" Kenji looked at Yoshio and Kinjiro, who were

staring at him.

"Hai, what was it?" The feeling had been a chill that raced up their spine

and made their hair stand on end. The three boys scanned the food court,

looking for anyone that looked suspicious. They didn't see anyone suspicious

so they left. They didn't like the feeling and didn't feel up to confronting

whoever had given them the feeling.

*****

Talpa strolled down the streets of Toyama. It had been easy capturing and

taking over a human body. Humans are so easy to fool. He thought as he

smiled evilly. He scanned the sidewalks for anybody that looked as if they

were potential candidates for being warlords. He spotted a young lady about

10 feet away from him.

She had waist length dark gray hair that was currently tied up into a

ponytail. She was arguing with another young lady. The other young lady had

mid-back blond hair. Talpa moved over to them, they were perfect candidates.

The two young ladies stopped bickering as they noticed Talpa.

"Konnichi wa, onna no hito's." Talpa smiled again as the first lady, the

one with dark gray hair, scrutinized his face. He knew for a fact that this

body was very handsome, he wouldn't have an ugly body no matter how strong

it was.

"What do you want, inu?" The dark haired girl asked.

Talpa struggled to keep from hitting her. He was the Master of the Dynasty

and she DARED to call him a dog! "I am here to offer you the chance of the

life time."

"We're sorry but we don't do that kind of stuff. No matter what kind of

stud you are." The blond girl replied. Talpa stared at them for a second

before laughing. The two girls looked at each other before looking at him in

confusion.

"No, no. That's not what I meant."

"Then stop wasting our time and tell us what ya want."

"I need you to get rid of some nuisances for me."

"Hmmm. We could do that. Old girlfriend?"

"No."

"You're in debt and the easiest way out is killing them?"

"No but it does involve killing." Talpa knew he had struck the right cord

when the girls smiled. "I need you to kill five young men."

"Hmmm, what time and were do they live?" The blond asked.

"No. I need you two to come with me." Talpa smiled again, as the girls'

faces became angry. "My name is Talpa and I'm the Master of the Dynasty. I

need you two to become my warlords."

"Oh just great, Yuiren, a nut." The dark haired girl mumbled to the blond.

Yuiren nodded in agreement. Umi and Yuiren turned around and walked away.

"Sorry but we don't make deals with nuts."

Talpa's eyes glowed red; he wasn't about to let two perfect candidates walk

away from him. The girls noticed he was following them and sped up. They

finally broke into a run to try and get away from him but Talpa kept up with

them. The girls ducked into an alley with Talpa still following.

Talpa conjured a wall to stop them. Yuiren, the blond, and Umi, the dark

haired girl, skidded to a halt to avoid colliding with the wall. They spun

around, knives in their hands.

"What do you want? We told you we don't make deals with nuts!" Umi

threatened with the knife but Talpa continued to advance. Umi and Yuiren

backed up against the wall ready to defend themselves.

"Oh it's very simple you see. I'm not asking you to make a deal with me."

Talpa smiled. "I just need four new warlords and you two are perfect."

"Go find some lunatics, you nut! We're not interested!" Yuiren shouted.

"I think you will be after I convince you." Talpa took his right hand out

of his leather jacket, in his hand were two orbs. The orbs glistened in the

sunlight and almost seemed to glow with energy. Talpa again advanced on the

two girls who backed up even further against the wall. "It is futile to

resist your destiny, girls."

Yuiren and Umi glanced at the orbs in his hands and then back to his face.

Something about the orbs drew their eyes back to them. Talpa, taking

advantage of the situation, threw the orbs at the girls. Yuiren and Umi had

no time to duck or dodge the orbs as they flew at them. They became covered

in black light when the orbs hit them.

Talpa watched in delight as the as the armors took over the girls. It only

took a few seconds before the black light faded away revealing the girls in

full armor. Gone was the bulky armor of the warlords, in its place was

light, slim armor. Both of the chest plates stopped below their breasts and

the groin guards were replaced by metal mesh loincloths.

Both girls' boots reached mid-thigh. The helmets were gone, replaced by

black circlets. The only thing that was the same was the six swords and the

spider arm scythe (you know the thing on Dais's back). Talpa smiled in

satisfaction as he looked over his two new warlords.

"I am Athena, wearer of the Spider armor and Lady of Illusions." Athena

bowed to Talpa. He nodded, pleased.

"I am Artemis, wearer of the Snake armor and Lady of Venom." Artemis also

bowed and Talpa also nodded. He was very pleased with his choice, his new

ladies would definitely give the Ronins a run for their money. Now about the

last two armors.

*****

The dark figure watched Talpa and his two new warlords leave through a

Dynasty gate. The figure cast a worried glance over Toyama. How was he gonna

help protect two cities at the same time?