Sei

Nightmares

       Kasai awoke from the dream in a panic, breathing heavily and sweating all over. He felt a hand on his chest and jumped in confusion.
       "It's alright it was just a dream, don't worry, calm." A voice from the right of him said reassuringly.
       Kasai slowly allowed his breathing to return to normal. He took a moment to look around his bedroom. It was a small room with wooden flooring and walls like a room you might find in a cabin house. There were a few bookshelves filled with books gathering dust and action figures. On his bedside table a candle was burning slowly, dimly illuminating the room and projecting shadows onto the wall where there were posters of characters from Kasai's favourite movies and tv shows.
       "How long have you been there Osamu?" Kasai asked discernibly.
       "Since you started moaning in your sleep" Osamu replied calmly. "Was it the same nightmare?"
       "I don't think you can call it a nightmare if it really happened, more a memory that haunts me. One I will never forget..." Kasai's eyes gestured toward the burns on his arms.
       Osamu handed Kasai a glass of water. He accepted the water gulping it down as if he hadn't drunk in days. He looked towards the man sat next to him. Osamu was a tall, middle aged man with slightly long, brilliant white unkempt hair. He had a thin layer of stubble on his face and a scar across his right cheek. He looked young for his age but had the wear of battle in the form of scars and burns all over his body. He wore a tight, black warrior's body suit that clung tightly to his thin but muscular build and a long black coat. His eyes were a cool silver that showed very little emotion. He also nearly always carried with him a very large midnight black sword with a huge red diamond painted in the middle of the blade.
       "One day Kasai, you must come to peace with your loss of Grandma Kawa." Osamu advised.
       He had a deep and calm voice, it always sounded husky as if he had just awoken from sleep.
       "Easier said than done old man." He replied. "She's the only thing I've ever had that's even close to a parent."
       "Well I have to say that hurts a little." Osamu chuckled.
       "As if, old man, you're never even here, always out on some mission. I appreciate you looking after me but I'd hardly call you a parent. You'd have to be caring and have a capacity for emotion to hold that title. All you care about is the code of the SoraYashu and your mission."
       "And my team mates... And you." Osamu interrupted.
       "Yeah so you've said..." Kasai sighed. "Why are you here anyway? I thought you'd be out on another mission."
       "Well, it's your third try at the graduation exams tomorrow. I didn't want to miss it, I have a good feeling about this one." Osamu answered gently.
       "Well how thoughtful of you considering you missed my last two attempts." Kasai said scathingly.
       There was a short silence as Kasai looked away from Osamu. Osamu did not seem fazed by the comment but took a deep breath before his reply.
       "Look Kasai, I know you may not believe it, but I do care about you. I have tried my best to raise you and give you the best opportunities I could in life, however I have a duty not just to you, but to the people of the Sansuiso region as well- "
       "Yeah I get it, I get it." Kasai interrupted.
       There was another silence as they both collected their thoughts. Then Osamu got up and walked towards the door.
       "Get up and meet me downstairs, I have something to teach you before the exam tomorrow. It will take us all night so get dressed."
       "I need sleep old man, besides there's no way I can learn a new Noryoku in a night." Kasai grumbled. Osamu stopped in the doorway turned back towards Kasai.
       "Stop me if I'm wrong but, the parts of the graduation test you fail in are generally the competitive tests, right? More specifically those related to Chisei and Eikyou release, or the ability to control another's thoughts and feelings. You also tend to fail if the competitive test involves Chikaku release, or the control of one's perception."
       "Yeah so what?" Kasai moped. "It's not like I can't use them on other people, I just have a hard time defending from it. Besides it doesn't even matter my Genso and Buteki release are better than most of the other academy students."
       "A good SeiYashu has at least a good basic control over all 9 releases." Osamu lectured. "Besides, by the end of the night I can teach you a cast iron defence against Chisei and Eikyou release." Osamu said smiling.
       Kasai's eyes lit up as he looked towards his guardian.
       "Now you're talking old man!" He shouted with excitement clambering out of bed to find a shirt.
       He looked to the doorway as he clumsily dragged on his black vest but Osamu was already halfway down the stairs.
       "Be down here in 5 minutes." Osamu shouted up.
       Kasai walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a characteristic dark red t-shirt to put on over his white vest, he then threw on a black jacket with a silver embroidered pattern on the collar and around the buttons. He wore the jacket in an open fashion and pulled on some black skinny jeans to which he added a silver belt with a large diamond shaped buckle. He pulled on some socks and long brown boots that ran up his legs with laces all the way up. Finally, he put on the amulet he had been left with as a child, the only reminder he had of his parents.
       The amulet had a thin platinum chain with many links to it and a clear circular shaped diamond at the end which glowed a brilliant white as if there was a light inside. Grandma Kawa had always told him that the amulet held great power and would serve to protect him in the future. As a child, he had struggled to protect it from the thieves in Hiniku. After being fully dressed he took some time to check himself out in the mirror.
       Kasai was relatively average sized at around 5"10 and he had short messy blonde hair. His face was somewhat childish and remained clean shaven. He had an averagely muscular build and dark burns all over his arms left from his childhood encounter with the Kagemono. His eyes were a deep emerald green and they had an air of stubbornness and determination, as well as an unmissable kindness in them however they also showed a much deeper sadness that only those who knew him well might see. To everyone else he had always been good at pretending he didn't care about anything. He caught his own eyes in the mirror and admired his reflection, excited to learn this new technique that Osamu had promised to teach him. As he was gazing upon himself content with his own reflection he was startled by Osamu shouting from downstairs.
       "Kasai if you don't stop looking in the mirror and get down here in the next 20 seconds I'm not teaching you the technique."
       Kasai's face went red with embarrassment.
      "I wasn't doing anything like that you stupid old man!" He shouted back as he ran down the stairs.
       As Kasai reached the doorway downstairs he felt an intense heat coming from a sharp, thin, bright orange, arrow shaped flame headed towards him. He quickly threw his hands up bringing a wall of water in front of him which the flame arrows hit, extinguishing immediately and releasing steam.
       "Are you out of your mind Osamu what do you think you're doing?" Kasai shouted angrily.
       "Do you see how you blocked my Genso Noryoku?" Osamu asked calmly.
       "What are you talking about you deranged fool I could have died." Kasai shot back.
       "You used a Genso release yourself. Both our Noryoku were the elemental Genso release and mine was stronger than yours by almost twofold and yet you successfully defended yourself. Why do you think that is?" Osamu continued, ignoring Kasai's protest.
       Kasai sighed, realising Osamu would not take responsibility for the near-death situation he had just placed Kasai in.
       "Well it's obvious, I used a water style Noryoku and you used a fire style. Water beats fire, not only is that obvious, it's like Genso 101 at the academy. We learn it when we learn about the cycle of Genso Noryoku. Water beats fire, fire beats earth, earth beats wind and wind beats water, and then there's a load of mixes like lightning and metal but they're more complicated and their weaknesses and strengths are less clear, anyway the point is you could have thrown a fire Noryoku at me with three times the strength of my water Noryoku and it still wouldn't have beaten it." Kasai mused.
       "Very astute Kasai, there might be hope for you yet." Osamu replied condescendingly. "So, you know there are opposites in Genso release and that means that you should use opposites where possible to supplement for having less power than your opponent. However, whilst there isn't a convenient cycle of weaknesses and strengths like with Genso release, other releases like Chisei and Eikyou release have their own weaknesses."
       "What do you mean?" Kasai asked with a puzzled look on his face.
       Osamu sighed, already beginning to look tired of having to over explain everything.
       "Well, think of it this way, there are three basic ways to control someone's thoughts and feelings through Chisei and Eikyou release. Each way involves controlling the flow of Sei within the other person. You can do this through touch, by sending your own Sei through the points of contact; you can use eye contact, controlling the flow of Sei within your own eyes to send messages to theirs or you can do this through speech, sending Sei to your vocal chords to almost infuse your very words with Sei. The latter two methods are more advanced Noryoku and will be inaccessible to anyone in the academy. Of course, each method has its own strengths and weaknesses but generally the method of touch is the weakest, mostly because there are far more defences to it and because you need to be in contact with the person you are influencing for long enough to read their flow of Sei, control your own Sei and then distribute that Sei to them. This isn't so bad for easier Eikyou and Chisei Noryoku like the ones you will be examined on because they tend to take far less control of Sei, and they will also work on your general unversed populace, but in battle against other SeiYashu you will need to have developed higher level methods like the ones I spoke of earlier. Also, it has been said that Kagemono are completely immune to Chisei, Eikyou and Chikaku release despite many being able to effectively use it to instil terror in their victims."
             Osamu paused to look at Kasai who had a blank expression on his face.
       "Look I can see this is getting a little complicated for you- "
       "Shut up! I totally get it!" Kasai barked defensively.
       "Sure you do kiddo." Osamu replied with a patronising tone "Anyway this is where you actually use your head. Since you're likely only to be defending against someone using the contact methods, the defence you've been taught up to this point is about controlling your own Sei at the point of contact to cancel out your opponent's Noryoku, which I'm aware you find difficult. So as a solution to that, I'm going to teach you a different, far better method. It's a lot more difficult but something tells me you're suited to it and it can be learned very quickly if your body picks it up naturally."
       Kasai jumped up with excitement "So what is it old man!? What do I have to do."
       Osamu's eyes trailed upwards as if to indicate he was thinking. He then walked towards Kasai until he was less than half a metre in front of him.
       "Try to influence my thoughts using your Chisei release. If you can, make me say 'I'm stupid.'" Osamu instructed.
       "Getting you to admit you're stupid? Ha! You're on old man. I couldn't ask for better training" Kasai exclaimed excitedly. "You better be on your best defences, I already told you I have no problem with my ability to use Chisei Noryoku on others." With that he paused closing his eyes.
       Osamu stood patiently waiting with the same unwavering cool look on his face. Kasai took a deep breath and focused on the flow of Sei within his body. Then suddenly, he opened his eyes and as fast as he could, launched his hand towards Osamu to make contact. Osamu stood totally still and without flinching. He calmly held eye contact as Kasai's hand moved closer and closer to his arm. Kasai's excited smile started to fade.
       "Why isn't he moving to dodge?" Kasai thought to himself. "Is his Sei control that good that he thinks he can just shake of my Noryoku? That pisses me off."
       The smile wiped from Kasai's face and a look of angered determination replaced it as the speed of his attack increased. Kasai's hand got closer and closer and then, a split second before he made contact, Kasai felt his hand hit what seemed like an electrified wall. As he hit it he felt a shock travel through his body and his hand was repelled away. He staggered back holding his hand in pain.
       "What the hell was that?" He panted.
       "1.4 seconds, your strike was fast Kasai, I'm impressed." Osamu responded.
       "What did you do? Why can't I touch you?" Kasai asked with a look of frustration.
       "I used a Senzai Noryoku to control the electromagnetic field around me and placed a small barrier of force between my body and your hand." Osamu answered
       "You used a barrier? It was so fast, how did you even react that quickly? Also wait, if you used a Senzai Noryoku, why did it feel like I was touching an electric fence, my hand is in a ton of pain." Kasai scolded.
       "Ah well you see, that electric part is a little bit complicated for you right now. We'll save that for another day." Osamu said with a light smile clearly trying to avoid explanation.
       There was a pause and then his face became serious again.
       "However, that is the technique I plan to teach you by the end of the night. It's a difficult Noryoku that most academy students would be incapable of. It involves incredibly fast reactions and the ability to concentrate your barrier to a small focused location around your body. As of now you can only cast a barrier over your whole body, right?" Osamu asked.
       "Yeah that's right, controlling Senzai Noryoku is a more complex task then just putting a barrier up over your whole body. They don't teach it at the academy."
       "Well luckily for you, I'm not the academy, and I don't have to follow their syllabus. By the end of the night you will be capable of using the Noryoku I just used." Osamu reassured.
       Kasai's eyes began to sparkle. He brought his fists close to his chest and then threw them up in the air "Alright that's what I'm talking about! Let's do this!" He shouted with joy.
       "Calm down Kasai, this isn't going to be some easy Noryoku you'll learn in five minutes, learning it in one night is a difficult task even for an elite SeiYashu like myself." Osamu sternly warned.
       "Right, I'm sorry, serious mode activate." Kasai replied with a look of intense focus on his face.
      Osamu closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh and then looked at Kasai.
      "Well, I already tested your reaction time with that fire arrow- "
       "Wait! You didn't know if I'd be able to block that!? You could have killed me you asshole!" Kasai shouted angrily.
       "And it appears you possess the speed to react to strikes quickly enough. So now all I have to do is teach you how to localise barriers to specific areas of your body." Osamu continued to himself, ignoring Kasai and talking over him.
       "Hey, are you even listening old man!?" Kasai growled with frustration.
       "Hmm? Sorry did you say something?" Osamu calmly responded.
       "You know you really piss me off old man!" Kasai screamed running at Osamu with clenched fists surrounded in fire.