22Duties of Life or Love: Chapter One- Family History
Warning: This is a story that has gay, yaoi, slash, or whatever you want to call it inside it. This means that there are two guys in here that like each other. If you don't like, don't read. I won't give much more warning beyond that. If you don't mind, then keep on reading.
Shiken walked through the halls of the local hospital. He found his way rather easily. He'd been here so many times before to visit Shiyue. It was nothing to find the room now. Through hallways, elevators, and the occasional lustful look from someone, Shiken found his way. He soon stopped infront of one single door. It was in the demon attack ward. Shiken gently knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Shiken opened the door slowly. "Hi dad."
"Ah... Shiken. So good you came." said Shiyue.
"How are you feeling?" asked Shiken hopefully.
Shiyue turned stern. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Dad... Please don't tell me that... No... You're not going to..."
"Shiken, I'm dying. Plain and simple." said Shiyue with no remorse.
"Dad, you can't! You're only thirty four! You can't die now! Come on dad, please!" cried Shiken.
"Shiken, my time on this earth is up. You should have known that. You're fifteen now. You know better. I taught you better. The life of a demon slayer means that you will die some day. It does not matter the age or when. Death comes to all weither they seek it or not."
"But... Dad... Please... You're one of the last people who understands me... Kenri-den is gone already... Don't leave me... Please Shiyue-den... Please..."
Shiyue turned misty eyed at the mention of Kenri. "Kenri... Your father calls to me, Shiken. You can hear it. I know you can. You're not just a demon slayer like I am. You're a spirit caller too. You can hear and see your father calling to me. You'll be able to hear and see me too."
"No dad! I don't want to see you that way. The spirits I see... They're empty. They have no true will left." wispered Shiken.
"That's because those are the only ones you choose to see." replied Shiken.
"Weither I choose to see them or not... I don't want to see your soul like that dad. I want you to live."
"Well then, weither you choose to listen to me or not, I'm still going to tell you. Now is your time to take my place Shiken. I am not going to last much longer, so here." said Shiyue as he threw Shiken something from his side.
Shiken caught the object with relative ease. He looked at it. It was the family katana.
"Dad, I can't take this yet!"
"You can and you will. Do it otherwise I'll bind the thing to you."
Shiken gave up. "Yes dad."
Shiyue sighed. "Shiken listen to me. I've trained you all I can. Now is your time to shine. I'm too old to do this anymore anyway."
"Stop lying! Thirty four is still a young age."
"Shiken, stop resisting. This is what you must do now. I hoped that this day would have honestly come a few years later, but it is time now. With my death, the right of cast within our clan is now yours. You must take my place as a demon slayer now."
Shiken bowed down his head in defeat and saddness. "Yes father."
"Look at me Shiken." demanded Shiyue. "Promise me that you will uphold this duty. Promise me that you will cary on our clan. Promise me that you'll protect what I've, what we've left behind."
Shiken nodded. He knew which "we" his dad was talking about. It was him and Kenri.
"Now go. But I must remind you of something you already know. Beware the Hitotama demon clan. You know that they are our opposite demon clan. Whatever you do, even if it means to sacrafice your life, you must kill their successor."
Shiken nodded. "I know dad."
"Then I can rest in peace. Go home now."
Shiken clutched the katana to himself and ran shedding crystal tears from his pale golden eyes. His silver hair streamed behind him. He didn't look back and never returned until the day that Shiyue was prononced dead due to the mortal wound he obtained when he was demon hunting and was being treated for. He was given an honorable burrial next to Kenri's grave. Shiken was now the head of Kenri's business and the demon slayer of Shiyue's clan.
***Three years later***
It's been three years now. I can't believe it's all passed by so quickly. So much has changed since I was fifteen. So much has stayed the same. Kenri-den's business runs itself. I barely have to do anything, but I still make millions. Shiyue-den's demon slaying... That's a different story all together. Through it, I've made mistakes and I've made come backs. It brings in extra cash. But everytime I slay a demon, I cry inside. These things... They killed my parents. They killed Kenri-den when he was walking with Shiyue-den. Then one hurt Shiyue-den badly. I made sure to kill that one...Shiken walked quietly into his next class. Katana in tow along with his gun and school bag. School was soon going to be over for good now. Shiken silently thanked god for creating cram school.
"I have to remember to go properly thank god after school is over." muttered Shiken.
Life is okay... I guess... Nothing's really going wrong. At least grandma's still around. She's really a great help. Helps me take care of the house and stuff and helps if I get wounded. More than I could ask for in a grandma. Did I forget to mention that she can still kick ass? Well she can. Even at around I think seventy to eighty, she can still kick someone's ass and do a damn good job of it. Yes, my grandma, Kari Shinriyue, kicks ass on the volunteer police squad. Don't ask why. She just does. Don't tell her I told you either.
"Shiken!" shouted the teacher. "Stop day dreaming and pay attention!"
"Huh- OH! Sorry Miden-tai." said Shiken as he awoke from his day dream fantasy.
Mr. Miden just sighed. "If you're sorry then stop doing it." he said before continuing with the lesson.
"Yes Miden-tai." replied Shiken.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to fall in love. I know I sound all mushy gushy and really sensitive right now to sound like a demon slayer, but it's true. Kenri-den would always tell me about how he and Shiyue-den got together. It was when they were as old as I am now. Eighteen. Their little love story always stuck in my head and heart when I was younger. From that, I always kind of dreamed of finding some boy or girl and falling in love with them in that same romantic way. Yes I said boy or girl. I'm bi so get over it. But... I have kind of found myself looking more at boys than girls. Blame my parents. Sorry girls, but this demon slayer's not really available right now. Leave a message and I'll get back to ya' when my tastes change.
Shiken walked home. He had no rush. Suddenly a car pulled up beside him.
"Hey Shiken!"
Shiken looked to his side. "Hey Aren. What's been going on?" said Shiken.
"Nothing. Life's as borring as usual. Wanna come over? My dad's been wantin to talk to you."
"Inori-lin? Why?"
"Dun know, but I guess it's just to check up on you. I don't think he trusts Grandma Kari much anymore since she's in the volunteer police now." said Aren.
"Maybe I should tell her that." Shiken put on his sweet and innocent look and looked at Aren as if he were Kari. "Grandma, Inori-lin says that he doesn't trust you anymore with my wellfare." mocked Shiken. "Yeah, Inori-lin's going to get his butt kicked when she hears that."
"Just get in car."
That was just Aren. Best friend a guy could ask for. Even more so, he's the son of my dad's best friend, you know him as Inori. I call him Inori-lin. He's been really nice to me too. Aren definately looks more like a half clone of Inori-lin. Same dark silvery blue hair. His face is slightly different cause of his mom, Kaiten, or as I call her, Kaiten-len. It's also because of her that his eyes are actually darker than Inori-lin's. Inori-lin's eyes are clear blue. Aren's eyes are a darker blue with flecks of purple. Kind of wierd, but really cool. He's also the same height as Inori-lin was at eighteen too. Do I like Aren in the way that I want other boys to like me? Hell no. Don't even ever think it. If you do, I swear I'll kill you.
"Hi Inori-lin." said Shiken as he had Inori embrace him. "How're ya' holdin up?"
"Fine. Kaiten isn't making it any easier." muttered Inori. "She nags me constantly about the future since I can see it. I swear I shouldn't have told her I was a seer. Now she wants me to predict stocks and all that crap."
"Kaiten-len isn't that bad is she?"
"Shiken, when you get married, don't tell anyone that you're a spirit caller. The person you marry will sell you out to people who want to contact the dead. Take my advice and keep your mouth shut about it."
Shiken smilled. "Sure thing Inori-lin."
"I'm only trying to save you from a fate worse than death. Now come inside. I need to talk with you about something..."
Yeah I'm a spirit caller. Kind of creepy at first. I remember running into Shiyue and Kenri-den's room when I saw my first spirits. They scared the hell out of me. Shiyue-den taught me to control all that stuff. So now I can hear, see, and call spirits or souls at will. Needless to say, after that, I was always the one with the best ghost stories. Especially whenever I slept over at Aren's. He'd bug me constantly until I scared him out of his wits with some story about the time when I met the soul of someone who was beheaded or the time when some stupid dead guy tried to attack me cause I was alive. Meh. It happens.
"Shiken! What took you so long to get home!" shouted a girl before she latched herself onto Shiken as he entered.
"Calm down Kalin! I only stopped at Inori-lin's because he needed to talk to me." said Shiken as he tried to pry off the eleven year old girl.
"Inori-lin? Why?" asked Kalin.
"He just wanted to make sure I was okay doing the demon slayer thing. He feels that I'm kind of under pressure or something. I told him I was fine. Nothing to worry about."
"Kay. Grandma's going to be out tonight, so when are you going to start dinner?" asked Kalin.
Shiken sighed. "Maybe in half an hour. Then after eating I gotta go demon slay."
Kalin nodded and ran upstairs to her room.
Who, do you ask, is Kalin? Definately not my girlfriend as you can tell. She's what Shiyue-den and Kenri-den left behind for me to watch over. A sister. Kalin's not a bad person. She's smart and can out wit anyone. She got Kenri-den's hair, only paled a bit. It's brighter than my eye color. Then she has Shiyue-den's eyes. They're only a bit darker then my hair. Yup, we're complete opposites in the physical sense, but personality wise, not that far apart. Plus I have to give her training along with grandma. Grandma gives Kalin most of the training though cause I'm busy most of the time, but sometimes I do take over and Kalin doesn't mind in the slightest. Best sister in the world. Period. Couldn't wish for a better one, though I bet she could wish for a better older brother. Eh, what can you do? That's life right? She knows I love her anyway. Plus I don't tease her or anything so that works in my favor too.
"How's dinner?" asked Shiken.
"It's good like it usually is." complimented Kalin.
"Why do I get the feeling that you're lying?"
"Cause I always say the same thing."
"Obviously." said Shiken before returning to his meal.
"Come now Shiken! I'm being honest. You're cooking is really good! No wonder grandma always gets you to cook." complimented Kalin again.
"Thanks..."
tenshiboy: And so it begins! Shiken's tale is about to unfold. However, for this fic, I have morphed the English language. The suffexes that Shiken used (-den, -tai, -lin, -len) are not real. They're kind of inspired from Japanese suffexes, but I don't think they are from any real language. If they are, sorry. To explain the meaning of these suffexes so that you understand, I have Shiken with me!
Shiken: Hi everyone! We'll start with the second suffex I used. The -tai suffex.
tenshiboy: -tai is a commonly used suffex. To add that to the last name of anyone means that you respect them.
Shiken: You can see this when I called Mr. Miden, Miden-tai. Because he's a teacher, he's supposed to be respected, so I add -tai to the end of his last name to show that I respect him. Now on to the first suffex I used in this chapter. The -den suffex.
tenshiboy: -den has an important use. It is used when you have more than one dad for whatever reason and are talking about them or may address them. To use -den, you add it after the first name of one of your fathers. This conotates that that person is a father to you by any reason.
Shiken: Since Shiyue and Kenri are both my fathers, I use -den when I talk about them or when I talked to Shiyue when he was in the hospital.
tenshiboy: A side note on the -den suffex. Although it conotates "dad", it isn't really proper to use it when you have only one dad. But, you can still use it if you really want. It's not suggested, but hey, you talk the way you want to.
Shiken: The last two suffexes are -lin and -len. -lin conotates "uncle" -len conotates "aunt"
tenshiboy: When using these, you put them after which ever part of the name you wish. It's usually the first name.
Shiken: I'd also like to point out that Inori and Kaiten really are my uncle and aunt. Inori is my uncle because he was the cousin of Shiyue-den. His father was brother to Shiyue-den's dad. Kaiten is my aunt because she married Inori-lin. So all this also means that Aren is my cousin too.
tenshiboy: I'd also like to add that since Inori and Aren are part of the Shinriyue clan, they should be demon slayers. However, the duty of becoming a demon slayer is left to the oldest. Shiyue's dad was older than Inori's. Their dad was older and so on and so on. Thus, since Shiyue was the oldest coming from the oldest, he had to take up demon slaying. Shiken is oldest decendent as well so he has to take up demon slaying, but, if something happens to him, Kalin can take his place and provide a heir. Inori and Aren don't have to become demon slayers, but if they wanted to, they could declare themselves as demon slayers of the Shinriyue clan.
Shiken: It's a bit confusing, but you should be able to understand. Now please review for tenshiboy. *gives kawaii look at everyone* Please? If you review a lot, maybe tenshiboy will draw a picture of me and give it to you people.
tenshiboy: It's a possiblity... So review or I'll sick Shiken on you people!