present day
The next morning carried on quite the same as the day before, I woke up as usual, I walked to the Death Room, Lord Death assigned me a class, which was different this time because it was my own class. I would be teaching a meister's only class in the field behind the school so we would have room to practice. I would teach new techniques of fighting and sharpen each meister's individual skill with a weapon, be it a normal weapon or a magic one.
"Alright class." I said as I walked to the back field to surprisingly find a class of meisters already waiting for instruction. "I'm your new teacher, Kyouki Fukai, but you all can call me Kyouki. I'm not into formality." I laughed nervously and called myself an idiot in my head. You idiot! If you already told them to call you Kyouki, you obviously aren't formal! Baka!
"Anyways, I'm going to start a series of tests to evaluate your skills so I know what to teach and what has already been covered. The first test will be speed. I want to see how fast you are as an average to see what conditioning has already been done." I walked down twenty feet and threw down on the ground some spot mats I borrowed from the gym. "I want you each to sprint here, individually. Line up in a straight line where I was standing." I said as all the students lined up in a line.
"First person," I nodded to Maka, who happened to be first. "Ready, set, go!" I shouted then started my timer.
I proceeded to go through each and every one of the students, and then started various other tests of ability and skill. It was disappointing, really, that only Maka, Black Star, Kid, and Ox seemed to meet my standards. Or come close.
"Well, it seems I have a lot of work to do." I shrugged as I looked at the results I took on my clipboard. "I have to admit, the vast majority of this class is quite disappointing. You all have a lot to learn and a lot of practice to do. But for now I have to dismiss you for lunch since it is sadly that time already." I said in a disappointed tone as the students grimly headed inside the building for lunch and their afternoon classes.
While the students were heading to lunch, I walked back to Lord Death's Death Room.
"How did I do?" I asked when I walked in.
"Kyouki." was all the shinigami said.
"Yes?" I asked slightly concerned. His tone was a cross between sad and angry, and I wondered what I had done now.
"I just received news about Asura." His tone remained the same.
"Really?" I said, overjoyed. "What happened?"
"I just received news that he had killed another family."
"Oh. So nothing too interesting, besides the fact he has gone out of hiding." I said solemnly.
"But I also received some alarming news of Lord Fukai's death centuries ago."
"This isn't news. I knew he died. He chose not to use Soul Search." I said, questioning this news.
"Kyouki, have you ever suffered from memory loss at all?" lord Death asked. "I know you don't lie."
"No, not that I can recall. I don't remember much of my childhood other than my mother died and Lord Fukai trained me to be a mercenary." I scratched my head. "But that's normal when you are as old as me."
"I don't recall you ever remembering your childhood clearly, even when you were younger." He pointed out.
"I suppose that's true..." I shrugged. "I'm not sure I understand the problem here." I was very confused.
"I have reports that Mrs. Fukai died when she gave birth to her second child, which was obviously you."
"That must be false. I'm an only child!" I was starting to get very concerned. What is going on? I thought.
"This report was filed by your older brother, Souki Fukai. We have proof he is the son of your father, and that you two share the same parents. Your DNA matches." Lord Death dropped a huge bomb on me. What is this? An older brother? I was so confused.
"What? How come I don't remember anything of him?" I asked.
"That isn't all. Souki also reported abuse on himself and you from your father." Lord Death went on. "I know this is probably a lot to take in, Kyouki. But I knew you had to know."
"My head hurts." I said and I looked down.
"But about Lord Fukai's death." He went back to the topic. "You said he refused to use Soul Search to keep himself alive, but I think we both know that he isn't the type to do that. Lord Fukai was incredibly power hungry, that's why he taught his children to fight, so he could use them in battle and train you to become his successors, if need be. Souki Fukai's account of the event of your father's death is quite different from yours."
"How so?" I asked curiously.
"He recalls you and Asura breaking into Lord Fukai's home, the two of you full of madness, and you killed him. Kyouki, this doesn't come from your brother, but I'm lead to believe that Asura wouldn't go for such a hard target such as your father for mere soul collecting."
"What are you implying?" I asked.
"Well, I think you were the one who wanted to kill your father. You remembered the horrible things he did to you, you were full of madness, you knew you had enough power to kill him, and now that you had madness on your side, you weren't afraid anymore." He accused me.
"That's ludicrous! I wouldn't kill my own father! How dare you accuse me!" I screamed, trying to deny the possible truth I was starting to consider. I mean, for all I know, this could easily be true.
"Think about it Kyouki. It's possible." He insisted.
"No. No. No way. This isn't the truth." I started to panic, denying everything.
"Do I need Souki to and tell you himself?" Lord Death said, in an almost threatening way.
"What? He's here?"
"Yep. He moved back to Death City as well. He's alive for the same reason you are."
"Why don't I remember this?" I asked.
"In his statement, he said he didn't want you to remember the horrible childhood you two shared. He used his own ability, Soul Forget, to do it. He invented it after you moved out, and he used it to erase your memory of your childhood." Lord Death explained.
"No, that makes no sense. If my memory was erased after I killed Lord Fukai, I would have remembered it in the time before Asura became mad."
"I don't know the full abilities of Soul Forget, but I know that's what happened. I don't remember you knowing about your past, so maybe if you go and talk to him he might give you answers."
"Alright." I said as I turned and left the Death Room. I didn't even have to ask where he is, because Soul Search will tell me everything. I don't even have to see his soul, I can feel it when there is a connection between souls. I felt his, and I guess I wasn't really surprised to learn that he was in my house. He probably used Soul Search to find me as well.
I ran to my house, and I could feel the strength of his soul as I got closer. I threw open the door, and said,
"Hello, brother." I looked at the brother I never knew I had. He looked very much like me before I was filled with madness, with dark brown hair, deep, ocean blue eyes, and he was rather tall and lean. He wasn't particularly muscular, but he wasn't skinny and had some build on him.
"Hello Kyouki. I assume Lord Death already told you about me." He said in a moderately deep, but very rich and calming voice. Far from my own voice, now somewhat distorted by madness.
"I know you are my older brother, you invented Soul Forget, you saw me kill our father and you took away my memories." I explained as I stepped inside. "I'm hoping there are some questions you can answer for me, about the nature of Soul Forget. I know you erased most of my childhood so that I wouldn't remember the abuse father put us through, as well as the act of me killing him. But it doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't?" He asked.
"Lord Death said that you took away my memories of the past after I killed father. But Lord Death doesn't recall me ever recall knowing much of my childhood, even before I got involved with madness."
"I see. Most people don't catch the true affect Soul Forget has. It doesn't only erase memories from people's minds, it erases the memory of the memory. It changes the past." He explained, quite vaguely.
"What do you mean memory of a memory?" I asked, confused.
"It erases the memory in other people's minds of you ever having that memory, and it slightly distorts the past because of it. In this case, when you remembered being abused, you never talked that much about it, so it didn't have that big of an impact when it changed the past and you never talked about the past because you didn't know the past. The memory of you knowing your past is erased." He explained far more thoroughly.
"Why? What would be the point of taking my memory away?" I asked in a tone full of despair.
"I didn't want you to have to face the horrible memories father created. I saw how sad you already were-"
"I could have handled it! I'm stronger than you think!" I didn't notice the tear escape my eye.
"Oh Kyouki, you are still such a crybaby." He walked over to me, in such speed our father had us grow accustomed to. He wiped the tear from my cheek. "I missed you all this time."
"Why did you erase yourself?" I asked. He looked down, as if too ashamed to answer. So I repeated myself. "Why?"
"Kyouki, I'm 830. That's ten years older than you. I wasn't exactly the best brother around." He said, as if completely guilty of something he wasn't telling me.
"There's something you aren't telling me." I pressed for more information.
"Well," He started to rub the back of his head. "I tended to take after Lord Fukai. I was just as bad as he was." He explained. "I guess I was just to ashamed of myself to apologize to you for what I had done in the past. I was too cowardly before."
"Why did you file that report about father's death?" I asked.
"I had to get to you and apologize. I knew that when the Kishin reawakened you would return to the city, and I just wanted you to know that, I'm on your side." I pat my shoulder, and I was honestly shocked. Is he for real? Does he actually believe me? Will he really help me? All of these unanswered questions were spinning around in my head.
"Thank you." I started to sob and I hugged him. "No one...believes me..." I said through sobs and snivels. He's right, I am a crybaby. But right now, I couldn't stop. But of all my 820 years of living, this was my first time shedding tears of joy.
"I understand why it's hard to believe. But when you have an ability like we do, it is easy to understand what other's can't. A soul cannot be filled with madness, only the body can. You were a special case, since Asura physically used his madness to shove its way inside your soul. Asura's soul can't really be filled to the brim with madness, not unless madness was shoved inside, which it wasn't." He explained as he hugged me back and began to rub his hand in circles around my back to comfort me.
"I don't need to be comforted you know. These are happy tears." I said smiling. "But how are we going to help the Kishin give us our Asura back?" I asked as my crying slowly stopped and I hugged my brother's chest.
"I guess we'll have to review some texts...." He shrugged and scratched the back of his head again, while I still stood there hugging him. I was too excited and happy to let go. No, happy is an understatement. I was ecstatic.
"Thank you, onii-san." I smiled and hugged him tighter.
I just hope this amazing dream will never end.
