“Friendships in The Ripple of Time”

When Megumi returned back to base with Nori, both of them began talking to each other there.  They both sat on their beds and for the first time, they began to smile at each other, even though there was some mistrust still between them.

“Listen…” Nori said, “Thanks for saving me earlier.”

“No problem,” Megumi smiled, “Thanks for jumping in there.  You beat those guys who were going to hurt me and maybe even try to kill me.”

“Eh, that was nothing.  I had to save a fellow comrade, you know?” Nori tells her, waving her hand at Megumi like Soji does at Nori and everyone. Nori starts to laugh, “Look at me I have been hanging out with Soji too much I am starting to pick up his habits.”

Megumi looked at Nori in confusion and says, “Well thanks. I am glad to be your friend and fellow comrade.”

“Wait, since when did you become my friend?  How can I trust you anyway?  How do I know you are not going to try and attack me again?” Nori says.

“Because if I wanted to hurt and or kill you, I think I would have done it already.  But I do not think that is necessary, I think you are a nice person.  Even though we have not really talked much I can see we both understand each other; if you do not think so, just think about earlier when we were looking at each other.” Megumi says

Nori smiled feeling her eyes start to sting, “Well we would have killed one another, but you are right I felt that same understanding.”

“Are you okay?” Megumi asks her.

“Yeah, I just do not have many friends you know?” Nori says.

“I know how that goes.  I had a rough life without many friends.” Megumi replies.

“Really?  I remember being that way.” Nori says.

“Really?” Megumi says.

“Yeah.” Nori tells her.

Both of them looked at each other again.  They could both see a lot of hurt in each other’s eyes.  Even though both of them had successfully over come a lot of their pain, there was still some of it within their hearts.

Nori paused and began to speak, breaking the silence, “Well… I lost my sister.  She betrayed the family name by picking up a weapon, and later killed herself right in front of me trying to atone for it.  I also lost my Mother and Father by rurouni, their thinking was they were bringing justice by doing so; I did not know love nor care. At least not until I met my friends… Soji, Susumu and well… I guess you could call him my boyfriend Hijikata.”

“Aww, well I know how you feel. I lost my parents when I was young.  I did not have many friends either.  My brother… Well I have a brother but he was taken away when I was two years old.  I did not get to see him again until recently.  But he became crippled by the enemy not too long ago.  He was finally able to walk again but it was tough.  Just like my life.  And I understand how you feel about friendship.  I had trouble trusting people and still only have very few friends and a boyfriend as well.” Megumi tells Nori.

She blushed, upon mentioning her boyfriend.  Nori giggled and nodded at Megumi.  Both of them began to cheer up and became friends, breaking their mistrust in the process.

“So…” Nori said, after another long bout of silence.

“Heehee sorry about being so quiet, I have a question. You are from Japan, right?” Nori says to Megumi.

“Yeah…” Megumi says.  “How… I mean what country are you from?  You do not look Japanese.  Well you kind of do.” Nori tells her.

“Heehee, I am half-Japanese and my other half is made up of English, Hungarian, German, and Slavic.  So I am a huge mix of races.  But yeah, my hair is blonde and my face kind of looks Japanese.” Megumi tells Nori.

“It is all good. I do not think I ever saw a person before in Japan that has that many races in them.” Nori says smiling.

“I do not see many of them here either.” Megumi replies.

“Oh.” Replied Nori.

“Well as long as you accept me for who I am I do not mind.  I accept you for who you are.” Megumi tells her.

“Thanks.  Same here, by the way, what is your name?  I don’t think we told each other our names.” Nori asks her.

“My name is Megumi, Megumi Suzuki,” Megumi said.

“Nice to... uhh talk with you again,” Nori said, laughing, “Sorry I know we already met so I can’t say nice to meet you. Anyway, my name is Nori.” She tells her.

“What is your last name?” Megumi asks her.

“Mutsu, sorry Nori Nanba Mutsu.” Nori says smiling.

The two girls laughed and looked around.  Both of them were relaxing and smiling.  Afterward, Jessenia, who is Megumi’s best friend, and Jack, Megumi’s brother, came in.  Both of them began talking with Nori and Megumi.  Nori laughed during the chat and smiled at Jack.  She began teasing Jack a bit, which upset Jessenia a little because she was afraid Nori was flirting with Jack.  But later on, Jessenia realized she was not so it was all good.

“Emergency!” a voice yelled.

Megumi wondered what was going on as she stood up walking from her bed side. Nori followed, going along.  Megumi went over and read the report on her computer.

“Just as I feared, there’s a seven foot man attacking the island right now.  This soldier has been killing many people. I am going to go out there and fight him… and… there is something bothering me though.  The report says that the guy has been calling out for you.”

“Me? Why me?” Nori asked, “No one knows I am here.”

“He must have traveled through the warp portal as well but how he knows you are here now has me lost. I do not know, but I am going.” Megumi says.

“You are not going alone!!  I am going with you.  If this guy’s yelling for me then I might know him.  He might be an enemy from my time.  You are going to need my help.” Nori tells her.

“Okay.  Just know that you ain’t the only super girl here.  We’ll take him on… TOGETHER!” Megumi said and smiled.

Nori laughed and both of them hopped on motorcycles.  A soldier drove Nori to the scene while Megumi went alongside.

“Well, well, it has been some time since I have had two girls at the same time,” the man, who was the enemy that Megumi was referring to, stated.

“You’re sick!!” Nori says with a scorn look.

“You want to hurt us?  Fat chance, C’mon mister stilts and poles, come try to defeat us.  You won’t be able to get past me or Nori,” Megumi said.

“One hit from either of us and you’re going down,” Nori said to the man.

The guy was around seven feet, had muscles bigger than anyone that they had gone up against, and he was Japanese. 

He smiled and looked at both girls. “Heh, Heh, Neither one of you will defeat me.  You both are weak in comparison to me.”

“You only think that. Once you see us attack, you’re going to think different, because Nori and I are gonna make you pay,” Megumi said.

“You don’t want to see the consequences of this fight,” Nori told the guy, coldly.

“Heh, you do not know a thing Nori.  In fact, Megumi you don’t know anything about this at all.  As for Nori, you are just one annoying twerp.  You will never know who I am.  But I know who you are- I know all about you!  I am going to kill you and then break your new friend!”

“Keep dreaming big boy the only one getting hurt here today is you, and then what we do not know… we will be sure you tell us.” Megumi tells him.

Nori stands there staring at him with a bad feeling that is cutting her to the bone when all of a sudden Nori yells out, “I do know you…  Jiro… you bastard… Hijikata has been looking for you how did you get here?”

He laughs, he grabs his stomach as he laughs harder at Nori, “I am glad you find this amusing Jiro keep laughing because I am going to rip you apart for what you did to Soji.” Nori tells him. Nori attacks him as she does a spinning back kick and hitting him in the side of his head causing him to take a few steps back and stopping him abruptly from his laughter. His eyes narrow and anger burns in his eyes as a stream of blood trickles from his brow, he looks at Nori.

“Nori Mutsu… your sweet Soji is probably dead right now as we speak. If you remember right there was one samurai left when you fell into the ripple.” He tells her.

“No way!! That worthless piece of crap could not kill Soji if his life depended on it, and believe me if he challenged Soji his life depended on it.” Nori said.

“Heh, you think you know everything foolish girl, the battle has only begun, I remember one time when you were just like us and fought on the same side, join us again and I will tell you everything you want to know… Like I am not Jiro and about your sister’s only child…” He tells her.

Nori’s eyes widen as she exclaims, “WHAT?! Katana had no children!”

He laughs at Nori as Megumi looks at Nori wondering if the trust she gave so freely to her was going too betrayed, but Megumi stayed true to Nori as she called out, “It is a trick Nori do not listen to him, he is only trying to break your concentration so you will not be able to defeat him.” Megumi looks at the guy yelling, “Stop talking crap and start fighting.”

Megumi attacked him as she ran toward him going down into a slide, sliding under him she jumps to her feet once she was behind him she spins jumping into the air she wraps her legs around his neck bring him down face first to the ground. He rolls quickly and tries to grab Megumi as she jumps over him he springs to his feet. Megumi spring forward as he gets to his feet she kicks him square in the chest sending him back a few steps but he was able to get a hit into to Megumi knocking her to the ground. He grabs his chest as he gasp for air. He stands tall spreading out his arms he yells; “Now you die!!”

Nori rushed in as she seen him run toward Megumi, she grabs him by his arm as he went to hit Megumi; Nori flips him to the ground on his back. She jumps landing with her feet in the center of his chest as he lies on the ground she draws down her fingers as the heel of her hand pushes out her hand drawn back to deliver the killing blow but she is stopped in mid strike. As she heard clapping coming from behind her she turned to see who was interfering with her fight. She sees a tall well built young man standing behind her as he removes his sun glasses looking at Nori. His hair is a long golden brown and his eyes Blue, he is dressed in the modern world clothing of white pants and a black long sleeve shirt; he looks like someone she knows, but cannot recall his face. He smiles at her and says.

“Well as I can see the Mutsu name still stands strong even in the 21^st century. I guess time travel has not changed that part of you.” The young man said.

“Who are you?!” Nori ordered to know. Megumi pulls her self from the ground trying to make since of what was going on.

He laughs, “You mean you cannot tell. I was told I took my looks from you, even though it has been a little over a 100 years. I guess your genes were strong enough to make it through the centuries…” He pauses looking at Nori as he slowly walks toward her then picking up his pace he says, “As well as your fighting skills.”

“Look out Nori!!” Megumi yells.

He attacks Nori as she jumps from her other opponent that she has on the ground. She flips herself over him as he quickly turns striking at Nori hitting her with his elbow in the center of her back taking her to her knees she jumps from her kneeling position flipping herself over kicking her legs over her she drops to her back and spins herself on her shoulders as she gets her legs around to him she full force kicks him square in chest sending him back landing on the ground a few feet away from her. She springs to her feet as she jumps landing straddled across his chest as she brings her one knee down into his throat. He grabs her flipping her off of him as he does a back hand spring getting to his feet and getting him closer to Nori. Nori was grabbed by the first guy she and Megumi were fighting.

“Nori…” Megumi yells starting toward her. Nori sees the young man pull a small dagger from his belt he places the dagger at Nori throat as she lifts her head slightly the dagger point rest on her neck.

“Stay back Megumi, for some reason they want me.” Nori tells her.

“Now what a way to die… to think your going to have your own sister’s dagger slit your throat.” He tells her.

Nori looks down at the dagger and sure enough it was the dagger her sister gave to her the day she killed herself, “Where did you get that… It has been locked in Hijikata’s office since I gave it to him months ago.” Nori says giving him a scorned look.

He laughs, “It is mine now and has been since I was a child. I was told it was yours… a parting gift you received from your sister; I guess I should say, more like the dagger you killed her with.”

Nori shot him a look of anger, “Katana killed herself, and I had nothing to do with it, Katana was weak.”

He lifts Nori’s head by her chin with the blade of the dagger as he looks at the scar that Katana left from her sword that day. “I guess this is the scar my Grandmother gave you the day you killed her.”

Nori could feel her knees getting weak as she looked at the young man, “Your Grandmother…”

“Nori what is he talking about you said your sister killed herself?” Megumi yells at her. Nori looks at Megumi her eyes wide, “He does not know what he is saying.” She calls out to Megumi, Nori looks back at the young man, “You have no idea what you are saying you were not there. You are going by what someone told you and they lied to you.” Nori locks eyes with him.

He laughs at her pulling the blade from her throat as he goes to turn and walk away, he quickly turns back striking Nori across her face with the back of his hand, she hangs her head as the big guy holds on to her. Nori looks up and smiles at him, spitting the blood in her mouth in his face. He strikes her again on the other cheek Nori hanging her head once more, “Let her go Juubei.” He tells him. He let Nori go as she dropped to her knees Nori went to raise her head as she sees Megumi slowly moving in behind the one big guy that had a hold on her.

“You can beat me down as much as you like but it will not change the fact that Katana killed herself. I had nothing to do with my sister’s death.” Nori tells him as she looks up at him. He turns looking down at her; he reaches down and grabs the hair on the back of her head. Nori cringes reaching for his hand as he lifts her to her feet by her hair. Once on her feet he gets in her face, “Killing you is only part of the enjoyment I am getting from this job, my dearest Aunt. The greatest enjoyment is going to be able to destroy your newly found friends that think they can stop us in our mission. Soji and the others have already been taken care of so they are no longer a burden.” He tells her.

Nori eyes narrow as he draws closer to her just then she hears Megumi yell, as Megumi jumps landing on Juubei’s back. Nori flings her head forward hitting the young man in the nose with her forehead blinding him from the hit and his own tears. He releases Nori grabbing his nose with both hands. Nori spins kicking him in the side of his head spinning him around and taking him to his knees.

Nori goes over to him grabbing the hair on top of his head pulling his head up to look at her she says, “If you so much as hurt Hijikata or Soji I will kill you with my bare hands.” she clinches her fist drawing back and knocking him out cold. She turns to see Megumi sitting in the center of Juubei’s chest delivering a series of blows to his head until he too is out cold.