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For every revelation we undergo, every moment of absolute clarity, every epiphany that we have; another layer of our reality gets stripped away. Such moments serve to define us, shape us, and more often than not; our worlds, our lives, and our very existence, becomes changed forever. So we must pray, that when such moments do happen, that we do not lose our way.

Chapter Nineteen : Live another day, die tomorrow.

Making a point of ignoring Kato as he went about his own business, John had forced his former wife's son to stand in the center of the room without any rhyme or reason. He was of course, waiting until Kato began to show some sign of mental or physical stress, but if he was beginning to feel any sort of discomfort at going so long without being given any new orders, then he showed no outward sign of it.

Silently drumming his fingers against his pant leg as he considered how best to illicit the information that he wanted from Kato without arousing any of his suspicions, John stared at him as if he were nothing truly worthy of note. Because if there was one thing could be said about the bastard half-breed that stood before him, it was that Morishita had trained him personally, and the old man was no one's fool.

Growing tired of playing a waiting game with him, he simply stared into Kato's eyes and said. “Report.”

“Sir?” The order caught Kato completely off guard. The last thing he had been expecting after just walking through the front door of the King family manor was to be immediately called into his stepfather's office so he could be questioned about his former whereabouts. Having just assumed that the elder King would have already known what had happened to him, Kato had expected his return to be nothing worthy of note. And if not, that he would have used far more subtle methods ways of finding out what had really happened. After all a man who could so casually and brutally order the erasure his own wife's memory hardly seemed like the type to do anything directly.

Something about this feels off. Thought Kato as he made a concerted effort to study the floor. Maybe he simply wasn't expecting me to come back. Or . . . Any other thoughts he may have had were suddenly pushed aside as he caught the scent of something that he had never smelled before.

Closing his eyes, Kato grimaced as he began to breath in deeply. It had already begun to fade, but the lingering scent of a stranger still managed to permeate the room. If someone else besides me was here not to long ago, and it wasn't Johnathan or Morishita then who?

A hint of impatience bleeding into his voice the elder King repeated the order. “I thought I told you to report. And get that stupid look off your face, or are you waiting for someone to come along and hold your hand?”

Ignoring his insults, Kato replied sarcastically. “And where exactly would you like me to begin? Before or after Johnathan decided to leave me for dead?”

Making himself as comfortable as he could possibly get in the great winged back chair that was always placed in front of the fire, John simply looked at his illegitimate son and said. “Before, and be sure not to leave out any, details.”

Taking a second deep breath, Kato let the scent begin painting a picture in his mind. Its on the desk, the chair . . . Wait, the chair? He would never allow anyone else to sit down in his chair the way he is, not unless . . . Opening his eyes as the picture suddenly became clear in his mind, Kato said. “Someone from Exotica Geno-Works was here in this room, they came asking about me. Heh. They certainly don't waste any time, do they?”

Lifting his face from the floor, Kato watched in silent satisfaction as his words robbed the elder King of his carefully maintained composure along with the aura of absolute authority he had worn about himself like a cloak. Now, bereft of his armor he was once more a man, one who was frightened by something that had just grown beyond his ability to control.

“How much do you know?” He said at last. “How much did Morishita tell you?”

Reveling in the glory of having triumphed over a hated foe, Kato simply lifted his hands and said. “Everything. Morishita told me everything.” Meeting the elder King's eyes, and seeing for himself the truth that had been hidden there, Kato felt reason to gloat. “What a delightfully fucked up family we share, eh father? To think, that even peripherally the two of us could share blood. Being related to a chimera, must be a bitch.”

“You will return to your room,” Said John, growing desperate as he tried to think of how best to recover from his failures, before Exotics Geno-Works saw fit to punish him again. “You will never speak of this to anyone do you hear me. I order it.”

“You think that you can keep me silent?” Kato laughed, the sound harsh and bitter. “Not anymore.” Tapping his collar he said. “Never again will I be your slave.”

Growling low in his throat at having been bested by a chimera, John said. “Bold words, coming from a boy.”

“Oh, they're more then words. Think of it, as an offer of sorts.” Kato went on, suddenly afraid of losing the ground he had gained. “In exchange for my, silence. I get free reign, to go where I want, whenever I want. No questions asked. And you, you can find someone else to play bodyguard. I'm tired of cleaning up after Johnathan, from now on, I say we let him deal with his own mistakes. And together, we'll see just how long he lasts.”

“Deal. And in return—”

Kato was quick to cut him off. “No, you see, that's not the way that things are going to work.” Feigning a bravado he didn't feel, Kato placed the tip of a clawed against the side of his throat and said. “My deal or no deal.”

Hoping to call his bluff, John's reply was a terse. “You wouldn't.”

Cocking his head to the side, Kato simply said. “Wouldn't I? You see, the way I see it, I'm already the walking dead, but if I were to do something like this,” Tugging ever so slightly, a thin red line of blood began to trickle down his neck. “At least I would get to experience the satisfaction of knowing that I took you down with me.”

Blinking in surprise as he realized that Kato was serious, John just looked at him as if he were actually seeing him for the first time. “If only you had been born a human, and not a chimera. What a man you would have been.”

Fighting back an overwhelming sense of revulsion brought on by the reality of the things that he had just done, Kato realized that coming from him, his words were almost praise.

“Four more years.” Said John. “I can be patient. But I suppose for you, its actually closer to three, isn't it?”

Before Kato could even think to fashion a reply the elder king suddenly backhanded him across the face.

He could taste blood in his mouth when he said the words. “Was that really necessary?”

“No.” The elder king's smile made Kato's gorge rise into his throat. “But it did make me feel better.”

Watching as the man he had spent the better part of his life being afraid of lifted a glass decanter from a hidden compartment in his desk and began pouring himself something to drink, Kato asked the question. “What about Morishita?”

“Morishita is no longer in the employ of this house, and as such, I see no reason for you to concern yourself with his well being. Unless of course,” John lifted his glass in a toast when he said. “There's something that you've neglected to tell me.”

Bowing his head, Kato knew that he would win no more concessions this day. “No. Sir.”

“Good, now I want you to go and clean out the practice room. I'm thinking of having it converted it into a second office.” The elder king made a point out of ignoring him when he said. “Johnathan is going to need one of his own, if he ever hopes to actually succeed me.”

Suppressing the disgust he felt at having to follow such an order Kato resisted the urge to argue. After all, the dismissal he had heard in his voice had been all to clear. “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, and Kato, there is one last thing.” Holding the glass of fine French rum in his hand as he stared into the flames, John shivered and said. “Do try harder next time. I'd hate to have to answer anymore, unnecessary questions.”

Stumbling from the office in a daze as his heart beat wildly in his chest, Kato had to fight with himself just to remain calm. The more that he thought about what had just happened, the more confused he became. To find that an act born of pure desperation had just earned him a kind of grudging tolerance that bordered on actual acceptance, it was if the natural order of the universe had suddenly decided to rearrange itself. And yet, the knowledge that he had just won a great victory over the man who had terrorized his youth and brutalized him throughout most of his life brought him little real comfort. Stranger still, the fact that he now understood the source of his family's enmity towards him did little to change the reality of living in death's shadow that he would now have to endure. And if anything, the knowledge that he had exchanged one prison for another of his own choosing only served to reinforce the fact that he was no less free.

Even if I were to leave, He thought to himself, where would I go, and what would I do?

Money, power, influence, safety. He had none of the things he knew he needed in order to survive, save the will to find them.

Walking down the hallway Kato had become so wrapped up on his own thoughts that he didn't even realize that someone had begun following him.

“Surprise!” Said Johnathan as he grabbed Kato by the tail. “Really, I'm amazed you had the guts to come crawling back. So what did my father want to talk to you about anyway.”

His fur beginning to bristle all across his body, Kato grabbed Johnathan by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. “Allow me make one thing between us perfectly clear.” Unleashing a punch that, had it connected with Johnathan's face, would have left a nice, fist sized hole in the middle of his head, Kato said. “If you ever come near me again, if you ever so much as think about touching anyone like that again.” He pulled his hand out of the whole he had made in the wall and said. “Then I'll hunt you down, and when I finally find you, I'll do that again, only next time, I won't miss.” Letting the full fury of his feral nature rise to the fore. Kato leaned in close as he let Johnathan's limp and unyielding body slowly slump to the floor. “Got it?”

Without bothering to wait for Johnathan to reply, Kato simply turned and started to walk away. Ignoring the stench of urine that was filling the air he let himself crack a smile. For some reason, he was suddenly feeling much better about his situation.

Staring up at the wooden plaque that had been hung above the door to the King family dojo, Kato hated the idea of having to take it down. But besides him, it was the only thing left in the room. Everything else had already been packed and taken away.

Honor, integrity, strength. Written in kanji by Morishita himself, he had taken the words to heart every time that he had entered the room, but now, without the man that had given them meaning in the first place, the words felt as if they had become nothing more than a hollow and empty lie.

“The sword is a tool that can be used to carve the soul.” Said Kato as he reached up and removed the wooden plaque. “As one's sword can be corrupted, so too can the soul.”

By speaking aloud the maxim that Morishita had spoken on the day of their first meeting, Kato had hoped to regain some semblance of the past, along with a way to make sense of his current plight. “In this room, you sought to instill in me the value of these words. Not just as ideas, but as a way of defining one's life.” Holding the wood in his hands, feeling the familiar weight of memories that it held, He was loathe to simply let it go. “Morishita Sensei. I need to know. What am I supposed to do now?”

Waiting for the plaque to answer Kato felt like a fool. First for having actually expected a response, and second for having asked a piece of wood.

Sighing as he started to turn it in his hands. Kato decided that he would keep it with him always. Because if nothing else, then at least it would serve to remind him of better times.

Feeling his breath catch in his throat, Kato was surprised by what he saw. Hidden on the back of the plaque, as if patiently waiting for him to find them, was a set of instructions and a data disc of a kind that he had never seen before.

Kato, no doubt my sudden disappearance has caused you undue hardship. For that I am truly sorry, but it was necessary to prevent my enemies from becoming yours as well.

I know that these words will offer you little comfort as you struggle to find your way, but the answer to the question you are no doubt asking yourself now is a simple one. You must resolve yourself to becoming stronger, and the only way to do that, is to seek out your own limits, and surpass them.

Since I know that you alone will be the one to find this message, I shall entrust to you my most precious possession. My memories.

“But if there are memories contained on this disc.” Said Kato as he read the instructions again, hoping to find some kind of clue. “How am I supposed to access them?”

Once he was safely hidden away inside his room, Kato tried loading the data-disc into a datapad similar to the one Morishita had only to receive an unable to retrieve source code error. Running his fingers through his hair with a sigh, Kato wondered what it was that he was supposed to do. He had tried everything he could think of to find a way to access the information contained on the disc, and none of them had worked.

“Hmm, if it can't be accessed like a normal data-disc . . .” Letting the words hang in the air, Kato had a flash of insight as the answer came to him. Since the technology to record and replay people's memories already exists, then theoretically, it should also be possible to project them. And in order to do that, all it would take is . . .

Gathering together all the things he thought he would need, Kato pried open the cover to his Holo-Vid player with a clawed finger and revealed a mass of circuitry and a projector lens. “Perfect,” He said as he started cannibalizing the device for parts. “Now all I need is something I can transfer the memories to and, ah ha!” Lifting a mechanical doll known as an Angel Drive from a chest filled with his childhood mementos Kato said. “Yes, yes this should do very nicely.”

A toy that had been designed to respond to people's thoughts, the Angel Drive was a line of action figures that had been popular back when he was still a kitten. With a completely customizable body type and a wide assortment of accessories it could use to fight with, it had originally been based on a series of prototype combat mechs that were supposed to be capable of storing human memories.

Incredible. Thought Kato, as forest in miniature seemed to spring to life around him as he attached a power cell to his makeshift holo-projector. To think that someone could actually figure out a way to recreate a moment stolen from time. I mean, I knew that it was possible to record your own memories and replay them, but for someone to be able to take it to the next level and create something like this . . .

Overlaying an image of Morishita over top of the mechanical doll, the tiny simulacrum began to speak. “Long ago, in the ages lost to history, those of us who were the inheritors of our families hidden arts would pass down our knowledge to those we deemed worthy.

But over time, many of the secrets that we guarded were lost or became obsolete. Sensing that our skills would once again be needed, we sought out a way to prevent our arts from disappearing from the world entirely and created this, the Sonzairon no Issho, as a way of ensuring that even if we were vanish from the world, our history, our traditions, and even our way of life would not.” Looking older then he had ever been, Morishita's gaze seemed to pass through him. “Kato, everyone who has ever been entrusted the Sonzairon no Issho has added something to it, and when the time is right, you will as well.”

Watching as the connections between the power cell and the rest of the device suddenly began to burn out, Kato knew then that he was going to require a lot more power then his makeshift holo-projector was able to produce. A lot more.