The Taming

When Shindo got to the training arena, the apparent source of the howling, he was amazed by the beast prowling around in front of him. It's body and head resembled a navy coated wolf with the exception of a protruding golden skeletal structure attached to it's head and large horns that seemed to be formed out of a metal that resembled solidified lighting. It's tail split into branches made out of a similar metal. And there were wing-like structures on the back of it's fore legs. It paid no attention to Shindo and let out another blood curdling howl. "Rai-Raiju," Shindo stuttered as he slowly approached the large creature. The beast stared at Shindo with the most ferocious eyes Shindo had ever seen.

Shindo's legs felt heavy as he continued looking back at the beast. Raiju growled as he took steps forward, getting closer and closer to Shindo with each step. Shindo quickly summoned kusarigama just in case he had to defend himself. The beast took note of the weapons and began growling even fiercer, now agitated. At this point, sweat ran down Shindo's face like drops of blood. He reversed his weapons back to tattoo form and showed the monster his hands. "No more kusarigama, see?" he said while waving his arms around. Raiju calmed down but still glared at Shindo with the intent to kill.

The beast suddenly charged straight at Shindo while bearing his teeth. Shindo rolled to his right but he was a second too late. As he rolled, the beast managed to get a hold of his left arm, separating it from the rest of his body. Shindo stared in shock as the monster swallowed his arm whole before letting out a wail. The beast licked the blood of it's snout before preparing for another attack. Shindo got enraged by the sight but refused to show it. He stood up clenching his remaining fist. His mind was blank except for an unfamiliar voice echoing the word, "kill".

"Hey Raiju!" Shindo yelled. "I dont normally approve of revenge but for you, I'll make an exception," he said sounding serious. With his remaining arm, he summoned kusarigama and stared down the beast as he swung it back and forth casually. Raiju got triggered by this and let out a bloodthirsty roar. "Now let's return the favour!" Shindo said as his left eye turned completely green. With a sudden burst of speed, he vanished and reappeared behind the beast. He let out a humming sound to get the monster's attention. As he turned, he had switched the kusarigama's position. He was now holding the scythe's hilt with his teeth. In his hand, he held the severed leg of a very unhappy Raiju. The monster let out another roar clearly infuriated by the sight.

Shindo held the limb towards it's owner with a malicious smile. "Let's see what happens when I apply a little more force on it," he said before crushing it in his hand. Raiju became furious and charged towards Shindo once more. Shindo jumped into the air before falling back down right on top of Raiju's head. He grabbed one of it's horns in an attempt to ride it but got tossed off like a rag doll. He stood up and patted himself with his now brutally wounded right hand. "Guess it can't be helped," he said as he looked over at what was left of his left arm. He let out a shout and the arm regenerated instantly with it's kusarigama already summoned. "I'll let you regenerate too so that I can give you an honourable takedown," Shindo announced while stretching his newly restored left hand.

Raiju seemed to understand the statement and slowly regenerated it's missing limb. "Could you do it any faster?" Shindo asked sounding frustrated. Raiju howled before fully regenerating it's leg as an answer to Shindo's question. "There we go. Now, we come at eachother at the same time. Let's end this," Shindo instructed as he got into his battle stance. Raiju prostrated itself before letting out a buzz. As it's tail moved upwards, smoke began escaping it's mouth. As the buzzing got louder, the smoke also got thicker until there was a pool of smoke surrounding the monster. "Are you gonna release that thing or should I attack first?" Shindo asked impatiently.

Raiju opened it's mouth to reveal what it was hiding. Upon it's tongue, sat a condensed ball of lightning. The beast threw it's tail back towards the ground and released the orb at the same time. Shindo didn't move except to cross his arms to defend himself. The heat from the blast was unbearable but Shindo refused to move anywhere but forward. Despite his arms getting charred with every passing second, he took steady steps towards the source of the blast. When the attack stopped, Shindo laughed like a madman. His arms were burnt to a crisp but he still had a tight grip on his scythes. He looked behind him and noticed that he had only taken six steps towards his opponent. "Guess it counts as progress," he said, ignoring his wounds. He moved quickly, running straight towards the monster in front of him before it had time to react. With one swing of his right scythe, he dug the blade into Raiju's skin before cutting open it's side. The beast let out a howl of pain before falling over on it's side.

Shindo's left eye reversed back to it's previous state as he undid the summoning of his kusarigama. When he looked behind him, he couldn't believe what he had done. He ran towards the wounded monster despite his sudden fatigue. Raiju was now breathing faintly with only the whites of it's eyes showing. "Damn it Shin! You were supposed to tame him not attempt to kill him!" Kami-gatta shouted furiously. "I'm sorry Kami. I just activated the forty percent and everything went black. And when I came back around, Raiju was like this," Shindo responded. "We'll have to worry about that later. Right now, I need you to heal Raiju and fast," Kami-gatta commanded. "Just put your hands on his wound and send the energy you have left through his body," he instructed.

Shindo did as he had been instructed. As he shared his energy, he noticed that the effects of the slice were being undone. When the wound closed completely, Raiju began breathing more steadily. Shindo let out a breath of relief before moving away from the beast. "Now that it's over, give me a quick recap on what happened," Kami-gatta requested. "Ok. So when I got here, Raiju attacked me first and bit off my arm. Then I got pissed and started charging up then everything went black," Shindo explained, still gazing at the beast. Kami-gatta remained silent for a few minutes. "And was there any weird sensation? Like a different type compared to when I was the one providing the energy?" Kami-gatta inquired. "Now that you mention it, yeah. As I charged up, the flow felt more vicious. It was like it was breaking down my body," Shindo responded.

Kami-gatta went quiet again. "I know what's happened," he stated. "So what is it?" Shindo asked. "Just know that if what I'm suspecting is happening, you're going to be in a real problem really soon," Kami-gatta declared. Shindo was too confused to form a sentence. "Listen Shin," Kami-gatta continued, "Unless you want to die, you need to find a man named Raitaro. He'll be able to fix you." As if reacting to the name 'Raitaro', Raiju awoke. It staggered around while thrashing its head around rapidly. When it got focus, it ran straight towards Shindo. "Calm down Shindo. I'll handle this," Kami-gatta said as Shindo's heart began racing. Shindo didn't know what Kami-gatta was going to do but he trusted him anyway.

Raiju advanced towards Shindo with the  clear desire to kill. "Raiju!" Kami-gatta yelled from inside Shindo's head. The beast halted as if hearing his voice. "This boy isn't the enemy! Now return to Raitaro and rest! Inform him that I am alive and well...relatively speaking!" Kami-gatta commanded with every ounce of courage he had. Raiju seemed to understand the statement and turned around before vanishing with a flash of lightning. Shindo was confused about what had just happened. "Wait, if that thing knows where Raitaro is, shouldn't I follow it?" Shindo asked. "No need. You still have the enlightenment ability so you can track him down on your own," Kami-gatta responded calmly.

Shindo hummed in agreement before getting back on his feet. He didn't seem to be bothered by his burnt up clothes as he walked out of the arena. When he got to his dorm, he stopped at the door and looked down at his right hand. The beaded bracelet he had received as a gift from his mother as a child appeared untouched amidst his crisp skin. He quickly tried to heal his arms to prevent suspicion from his roommates before opening the door. Everyone seemed to be asleep so he quietly made his way to his bed before finally passing out from exhaustion.

When the sun arose, he was the first to wake up even though he had slept the latest. He did all of his regular morning preparations silently before walking out the door. When he got to the mess hall, everyone appeared to be in a hurry as soon as he walked through the door.

He refused to believe that he caused it and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket before heading back out. As he walked to the school building, he could hear people muttering his name constantly. He paid them no attention and continued on his walk. Upon walking into his class, he was greeted with a punch to the face from an anonymous fist. "Who the hell did that?!" He yelled in frustration. "What's the matter Shin? You gonna use someone else as a punching bag now?" Kazē said while rubbing his knuckles. As far back as Shindo's first day, Kazē had always held something negative against him. But Shindo knew the reason for today's act. He got up quickly and held Kazē in the air by his throat. "Yeah, why not? You want to join your buddy Akane?" Shindo asked maliciously. As his grip got tighter around the boy's neck, he soon found enjoyment in what he was doing and once again, the only word in his mind was 'kill'. As Shindo's hold on Kazē's neck got even tighter, Hachi appeared behind him with one of his daggers held against Shindo's throat. "Don't make me do something I'll regret. Now let him go Shin," Hachi said calmly.

Shindo responded by letting go of Kazē without saying a single word. He slapped Hachi's hand away before walking to his desk at the back. He went through the whole day without muttering a word to anyone before returning to his room at the end of the day. "Kami, what's happening to me?" He asked as he looked at himself in the mirror. "It's a corruption. The energy within you is releasing your killer instincts. I suggest you refrain from using your power. It might reduce the speed of the effects," Kami-gatta instructed. Shindo didn't respond and remained silent. "I think I need to go see Raitaro immediately," he finally said. "Are you sure?"Kami-gatta asked. "Yeah. If he knows how to fix this, then he's my only hope," Shindo responded.

Later that day, upon nightfall, as his roommates walked in, Shindo buried his head under his pillow. "Hey Shin, what's the matter bro?" Korochi asked as he stood beside Shindo's bed. "It's nothing," Shindo muffled out from under his pillow. "I doubt that," Hachi responded. "Yeah, you missed training and haven't eaten or spoken all day," Oda added. Shindo sat up and looked at each of his friends. "I said it's nothing. I'm just tired," he said while faking a smile. That sentence seemed to convince them as they all went to do their own stuff afterwards. Soon after, when they had all fallen asleep, Shindo snuck out of the room, through the window this time. When he hit the ground, he looked back up to make sure no one had seen him.

"So do I just wait for Raiju to come back or what?" Shindo thought to Kami-gatta. "Find an empty place away from people and I'll tell you what to do," Kami-gatta responded. Shindo went to the one place he knew no one would follow him: the forest behind the administration block. When he got to the clearing at the centre of the forest, he got chills after remembering the events that happened there. "What now?" he asked after calming down. "Whistle my boy. Whistle as hard as you can," Kami-gatta instructed blankly. Shindo let out the loudest whistle he could muster and immediately began regretting it afterwards. Dark clouds began coming together as if reacting to the whistle. Then, a single lightning bolt came down and struck the ground in front of Shindo. After the bolt dissipated, Raiju appeared looking excited.

"Raiju!" Shindo yelled to get the wolf's attention. It turned towards his voice and licked his face as a form of greeting him. "In short, he holds no hard feelings against you," Kami-gatta pointed out. Shindo wasn't sure if it was possible for animals to hold grudges in the first place but decided to not to pay attention to the thought. "Take me to Raitaro!" he commanded the wolf, not sure if it would work. Raiju however, obeyed his command and prostrated himself waiting for Shindo to mount. After Shindo climbed onto the wolf, it let out a howl and started running towards the east. Shindo was amazed by the speed that it travelled at. After what felt like an hour of running, Raiju arrived at a lone mountain sitting amidst several unnaturally tall trees. The wolf dropped off its passenger at the base of the mountain before disappearing with a silent flash.

"So what happens from here?" Shindo thought back to Kami-gatta. "We climb my boy!" Kami-gatta responded. Shindo summoned his kusarigama to use as climbing equipment before beginning his ascent up the mountain.  As he got closer to the top, the air got thinner with each heave he made. When he had finally reached the peak, he found a cabin shielded by a large blue dome. "That flashy brat. Who the hell does he think will see this," Kami-gatta commented as Shindo walked towards the dome. "Burst through?" Shindo suggested. "If you're willing to die, yeah sure," an unknown voice replied. Shindo put his hands in the air and turned around slowly to face the person behind him.

It was a smiling man who looked like he was in his early twenties. His hair was tied back in a bun that for some reason looked good on him. He wore snow-camo themed clothes that looked similar to Shindo's own clothes. He held several chunks of firewood in his right hand and a rusty katana in his left hand. At the sight of the blade, Shindo let out an 'eek' sound as several streaks of sweat ran down his face. "Don't tell me this old thing scares you after what you did to Raiju last night," the man said sounding surprised. He sheathed the katana before putting his hand forward. "The name's Raitaro. Would I be right to  assume that you're Shindo?" he said still waiting for a handshake. "Uh-huh," Shindo mumbled out nervously as he shook Raitaro's hand.  "I'm here too you know!" Kami-gatta spoke up from inside Shindo's head. "I know father. I've felt your presence this whole time," Raitaro replied to the irritated consciousness. "I'm sorry, did you just say 'father'?" Shindo asked sounding confused. "Why yes I did," Raitaro said in a jolly tone. "I am the son of Raijin, Raitaro The Good Thunder."