Thousands of Years

Musashi Hirata also noticed the shock on Heero's face. However, he thought Heero was shocked by his technique. He smirked and moved forward with his unnatural movement.

The shocked Heero became even more shocked as he saw this unnatural movement. It was Miyamoto's signature move, but there were many flaws in the assassin's movement.

As for why he could tell it was his best friend's movement, he found many familiarities with the movement. As he knew this technique very well, it was pretty easy to counter as well.

Moreover, the assassin's technique was flawed and it was still far compared to Miyamoto. Heero had many ways to take Musashi Hirata down.

Currently, Heero was so excited now. Finding a clue about his best friend made him excited. He wanted to know where the assassin learned this technique and there was a chance the assassin might be his friend's descendant.

Wuunggg!

Heero easily avoided the sword and Heero predicted every of Musashi Hirata's attacks. The movement that meandered weirdly was easily read by Heero. If someone watched the fight, it was more like a show rather than a battle.

The vibration in the sword could not come into use as it could not hit Heero. The vibration on the sword is supposed to be containing an explosive Ki. If Heero touched or even blocked, he would be blown by an explosion Ki.

But… the one who used this technique was not Miyamoto. People on Earth did not know how to use Ki, what if the sword hit him?

Heero was curious about this and he stopped avoiding the sword. A rift opened on his left and his hand entered the rift. When his hand came out of the rift, he brought out a sword with him.

Meanwhile, Musashi Hirata also stopped his attack as once again he was shocked at what he witnessed. He saw a rift open and his target took out a sword from the rift. The sword was similar to his Katana, it was longer than his sword and dark red.

This time, he understood why did Shadow Fang task him to kill Heero. His target was not weak at all. In the organization, he was the best choice to kill Heero. With his ability, he had a pretty big chance to kill Heero with a sneaky attack.

However, he had wasted his chance to do a sneak attack because of curiosity. He was curious about Heero which ended him in this situation.

"Oi, why did you stop? Come again!" Heero was oblivious to his opponent's thoughts. He just wanted to make sure whether the assassin had the same technique as his best friend or not.

He did not know that his space storage shocked the opponent and made his opponent wary of him. However, it did not matter anymore as Musashi Hirata took Heero's action as an act of provocation.

Musashi Hirata did not change his style of attacking, but he moved faster than before. Holding the sword with his two hands, Musashi Hirata slashed his sword downward.

To his surprise, Heero did not try to avoid his sword this time but took his sword head-on. Looking at this, Musashi Hirata grinned. Earlier, he was frustrated that he failed to hit Heero, but now his opponent tried to meet his sword.

Wuuunggg!

Clang!

It created a loud noise and the grin on Musashi Hirata's face froze. He noticed nothing happened to his opponent. Meanwhile, Heero frowned after testing the Quake Sword.

The difference between Miyamoto's Quake Sword and Musashi Hirata's Quake Sword was just too big. If Miyamoto's Quake Sword could create a Ki Explosion, the assassin's Quake Sword only caused a slight tremor to his hand.

"Is it the same technique or just similar…" Heero began doubting that the assassin was Miyamoto's descendant.

"Nah, I will know if I question him… but before that, I will show him Miyamoto's true technique…" Heero made the same stance as Musashi Hirata.

"Kid, I will show you what the true Quake Sword is," with a confident smile, Heero told Musashi Hirata who was still in shock as his best technique failed on Heero.

When Musashi Hirata saw the familiar stance Heero made, he was shocked once again. He was rooted on the spot as he witnessed Quake Sword's stance. He did not expect that Heero could copy his stance in just one look.

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Musashi Hirata was relieved as it seemed Heero failed to copy Musashi Clan's secret sword technique.

"Oh, I forgot that I have exhausted my Ki… I can't use Quake Sword…" Heero muttered embarrassedly.

Heero tried to channel his Ki, but then he realized that he had no Ki inside his body. Finding a clue about his best friend excited and forgotten that he had exhausted his Ki.

He tried to act cool and called the assassin with a kid, but he failed to show him the real Quake Sword. Failing to show Quake Sword, Heero changed his stance. He held the sword with his left hand while his right hand held the handle as he bent his body down slightly.

It was the first technique used by Musashi Hirata against him. Heero copied that move this time, but there was a slight difference in the stance. But in Musashi Hirata's eyes, the difference was bigger than it looked.

However, even Heero had a solid stance, he did not believe Heero could use Musashi Clan's secret sword technique.

He sneered at Heero and made the same stance. Musashi Hirata intended to use the same technique to clash against Heero. But this time, he fused the two techniques into one. His sword vibrated fiercely as he made his stance.

Even though he knew the Musashi Clan's secret sword technique did not affect Heero, he won't just give up like that. His black eyes never left Heero and just as he wanted to make a move, he witnessed something unbelievable.

Heero made his move first and in an instant, the distance between them vanished as Heero appeared right in front of him. He was in Heero's sword range.

Swoosh!

He noticed the dark red sword coming from his right and the blade maneuvered to his neck. Musashi Hirata was forced to break his stance and had his sword blocked the incoming sword.

Despite the surprise of his opponent's frightening speed, Musashi Hirata reacted timely.

Clang!

Grrhhh!

The swords clashed and Hirata faced an immense force from the incoming sword. He let out a grunt but managed to save his neck. As he wanted to launch a counter-attack, he noticed Heero spun around and the sword still maneuvered towards his neck but it came from the opposite direction now.

This time, though, he could not react in time his reaction was still quite fast. He moved sideways while directing his sword to the incoming sword.

Clang!

Once again, the swords clashed and caused a clanking noise. But the clash threw off Musashi Hirata's balance and his body swayed as he met Heero's sword. When he thought he was saved, he felt his neck was grabbed by a hand.

Along with it, he lost his footing.

Bam!

The hand pinned him down on the floor and he saw the tip of the sword shot toward his nose. It shocked Musashi Hirata and he felt he was dead for sure this time. Without trying to shake away from the hand that pinned him down, Musashi Hirata closed his eyes.

He had given up as he realized the difference between him and the target was akin to sky and earth. Just as he thought he was going to die, he felt nothing at all.

"Am I dead?" Musashi Hirata bewilderedly muttered while having his eyes still closed. He thought it was a painless death. He was sure if the sword pierced his head, it would grant him an instant dead.

However, Musashi Hirata's bewildered mumble caused Heero to chuckle. Heero was amused by the man who admitted to being an assassin.

Musashi Hirata heard the chuckle and he opened his eyes. He saw the top of the dark red sword a few millimeters away from his nose. The sword did not even touch his skin which puzzled him.

He looked at Heero who had an amused look. It was clear that it was he who caused this.

"Why did you stop? You won and you can kill me now!" despite his life at stake, Musashi Hirata did not show any fear of death. Since the day he became an assassin, he was ready to die.

"I have a few questions for you and based on your answers, I might spare your life…" Heero let out a grin but stopped after a moment of realization as he looked back.

"It seems our fight attracted these rats…" Heero muttered in annoyance. He could feel that a few people were coming toward him. While muttering in a low voice, Heero dragged Musashi Hirata to his research room.

*** ***

As soon as they got inside the log cabin, Heero tied Musashi Hirata's hand and feet. He seated Musashi Hirata in a chair while taking a chair for himself and sat across his prisoner.

"Useless, as an assassin, I will never tell you about the client who hired me to kill you. Just give up and kill me already!" Musashi Hirata told Heero in a firm tone.

Heero ignored his prisoner and he kept his ears sharp. He was listening outside as at least five people were coming over. He was not sure about that as he could not use his Ki, but only his sharp hearing.

After five minutes of silence, only then did Heero focus his eyes on the man across him.

"I am not going to ask you about the person who hired you. Answer Me! Who is Miyamoto to you?" Heero immediately asked the thing he was most curious about and wanted to know the most.

He found too many similarities to be coincidental at Musashi Hirata's sword technique with his best friend.

Musashi Hirata furrowed his eyebrows in puzzled. He tried to remember if he ever met someone called Miyamoto.

"Miyamoto?" Hirata blurted in a puzzle on his face. He did not know the person called Miyamoto at all.

"Musashi Miyamoto! How come you don't know him? You even used his sword technique…" Heero exclaimed in agitation, but then he paused for a moment before muttering in a low voice, "Is it just a coincidence that Musashi Clan has a similar technique…"

Meanwhile, Hirata became even more confused with Heero's claim. It was clear he used his clan sword technique. How could it become Musashi Miyamoto's sword technique?

"Musashi Miyamoto? Did I use Musashi Miyamoto's sword technique? It's my clan's secret…"

Musashi Hirata stopped as his eyes went wide. He came into a realization as he remembered a name mentioned by Heero. Musashi Miyamoto, the man who created the Musashi Clan's sword technique, and the technique had been passed down to the core member of the Musashi Clan.

"Do you mean my ancestor? Musashi Miyamoto is my ancestors…" Musashi Hirata paused as he scanned Heero's face.

He could tell that Heero seemed to know his ancestor and had a close relationship from the way Heero addressed his ancestor. But how did he know about his ancestors and why did he act intimate towards his ancestors who had died a long time ago?

"Yo-your a-ancestor???" Heero stuttered in excitement and happiness flashed on his face. He finally found a critical clue about his best friend and if he found his best friend, then he could find out what happened to Dramonia or the way back to Dramonia.

He could bring his wife to meet his seven mothers and his master. This huge discovery excited Heero, "Then, where is he now? Is he okay?"

What Heero got was a weird stare from Hirata. Hirata looked at Heero with an odd gaze as he replied to the excited Heero, "He is dead, thousands of years ago!"

Hearing this, the excited Heero went blank, "Miyamoto is dead? Thousands of years ago?"

He fell into silence for a moment as he looked down. After a moment of silence, Heero muttered in a low voice with a clear of unbelievable tone. "Then does that mean I have been sealed in Eternal Ice for thousands of years as well?"