THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

The sages, avatars, priests and priestesses, prophets and seers all say the same thing. Man is set on the path of change when he becomes conscious of who he/she really is. In book one, Kiwakaazi’s first encounter with Kaki revealed to him something more than a monster – a beautiful face. Later on, the beast was able to wear her beautiful human face whenever she wanted to. Five hundred years of being a beast made her forget her beautiful side. Maybe seeing that side after such a long time reminded her of how she looked – he made her conscious of her face. He made her conscious of a human side she had forgotten. That birth of consciousness was the first step – the step that led to the ultimate control.

“Roar” went the two shinkos facing Kaki and Kiwakaazi. The two shinkos were standing on their two hind feet. Kaki said in her beautiful girlish voice, “Kiwa, go hide and I will take care of these two.” Kiwakaazi responded immediately barking, “I told you I hate that name! It sounds like a girl’s name! If you want to shorten my name call me Kay!” She responded by saying, “Just hide and stop acting like a girl already.”

It was really intense. The shinkos were ready to battle. They were glaring at each other. There was not a single hint of fear in the air; just one desire – to kill. The two shinkos were standing directly in front of Kaki; glaring and snarling at her. Their eyes as red as blood; their fur as black as night; their claws leaving indelible marks on the ground and their fangs, hmmm…? Don’t know what to say about that. The wind blew and the branches and leaves of the trees danced preparing themselves for the great fight between Kaki and two of her brothers.

All this while Kaki maintained her cool and her face; her beautiful face was still human. She simply frowned. Even her frown was beautiful. She was focused and her eyeballs flipped from one shinko to the other. Kaki’s opponents crouched on four limbs. They continued to growl and started to run towards Kaki.

Before the commencement of the battle, Kiwakaazi ran and hid behind some bushes. He watched the fight from a safe distance. He knew this kind of fight will change the landscape and he did not want his flesh and bones to become part of the new landscape. He was looking at them glare and snarl at Kaki. He felt a cold breeze. He felt the presence of death. The two shinkos roared at Kaki and he whispered softy, “These beasts really love to roar.” He smiled thinking it was good that he still had a sense of humor in this precarious situation. To him, it means he was not completely overcome by fear.

He wondered if he was well concealed when he remembered a talk his guardian, Kaki, gave him after they had departed from the caves. You remember that cave. It was where Kiwakaazi and Kaki had their first fight. Kaki advised, “Shinkos are strong and fast; they have keen senses and can sense the presence of any foreigner from miles away. The only way to avoid them was to become a part of the forest; you must look, smell, taste and feel like the forest.” He had to endure torrid hours of scrubbing his skin with different leaves of plants so that he could feel and smell like the forest. As for looking like the forest, well… was that even possible? And how on earth could he taste like the forest? That was simply absurd.

During the fight, Kaki smacked one shinko with the back of her hand. The shinko collided with a tree and came to rest. The second shinko was caught in a tussle with Kaki. Kaki scratched the chest of the second of two shinkos diagonally with her right claw drawing blood. She quickly scratched the right side of her opponent’s face. The second attacking shinko fell flat on its back. Kaki roared and the two shinkos pulled back. Their wounds healed slowly while Kaki roared.

Kiwakaazi could not believe his eyes. She was fighting against two shinkos and she was winning. “Why… why is she going all out to protect me?” he wondered. He remembered another talk he had with the great sage, Nuumo Tsuru (the old man who loves to wear red), before he arrived in Nomposuro. He said, “Nomposuro is a dark place. Everything there is a lie. Do not trust or believe in anything you see in the forest. It is all illusion. The supernatural beings there will do anything and everything to trap you. Be careful young boy and heed my words.” “What was she planning?” questioned Kiwakaazi. He did not trust her completely. But he needs her. He will play along until he uncovers her motives.

The fight between Kaki and her two brothers continued. One of her two opponents was on her right and the second was on her left. She was standing on two feet and they paced around her slowly on all fours keeping a safe distance of about five or six feet from her. She kept track of their movement waiting for when they will attack. The one on her right pounced on her. Kaki quickly turned her body and drove her left claws through the side of the attacking shinko. The second quickly attacked and bit Kaki in the thigh. She lifted her attacker with both arms and threw it away. 

Prior to this great fight between Kaki shinko and her two brothers, the shinkos themselves where given a special talk by their supreme leader, Aran. Aran was human. Amazingly, he was the only shinko who can change from human to beast and back. He wore a long white garb like a robe. His dark and muscular chest and arms were exposed. A white thread tied into a knot around his waist was his belt. He was well above six feet tall and had a uniquely shaped head. The back of his head was long. His hair was neatly trimmed and he had no facial hair. He had three marks on his face. The marks were scars; two on both cheeks and one on his chin below his lower lip.  

Aran was a true leader; charismatic and motivational when he wanted to be. He was known as perhaps the most eloquent of all kranju. Eleven shinkos had lined up side by side in front of him. Starting from his left, he studied and walked past each shinko to the very last one. After eyeballing the eleventh in the queue, he walked back and stood directly in front of the sixth shinko. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“They say we shinkos are the strongest. They say we shinkos are the quickest. We have great senses and a real killer instinct. But what do we really fight for?” He paused to let the roaring that welcomed his speech subside. Then he continued, “Is it for fame? Is it for name? Is it to protect our home? No! Certainly not!” He paused again for the shinkos to roar and cheer him some more. “We fight to protect our pride!” The shinkos could not stop roaring now that their leader was delivering such an awe-inspiring motivational speech. “No group of kranjus has defeated more intruders like we have; not even the gods! So let us all go out there and show this alien the true shinko pride.” With a roar like no other, the eleven shinkos dispersed in different directions with one goal only; destroy the intruder and anyone whom stands in their way.

Shinkos were naturally proud and strong. One shinko alone could kill an entire army of men. So shinkos before the night a hundred invaded would have hunted singly in Nomposuro. Then, the evil twins, Ayele and Ajele came and killed the eleven shinkos. They were stopped in the end but it took teamwork from two other shinkos to stop them. Since then, shinkos hunted and still hunt in pairs whilst Aran flew solo. And that too was changed after the incident with Anantie. Aran stopped hunting and waited for intruders at the foot of the buduga (serpent’s bridge). He hunts only when it is absolutely necessary.

 It worked great, especially with his second in command around. Guess who was his second in command? You are probably right; Kaki. The shinko’s, thirteen of them, were numbered according to strength, that is, the first shinko was the strongest and the thirteenth was the weakest; on the shinko scale but definitely not on the human scale.

To compensate for this, Aran will often let Kaki hunt with the thirteenth shinko. The third will hunt with the twelfth shinko and it goes on until all twelve are paired. But this time, he was one shinko short and had to change the pairings. The third hunted with the thirteenth; the forth hunted with the twelfth and it goes on. However, the seventh, eighth and ninth shinkos were to hunt together as the new three man-cell. The search begun and it was the sixth and tenth shinkos that found Kaki and Kiwakaazi first.

After the two failed attacks, Kaki was not going to hang around for these weaklings to attack her anymore. She attacked one of the two shinkos. I am guessing the tenth shinko because he was the weaker of the two. She tried to take off his head in just one attack but failed. The shinko was able to successfully evade her attack. The sixth attacked quickly from behind and drove his sharp teeth into her right shoulder. She groaned, roared and using her left hand only, caught and threw the sixth shinko to the ground. The tenth shinko quickly attacked; scratching and drawing blood from Kaki. The battle had turned and the two shinkos were gaining upper hand. They attacked simultaneously and so quickly that Kaki was struggling to keep up with them. She had to endure a few scratches and bites from her opponents.

Kiwakaazi felt worry. Maybe a little for Kaki whom was getting her sexy butt kicked but the majority was for himself. If the sixth and tenth shinkos defeat Kaki, he will be next. He was frightened and could not fathom anyway of helping her. So he closed his eyes and sent her a message. He hoped she would receive it. “I hope you hear this Kaki. Thank you for protecting me. Thank you for guiding me. I need your help Kaki. I need your help to go all the way. So don’t die here. Don’t die now. Please don’t die.”

Kaki was down and weak. The two shinkos were catching their breaths before they finish her off. Then, they saw her raise her head. She looked more determined than ever. She roared and by the time her roar ended, the sixth shinko had been punched hard; so hard he flew over a long distance clearing a few trees in his way. The tenth shinko dropped his guard. Kaki caught hold of his neck with her left hand and commenced strangling him to death. The tenth shinko gaped into Kaki’s red eyes while she strangled him. He thought he had grown stronger and more powerful after sitting in the circle but Kaki was still too strong for him and the sixth shinko. The tenth started feeling dizzy.

Kiwakaazi was now feeling a little relaxed. She somehow received his message. There was no need for a weakling like himself to jump in anytime soon. She will finish them off without his help. She is strong. He hid and watched excited about the possible outcome of their first battle against the shinkos or rather her first battle against her family.

The tenth shinko was losing consciousness. Kaki made a fist with her right hand and was already moving it towards the heart of the tenth shinko when she was hit on her right side. She immediately let go of the tenth shinko and fell on her left side. She turned to meet the eyes of three more shinkos; the seventh, eighth and ninth.

The seventh shinko grabbed her by the neck and drove his right claws into her gut before releasing her. She fell down on her back and placed both palms on the bleeding abdomen. The eighth lifted her above his head and let her go. While she was falling, he punched her and she collided with a tree. Kaki had been weakened. The sixth and tenth shinkos had regained some of their lost strength. Five shinkos faced Kaki. She was outnumbered and did not have the strength to take them all on.  

Kiwakaazi still hid and watched for a while. He had promised her he will not join the battle. But even a coward like him performs acts of heroism once in a while. Emerging from the bushes was poor, cowardly and thin Kiwakaazi running to save his beloved Kaki. But what was he going to do? How was he going to save her? He had not given it much thought. He came out from hiding on impulse and could no longer stop his body. He was petrified and yet his body was running; running to save his scary-face girlfriend.

His large head made larger with the presence of his puffy hair danced on his shoulders. He swung his skinny arms and moved his tiny feet with all his strength. He remembered running in similar fashion about three nompo days ago. Ironically, he was running away from her. Now he ran towards her – to save her. What a world we live in? Bob Marley was right when he said. “Your worst enemy could be your best friend and your best friend, your worst enemy.”

All six shinkos saw him; five of them were happy he came out of hiding and one could not believe what a big fool he was. He stopped by his beloved’s side. She was lying on the ground struggling to get up. Five of the shinkos who came to kill him reduced their heights and went on all four limbs. They circled him and Kaki. They examined him with their eyes. They smelled him with their nose from a safe distance. They tried to feel his presence and came to one conclusion – he was the least dangerous intruder in Nomposuro history. They readied their hind limbs and all five shinkos pounced on Kiwakaazi and Kaki at the same time.

He knew it. She knew it. They all knew it. Kiwakaazi and Kaki were going to die. But how many times must I tell you this; the hero endures to the very end and this is not the end.

The attacking shinkos were finally close. Death was close. Kiwakaazi just heard a voice within himself. It was the voice of a female. She said, “I can help you.” Kiwakaazi asked, “Who are you?” She answered, “You already know who I am! Do it NOW!”

Kiwakaazi clasped his hands and yelled, “Oogu Jaka tumi… Sore!"