Disclaimer: Sekirei doesn't belong to me but to some shady MBI like corporation.
With her nose a broken and bloody mess, Musubi was starting to find it hard to find her breath. Every ravaged intake of air was accompanied by a coppery tasting mixture of her own blood and the rainwater that fell heavily around her. She rose slowly from the squatting position she had landed in and glanced across to the high-rise rooftop opposite where as if on cue, her remaining opponent, a giant of a man, landed easily to stare impassively back at her.
Despite the physical difficulties she was experiencing, Musubi was exuberant; her first proper fight and she had already defeated one opponent. But the victory had come with a cost. As well as her smashed face, her left arm hung limply at her side, blood spilling freely down her arm from a series of deep cuts just below her shoulder.
Across the way, the bear like man took out a pair of lethally sharp swords from scabbards secreted in his large drab jacket and started to swing them in the air in front of him with inhuman speed until they were little more then an indistinct blur.
Having already felt their cutting edge it made for an impressive sight, but Musubi simply smiled a bloody grin – killing his partner had made him cautious and he was now resorting to displays of martial prowess to bait her.
Well if that was the way he wanted it.
Faster then seemed possible Musubi tensed her legs and flung herself across the thirty foot gap between the buildings to land and tumble easily into a slide that would have taken her beneath the spinning blades had her opponent not jumped back the moment she moved. Seeing what she was attempting to do, he swept back towards her with a wicked slash. Musubi twisted sideways at the last instant to avoid the descending blade, kicking out to catch man's shin. A satisfying crack broke the rumble of the rain as the man staggered backwards, maintaining the spinning blades as a defensive barrier out of instinct.
Musubi hopped in to upright position to look for another opening, knowing that a wounded enemy could be twice as dangerous. However she never expected him to react the way he did.
For a moment he bellowed in pain and anger before charging forward, any pretense of strategy forgotten. Despite the surprise, Musubi reacted immediately, flipping backwards whilst kicking out with her trailing leg to catch the flat of the leading blade and knock it from his grasp.
However this did nothing to slow his charge and he bowled into her as she completed the back flip, swallowing her body up in his tree trunk like arms. Too late to realize and too enraged to care, he found that his forward momentum carried the pair of them over the edge of the building and down into the darkness below.
Plummeting down the fifteen stories Musubi struggled to get free but couldn't manage to - pinned as she was but this also meant that the giant's remaining sword was useless as well.
With a sickening impact that set off any nearby car alarms, the two combatants slammed into the ground throwing up a cloud of broken concrete, dust and rubbish.
For what seemed an eternity nothing stirred as the displaced cloud settled. With a wretched gasp Musubi slowly pushed herself into a sitting position atop the giant's collapsed chest, his breath only a bare tattered whisper now, body shattered from the fall. Musubi dragged herself forward with her remaining good arm until she was directly over the dying man's head. Hissing in another breath, she pulled back her fist and punched straight down into his head. The warm blood that spat onto her fist went un-noticed as she pulled back her fist and punched again and again until all that was left before her was a bloody puddle of bone and muscle.
Framed by the rising sun and apparently sated she leaned back and howled to the heavens. Whether the wailing shriek was one of triumph or pain not even she could tell.
Minato Sahashi busily juggled the obligatory hot coffee, the notebook and his badge as he turned the corner off the main street and onto the alley where his crime scene was located.
His crime scene – he could hardly believe it.
Normally it would take years to be primary on a case but for reasons that he didn't like to think about, here he was.
An elderly uniformed officer who was hiding under a citizen's umbrella ambled up to him as he finally got everything in order.
"You Sahashi?" he asked, spitting the name out in a way that indicated all too well he knew exactly who the young detective was.
Minato simply nodded and flashed the badge anyway, having already eaten enough crap this morning.
"You first on scene?" he asked, wanting to appear businesslike even if he wasn't really feeling it just yet.
"Nah," the officer whose badge identified him as Segawa, waved a dismissive hand, "a patrolman named Katsuragi got flagged by dispatch. The body was discovered by the crew of a dump truck who called it in. Figured the young guy could do with a little help"
Minato took all this in as they crossed under the yellow tape and made their way to the body which Minato immediately noted was so large the standard issue tarp didn't even begin to cover it. A young looking uniformed officer - Katsuragi, Minato assumed – stood under a small canopy close by. Seeing the two arrive he rushed over to join up with them.
"The trash crew say anything interesting?" Minato asked him immediately, skipping the introductions even as he handed the first on scene the traditional coffee.
"Nothing. They were on a scheduled run when they found the body just lying in the crater," Katsuragi answered before taking a long drink from the polystyrene cup.
"Well let's see what we can see," Minato muttered and pulled back the tarp.
"Ugh," he had to fight back the gag reflex at seeing the pulped form in front of him.
"First jumper?" Segawa laughed behind him, obviously enjoying his discomfort.
"Not a jumper," Minato muttered as he swallowed down some bile.
"Sure it is, no one that big is going to come off the top of any building unless he wants to," Segawa argued, thinking he knew better then the young dick.
Minato shook his head, "he landed on his back but his face is a mess. It was probably done beforehand, before he was dumped over the side."
Segawa nodded, impressed despite himself as Minato continued.
"Forensics are on the way. I'll get some more uniforms to canvass the area but I doubt we'll get much. These commercial districts are ghost towns at night."
"Plus there was a power outage last night," Katsuragi added.
"There goes any camera footage," Minato frowned.
"Sumo killed and tossed off building, ha, you pulled yourself a beaut, Detective Sahashi." Segawa sneered.
Unable to think of any biting retort, Minato covered the body as best he could and made his way out of the alley, muttering about getting those extra uniforms.
"Tell them we'll need a bigger meat wagon," Segawa shouted at his rapidly retreating form, before he and Katsuragi burst out laughing.
From an alley across the street, a rather disheveled looking young man watched the scene with far more interest then the usual nosey citizen that gathered at the sight of anything out of the ordinary. He pulled out a small cell phone and tapped in a number from memory, all the while watching the comings and goings across the way.
The call connected and a pleasant, unhurried female voice answered.
"Yes Seo," she asked.
"It's a mess down here. I did what I could but the cops are all over it now," he explained.
"That is unfortunate." Seo was smart enough to read between the lines. That is unfortunate was code for basically it was all his fault.
"Look, I got Musubi to safety and disposed of one of the bodies. It was pure chance that the dump truck crew arrived when they did."
"You have to dispose of all bodies," the voice was unmoved.
Seo shook his head in frustration, put his hand over the phone so he could curse aloud in anger.
"Fine," he replied when he had command of his emotions again. "I'm coming back now – have Matsu make up some papers, good ones this time."
"She's already started. Be here in thirty minutes."
"Of course," bitch went unsaid but she wouldn't have heard anyway as the line was already dead.
Muttering a string of curses all directed at his employer Seo made his way deeper into the alley and back to his car.
To be continued…