Part 2: Hazuki Exchanges Many Blows with Ryofu
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The sound of someone politely clearing her throat brought Hazuki out of her sleep, and she reached in vain for a sword that was not there.
"Ah, good, you're awake," Chou'un grinned from directly above her. "I brought breakfast."
From her vantage point, with Chou'un standing not six inches from her shoulder, Hazuki found that it was all too easy to look straight up that hopelessly small kimono, and she scrambled to her feet, blushing. Chou'un either did not notice or did not care, and she lazily tossed the younger girl an apple. "I took the liberty of scouting the area: nothing larger than a rabbit for miles. It looks like the bandits may have decided to give you a wide berth, but just in case, I brought you something else as well."
Even as Chou'un went on talking, Hazuki was still trying to shake some sense into her foggy brain. The color of the sky indicated that it was shortly after dawn, so she'd been asleep for quite a bit longer than expected. Since starting her journey to find Hatsumi, she'd found that she no longer felt the need to sleep as much, so this grogginess was unexpected and even a little troubling. Was she letting her guard down?
Chou'un crossed to the other side of their campsite, where her spear was leaning against a tree trunk alongside another weapon. She picked up this second one and tossed it across the small clearing. Hazuki caught it by the middle of the shaft and looked it over with some surprise: more than two meters of cord-wound metal polearm with a wickedly curved blade fastened to one end.
"Um... thank you, but where did you get this?" Hazuki asked, peering closely at the blade, which was polished to the point that she could see her reflection. They were in the middle of a forest, and Chou'un certainly could not have had such a weapon as this concealed on her person.
"Never mind the trivialities for now," Chou'un said airily. "Have you ever used a naginata, Azuma-dono?"
"Not frequently," Hazuki replied, testing the weapon's heft: it was certainly different from the practice naginata she'd briefly experimented with at school. She took a couple of slow swipes and nodded to herself. It was not her sword, but it was something to work with, certainly.
"Yes, your form does look a bit rusty," Chou'un commented, peering closely at Hazuki's hands, then at her feet. "Well, you seem adept enough; perhaps you'd care to practice?" She picked up her own weapon, gripped it by the center of the shaft, and began to twirl it so quickly that it momentarily became a blur before she leveled the point at Hazuki and smirked. "I promise to be gentle."
Hazuki raised her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon?"
"Spar with me, Azuma-dono?"
If pressed, Hazuki would be the first to admit that she was no expert on Chinese history. She had never actually read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and most of what she knew about the mythic past of her mainland neighbors had been learned playing Dynasty Warriors and watching Ikki Tousen. Hardly a scholarly background.
Even with this in mind, however, she could not help but feel a visceral thrill at the idea of being able to cross weapons with one of the Five Tiger Generals. "Of course, Chou'un-dono. It would be an honor."
Chou'un smiled, then brought up her spear for a moment and gave Hazuki a low bow, which the younger girl returned. They then readied their weapons, and after no more than a breath, Chou'un charged, but rather than attempt to stab with the point of the spear, she swung it in a quick downward arc. Hazuki, who had been expecting to deflect to one side or the other, barely had time to raise the shaft of her naginata to block the incoming weapon. Sparks literally flew as metal hit metal, and the force of the impact reverberated through Hazuki's hands and arms, leaving them buzzing and half-numbed. Faster than seemed possible, the blue-haired woman rebounded from the block, spun in a full circle and swiped from the side, but Hazuki recovered in time to block the head of the spear toward the ground.
Here, to Hazuki's abject shock, Chou'un turned the defense to her advantage by continuing the movement and driving her spear into the earth, pushing off with both feet, and literally vaulting over Hazuki's head, turning a full somersault in midair as she did. This time, all Hazuki could do was duck as the head of the spear whistled past. She spun to meet the next attack, and found herself backpedaling quickly, blocking one strike after another. Finally, with a loud war cry, Chou'un again spun in a full three-sixty and swung her spear in an uppercut blow that knocked the naginata from Hazuki's stinging hands and sent her sprawling to the ground, landing unceremoniously on her backside.
As she stared up the length of the spear that was now pointed straight at her throat, a tiny part of Hazuki's mind wondered if she'd just been square-square-square-triangled.
"Very good," Chou'un nodded, relaxing her stance and giving Hazuki a smile. "I must say, I like what I see."
It was at this point that Hazuki realized that as she had fallen, the hem of her skirt had ridden all the way up to mid-thigh. For the second time that morning she found herself scrambling to her feet to avoid a panty-shot straight out of an ecchi. She quickly turned away so that Chou'un would not see her blushing, then went to retrieve her naginata from the low branches of a nearby tree. "Thank you, Chou'un-dono, but if that's what you mean by being gentle, I don't know that I'll be a good sparring partner for you." Once again she found herself wishing that she had her sword, to help even the odds.
"Well, I hadn't gotten around to the being gentle part quite yet," Chou'un shrugged. "I wanted to see how you fared at full-speed first. For not frequently, you handled it well. Shall we continue?"
Almost before she could give an answer, Hazuki once again found herself on the defensive, blocking a series of only marginally slower thrusts and swipes. By the time she found an opportunity for a counterattack, however, her opponent dodged in a blur of white, then took a hack at Hazuki's ankle. At first, it appeared that the attack had missed, but then Hazuki found herself ensnared by the long tassels hanging from the spearhead (which she had presumed were purely decorative), and in her follow-through Chou'un pulled Hazuki's leg out from under her, sending her once again falling arse-first to the earthen floor.
"Very promising," Chou'un nodded as she disengaged the offending tassels with a flick of the wrists. "You seem to be a natural at this, Hazuki-dono. Have you trained under a master in the past?"
"I've done what I needed to do to get by," Hazuki replied as she pushed herself back to her feet. Truthfully, she did not know from where her expertise with the blade had been obtained, and she had never wasted much thought on questioning it.
"Hmm, I daresay that with a little training you'd be a terror," Chou'un considered, scratching her chin thoughtfully as she planted the butt of her spear against the ground. "Perhaps there are some things I could teach you, Azuma-dono? It's been some time since I had a student of your talents... beneath me, but I'm sure I could show you a few new things as we travel together?"
Once again, Hazuki found that her inner geek - a part of herself that had been neglected for some time as the focus of her life had shifted to Hatsumi - was both shocked and quietly ecstatic about the idea of studying martial arts with one of the greatest generals of Asian history. Switched gender, blue hair and interesting costuming aside, Chou'un had more than lived up to her historical reputation, showing strength and speed that belied her slender limbs and exaggerated curves. It was almost as though...
Realization struck, and Hazuki felt her blood turn to ice. Chou'un was another sister of Eve, and the source of this world's Souma presence. There was no way that she would be able to lead Hazuki to her sister, because Hatsumi had already left this world, just like all the others.
After staring sightlessly at the other woman for a small eternity, feeling her world crumbling around her, Hazuki realized that Chou'un's gentle smirk had changed to a look of concern. "Azuma-dono? You've gone pale. Was I too rough with you?" She held out her free hand, as though to steady her, and Hazuki instinctively reached out to take it.
There was no spark, and no exchange of Souma, and Hazuki found herself flooded with both relief and confusion. Chou'un was, impossibly enough, a normal human being.
What sort of world was this?
"Azuma-dono?" Chou'un repeated, looking from their joined hands to Hazuki's unblinking eyes.
At length, Hazuki shook her head and released the other woman's hand. "My apologies," she bowed to Chou'un, "and my thanks. It would be an honor to study under the legendary Chou'un Shiryuu."
"Legendary?" Chou'un snorted, raising her eyebrows. "One day you'll have to tell me who referred to me as legendary - I shall have to thank her."
Hazuki bowed again, this time to cover a returning blush. She was going to have to keep that inner geek in line if she wanted to avoid any more slips like that one. Having to explain how she knew as much as she did about her companion would be uncomfortable to say the very least.
After giving her one last appraising look, Chou'un let out a short sigh. "That should be enough sparring for now, though. The road awaits."
The next two days of travel were without incident, at least of the being-attacked-by-bandits sort. There was still plenty of action, though, given that Chou'un insisted on sparring anew at each rest break, and from time to time would vanish into the woods only to ambush Hazuki moments later to test her reflexes. The young general was as tireless, it seemed, as she was creative in her "teachings." Before long, Hazuki was not only able to anticipate each ambush before it happened, but was slowly catching up to her master in skill.
Or so she thought, at least, as every time she reached the point that she could fight Chou'un to a standstill, the other woman would give one of her customary smirks and turn up the intensity yet another notch. Hazuki had simply never met her like in all the worlds she'd traveled thus far. Her speed and endurance seemed inhuman, especially given the relatively soft-looking form that packaged it. And yet, unlike Hazuki, she was not gifted with Souma.
Hazuki still found this detail to be both baffling and reassuring. Baffling in the fact that simple physics and human physiology should not have permitted someone of Chou'un's stature to spin an eight-kilo spear around with one hand as though she were twirling a baton. Reassuring, though, in that it meant Hatsumi might still be in this world. Hazuki didn't want to think about what she would do if she learned otherwise. Lilith had yet to show her face, and given how jealous she tended to get when Hazuki was in the company of other women, she probably wasn't reading along: a fact that unsettled Hazuki more than she cared to admit.
In short, Hatsumi simply had to be here, in this world, because there was no alternative.
Also relieving was the fact that Chou'un, while obviously curious about where Hazuki had acquired her skills, seemed to recognize that the younger girl did not want to talk about her past, and thus did not press the issue. Instead, they filled their travel together with talk of the recent troubles in the land (with packs of bandits at every turn, some of them more organized than others), questions about Chou'un's unusual technique with her spear (which she wielded more like a naginata, in spite of its lack of sharpened edges), and stories of the nomadic life Chou'un had apparently been living for some time now.
(Hazuki chose not to ask why it was that Chou'un spoke perfect Japanese to her, in spite of this being second-century China, never mind why she referred to herself by the Japanese transliteration of her own name. With as many worlds as she had been to, Hazuki had simply learned to stop asking such questions, even of herself.)
It was during the evening of the second day of travel, while they were making camp and settling down for the night, that Hazuki tried to get a better feel for when exactly she was, by trying to pin down more details about where Chou'un's travels had taken her. "Tell me something, Chou'un-dono. Do you serve the lord of this province?" It did not seem likely, given the way Chou'un had referred to being owed favors by the lord in question, but it was worth asking.
"No, not as such," Chou'un replied. "I did briefly offer my services while traveling through these lands previously, but never as more than a visiting general."
"Is there... any lord you serve?"
"Not at the present time. I considered becoming a general for Kousonsan, but she was... shall we say, not the leader for me. She's a competent enough governor, and does what she can for her people, but... I chose to ally myself with someone far more impressive."
Hazuki noted the use of the feminine in describing Kousonsan, and wondered if all the players in the Three Kingdoms would turn out to be women. "And who was this?" Hazuki asked. Could she mean Liu Bei?
"Hmm, you seem to have an ear for the legendary," Chou'un grinned. "Tell me, Azuma-dono, have you ever heard of the Black-Haired Bandit Hunter?"
"Black-Haired..." Hazuki repeated, trying to reconcile this with her own incomplete knowledge. She didn't think this meant Liu Bei, but then... "Do you mean..." she stopped herself before saying the Chinese name Guan Yu, and instead gave the name she knew better. "Do you mean Kan'u Unchou? Is he the lord you serve?"
Chou'un's smile deepened with amusement. "He? Dear me, I can only presume you have not actually met Kan'u, because there is simply no possibility that you'd make that mistake if you had."
"Kan'u is... a woman?" Hazuki blinked. Images of a black-haired, husky-voiced beauty in an extremely abbreviated school uniform flashed before her mind's eye, and she as quickly forced them aside.
"Every inch of her, yes," Chou'un snorted. "A woman whose reputed strength in battle is matched only by the legend of her beauty. And while some of the stories have more truth than others, I can honestly vouch for both. I accompanied her and her adopted sister Chouhi for some time."
Hazuki nodded slowly. No mention of Liu Bei, so at the very least they were probably not yet to the oath under the peach trees. "Then... if I may ask, why are you not with them now?"
A rare troubled look crossed Chou'un's features. "We... became separated while traveling through a fog. I tracked their movements for some time afterward, but I lost their trail after they crossed the Han River." For a while she stared up at the sky, looking a mix of wistful and oddly embarrassed, but then she gave a somewhat forced version of her customary knowing smile. "No matter. Tales of her exploits will no doubt surface again, and I will surely return to her side."
The last was said in a soft, almost reverent voice, and if Hazuki didn't know better, she'd think that Chou'un's devotion to this world's Kan'u was something more... intimate than the bond of warriors fighting for the common cause.
Then again, Hazuki realized, she didn't really know better after all.
"You should get some sleep," Chou'un said at length. "I'll take the first watch. If we get an early start, we should reach the capital by mid-day tomorrow."
"Right," Hazuki agreed, trying to make herself as comfortable as she could against the forest floor while keeping her naginata within reach. Before she could even consider sleep, though, another question came to mind. "Chou'un-dono?"
"Mmm?"
"The lord we're going to see... is it the Kousonsan you spoke of?"
"No, we're quite some distance from her lands. Tomorrow I shall present you to Lord Toutaku as a visiting general. Mind that you behave for me, won't you?"
"Of... of course," Hazuki replied, but her mind was already filled with questions. Dong Zhuo? The tyrant? The human candle? The man who brutally tortured his enemies with dismemberment as "entertainment" at his lavish banquets? This was the one Chou'un thought might help them find Hatsumi?
Then again, Chou'un had also referred to the lord of this province as a woman, so history and legend were still at least somewhat up for grabs. But would a female Dong Zhuo be any less horrid than her "real-world" counterpart?
Hazuki closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. Perhaps it would be best to eliminate all expectations, and simply wait and see what this insane world had to offer her.
No attempt at eliminating expectations could have helped, as it turned out.
After less than half an hour in the walled capital city, Chou'un had talked their way into an audience with the provincial lord, and a green-haired, bespectacled official by the name of Kaku (also female, which was becoming less surprising every time) escorted them through the mansion house of Toutaku and into the throne room, where they were relieved of their weapons and instructed to wait. Chou'un knelt on the stone-tiled floor at the foot of a staircase leading up to the throne, and Hazuki followed her lead, while Kaku ascended the stairs to stand beside the seat of power. Within only minutes more, they were joined by none other than one of the most foul, evil tyrants in the history of China.
Who naturally turned out to be a tiny slip of a girl with a pouf of pale lavender hair, huge liquid eyes, and a forehead to rival Hatsumi's. She was dressed in ceremonial robes, with a shawl of purest white fur and a long veil descending from the back of her rounded hat. She had one of those ageless faces which, combined with her slight build and short stature, could have put her anywhere between the ages of twelve and fifty. When she spoke, her voice was high-pitched, soft, and even melodious.
"Chou'un-san, what a pleasant surprise! I had no idea you had returned to these lands! Are Kan'u-san and Chouhi-san with you as well?"
"Regrettably not, Toutaku-dono," Chou'un said with a bow of the head. "We became separated in our travels. However, I wish to present another ally of mine, who has already proved her mettle against the forest bandits. This is Azuma, a warrior on a quest."
"I bid you welcome, honored guest," Toutaku smiled, acknowledging Hazuki with a slight bow of the head. Kaku, meanwhile, was giving Hazuki a look of mild suspicion from beside her lord.
For a moment, Hazuki was too surprised by the pleasantries to react, but then she placed her palms down on the floor and bowed from her kneeling position until her forehead touched the backs of her hands. "Thank you for your hospitality, Toutaku-dono."
"Oh, heavens, there's no need for that, Azuma-san," the petite ruler said in a voice that managed to be regal and slightly embarrassed at the same time. "Please, friend, rise and tell us more about this quest of yours."
Hazuki lifted her head and returned to her previous position. A tentative look up the steps showed that the ruthless tyrant was blushing like a schoolgirl, while her major-domo's expression had gone from suspicious to cautiously satisfied. "Thank you, Toutaku-dono. I've journeyed many months now trying to find my sister. I believe she may have been here in your lands once, or with any luck may still be here." The traces of Souma had dropped them into this province, so there was some truth in this speculation.
"Knowing Kaku-dono's reputation for flawless record-keeping as I do," Chou'un added at this point, "my first thought was to present my charge to you and beg your assistance."
"As though I would permit one of the warriors who saved my life to beg?" Toutaku smiled. She then turned to the bespectacled woman beside her. "Ei-chan, would such a thing be possible?"
"Hmmm," Kaku considered, still looking somewhat flustered by the earlier compliment. "Perhaps if Azuma-san could give a detailed description to one of our court artists, we could send messengers with the missing sister's likeness to the outlying villages while I checked the archives."
"Wonderful," Toutaku sighed happily, turning back to her two guests. "Would that be helpful to your cause, Azuma-san?"
Hazuki opened her mouth to speak, but for a moment could not find any words. Finally, she bowed her head. "Thank you, Toutaku-dono... Kaku-dono. Your kindness is... more than I could ever have hoped for." She immediately wondered if those had been the right words to say, but there was no calling them back.
Any potential awkward silence, however, was quickly covered by Chou'un. "And in the meantime, during the search, I'm sure Azuma-dono would be happy to offer her services in return for your generous offer?" She cast a sideways glance at her companion and flashed her a quick wink. "She's quite skilled with a weapon, you'll find."
"Of... of course," Hazuki nodded.
"Splendid," Toutaku said with a brilliant smile. "Ei-chan, see to it that both of our guests are given rooms befitting visiting generals."
"Very well, Yue," Kaku nodded, though she did not take her eyes from Hazuki. "And then, perhaps, we might ask Azuma-san to give a demonstration of these skills? Kayuu-shogun is training some of her elite troops in the courtyard even now; I'm sure she'd enjoy the new challenge."
Within minutes, Chou'un and Hazuki had been shown to their lodgings within the mansion (two adjacent bedrooms which appeared infinitely more comfortable than the forest floor of the last few nights), and then were escorted to the aforementioned courtyard. As they went, Hazuki noted the presence of several dogs roaming the halls or standing sentry; while they were far from the sort of animals she might have expected in the house of a lord (there was not a hint of breeding in a single one of them), they were obviously trained, and Kaku spared them barely a glance as they passed. Apparently they were supposed to be there, mutts or not.
Eventually they emerged into a large open area, where four lines of troops were doing drills with swords and full-body shields. Hazuki quickly noted that all of the soldiers were men, but their general, who was alternating between speaking with Toutaku and barking orders at the men, was female.
Kayuu-shogun was a tall woman whose slate-grey hair was short and practical, but also extremely messy. In spite of its color, though, Kayuu herself looked to be no more than thirty, and she was dressed in a manner that seemed highly inappropriate for a woman of war. Her outfit was all in purple, and included what amounted to an armor-plated bandeau top, two arm-length plated gloves, and an ankle-length skirt slit clear to the hip on one side.
She and Chou'un apparently had met before, as Kayuu gave the blue-haired woman a sardonic half-grin. "Ah, Chou'un-dono! Toutaku-sama was just telling me of your arrival. I understand you've brought me a playmate?"
"Our honored guest," Toutaku reminded her general. "Kayuu-shogun, this is Azuma-san, a traveling martial artist."
Hazuki bowed to the improbably-dressed general. "I am honored, Kayuu-shogun," she said quietly, while internally she wracked her brains trying to remember who her historical and/or anime counterpart might be. Too damned many characters to keep straight.
"So," Kayuu nodded, looking Hazuki over but still addressing Chou'un, "is she any good in a scrap?"
"I've done what I needed to do to get by," Hazuki said, much as she had to Chou'un a few days before.
"Would you care to put our visiting general to the test, Kayuu?" Kaku asked, looking from one of them to the other. Hazuki was beginning to find the green-haired woman's skepticism a bit grating, but if this was what it took to ensure their aid in finding Hatsumi...
Kayuu turned to face her troops. "Gentlemen, give us some space! Find a wall, and watch carefully!"
The soldiers immediately broke formation and positioned themselves along the inner walls of the courtyard while Toutaku and Kaku went to sit under a decorative awning, joining another figure already seated there (this one wearing a hooded cloak and scratching the ears of a brown and white puppy). An attendant brought Hazuki and Chou'un their weapons, while another delivered an enormous pole-axe to Kayuu.
"Anything I should know?" Hazuki asked Chou'un, as Kayuu took a few practice swings opposite them, flinging the axe around as though it were weightless.
"Don't let her hit you," Chou'un offered.
"Helpful," Hazuki snorted.
"I have every confidence in your strength, Azuma-dono, but even more than that I'm sure your quickness will serve you well." That said, Chou'un took a few steps back to give Hazuki some room. The fact that she was remaining close by, however, rather than joining the others under the awning, made Hazuki wonder just how confident she actually was.
"Azuma-san," Kayuu called across to her, "defend yourself!" And then the battle was on, as the purple-clad general charged across the open space between them.
After blocking three successive strikes from the two-handed axe, Hazuki began to realize what Chou'un had been hinting at: Kayuu was strong - ridiculously so, even - but seemed to rely almost exclusively on the weight of her blows rather than on any great amount of battle finesse. All too quickly, Hazuki could see that overpowering the opponent was her game, and it was a game at which she excelled.
'Don't let her hit you,' eh? Hazuki thought to herself as she ducked another swing and brought the blunt end of her naginata in a sweep toward the other woman's ankles. She managed to catch one of Kayuu's feet, but rather than having her legs knocked out from under her as Hazuki had hoped, Kayuu did a sideways somersault in mid-air and came down on both feet.
By this time, though, Hazuki had already turned with the follow-through from her own blow, and she used this momentum to bring a tremendous swipe toward the slate-haired general. Kayuu managed to block it, and for a moment they were deadlocked, the blade of Hazuki's naginata caught in the curve of Kayuu's axehead. Hazuki quickly realized that she would not win a tug-of-war with this opponent, so when Kayuu made to wrench the younger girl's weapon up and away, Hazuki simply let go of it. The sudden lack of resistance completely threw Kayuu off-balance, and she staggered back a few steps while the force of her upward push sent the naginata spinning into the air. Hazuki made a flying leap and snagged it by the center of the shaft, then landed just in time to parry another blow from the axe.
They sparred for several breathless minutes, and Hazuki gave as good as she got. Kayuu's fighting style was nothing like Chou'un's, but the training Hazuki had received from the latter was proving invaluable nonetheless. All along, Chou'un had been forcing Hazuki to learn to adapt, first to the new weapon and then to the ever-increasing level of attack. And now here she was, learning her opponent and fighting another of history's generals to a standstill. Doing what she needed to do to get by, just as she had for her entire journey.
Finally, after once more locking shafts and then pushing away from one another, Kayuu took a deep breath, planted the end of her axe against the ground and laughed heartily. "You're most impressive, Azuma-dono! I can see that Chou'un-dono has taught you a few tricks."
"Thank you, Kayuu-shogun," Hazuki bowed.
"All the tricks in the world are useless if the pupil lacks the desire to learn them," Chou'un said, stepping up beside Hazuki and giving her a sly smile. "I'm lucky to have such an adept student as Azuma-dono. There is much that I wish to teach her."
Kayuu gave a snort of laughter. "I have no doubt. Azuma-dono, I do hope you and I have the chance to discuss technique during your stay. I must say, I can't guess your homeland by your clothing, but perhaps we might all learn a thing or two from your native style?"
"Thank you for that display of your skills, Azuma-dono," Toutaku said then, approaching the three fighters with a somewhat stunned-looking Kaku at her side. "We are truly honored to welcome you both as visiting generals."
"Yes, yes," Kaku nodded. "We ask only that your weapons serve to defend the province for the duration of your stay."
"Of course, Kaku-dono," Chou'un nodded, looking unaccountably pleased. "Now," she went on, briskly, "the road has been long, and my companion has fought hard. If we might impose to use your bathhouse..?"
"Wait," came a soft voice, bringing all conversation to a halt. As one, the five women turned to see the hooded figure stand up, set the dog down and pull off her cloak.
Hazuki had met some oddly-attired women since arriving in this world, but this one practically defied description. She was dressed in heavy boots and thigh-high leggings, with a tiny white skirt and a tattered black half-cloak belted to her waist, so that the latter hung to her calves. She wore what was more or less a skin-tight halter top, leaving her midriff bare, with detached sleeves strapped to her arms just beneath each shoulder. On her left side, both the sleeve and the halter were white with gold inlay, while on her right side the fabric was black as night. Her hands were bandaged from the wrists to the first knuckle of each finger. Her hair was a halo of dark pink, with two thin locks rising almost straight up from her forehead, then trailing away behind her like pheasant plumes. Her eyes, almost the same shade of pink as her hair, were blank, almost vacant, and her face held no expression whatsoever.
"Let me fight her," the woman said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
It didn't take Hazuki long to realize that she was in for it now, given the way that Kayuu slowly backed away to stand with some of her troops, not to mention the nervous smiles both Toutaku and Kaku gave her as they headed back to their previous seats. Hazuki watched as the pink-haired woman picked up an absolutely lethal-looking naginata from where it had been leaning against the wall nearby. With her back turned, Hazuki saw that her skin, which was a slightly darker shade than any of the others present, was decorated with a series of tattoos that looked something like vines, but sharp and blade-like, twisting from her waist to her shoulder blades.
Chou'un put a hand on Hazuki's shoulder and gave her a nod. "Remember, Azuma-dono, grace in defeat is a virtue."
"Who is she?" Hazuki asked quietly.
"That, my friend, is the strongest fighter to walk this land: Ryofu Housen." Chou'un gave Hazuki's shoulder one more pat, then backed away.
Hazuki stared across the open courtyard at the pink-haired warrior, and for a moment she could not reconcile what she was seeing with that name. Still, even if this Ryofu lacked the green pigtails and impossible cleavage, if she were anything like her historical or pop-culture counterpart, Hazuki might very well find herself fighting for her life this time rather than simply sparring.
Then, as though reading her mind, Ryofu spoke. "I promise not to injure you. Chou'un is my friend." Then, without another word, or indeed a change of expression, she charged.
Since beginning her journey, Hazuki had been in many fights, though to this point she had been using her sword, which itself possessed a tiny piece of Hatsumi's essence. With that sword, she had been unstoppable, rising to meet any challenge the worlds had thrown at her. She had fought back eight samurai to save a young kitsune, yet managed the restraint needed to prevent herself from delivering a lethal blow to a single one of them. She had dispatched a dozen ninjas in a matter of thirty seconds. She had beaten an enormous enchanted cat-thing that had been worshiped as a god by a primitive tribe. In every fight, she had unconsciously risen to the level of her foe and, as she had told both Chou'un and Kayuu, done what she needed to do.
This world, however, had not been so easy. So far she had fought Chou'un, who was quickness itself, and Kayuu, who was impossibly strong, and she held no illusions that she could beat either one of them with a weapon that was still somewhat new to her. Still, she had held her own against each of them.
Ryofu, however, was something else again. Where Chou'un was quicksilver, Ryofu was lightning. Where Kayuu was an ox, Ryofu was a charging rhino.
Hazuki managed to block Ryofu's opening swing, but the shock of it rang through her entire body, and literally sent her flying. She managed to right herself in time to "land" feet-first against the side of the courtyard wall as soldiers ducked to either side, then without really thinking about how crazy this was, she pushed off, turned a midair somersault, and brought her naginata down as hard as she could, only for Ryofu to sidestep out of the way in a blur of motion. Ryofu swung again, holding her weapon one-handed, and while Hazuki was again able to block, she actually slid back almost a full meter, her shoes cutting furrows in the ground beneath her.
She knew, then and there, that she had no chance of winning this fight, even if she managed to make the luckiest of shots. Doing what she had to do would simply not be enough. Her strength and focus, which had never failed her, had finally met their match in this impossible world and its warrior women. But why here? Why now?
In that moment, as she desperately parried blow after blow from the still-expressionless Ryofu, the realization came. She had entered every fight with the mindset that this would bring her closer to Hatsumi. This was an obstacle that had to be overcome so that she could be reunited with the one she loved. To fail was to lose Hatsumi, and that was simply not an option.
Now, Lilith and Ken-chan were gone, leaving her no choice but to complete the journey on her own, and she could not let Ryofu or anyone else stand in her way.
And so, trying to clear her head of everything except Hatsumi's smile, she fought back as hard as she could. The increasingly shocked spectators were soon lost to her, and the whole world became this fight with perhaps the single mightiest general in Chinese history. Now she was not just defending, but attacking as well, trying to gain back some of the ground she'd lost.
Through it all, however, Ryofu's expression never changed, and somehow Hazuki found this infuriating. Didn't she have any idea? Couldn't she see that she was standing between Hazuki and her love? How could she make this look so effortless, when Hazuki was beginning to feel desperation eating away at her resolve?
Then, Hazuki took a particularly wild swing that Ryofu was not quite able to block. Hazuki's blade did not hit Ryofu herself, but glanced off the blunt end of the general's naginata. In the process, it cut through a small loop of cord that held a tiny figurine in place (almost like a cell phone charm), and sent it flying across the courtyard.
This, finally, made Ryofu's expression change.
To the tiniest of scowls.
Ryofu's next swing was proof enough that she had been holding back all along. Hazuki found her naginata ripped from her stinging hands, and she herself was again sent flying back, this time to land flat on her back, skidding several meters before finally coming to rest. For a moment she literally saw stars, and had the wind knocked out of her so thoroughly that for a terrifying few seconds she was not sure if she would ever be able to breathe again.
But then her breath returned, her vision cleared, and she found Chou'un, Kayuu and Ryofu standing over her, the former two looking rather anxious. Even Ryofu was giving her a tiny frown. "Ouch," she said vaguely. "Please tell me my naginata didn't hit anyone on the way down?"
Chou'un quickly covered her concerned expression with a laugh once she saw that Hazuki was okay. "Don't feel too badly, Azuma-dono. You lasted longer than I did in my first fight with her."
"I'm sorry," Ryofu said in her quiet voice, bending down and offering a hand to help Hazuki stand.
"It's okay," Hazuki sighed. "I'm told grace in defeat is a virtue." She then reached up to clasp hands with her recent opponent.
The moment they touched, though, Hazuki felt her world turn upside-down, and her Souma, which was already glowing hotly inside her from her recent exertion, suddenly felt like it had grown electrically charged, and she felt two distinct waves of it crash through her...
...before reflecting back through their joined hands and into Ryofu.
Hazuki stared numbly into eyes that were suddenly wide with shock.
"O... onee-sama..?" Ryofu whispered, her voice tinier than ever, an unknown emotion welling in those once vacant eyes.
Ryofu had Souma.
Several horrible realizations struck Hazuki at that moment, harder than any blow she had withstood in the fight. Ryofu was not an obstacle in Hazuki's quest: she was the end of it. Hatsumi was no longer in this world, just as she had not been in the dozens more Hazuki had wandered. There would be no reunion. Lilith had been right all along: Hazuki could not do it alone, and now her arrogance with Lilith had cost her dearly.
With that thought, her determination and focus, her inner will that had never flagged and never weakened until coming to this place, fled her entirely, and she felt the weight of every book-world, the ache of every step, and the crushing despair of her quest's ultimate futility. She would never see Hatsumi again, and it was more than her shattered heart could bear.
And so, Hazuki rose shakily to her feet and, for the first time since her journey had begun, she turned and ran away, oblivious to the voices calling her name. Half-blinded by tears and numbed by emotion and fatigue, but lacking anywhere to go, she staggered through the mansion halls until she reached the room she had been allotted, where she fell into the bed, buried her face in the pillows, and wept bitterly until sheer exhaustion overcame her at last.
Next: Ryofu, Chou'un and Hazuki Stand Against Many
