Gate Masters: Side Story
dark_mew@edsamail.com.ph
Czechoslovakia, Cherypovka Power Plant District. December 14, 1964. 4:00 a.m.
Snow. Snow all around. Everything is snow. Everything is white, so damn white it's almost blinding. And it's cold.
Ukiya held the flimsy coat, tattered with bullet holes, tighter around his body.
Too damn cold.
Ukiya checked his gun again, making sure the frost didn't make any moving parts stick to each other.
I hate this job.
One of the soldiers passing by gave him a paper cup full of coffee. He muttered thanks, and held the paper cup close. Thankfully, it was warm. It helped a little.
Taking a sip from the cup, he stood up and surveyed the horizon. Ukiya clicked the safety off his rifle and looked through its sniper scope, searching for anything....especially the sunglassed-and-trenchcoated variety.
Nothing. Nothing but snow.
They had been stationed in Czech for quite some time now; Ukiya could barely remember the last time he had a decent meal or slept in a decent bed. Reports had said that the current invader stronghold was in a plant to the northeast, just a mile from their current position.
Drawing back his rifle he sat again, taking hold of the coffee cup and sipping again.
"Snow. God forsake this miserable snow....." A voice said behind him. He turned around to see Shirei, stone-faced as always, wearing a coat almost as thin as Ukiya's. The frost had begun to freeze one of his glasses' lenses.
"Oh. Shirei." Ukiya nodded at him in acknowledgement. "Yep. I didn't know I could hate snow this much until we were stationed to Czechoslovakia."
"Cheer up." Shirei said with no trace of emotion on his face. "We're going home soon."
"Masaka...." Ukiya's eyes widened. "..you mean...?"
Shirei nodded. "Draconian measures for Draconian times."
"About time." Ukiya looked back at the horizon. "I kind of feel sorry for them, you know. They won't stand a chance."
"Them?" There was a trace of humor in Shirei's voice.
"No. The invaders." Ukiya smiled. "With those two on the job, it makes me thank God that they're on our side..."
**Outside Invader Stronghold, fifteen minutes later**
Two cloaked figures stood in front of the large, imposing, seemingly indestructible door that blocked off the invader base from view. Their cloaks flapping in the blizzard's wind like the wings of an owl trying desperately to escape the updrift, they silently stared at the massive barrier contemplatively, as if making up some complicated strategem to get inside...
"I HATE CZECHOSLOVAKIA!!" Reina screamed, eyes blazing. "It's cold, it's wet, it's uncomfortable, it's snow, snow, snow twenty four hours a day, seven days a week...and the food..." Reina turned into an interesting shade of green. "I want to go home..."
If you and Kenshin could wrap this all up today, you might.
Screw Shirei. Gatemaster unit my ass. He's using Kenshin..I just know it...like he was used during the Bakumatsu no Doran...doing the dirty work...alone...
She lowered the hood of her cloak and ran her hand through her long, yellow hair. Well, that kind of explains why you're here, right? Protecting him.
Baka. Reina laughed slightly. Protect Battousai, the Angel Slayer? Riiiight. As if he needs protecting--
--but he does. You promised him.
Reina looked down on the snow wistfully, shivering quietly, feeling alone.
As if he cares about it. All he does is get himself into trouble. Always the first to get into any battle. He doesn't care--
--he does care. All those times, when he went first, before you, did you happen to think that he was trying to shoulder everything? That he didn't want you to get hurt?
Nonsense. I'm almost a gatemaster; and I'm a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu as well....surely...
Surely what? Look; last time you hugged him he almost yelled. He was trying to hide a rib broken after that last sortie. If that invader could injure the Angel Slayer, or Battousai for that matter...think of what he could have done to you.
Reina looked down again as she reached a conclusion.
He's protecting me...actually risking his neck for me...what I should be doing for him....
She risked a glance at Kenshin, who was sitting in the snow, humming merrily, looking at the invader hideout through a pair of binoculars. Either on cue, a fluke, or Kenshin was too damn intuitive, he turned to face her. When their eyes met briefly, green eyes on dark violet ones, Reina felt the cold disappear. Kenshin, oblivious to her thoughts, gave her a small smile, small but heartfelt nonetheless.
Baka....Kenshin..no baka...
She closed her eyes.
Doesn't he know?
You never told him.
But he still loves-
But she's gone. All of them. Kenshin visited their graves last week-
You sound so cruel, you know that? As if you're happy she's gone.
I'm not...
Reina gasped involuntarily when Kenshin, quiet as a mouse, grasped her hand, just below the wrist.
"Reina-dono...tell me what's wrong." Kenshin said softly, his eyes on hers, gently but firmly, trying to find out exactly what was on her mind. Reina lowered her head, unwanted tears painfully trying to squeeze out of her tightly closed eyes..
Oh God...please..please don't let him see... She tried to force them back, but they still came...
Stop it. This is no time to start.
Reina made a small noise, a sniffling one, quickly dragged her sleeve across her eyes and smiled brightly at Kenshin. "I-Iie...daijobu."
"Are you sure de gozaru ka?"
Reina nodded quickly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just some snow that fell into my eyes, that's all."
Kenshin stared at her for a few more moments, then, apparently convinced, resumed his lookout on the hideout for any visual confirmation of invaders.
Did I actually expect him to believe that? Reina looked uncertainly at Kenshin, who continued humming.
Baka. Kenshin's being POLITE...too damn polite. He trusts you so much he'll believe anything you say.
Poor Kenshin. If he only knew...
"Reina-chan, daijobu..?"
Reina jumped at least three feet sideways, no mean feat as she was loaded down with so much ammunition; when her feet reconnected themselves firmly to the ground, she spun around and shouted, "Kenshin! Don't DO that to me!"
Kenshin smiled sheepishly, scratching his neck. "Sumanai de gozaru. Sessha has a habit of doing that...but there's something..." he held out a pair of binoculars to her.
"Nan da yo?" She said, trying to sound gruff, but failing miserably. She brushed some accumulating snow off her shoulders. Not replying, Kenshin handed her the binoculars and pointed. "Look there."
Reina peered through the binocular's lenses, at the direction Kenshin pointed at. All she saw was a portion of the building's perimeter spiked-fence.
"So what am I supposed to be seeing here?"
Silence. Then-- "Magnify three times, then seven or eight degrees north."
Shrugging, Reina slowly turned the large knob on the binoculars until she felt it click three times, and peered through them again, slightly raising it. Spikes filled her vision, along with falling snow.
"Well?" said Reina, a bit annoyed. "I still don't see any-"
"Magnify once, and then move to the left. Slowly."
Looking back at her own brother curiously, Reina peered again, carefully turning her gaze as spikes against flung snow filled her sight again. Then she saw, not clearly, but she was sure about it all the same....a head, pierced on one of the spikes, the latter making a grotesque makeshift neck, its point poking out.
It was Yuri Mikhail, one of the AEGIS captains who went missing after a previous skirmish with the invaders. Intelligence thought he was buried under the snow. But this....
"Hostages." said Reina softly. "They've taken hostages."
Kenshin nodded, eyes staring at their objective. "I found some footprints heading toward the plant a few minutes before they were completely covered by the blizzard."
"How many?"
"Four, five. Can't really tell..."
"Damn." Reina said under her breath, sitting down in the snow, not feeling the cold.
Hypothermia be damned, her legs were already tired from standing too long--
--and it could get longer, from the looks of things.
Damn.
Hugging her knees, trying to conserve warmth, Reina listened as Kenshin yelled at Shirei conveniently from a two-way radio, informing him about the hostages over the blizzard's noise.
***
"Yeah, Shirei, HOSTAGES.... Hello? Hello? Shirei, can you hear me de g- YES! HOSTAGES! They've got hostages....how MANY? I think four, maybe five..what?...Gomen na sai de gozaru, but sessha can't..hear...Shirei? Shirei? SHIREI!"
Kenshin sighed, turned off the radio and let it drop to the ground. The battery was almost dead anyway.
"Kenshin!" He heard Reina call. He looked up to see Reina patting the snow beside her.
"Come on. Don't keep standing there like an idiot, freezing your hair off. Sit next to me." She said, smiling.
"Arigato de gozaru na." Kenshin said, returning the smile. He walked over and sat beside Reina, who pulled him close. It was getting colder.
Damn it. Shirei should have told me.
He didn't know. Nobody knew.
Kenshin smiled a thin smile as Reina huddled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He felt her shiver.
Poor Reina. She's freezing...not probably used to this kind of temperature...
"Of course not. Baka." Reina muttered. Kenshin stared back at her, blinking.
"Did I say that de gozaru ka?" He squeaked.
"You're not the only one who studied under Hiko, mind you." Reina reached up with the hand holding Kenshin to her and whacked him softly on the head. "I can read chi too..."
"A-Aa."
Reina whacked him again, harder this time. "I'm shivering because I'm not used to this kind of weather, dumbass! And I'm not used to this kind of weather because I'm not like you, Battousai-SAN, who fought all winter long during the Bakumatsu...."
"Look!" Kenshin threw up his hands in indignation. "It's not Battousai, ne?! It's *KENSHIN*. Himura. Ken-san. Whatever. Foxtail even. I don't care. Not Battousai, not Hitokiri, not Angel Slayer. Just don't..." He shook his head briefly. "..call me that."
"Touchy, touchy."
Kenshin lowered his head. "Try being named like some kind of monster from children's nightmares and you'd probably feel much like I did."
"Okay, okay. No more name-calling." Reina slung one arm around Kenshin's shoulders and pecked him on the cheek. "No more digging up of the past.....God knows it's not good to dwell on such things...but then again..."
Reina held Kenshin tighter. "..the past is all we have."
Silence. Then--
Kenshin looked at her curiously. "Where in the world, can I ask, did you get that from de gozaru ka?"
"From you, where else?" Reina brushed more snow from her hair. "I don't have somebody else spouting 'zen' type garbage at me, now do I?"
"All those years...I never knew..." Kenshin said, his voice trailing off, his eyes looking at the horizon, pensive, as if in sudden discovery of something...
"What? You never knew what?"
"That my annoying onee-sama actually listens to me..." Kenshin finished, and hastily dodged Reina's fist. "Eh...sumimasen...Ow."
"Of course I listen to you! Dummy!" Reina chuckled as Kenshin tried to scrape the worst of the snowball she had squashed on his skull out of his hair. "I always do!"
"Are you sure about that de gozaru ka?"
Reina crossed her arms over her chest, taking a pose. She laughed confidently, much like a model. "Of course! Name one time I didn't."
Kenshin scratched his messy head, eyes in deep thought. "Well...let's see... First off, there was that Superweapon you broke..."
Reina was prepared. "They didn't say it was malfunctional."
"But I told you not to, right? One point for me then...let's see..that's right...." Kenshin looked up to the sky completatively. "...giving Ayame and Suzume candy before going to bed, thus giving them cavities.."
"How was I supposed to know they didn't brush that night?!"
"Reina-dono..you know I always ask them if they did...if my memory serves me right, I think I reminded you to....another point for me...another one..hmm..ah!..spending grocery money on a MP5..."
"Hey! It was a bargain!" Reina huffed indignantly.
"You could've just asked me, you know....I knew an arms dealer then, and he'd be more the happy to give me a 50% discount.....sessha maintains his lead at three-zero....and, of course, who could forget, shooting Shirei with a paintgun...."
"I apologized, didn't I?! Besides, Mulberry Pink went very well with that black suit he wore!"
"...gave Ukiya's girlfriend a trick exploding present.."
"Hey, HE asked me to give that to her! Wait! Alright! Alright! I concede! I give up!" Reina stood up, arms akimbo. "Okay, there might have been a teensy number times when I didn't listen to you, but that's not the point!"
Kenshin looked up at her. "And the point is?"
"I want you to listen to me!" Reina said, faintly pink.
Some more silence.
Kenshin scratched his head again, confused.
Reina looked down at her own brother, brow knitting.
"Don't I listen to you?"
"You think?!" Kenshin hastily dodged a snowball that would have decapitated him. "Always the first to go! Not bothering to wait for me sometimes! And may I remind you," Reina said, eyes slitted as she packed some snow together in her hands, "...of the time that a particularly stupid 'someone' was so raring to go that he forgot to bring spare clips for his AK-47?!"
Kenshin winced as a well-aimed snowball impacted squarely on his forehead, knocking him back into the snow.
Gomen na sai de gozaru...I...Ouch. Whoever knew a snowball could hit so hard?
"Hai, hai...suminai de gozaru yo...you've made your point...Ow."
"Apology accepted." Reina held out her hand. Kenshin took it, and Reina helped him back up to a sitting position. She sat next to him, cuddling for warmth.
"So you'll listen to me from now on?" she said, muffled.
"Hai de gozaru."
"No more secrets?"
"Hai de gozaru."
Some more silence. Then--
"Kenshin?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we stay like this for a while? I want to sleep a bit.."
It's not that cold.
Not when she's around.
"Hai." I'll try.
So warm....
Kenshin shook his head lightly, drawing a half-irritated protest from Reina, who was snoozing softly.
You're not worthy. You never were. And never will be.
Too tainted....too stained...
Details, details, Kenshin almost heard Katsura-san say. Don't let them get in the way. A woman in love wouldn't. She would only see you. You. Not your past, not your scar, not your sword, not your sins. Only you.
His hand went up, slowly, to cup his left cheek, pressing the ridges of his scar into his hand.
Too tainted. That's what I am. But Tomoe...Kaoru...Reina...they saw beyond Battousai...
He tried to rub life back into his legs, they were getting numb, and painfully so....Reina's grip around his waist did not help in any way.
"Kenshin. Stop moving, dammit."
Oops. Kenshin smiled his rurouni smile. Dammit, Reina, I don't know what I would do without you...and I would give half my life expectancy...not that it's so long, mind you....that you stay with me. "Gomen nasai. Did I wake you de gozaru ka?"
"Yeah, you idiot, you did." Reina gave him a soft elbow to the ribs.
"But thanks anyway." Yawning, she stood up and stretched, glancing at her almost-frozen watch. "We've wasted enough time.....I want to get back in time for dinner....here, catch...oops."
Kenshin rubbed the spot where the Angel Slayer had connected painfully with his head. "Arigato de gozaru yo...ow.."
"Clumsy jackass." Reina chuckled, helping Kenshin up. "Really. If I didn't know any better...Kenshin? Kenshin?" Reina asked, alarmed, when Kenshin suddenly went tense under her touch.
"Kenshin? KenSHIN!" Reina shook her brother lightly. Was something wrong?
He's here. I know he is.
Kenshin's eyes quickly darted to the left, following shadows.
Why now?
He tensed all the more as he sensed another being, hidden, near them...watching them, motionless...too powerful for an invader..stained with pure malice...
Of course -- oldest trick in the book -- attacking the enemy when his weakness is out in the fucking open....
One hand immediately went to the Angel Slayer's handle, feeling the metal instantly go warm under his touch, as if welcoming. Slowly, he unsheathed it.
There! Where...?
He glanced sharply to the right.
Where are you? What are you?
Kenshin's hand tightened on the Angel Slayer, knuckles white.
Who are you?
There....
"REMAIN NAMELESS!" Kenshin screamed, the Angel Slayer's tip gathering dark energy as he lifted it over his head...and then brought it crashing down on the ground, the energy flung out of the sword in a straight, black beam of death with enough force to obliterate a mountain....the beam streaked above the snow, blasting through anything in its path...and then exploded, sending ice flying everywhere.
You are no god.
I am.
Reina looked at her own brother, mortified. This was the first time in months that he had actually used the Angel Slayer....much less attack with its dark energy. Whatever startled Kenshin into projecting a beam that powerful...she saw it detonate ten miles away....must have been strong.
"Kenshin-" She started, and then stopped. Now she felt it too....something large, powerful...with the same dark energy as Kenshin's...
Her hand immediately went to her rifle, her fingers wrapping around the bolt without looking, racking a bullet into the firing chamber. No sense standing around like an idiot..
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared....it vanished....
Kenshin silently slid the Angel Slayer back into its sheath, letting out the breath he had unwarely been holding.
"Kenshin..." Reina tried again, putting back her sniper rifle in its sling, absently flicking the safety on and off. "What was that?"
He slowly shook his head. "It's nothing." He said in a voice that sounded extremely like his other half. "Forgive me." Kenshin walked off.
Bastard. You lie like a fool. Not even a deaf person would fall for that.
Shut up. You know what I saw.
And you're afraid?
Yes.
Afraid?
Yes....
Kenshin felt a hand clamp firmly on his shoulder and roughly turn him around.
"Tell me." Reina said firmly, her voice not unlike Kenshin's, something hard set in her emerald eyes.
"No."
Kenshin walked off, leaving a stunned Reina behind.
Reina. You don't need- you must not know. I'm scared...
"Tell me." Reina said again, slightly breathless, catching up with him. "You said you'd listen....so listen already."
No more secrets.
"....."
"Kenshin." Reina tried again. "Please...dammit, we already talked about this..."
"This is another matter entirely."
Reina grabbed her hair in frustration. God, Kenshin can be so stubborn sometimes....If only Shirei could see us now.... "Look, Kenshin...you used the Angel Slayer....doesn't that mean anything? I mean, come on! You hardly use it even when we're fighting invaders, much less if we're fighting enemy gatekeepers...."
"...."
"....and you use it only in emergencies..Kenshin? Kenshin?"
Kenshin merely walked on, blatantly ignoring her.
"Was it an enemy gatekeeper?" Reina guessed.
"..."
"Core invader?"
"..."
"Slayer?"
"I said it was nothing." Kenshin said, his words clipped.
"Demo-"
"This conversation is over. De. Gozaru."
Too close.
Fuming, Reina hmmphed, shoved her hands into her pockets and stomped off.
Idiot--- well, I'm not going to give up that easily --
--there are OTHER ways--
One hand immediately went to her katana.
Just you wait, Himura....
Reina barely suppressed a giggle when she heard Kenshin sneeze.
***
Fifteen Minutes Later
***
"Ready, Kenshin?"
"A-Aa."
Reina scrutinized the massive metal barricade before them, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I think one blast should be enough....right....stand back, Kenshin." Reina unslung her rifle and stripped its magazine away.
"Ano....what are you going to do now de gozaru ka?" Kenshin asked Reina, curious as Reina loaded the rifle with ammunition he had never seen before. Well, at least not in the armory....well, Reina had ways of getting illegal calibers that would have had her arrested if not for her Earth Defender License.
Wonder if it's napalm-encased rounds again....Kenshin thought, sweating as Reina racked the bolt of her rifle. The last time Reina used that particular kind of ammo, Reina had almost set the whole place on fire.
"Ano de gozaru na..." Kenshin asked again, eyes widening as Reina took aim.
"Nan da yo?" Reina slid her view from the scope to Kenshin, peering over the side of her rifle.
"Um....sessha was wondering...."
Who's asking questions now?
Reina sighed, exasperated. She lowered the rifle. "No, Kenshin, these are NOT incendiary napalm rounds; no, these are NOT Acid encased rounds; no, these are not hydrogen rounds and NO, I am not going to do anything that would blow us all up to kingdom come." Reina brushed back her bangs, casting an annoyed look on her brother. "Well? Satisfied?"
"Ha-hai..but...what-?"
Reina smiled. "Gate rounds - .457 Wilde Magnum with a micro energy amplifier in each bullet cap. Armor Piercing, full metal jacket. Clocks about a millisecond faster than the average, ten thousand tons and a half on impact, range of ten miles....assuming it goes through a gate, of course. I'm field-testing it." Reina raised the rifle back up, and took aim again. Her gate opened, swirling white, almost indiscernible from the white snow.
"Didn't I tell you to...?" Reina said simply to Kenshin, not taking her eyes off the sight. He took the hint, and backed away hastily.
"Gate Assault..." her right hand automatically came up and disengaged the safety without the need to look. Forefinger tightening on the trigger, she concentrated.
"Ether Flare!"
Reina felt the monstrous kick of the rifle push her back as she fired; a loud, thunder-like explosion jarred the nearly-defeaning silence as the large round streaked toward the white gate. As it entered, the gate seemed to glow brighter as it absorbed the round....and then, abruptly, the oversized bullet blasted out of the gate, now encased in a massive white aura, like a comet....it streaked towards the barricade so fast that Reina barely had time to blink.
Then, unexpectedly, a blinding light exploded as the Ether Flare hit an invisible wall a few feet from the barricade, repelling...the comet's energy crackled much like electricity as it struggled to push through.
"They're using a shield!" Reina shouted over the din. For some reason the wind blew much stronger now, howling loudly, threatening to blow them off their feet. "My Ether Flare can't get through----"
She was cut off when the comet suddenly exploded in white sparks, extinguished. The round, smoking and half-melted, fell to the ground with a defeated clunk. Kenshin shielded his face from the blizzard, hand automatically going to the Angel Slayer's handle, seeking its welcoming warmth, but after an afterthought, drew the sakaba instead.
Never again. Never.
"Reina! Flares at my signal!" Kenshin shouted to Reina, who was struggling to stay upright. She gave him a thumbs up, chambered a round and aimed.
Ready...
The wind, if possible, grew even stronger as both Gatekeepers opened their gates in unison, one white, one black; Kenshin with his katana poised over the gate; Reina, with the barrel of her gun pointed at hers. Both seemed to be immune to the wind as they stood unnaturally still.
"NOW!!"
In perfect harmony, both Gatekeepers unleashed a massive beam of white and black, the colors striking, clashing as they sped onward. Once again, the beams were blocked by an invisible wall; it seemed to hold....
....and then was broken. The barricade, now without a shield, was destroyed utterly as the beams struck it, now unimpeded, making it explode into a thousand pieces, which then vanished into nothing.
Instantly, under the cover of the resulting smoke, wasting no time, both Gatekeepers rushed into the compound, Kenshin with the sakaba in battou-jutsu position, Reina holding two fully loaded with armor piercing capability Uzi's in both hands.
As they burst through the fog, Reina saw the inevitable; a mass of invaders rising from the ground, their glasses glinting in the sunlight, suits contrasting with the bright snow.
Showtime.
At this point, Reina's thoughts raced to the pace equal to her footsteps, a technique Kenshin had taught her upon her insistance; to calculate as quickly as possible, to organize your thoughts during the lapse of two running steps or less. It enabled you to look at an enemy, and while rushing, getting your katana strike blocked or hit, make split-second strategies or decisions that could very well save your life.
So far Reina could devise a dozen strategies against her opponent in one second, and twice after that. Kenshin, obviously, had mastered it, capable of thinking up an unlimited number of attack plans just by looking at his enemy in the space of a millisecond or so -- a trait essential for survival, he had said--
--or a trait of a Slayer.
Reina effortlessly kept up with Kenshin's sprint, calculating. The invaders had already started firing -- the frequency rings exploded beside them, incinerating.
Let's see now..Reina thought as another violet ring missed her by mere inches. Three hundred, give or take fifty.....five cores....no Enemy Gates....no civilians in sight -- probably inside the compound itself.
Reina grinned, levelling the Uzis at the invaders, aiming.
This was going to be easy.
Without warning, she opened fire.
****
It's not here.
Kenshin violently lashed out with the sakabatou, tearing apart an invader, reducing it into mere crystal.
I can't find it...it must be gone.
Pivoting sideways, Kenshin dodged a barrage of purple missiles, and, muttering a particularly vile curse he had learned from Reina, sent a massive black beam towards the direction where the missiles had come from.
It better be....because if he's here I'll tear this place apart to find him...
Kenshin gritted his teeth as he stabbed his sword into another invader and, taking hold of its neck, ripped it apart into two, which exploded weakly, again littering the snow with green shards.
...and when I do find him...
Kenshin opened his gate, deep black, before him, sword and body in battou-jutsu position, muscles stretching with tension, preparing...
...I'll tear HIM apart.
Without warning, Kenshin struck, the sword whipped out from its saya in a motion so fast it was a blur...wind screamed around him, torn by the force of the sudden blow....
Tenshi Ansatsuken Ryuu. Aku-Fujin-Ryu-Sen.
In an instant, the Gate of Death crackling with energy, countless huge air blades as dark as the gate itself flew in all directions, mercilessly cutting through anything...and exploding in impact..
The sound of crystals exploding filled the air.
***
Nine. Eight. Seven.
Reina dodged an oncoming invader, sidestepped and tilted at the same time, pivoted and sent three bullets at its direction, not bothering to look. Aiming, for Reina, was a quick art; one only needed a split second or less to confirm one's target, and shoot. Nothing more.
Six.
Reina jumped, and shoving one of her Uzi's directly in front of an invader's face, fired a point-blank shot that shattered the alien's skull.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Landing on one foot Reina shifted her weight to her heel, falling backwards, avoiding the frequency rings that flew above her and unleashed a barrage of bullets from both Uzis as she fell into the snow.
Reload. Now.
Reina pressed both Uzi's magazine release buttons with both thumbs and with one quick jerk, shook the empty, smoking magazines out of the guns and into the snow. Breathing hard, she fumbled for the magazines--it was so cold it was making her fingers numb--
Too slow. Too slow--
Reina slammed a clip into one of the Uzis, and not bothering to reload the other one, and without looking up, fired in front of her.
Clink. Clink. Clink. The sound of crystals hitting each other told her all she needed to know.
Die.
Sliding a full magazine into the other Uzi, Reina opened her gate in front of her.
"Gate Assault...Ether Missiles."
Bracing herself, Reina leveled her guns at her gate and fired into it, the Uzis bucking crazily in her hands, smoking cartridges raining down her feet....
Instantly, a massive rain of small white comets blasted out of the white gate, streaking and tearing through anything. Like a swarm of bees they flew in a tight formation, intent on killing. Invaders exploded in a brilliant shower of white and green as the homing projectiles struck with the power of a small bomb.
*Click*
Not missing a beat, Reina threw down the now-empty(and now half-melted) Uzis, drew her pistols and started firing, picking off invaders one by one. Left, right, left, right.
They're not supposed to be this easy, Reina thought, firing alternately, right hand, then left, not counting her ammunition.
Something's wrong....
Alarm bells rang through her head as the last invader disappeared in a mist of green shards.
Kenshin? Where --
Reina turned to see Kenshin, a little ways off, sheathing his sakabatou....and one hand creeping up to the Angel Slayer...
He's felt it too...
Then, without warning, the ground below shook..... Reina whirled to see Kenshin, fear in his eyes, about to open his mouth to say something...
***
This is easy...too easy...
Kenshin sheathed the sakabatou, not taking his eyes off the field, one hand resting on the Angel Slayer.
Masaka....
Kenshin's eyes widened at the sudden realization...
Nothing but a trap. We were lured....Reina....
No...
"REINA!!!"
****
Kenshin...
Reina stared in horror as a large, dragon-symbiote invader burst forth from the ground behind her, eyes flashing red, staring deep into her as it towered over her by a good twenty feet --
Kenshin...
Target Acquired.
Proceed. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy.
One of the dragon's claws cocked back, preparing to strike.
Destroy--
The claw plummeted towards Reina, a black blur amongst the white....
Kenshin-
Reina closed her eyes.
Three. Two. One.
Gate Assault-
"ETHER FLARE!!"
Without warning, Reina dropped on one knee and thrusted her hand up, towards the incoming claw, her gate open, and unleashed a beam so powerful it almost blinded her -- the beam streaked up to meet the invader entity --
and was blocked by an invisible barrier....the beam crackled in protest...Reina, gritting her teeth, opened her gate wider, trying to penetrate the shield....the beam progressed inch by painful inch into the invisible wall...and then exploded.
Reina watched in disbelief as her Ether Flare fizzle out and vanish. Obviously the invader was shielded as well, like the barricade....the claw, now unimpeded, sped downward again, and this time, struck Reina hard, blowing her off her feet, tossing her into the snow, skidding.
"REINA!!!!"
****
Curse you -- curse you all--
"REINA!!!!"
Kenshin yelled as Reina was struck by the dragon in a fierce backhand....every muscle in his body taut...the fear that had held him earlier now gave way to hatred...pure, blinding hatred....a feeling that he was so accustomed to...one he had tried so many years to supress....to force back...
to hold....
First Tomoe...then Kaoru...
Not Reina. No.
No more secrets...I'll always protect you, Kenshin..
"SHI-NE!!!!"
Kenshin, now enraged, jumped, soaring high over the dragon whose head followed his ascent, sword hand closing over the Angel Slayer, feeling it instantly become warm....
You are no protector.
"Tenshi Ansatsuken Ryuu-"
You are only an avenger. A Slayer.
Changing trajectory in midair, Kenshin dived toward the Dragon, whose mouth was already open, as if to swallow him whole....
So avenge.
So slay.
"AKU-RYU-SEN!!!"
The whole world darkened in a single second, drowned in shadow as the greatest weapon on earth was used to its fullest extent.
It has begun.
***********************************************************************************************
dark_mew@edsamail.com.ph
Czechoslovakia, Cherypovka Power Plant District. December 14, 1964. 4:00 a.m.
Snow. Snow all around. Everything is snow. Everything is white, so damn white it's almost blinding. And it's cold.
Ukiya held the flimsy coat, tattered with bullet holes, tighter around his body.
Too damn cold.
Ukiya checked his gun again, making sure the frost didn't make any moving parts stick to each other.
I hate this job.
One of the soldiers passing by gave him a paper cup full of coffee. He muttered thanks, and held the paper cup close. Thankfully, it was warm. It helped a little.
Taking a sip from the cup, he stood up and surveyed the horizon. Ukiya clicked the safety off his rifle and looked through its sniper scope, searching for anything....especially the sunglassed-and-trenchcoated variety.
Nothing. Nothing but snow.
They had been stationed in Czech for quite some time now; Ukiya could barely remember the last time he had a decent meal or slept in a decent bed. Reports had said that the current invader stronghold was in a plant to the northeast, just a mile from their current position.
Drawing back his rifle he sat again, taking hold of the coffee cup and sipping again.
"Snow. God forsake this miserable snow....." A voice said behind him. He turned around to see Shirei, stone-faced as always, wearing a coat almost as thin as Ukiya's. The frost had begun to freeze one of his glasses' lenses.
"Oh. Shirei." Ukiya nodded at him in acknowledgement. "Yep. I didn't know I could hate snow this much until we were stationed to Czechoslovakia."
"Cheer up." Shirei said with no trace of emotion on his face. "We're going home soon."
"Masaka...." Ukiya's eyes widened. "..you mean...?"
Shirei nodded. "Draconian measures for Draconian times."
"About time." Ukiya looked back at the horizon. "I kind of feel sorry for them, you know. They won't stand a chance."
"Them?" There was a trace of humor in Shirei's voice.
"No. The invaders." Ukiya smiled. "With those two on the job, it makes me thank God that they're on our side..."
**Outside Invader Stronghold, fifteen minutes later**
Two cloaked figures stood in front of the large, imposing, seemingly indestructible door that blocked off the invader base from view. Their cloaks flapping in the blizzard's wind like the wings of an owl trying desperately to escape the updrift, they silently stared at the massive barrier contemplatively, as if making up some complicated strategem to get inside...
"I HATE CZECHOSLOVAKIA!!" Reina screamed, eyes blazing. "It's cold, it's wet, it's uncomfortable, it's snow, snow, snow twenty four hours a day, seven days a week...and the food..." Reina turned into an interesting shade of green. "I want to go home..."
If you and Kenshin could wrap this all up today, you might.
Screw Shirei. Gatemaster unit my ass. He's using Kenshin..I just know it...like he was used during the Bakumatsu no Doran...doing the dirty work...alone...
She lowered the hood of her cloak and ran her hand through her long, yellow hair. Well, that kind of explains why you're here, right? Protecting him.
Baka. Reina laughed slightly. Protect Battousai, the Angel Slayer? Riiiight. As if he needs protecting--
--but he does. You promised him.
Reina looked down on the snow wistfully, shivering quietly, feeling alone.
As if he cares about it. All he does is get himself into trouble. Always the first to get into any battle. He doesn't care--
--he does care. All those times, when he went first, before you, did you happen to think that he was trying to shoulder everything? That he didn't want you to get hurt?
Nonsense. I'm almost a gatemaster; and I'm a master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu as well....surely...
Surely what? Look; last time you hugged him he almost yelled. He was trying to hide a rib broken after that last sortie. If that invader could injure the Angel Slayer, or Battousai for that matter...think of what he could have done to you.
Reina looked down again as she reached a conclusion.
He's protecting me...actually risking his neck for me...what I should be doing for him....
She risked a glance at Kenshin, who was sitting in the snow, humming merrily, looking at the invader hideout through a pair of binoculars. Either on cue, a fluke, or Kenshin was too damn intuitive, he turned to face her. When their eyes met briefly, green eyes on dark violet ones, Reina felt the cold disappear. Kenshin, oblivious to her thoughts, gave her a small smile, small but heartfelt nonetheless.
Baka....Kenshin..no baka...
She closed her eyes.
Doesn't he know?
You never told him.
But he still loves-
But she's gone. All of them. Kenshin visited their graves last week-
You sound so cruel, you know that? As if you're happy she's gone.
I'm not...
Reina gasped involuntarily when Kenshin, quiet as a mouse, grasped her hand, just below the wrist.
"Reina-dono...tell me what's wrong." Kenshin said softly, his eyes on hers, gently but firmly, trying to find out exactly what was on her mind. Reina lowered her head, unwanted tears painfully trying to squeeze out of her tightly closed eyes..
Oh God...please..please don't let him see... She tried to force them back, but they still came...
Stop it. This is no time to start.
Reina made a small noise, a sniffling one, quickly dragged her sleeve across her eyes and smiled brightly at Kenshin. "I-Iie...daijobu."
"Are you sure de gozaru ka?"
Reina nodded quickly. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just some snow that fell into my eyes, that's all."
Kenshin stared at her for a few more moments, then, apparently convinced, resumed his lookout on the hideout for any visual confirmation of invaders.
Did I actually expect him to believe that? Reina looked uncertainly at Kenshin, who continued humming.
Baka. Kenshin's being POLITE...too damn polite. He trusts you so much he'll believe anything you say.
Poor Kenshin. If he only knew...
"Reina-chan, daijobu..?"
Reina jumped at least three feet sideways, no mean feat as she was loaded down with so much ammunition; when her feet reconnected themselves firmly to the ground, she spun around and shouted, "Kenshin! Don't DO that to me!"
Kenshin smiled sheepishly, scratching his neck. "Sumanai de gozaru. Sessha has a habit of doing that...but there's something..." he held out a pair of binoculars to her.
"Nan da yo?" She said, trying to sound gruff, but failing miserably. She brushed some accumulating snow off her shoulders. Not replying, Kenshin handed her the binoculars and pointed. "Look there."
Reina peered through the binocular's lenses, at the direction Kenshin pointed at. All she saw was a portion of the building's perimeter spiked-fence.
"So what am I supposed to be seeing here?"
Silence. Then-- "Magnify three times, then seven or eight degrees north."
Shrugging, Reina slowly turned the large knob on the binoculars until she felt it click three times, and peered through them again, slightly raising it. Spikes filled her vision, along with falling snow.
"Well?" said Reina, a bit annoyed. "I still don't see any-"
"Magnify once, and then move to the left. Slowly."
Looking back at her own brother curiously, Reina peered again, carefully turning her gaze as spikes against flung snow filled her sight again. Then she saw, not clearly, but she was sure about it all the same....a head, pierced on one of the spikes, the latter making a grotesque makeshift neck, its point poking out.
It was Yuri Mikhail, one of the AEGIS captains who went missing after a previous skirmish with the invaders. Intelligence thought he was buried under the snow. But this....
"Hostages." said Reina softly. "They've taken hostages."
Kenshin nodded, eyes staring at their objective. "I found some footprints heading toward the plant a few minutes before they were completely covered by the blizzard."
"How many?"
"Four, five. Can't really tell..."
"Damn." Reina said under her breath, sitting down in the snow, not feeling the cold.
Hypothermia be damned, her legs were already tired from standing too long--
--and it could get longer, from the looks of things.
Damn.
Hugging her knees, trying to conserve warmth, Reina listened as Kenshin yelled at Shirei conveniently from a two-way radio, informing him about the hostages over the blizzard's noise.
***
"Yeah, Shirei, HOSTAGES.... Hello? Hello? Shirei, can you hear me de g- YES! HOSTAGES! They've got hostages....how MANY? I think four, maybe five..what?...Gomen na sai de gozaru, but sessha can't..hear...Shirei? Shirei? SHIREI!"
Kenshin sighed, turned off the radio and let it drop to the ground. The battery was almost dead anyway.
"Kenshin!" He heard Reina call. He looked up to see Reina patting the snow beside her.
"Come on. Don't keep standing there like an idiot, freezing your hair off. Sit next to me." She said, smiling.
"Arigato de gozaru na." Kenshin said, returning the smile. He walked over and sat beside Reina, who pulled him close. It was getting colder.
Damn it. Shirei should have told me.
He didn't know. Nobody knew.
Kenshin smiled a thin smile as Reina huddled closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He felt her shiver.
Poor Reina. She's freezing...not probably used to this kind of temperature...
"Of course not. Baka." Reina muttered. Kenshin stared back at her, blinking.
"Did I say that de gozaru ka?" He squeaked.
"You're not the only one who studied under Hiko, mind you." Reina reached up with the hand holding Kenshin to her and whacked him softly on the head. "I can read chi too..."
"A-Aa."
Reina whacked him again, harder this time. "I'm shivering because I'm not used to this kind of weather, dumbass! And I'm not used to this kind of weather because I'm not like you, Battousai-SAN, who fought all winter long during the Bakumatsu...."
"Look!" Kenshin threw up his hands in indignation. "It's not Battousai, ne?! It's *KENSHIN*. Himura. Ken-san. Whatever. Foxtail even. I don't care. Not Battousai, not Hitokiri, not Angel Slayer. Just don't..." He shook his head briefly. "..call me that."
"Touchy, touchy."
Kenshin lowered his head. "Try being named like some kind of monster from children's nightmares and you'd probably feel much like I did."
"Okay, okay. No more name-calling." Reina slung one arm around Kenshin's shoulders and pecked him on the cheek. "No more digging up of the past.....God knows it's not good to dwell on such things...but then again..."
Reina held Kenshin tighter. "..the past is all we have."
Silence. Then--
Kenshin looked at her curiously. "Where in the world, can I ask, did you get that from de gozaru ka?"
"From you, where else?" Reina brushed more snow from her hair. "I don't have somebody else spouting 'zen' type garbage at me, now do I?"
"All those years...I never knew..." Kenshin said, his voice trailing off, his eyes looking at the horizon, pensive, as if in sudden discovery of something...
"What? You never knew what?"
"That my annoying onee-sama actually listens to me..." Kenshin finished, and hastily dodged Reina's fist. "Eh...sumimasen...Ow."
"Of course I listen to you! Dummy!" Reina chuckled as Kenshin tried to scrape the worst of the snowball she had squashed on his skull out of his hair. "I always do!"
"Are you sure about that de gozaru ka?"
Reina crossed her arms over her chest, taking a pose. She laughed confidently, much like a model. "Of course! Name one time I didn't."
Kenshin scratched his messy head, eyes in deep thought. "Well...let's see... First off, there was that Superweapon you broke..."
Reina was prepared. "They didn't say it was malfunctional."
"But I told you not to, right? One point for me then...let's see..that's right...." Kenshin looked up to the sky completatively. "...giving Ayame and Suzume candy before going to bed, thus giving them cavities.."
"How was I supposed to know they didn't brush that night?!"
"Reina-dono..you know I always ask them if they did...if my memory serves me right, I think I reminded you to....another point for me...another one..hmm..ah!..spending grocery money on a MP5..."
"Hey! It was a bargain!" Reina huffed indignantly.
"You could've just asked me, you know....I knew an arms dealer then, and he'd be more the happy to give me a 50% discount.....sessha maintains his lead at three-zero....and, of course, who could forget, shooting Shirei with a paintgun...."
"I apologized, didn't I?! Besides, Mulberry Pink went very well with that black suit he wore!"
"...gave Ukiya's girlfriend a trick exploding present.."
"Hey, HE asked me to give that to her! Wait! Alright! Alright! I concede! I give up!" Reina stood up, arms akimbo. "Okay, there might have been a teensy number times when I didn't listen to you, but that's not the point!"
Kenshin looked up at her. "And the point is?"
"I want you to listen to me!" Reina said, faintly pink.
Some more silence.
Kenshin scratched his head again, confused.
Reina looked down at her own brother, brow knitting.
"Don't I listen to you?"
"You think?!" Kenshin hastily dodged a snowball that would have decapitated him. "Always the first to go! Not bothering to wait for me sometimes! And may I remind you," Reina said, eyes slitted as she packed some snow together in her hands, "...of the time that a particularly stupid 'someone' was so raring to go that he forgot to bring spare clips for his AK-47?!"
Kenshin winced as a well-aimed snowball impacted squarely on his forehead, knocking him back into the snow.
Gomen na sai de gozaru...I...Ouch. Whoever knew a snowball could hit so hard?
"Hai, hai...suminai de gozaru yo...you've made your point...Ow."
"Apology accepted." Reina held out her hand. Kenshin took it, and Reina helped him back up to a sitting position. She sat next to him, cuddling for warmth.
"So you'll listen to me from now on?" she said, muffled.
"Hai de gozaru."
"No more secrets?"
"Hai de gozaru."
Some more silence. Then--
"Kenshin?"
"Hmm?"
"Can we stay like this for a while? I want to sleep a bit.."
It's not that cold.
Not when she's around.
"Hai." I'll try.
So warm....
Kenshin shook his head lightly, drawing a half-irritated protest from Reina, who was snoozing softly.
You're not worthy. You never were. And never will be.
Too tainted....too stained...
Details, details, Kenshin almost heard Katsura-san say. Don't let them get in the way. A woman in love wouldn't. She would only see you. You. Not your past, not your scar, not your sword, not your sins. Only you.
His hand went up, slowly, to cup his left cheek, pressing the ridges of his scar into his hand.
Too tainted. That's what I am. But Tomoe...Kaoru...Reina...they saw beyond Battousai...
He tried to rub life back into his legs, they were getting numb, and painfully so....Reina's grip around his waist did not help in any way.
"Kenshin. Stop moving, dammit."
Oops. Kenshin smiled his rurouni smile. Dammit, Reina, I don't know what I would do without you...and I would give half my life expectancy...not that it's so long, mind you....that you stay with me. "Gomen nasai. Did I wake you de gozaru ka?"
"Yeah, you idiot, you did." Reina gave him a soft elbow to the ribs.
"But thanks anyway." Yawning, she stood up and stretched, glancing at her almost-frozen watch. "We've wasted enough time.....I want to get back in time for dinner....here, catch...oops."
Kenshin rubbed the spot where the Angel Slayer had connected painfully with his head. "Arigato de gozaru yo...ow.."
"Clumsy jackass." Reina chuckled, helping Kenshin up. "Really. If I didn't know any better...Kenshin? Kenshin?" Reina asked, alarmed, when Kenshin suddenly went tense under her touch.
"Kenshin? KenSHIN!" Reina shook her brother lightly. Was something wrong?
He's here. I know he is.
Kenshin's eyes quickly darted to the left, following shadows.
Why now?
He tensed all the more as he sensed another being, hidden, near them...watching them, motionless...too powerful for an invader..stained with pure malice...
Of course -- oldest trick in the book -- attacking the enemy when his weakness is out in the fucking open....
One hand immediately went to the Angel Slayer's handle, feeling the metal instantly go warm under his touch, as if welcoming. Slowly, he unsheathed it.
There! Where...?
He glanced sharply to the right.
Where are you? What are you?
Kenshin's hand tightened on the Angel Slayer, knuckles white.
Who are you?
There....
"REMAIN NAMELESS!" Kenshin screamed, the Angel Slayer's tip gathering dark energy as he lifted it over his head...and then brought it crashing down on the ground, the energy flung out of the sword in a straight, black beam of death with enough force to obliterate a mountain....the beam streaked above the snow, blasting through anything in its path...and then exploded, sending ice flying everywhere.
You are no god.
I am.
Reina looked at her own brother, mortified. This was the first time in months that he had actually used the Angel Slayer....much less attack with its dark energy. Whatever startled Kenshin into projecting a beam that powerful...she saw it detonate ten miles away....must have been strong.
"Kenshin-" She started, and then stopped. Now she felt it too....something large, powerful...with the same dark energy as Kenshin's...
Her hand immediately went to her rifle, her fingers wrapping around the bolt without looking, racking a bullet into the firing chamber. No sense standing around like an idiot..
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared....it vanished....
Kenshin silently slid the Angel Slayer back into its sheath, letting out the breath he had unwarely been holding.
"Kenshin..." Reina tried again, putting back her sniper rifle in its sling, absently flicking the safety on and off. "What was that?"
He slowly shook his head. "It's nothing." He said in a voice that sounded extremely like his other half. "Forgive me." Kenshin walked off.
Bastard. You lie like a fool. Not even a deaf person would fall for that.
Shut up. You know what I saw.
And you're afraid?
Yes.
Afraid?
Yes....
Kenshin felt a hand clamp firmly on his shoulder and roughly turn him around.
"Tell me." Reina said firmly, her voice not unlike Kenshin's, something hard set in her emerald eyes.
"No."
Kenshin walked off, leaving a stunned Reina behind.
Reina. You don't need- you must not know. I'm scared...
"Tell me." Reina said again, slightly breathless, catching up with him. "You said you'd listen....so listen already."
No more secrets.
"....."
"Kenshin." Reina tried again. "Please...dammit, we already talked about this..."
"This is another matter entirely."
Reina grabbed her hair in frustration. God, Kenshin can be so stubborn sometimes....If only Shirei could see us now.... "Look, Kenshin...you used the Angel Slayer....doesn't that mean anything? I mean, come on! You hardly use it even when we're fighting invaders, much less if we're fighting enemy gatekeepers...."
"...."
"....and you use it only in emergencies..Kenshin? Kenshin?"
Kenshin merely walked on, blatantly ignoring her.
"Was it an enemy gatekeeper?" Reina guessed.
"..."
"Core invader?"
"..."
"Slayer?"
"I said it was nothing." Kenshin said, his words clipped.
"Demo-"
"This conversation is over. De. Gozaru."
Too close.
Fuming, Reina hmmphed, shoved her hands into her pockets and stomped off.
Idiot--- well, I'm not going to give up that easily --
--there are OTHER ways--
One hand immediately went to her katana.
Just you wait, Himura....
Reina barely suppressed a giggle when she heard Kenshin sneeze.
***
Fifteen Minutes Later
***
"Ready, Kenshin?"
"A-Aa."
Reina scrutinized the massive metal barricade before them, raising an eyebrow. "Well, I think one blast should be enough....right....stand back, Kenshin." Reina unslung her rifle and stripped its magazine away.
"Ano....what are you going to do now de gozaru ka?" Kenshin asked Reina, curious as Reina loaded the rifle with ammunition he had never seen before. Well, at least not in the armory....well, Reina had ways of getting illegal calibers that would have had her arrested if not for her Earth Defender License.
Wonder if it's napalm-encased rounds again....Kenshin thought, sweating as Reina racked the bolt of her rifle. The last time Reina used that particular kind of ammo, Reina had almost set the whole place on fire.
"Ano de gozaru na..." Kenshin asked again, eyes widening as Reina took aim.
"Nan da yo?" Reina slid her view from the scope to Kenshin, peering over the side of her rifle.
"Um....sessha was wondering...."
Who's asking questions now?
Reina sighed, exasperated. She lowered the rifle. "No, Kenshin, these are NOT incendiary napalm rounds; no, these are NOT Acid encased rounds; no, these are not hydrogen rounds and NO, I am not going to do anything that would blow us all up to kingdom come." Reina brushed back her bangs, casting an annoyed look on her brother. "Well? Satisfied?"
"Ha-hai..but...what-?"
Reina smiled. "Gate rounds - .457 Wilde Magnum with a micro energy amplifier in each bullet cap. Armor Piercing, full metal jacket. Clocks about a millisecond faster than the average, ten thousand tons and a half on impact, range of ten miles....assuming it goes through a gate, of course. I'm field-testing it." Reina raised the rifle back up, and took aim again. Her gate opened, swirling white, almost indiscernible from the white snow.
"Didn't I tell you to...?" Reina said simply to Kenshin, not taking her eyes off the sight. He took the hint, and backed away hastily.
"Gate Assault..." her right hand automatically came up and disengaged the safety without the need to look. Forefinger tightening on the trigger, she concentrated.
"Ether Flare!"
Reina felt the monstrous kick of the rifle push her back as she fired; a loud, thunder-like explosion jarred the nearly-defeaning silence as the large round streaked toward the white gate. As it entered, the gate seemed to glow brighter as it absorbed the round....and then, abruptly, the oversized bullet blasted out of the gate, now encased in a massive white aura, like a comet....it streaked towards the barricade so fast that Reina barely had time to blink.
Then, unexpectedly, a blinding light exploded as the Ether Flare hit an invisible wall a few feet from the barricade, repelling...the comet's energy crackled much like electricity as it struggled to push through.
"They're using a shield!" Reina shouted over the din. For some reason the wind blew much stronger now, howling loudly, threatening to blow them off their feet. "My Ether Flare can't get through----"
She was cut off when the comet suddenly exploded in white sparks, extinguished. The round, smoking and half-melted, fell to the ground with a defeated clunk. Kenshin shielded his face from the blizzard, hand automatically going to the Angel Slayer's handle, seeking its welcoming warmth, but after an afterthought, drew the sakaba instead.
Never again. Never.
"Reina! Flares at my signal!" Kenshin shouted to Reina, who was struggling to stay upright. She gave him a thumbs up, chambered a round and aimed.
Ready...
The wind, if possible, grew even stronger as both Gatekeepers opened their gates in unison, one white, one black; Kenshin with his katana poised over the gate; Reina, with the barrel of her gun pointed at hers. Both seemed to be immune to the wind as they stood unnaturally still.
"NOW!!"
In perfect harmony, both Gatekeepers unleashed a massive beam of white and black, the colors striking, clashing as they sped onward. Once again, the beams were blocked by an invisible wall; it seemed to hold....
....and then was broken. The barricade, now without a shield, was destroyed utterly as the beams struck it, now unimpeded, making it explode into a thousand pieces, which then vanished into nothing.
Instantly, under the cover of the resulting smoke, wasting no time, both Gatekeepers rushed into the compound, Kenshin with the sakaba in battou-jutsu position, Reina holding two fully loaded with armor piercing capability Uzi's in both hands.
As they burst through the fog, Reina saw the inevitable; a mass of invaders rising from the ground, their glasses glinting in the sunlight, suits contrasting with the bright snow.
Showtime.
At this point, Reina's thoughts raced to the pace equal to her footsteps, a technique Kenshin had taught her upon her insistance; to calculate as quickly as possible, to organize your thoughts during the lapse of two running steps or less. It enabled you to look at an enemy, and while rushing, getting your katana strike blocked or hit, make split-second strategies or decisions that could very well save your life.
So far Reina could devise a dozen strategies against her opponent in one second, and twice after that. Kenshin, obviously, had mastered it, capable of thinking up an unlimited number of attack plans just by looking at his enemy in the space of a millisecond or so -- a trait essential for survival, he had said--
--or a trait of a Slayer.
Reina effortlessly kept up with Kenshin's sprint, calculating. The invaders had already started firing -- the frequency rings exploded beside them, incinerating.
Let's see now..Reina thought as another violet ring missed her by mere inches. Three hundred, give or take fifty.....five cores....no Enemy Gates....no civilians in sight -- probably inside the compound itself.
Reina grinned, levelling the Uzis at the invaders, aiming.
This was going to be easy.
Without warning, she opened fire.
****
It's not here.
Kenshin violently lashed out with the sakabatou, tearing apart an invader, reducing it into mere crystal.
I can't find it...it must be gone.
Pivoting sideways, Kenshin dodged a barrage of purple missiles, and, muttering a particularly vile curse he had learned from Reina, sent a massive black beam towards the direction where the missiles had come from.
It better be....because if he's here I'll tear this place apart to find him...
Kenshin gritted his teeth as he stabbed his sword into another invader and, taking hold of its neck, ripped it apart into two, which exploded weakly, again littering the snow with green shards.
...and when I do find him...
Kenshin opened his gate, deep black, before him, sword and body in battou-jutsu position, muscles stretching with tension, preparing...
...I'll tear HIM apart.
Without warning, Kenshin struck, the sword whipped out from its saya in a motion so fast it was a blur...wind screamed around him, torn by the force of the sudden blow....
Tenshi Ansatsuken Ryuu. Aku-Fujin-Ryu-Sen.
In an instant, the Gate of Death crackling with energy, countless huge air blades as dark as the gate itself flew in all directions, mercilessly cutting through anything...and exploding in impact..
The sound of crystals exploding filled the air.
***
Nine. Eight. Seven.
Reina dodged an oncoming invader, sidestepped and tilted at the same time, pivoted and sent three bullets at its direction, not bothering to look. Aiming, for Reina, was a quick art; one only needed a split second or less to confirm one's target, and shoot. Nothing more.
Six.
Reina jumped, and shoving one of her Uzi's directly in front of an invader's face, fired a point-blank shot that shattered the alien's skull.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Landing on one foot Reina shifted her weight to her heel, falling backwards, avoiding the frequency rings that flew above her and unleashed a barrage of bullets from both Uzis as she fell into the snow.
Reload. Now.
Reina pressed both Uzi's magazine release buttons with both thumbs and with one quick jerk, shook the empty, smoking magazines out of the guns and into the snow. Breathing hard, she fumbled for the magazines--it was so cold it was making her fingers numb--
Too slow. Too slow--
Reina slammed a clip into one of the Uzis, and not bothering to reload the other one, and without looking up, fired in front of her.
Clink. Clink. Clink. The sound of crystals hitting each other told her all she needed to know.
Die.
Sliding a full magazine into the other Uzi, Reina opened her gate in front of her.
"Gate Assault...Ether Missiles."
Bracing herself, Reina leveled her guns at her gate and fired into it, the Uzis bucking crazily in her hands, smoking cartridges raining down her feet....
Instantly, a massive rain of small white comets blasted out of the white gate, streaking and tearing through anything. Like a swarm of bees they flew in a tight formation, intent on killing. Invaders exploded in a brilliant shower of white and green as the homing projectiles struck with the power of a small bomb.
*Click*
Not missing a beat, Reina threw down the now-empty(and now half-melted) Uzis, drew her pistols and started firing, picking off invaders one by one. Left, right, left, right.
They're not supposed to be this easy, Reina thought, firing alternately, right hand, then left, not counting her ammunition.
Something's wrong....
Alarm bells rang through her head as the last invader disappeared in a mist of green shards.
Kenshin? Where --
Reina turned to see Kenshin, a little ways off, sheathing his sakabatou....and one hand creeping up to the Angel Slayer...
He's felt it too...
Then, without warning, the ground below shook..... Reina whirled to see Kenshin, fear in his eyes, about to open his mouth to say something...
***
This is easy...too easy...
Kenshin sheathed the sakabatou, not taking his eyes off the field, one hand resting on the Angel Slayer.
Masaka....
Kenshin's eyes widened at the sudden realization...
Nothing but a trap. We were lured....Reina....
No...
"REINA!!!"
****
Kenshin...
Reina stared in horror as a large, dragon-symbiote invader burst forth from the ground behind her, eyes flashing red, staring deep into her as it towered over her by a good twenty feet --
Kenshin...
Target Acquired.
Proceed. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy.
One of the dragon's claws cocked back, preparing to strike.
Destroy--
The claw plummeted towards Reina, a black blur amongst the white....
Kenshin-
Reina closed her eyes.
Three. Two. One.
Gate Assault-
"ETHER FLARE!!"
Without warning, Reina dropped on one knee and thrusted her hand up, towards the incoming claw, her gate open, and unleashed a beam so powerful it almost blinded her -- the beam streaked up to meet the invader entity --
and was blocked by an invisible barrier....the beam crackled in protest...Reina, gritting her teeth, opened her gate wider, trying to penetrate the shield....the beam progressed inch by painful inch into the invisible wall...and then exploded.
Reina watched in disbelief as her Ether Flare fizzle out and vanish. Obviously the invader was shielded as well, like the barricade....the claw, now unimpeded, sped downward again, and this time, struck Reina hard, blowing her off her feet, tossing her into the snow, skidding.
"REINA!!!!"
****
Curse you -- curse you all--
"REINA!!!!"
Kenshin yelled as Reina was struck by the dragon in a fierce backhand....every muscle in his body taut...the fear that had held him earlier now gave way to hatred...pure, blinding hatred....a feeling that he was so accustomed to...one he had tried so many years to supress....to force back...
to hold....
First Tomoe...then Kaoru...
Not Reina. No.
No more secrets...I'll always protect you, Kenshin..
"SHI-NE!!!!"
Kenshin, now enraged, jumped, soaring high over the dragon whose head followed his ascent, sword hand closing over the Angel Slayer, feeling it instantly become warm....
You are no protector.
"Tenshi Ansatsuken Ryuu-"
You are only an avenger. A Slayer.
Changing trajectory in midair, Kenshin dived toward the Dragon, whose mouth was already open, as if to swallow him whole....
So avenge.
So slay.
"AKU-RYU-SEN!!!"
The whole world darkened in a single second, drowned in shadow as the greatest weapon on earth was used to its fullest extent.
It has begun.
***********************************************************************************************
