Disclaimer: I don't not own Sekirei or any references made.
Chapter Four: Conflict of interests
Benitsubasa jolted awake with a sharp intake of breath, choking on the harsh sterile air as she keeled over. Immediately she felt her head hurt as the bright fluorescent pieced her eyes.
The monotonous drone of heart rate monitors filled her ears as the headache slowly subsided. She ripped the respirator mask off from her face and chucked it aside and took a deep breath, recoiling again in disgust at the odour of clinical sterilizer in the air.
The ward's door slid open with a hiss, followed by the sound of footsteps and fingers drumming on a computer tablet. Takami's lab coat billowed in the air as she stepped into the ward. A pair of assistant doctors followed closely behind her and along with strangely enough, a young girl with sandy blond hair.
The little girl looked up curiously at Benitsubasa, who returned her gaze with a dazed glace.
"Oh good, you're awake." The head researcher said, removing a set of forms from her clipboard and setting them on the bedside table. "Was wondering how we were going to get that urine sample with you unconscious."
Benitsubasa choked at the last remark, breaking into a fit of coughing. The assistants rushed to soothe her. Kusano only stared up at the adults in the room, bewildered.
"What?!" Benitsubasa managed to croak as she regained her composure.
"I was kidding." Takami replied flatly, though the smug grin on her lips betrayed her amusement.
"Anyways, how are you feeling?" She continued to ask as she set Kusano onto a seat at the bedside. The young girl proceeded to stare in wonder at the readouts on monitors, reaching out to touch the machinery.
"My head feels like it's not attached on right." The Red Sekirei groaned, weakly rubbing temple as she slumped back onto the bed. Takami nodded and jotted notes into her tablet.
"Can't feel my legs, or my ribs." She continued, attempting to move her lower body, eliciting only a weak jerking from her knees.
"What happened?" Benitsubasa asked in a dazed, unsteady voice.
"That's just temporary. You had a severe concussion, three cracked ribs, multiple lacerations and a stomach that was hemorrhaging." Takami replied, reading off a crib sheet. "You currently have enough morphine in your system to drug up an elephant."
"I'd say not being able to feel your legs is the least of your worries." The head researcher finished with a clickety clack from her tablet. " But you heal fast, so it shouldn't be a problem."
A hiss alerted the group to a new presence entering the room, though the suffocating aura of killing intent gave Karasuba away long before she stepped in. The Black Sekirei raised an eyebrow as she surveyed the ward's current occupants. The assistant doctors froze their care and opted to stare at her like a pair of deer in the headlights.
"Well that's something you don't see everyday." Takami mused in a patronising tone as she looked at Karasuba from behind her thick stack of medical notes. "Aren't you the popular patient." The head researcher continued as she turned and shot Benitsubasa a snide grin before returning to reading her notes.
Karasuba replied with a huff and an eye roll on one side and a dazed look on another.
"I'm collecting information." Karasuba replied flatly, unamused by Takami's jabs. She strode past the head researcher to Benitsubasa, the former wordlessly handing her the tablet with medical notes without so much as looking up.
Nothing escaped Karasuba's hawk like gaze as she reviewed every detail of Benitsubasa's injuries, from the most minor cuts to the bones that were completely snapped. Locations, depths, signs of repeated trauma to the area.
"That's definitely her." Karasuba concluded dryly, unceremoniously dropping the tablet on the bedside table.
"Who's definitely what?" Benitsubasa hazeley asked.
"Number 8, Yume." Takami said flatly, noticing how Karasuba stiffened at the mention of the name.
A noticeable silence fell across the room.
"Yes. Her." The Black Sekirei confirmed grimly. She then turned and wordlessly started out of the room.
"Thanks for visiting." Takami called out with mock glee as the door closed behind Karasuba. Benitsubasa only stared through a sedated daze before collapsing back on the bed as the assistant doctors administered the next dose of sedatives.
"They seem to predict our next move perfectly every time." The guard captain said nervously as Minaka paced his office. The MBI director's face was an impassive mask.
Natsuo and Haihane stood two paces behind the captain, straight and unmoving beside the occasional glance towards Minaka.
They stiffened when Minaka glanced in their direction.
"Conventional forces, I can understand. But Sekirei too?" Minaka spoke, his expression stoic, but the question clearly aimed at the Ashikabi and Sekirei duo.
"How'd they manage to defeat both number 105 and 106 as well?"
"Sir, Benitsubasa and Haihane had the upper hand in the initial battle. However their opponent seemed to have a hidden ace up her sleeve and summon incredible battle strength." Natsuo stated as neutrally as he could.
"That so?" Minaka raised an eyebrow before turning to the guard captain. "You may go."
The captain curtly saluted and left. Neither of the remaining watched him leave. As soon and the giant timber door thumped shut, Minaka turned to Haihane.
"Care to elaborate?" He began coldly. Haihane gulped.
"Number 88 switched personalities. After we defeated her, her Ashikabi managed to revive her." The Blue Sekirei recounted.
"Then with her Norito she easily turned the tide of the battle and badly injured Benitsubasa by countering her attack. I managed to pull Benitsubasa away before more damage could be done. But before I could formulate a counter attack, his other Sekirei showed up and washed us both into the river below."
Minaka gave her a hard glare, before suddenly burst into uncontrolled laughter at Haihane's recount.
"Oh, good one. But you're going to have to try harder i'm afraid." He snorted, wiping a tear from his eye. Haihane scowled.
"It's true!" She retorted. Minaka however, seemed oblivious to her frustration.
"Ok, the one that switched personalities, who did she say she was?" He asked more amused than curious.
"Number 8, Yume." The Blue Sekirei replied coldly. The name caused the snickering man to immediately somber. The silence was excruciating.
"How do you know that name?." The head of MBI growled, now staring intensely at a very uncomfortable Haihane.
"That's who said she was. She also had a winging crest on her stomach which she didn't have when she was number 88." She stated, unsuccessfully trying to keep her cool.
"Don't be ridiculous." Minaka retorted. "I don't know how you found out about her, but number 8 is long dead."
"Wha-" Haihane gasped. "But-"
"So next time, blame something other than a ghost for your incompetence." The head of MBI finished, turning his back to them. "Dismissed."
"Line secure."
"Not cool, Drake" Natsuo spoke into the phone wedged between his face and shoulder, as he closed the door to the clock tower roof.
"Well it got the job done didn't it?" The voice of Lt. Drake Caydon snickered on the other end.
"What about the legal consequences?" Natsuo asked.
"Technically, we were there on holiday." Caydon snorted on the other end.
"A holiday with RPGs and sniper rifles?" Natsuo quipped with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, let's just say not many people in Japan like the MBI." The Navy Seal officer stated. "So we got some help from the... friendly locals to smuggle a few extras." The Seal officer shrugged.
"Specter's program was a big help too." He added.
"Good to hear." Natsuo agreed, before lowering the phone and hanging up. He was about to put it away when it rang again, this time a call from Wendell.
"So what is this I've been hearing about a terrorist attack in downtown Tokyo last night?" His boss asked in slight jest. "Thanks to that we managed to get a lot of our operatives out."
"How did the SOB take it?"
"Let's just say He's not best pleased." Natsuo replied "The guy is eager to start the next phase of the plan, and to be honest so am I." He turned to face the view of downtown Tokyo. "We've been only stalling the inevitable so far."
"Anyway to force his hand?" Wendell sighed.
Natsuo stared impassively into the distance when suddenly a flash of blonde hair through an adjacent window caught his eye.
"I might have a plan."
"That's it, Kuu-chan." Takami cheered as she guided the young sekirei across a balancing beam at the playground.
They had left the MBI building earlier and head to the park. Takami figured she needed to test what Kusano's type and affinity were, and that the best way to do that would be to bring her out into the outside world, where the more unpredictable conditions would perhaps enhance or even accelerate the process.
Also, given the amount of stress she had been under lately, a change of scenery might do her some good. The head researcher had brought along a tablet computer to record her findings, but so far, it had been left forgotten in her bag.
She was surprised how active Kusano was, especially around nature. The sekirei seemed to be fascinated by trees particularly.
Judging by the way Kusano would call out to her whenever she did anything, Takami also found that Kusano, just like any young human child wanted attention.
More specifically, her attention. She thought back to when Minato and Yukari were young children, and a tinge of guilt hit her. Absentee parenting was common in the Sahashi household due to her work.
What's more, it was becoming more and more awkward when Kusano started calling her-
"Mama!" The young sekirei called, breaking Takami from her train of thought.
"What's wrong?" Kusano asked, tilting her head, perplexed.
"Nothing, Kuu-chan." She replied, smiling. Takami reaches into her breast pocket for a cigarette, but stopped herself. No need to teach a child bad habits.
The young sekirei smiled back and held up an acorn.
"Watch!" She laughed. The acorn in her hand suddenly glowed with a brilliant green light, but then quickly died, leaving the acorn unchanged.
Takami raised an eyebrow.
"Aww. Didn't work." The young sekirei pouted, glaring daggers at the seed in her hand. " It was supposed to grow…"
The girl's words peaked Takami's interest, and she knelt down beside her.
"Grow, you say?" She asked.
"Mmhmm." The girl nodded, still staring intently at the acorn. "Into a walnut tree."
Takami couldn't hold back a chuckle. The young sekirei pouted at her.
"Ah, Mama is laughing at me now." She accused Takami, glaring at the woman and puffing her cheeks. Takami patted the girl on her head, instantly claiming her down.
"That's not a walnut, it's an acorn." The head researcher explained.
"Ah, Walnut-kun lied to me!" The girl exclaimed, staring angrily at the seed in question. "He wasn't a walnut after all."
"Lied to you, you say?" Takami asked, intrigued at the girl's previous statement. "You mean you can talk to it?"
"Not 'it!'" The young sekirei exclaimed, outraged. "Walnut-, I mean, Acorn-kun is a 'he'."
"Oh, okay." Takami replied automatically, her thoughts shifting elsewhere as the young girl returned to chastising the seed in her hand for lying to her.
"So she has an affinity for plant life and can communicate with nature…. Interesting."
"Kuu-chan, could you do that again?" Takami asked the young sekirei. Kusano broke from her staring contest with the seed and nodded enthusiastically.
She closed her eyes and immediately the acorn in her hand started glowing with a brilliant green light. Her brows furrowed as she tried to focus more of her energy into it. The ball of light grew in tandem, consuming the whole of her small hands.
Moments later, the green light dissipated. Takami watched in awe at the young seikerei now standing in front of a small but healthy looking sapling tree.
Kusano herself, however looked disappointed. Takami noticed and figured out why.
"Was it supposed to be bigger?" The MBI researched asked gently as she crouched beside her. Kusano nodded, still looking downcast.
"It was supposed to be huge." The young sekirei mumbled as she waved her arms dejectedly, afterwords letting out a huff of resignation.
Takami couldn't help but smile as how endearing the scene with Kusano was. She reached out and pat the girl on her head, giving it a gentle rub.
"It's ok, you just need practice. You did great today."
Kusano looked up at her, and smiled in response. She nodded enthusiastically and then hugged Takami tightly, taking the researcher almost by surprise.
"Well isn't that just cute?!" A shrill voice sneered from behind them. Takami turned, in time to see the blade of a large scythe descend upon her.
Karasuba blade cut clean through the air as she spun her heel, but her opponent managed to dodge. The tip of the blade missed Yume's neck by a hair's width. Yume dropped to the floor and launched herself right into the opening the swords woman left, letting her shoulder get cozy with the others ribs.
Karasuba screamed as she felt a cracking of bone. It took every ounce of willpower she had not to let go of her sword while she was thrown back several feet.
"Not bad, not bad." Yume smirked as she adjusted her gloves. "You didn't drop your sword this time."
"Get out of my head bitch!" Karasuba growled, struggling to remain standing as she clutched her injured side.
"Why don't you try asking nicely?" Yume leaned forward and launched herself in a blur of after images. Karasuba lifted her sword to defend, but was too slow to block a jab to the wrist that disarmed her.
"Again I ask, what are you afraid of?"
"Shut up!" The Black Sekirei doubled back to avoid a palm strike to the face, before making a desperate dive for her sword. She was just about grab it before she frustratingly watched it get kicked out her grasp.
"Why did you come back?!" Karasuba screamed as she felt the taste of copper fill her mouth. Yume gave no reply and lifted a heavy boot above the others head.
The last thing Karasuba felt was a blunt force connecting with the back of her head before her eyes snapped wide open.
Stomach churning, she bolted to the sink and heaved into it.
"I think I lost her." Takami groaned as she shifted the weight off her injured side. The gash on her left leg didn't look too bad, though with the amount of blood dripping from a cut over her left eye, it was getting difficult to tell anything apart.
"Damn it" She cursed inwardly as she slowly let herself slide down the bark of a grossly mutated tree onto the soil below. Her left hand pressed scraps of a tattered lab coat to her leg to stem the bleeding. "Should have known these bastards would be out looking for other sekirei…"
"The information was good." She had heard the voice of a young man yelled. "So good in fact she was right in the palm of my hand almost."
"But then you had to fuck it up again!" The voice of the young man continued to berate followed by the sound of shattering glass.
"I will not fail you again Master Hayato!" Takami heard another younger female voice pleaded. "Give me one more chance!"
"Get out of my sight." The male voice growled, and the head researcher then heard footsteps fade away into the distance followed by the sound of vehicles driving off.
"Looks like I'm not likely to leave here alive." She thought as she slumped back against the tree she was leaning on.
"Only one thing for it then…" The head researcher felt around her neck until her fingers slipped around a crude black string necklace. Following along it, she held up to her good eye a piece of clear plastic with a microchip embedded within before promptly snapping it clean in half.
"Fuck you Minaka."
"Sir! A distress beacon has been activated! It's doctor Takami!" A surveillance officer reported from his console.
"Bring it up on my console". The image on the bridge chief's console changed, revealing an enormous mass of overgrowth that had torn through a large part of the park.
Monstrously deformed trees and shrubbery tangled together to form what looked like a large cocoon in the center of the mass.
"Relay this to the director. He'll want to know about this."
"So that giant overgrown shrub in the middle of the park is Kusano's doing? She must be more powerful than I imagined." Minaka said as he tapping his chin, thoughtfully watching the screen in his office.
"This might prove interesting yet for our Ashikabi." The MBI director decided.
"Sir?" Natsuo asked, Haihane standing behind him expectantly.
"Take your Sekirei and bring back Dr Takami, I have something special in mind for number 108." Minaka gave his order as he gestured to a holographic battle map at the center of his office.
"Special you say?" Natsuo asked again, raising an eyebrow. Minaka gave his best maniacal smile in response.
"A contest of sorts" The crazed genius quipped.
"Battle royale for the ultimate prize." Minaka breathed and he waltzed flamboyantly before the screen.
"A new powerful Sekirei."
Minato watched observantly from the porch as Musubi bumbled up and down, apparently to assist tsukiumi in watering the garden, although all she seemed to be doing was breaking the water sekirei's concentration at trying to use her powers in a more delicate fashion.
After the unusual Yume episode, Musubi had collapsed right after the fight was over. When she awoke, she was back to the usual bubbly air headed brunette that Minato fell so deeply in love for all those months ago.
But the young Ashikabi's mind was still plagued with questions. Who was Yume? Why was Musubi able to switch personalities like that? Could there be a repeat of this incident in the future? He needed to speak to her again-
"Minato! Your phone's ringing!" A rough but feminine voice snapped him from his train of thought. A young, tall brunette girl with a long side ponytail appeared from the doorway. He spotted his phone dangling from her fingertips. He also wouldn't be gawking so much if said girl wasn't dressed in just a thin white t shirt, panties and judging by how more, troubling, parts of her anatomy looked ready to burst from the fabric, not much else.
Minato quickly snapped his gaze downwards as he received his phone from the girl, before loudly clearing his throat.
"Thanks, Uzume." He started awkwardly. "But in future could you maybe, put some clothes on first?..."
Uzume raised an eyebrow before doing a take over her own person. A sly grin spread across her face when she realised what he meant.
"Oh, is Minato bothered by what his sekirei might think if they see us like this?" She asked as she suggestively moved closer to him, revelling in how he wasn't able to meet her gaze directly.
"I'm already winged, so it's fine isn't it?" She almost purred in his ear. Minato's mind went hazy as got a whiff of the fruity scent of her shampoo mixed with natural female odour. Lesser men would have been driven insane at this point.
"Must I remind you that one must be appropriately dressed when using the common areas of the Izumo Inn?" The voice of the landlady sing-songed behind them, breaking the moment. For once Minato was glad for her presence.
"Awww, got caught so soon." Uzume laughed as she removed herself from Minato's lap, and allowed the landlady and her broom to march her back to her room.
"I swear one more time and I will have you sign a contract in front of all the Inn's residents to forbid you from walking around in your underwear." Minato overheard the landlady say from upstairs followed by unintelligible whining from Uzume and some mention of porch sweeping duties.
He then turned his attention back to the mobile phone in his hand, which had since stopped ringing, instead replaced with an unread text message notification on screen.
"Dear children of god.
Tonight, your journey to greatness will begin. I hope you have enjoyed the first phase of the sekirei plan so far, for the second phase is about to commence.
But first, I propose a little something to wet your appetite."
As soon as Minato had finished reading, the television that was on in the common room burst into wild static before being replaced by an image of none other than the director of MBI himself.
Minato frantically rushed and crouched in front of the television set, followed closely by his curious sekirei and the other residents.
"My dear Ashikabi, the time has come for you to prove yourselves worthy…"
"Mama…" Kusano's distant voice cried out, snapping Takami from her train of thought. The girl was calling out to her.
"Mama!" She heard it again, louder this time.
"I'm here Kuu-chan." Takami called out.
"Mama is here." She wanted to say, but stopped herself when she realised how awkward that sounded.
"Come find me Mama." Kusano's voice echoed again. "I'm really scared."
"Don't worry, I will." Takami croaked as she felt a raging wave of pain shoot up from her bad leg when she tried to put weight on it. It was difficult to stand, let alone walk.
But for Kuu-chan, she had to try. Takami owed her that much at least.
"Mama will protect you."
"Should we send more to launch a full on offensive against them?" Mutsu asked from behind Hayato. The latter was viewing the news footage of the overgrowth in the park.
"Yomi failed to secure the kid on the first try, so now the element of surprise is lost." Hayato sighed, reclining back into his seat. "I doubt sending more will change anything."
"Yomi will most likely lose without any support." Mutsu objected, however his Ashikabi was not having any of it.
"Well, she has only herself to blame for being so useless."
"Shiina!" A shrill voice of a petite, teenage girl called out to the boy in front of her. Number 107 was an effeminate young boy with pale skin and shaggy platinum blonde hair. In other words, exactly the sort of pretty boy Sahashi Yukari liked.
Shiina paused, and turned to the girl running up to him. He blushed when she grabbed his hands without hesitation.
"Did you see the message?" Yukari said, whipping out her phone to show him before he could reply. The boy opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off again.
"There's an unwinged Sekirei in the park here!" The girl exclaimed, pressing the phone closer to shiina's face for emphasis." You think it might be her?"
Shiina looked thoughtfully at the message before agreeing.
"Yes it might." Shiina said.
"Then let's go then." Yukari bubbled, and pulled her sekirei along with her.
"You find that suspicious?" Natsuo raised an eyebrow at Haihane who was reclined in the car beside him.
"Yeah." She replied non-commitently. "Our communications went down, our plans were revealed and now Sahashi is being attacked."
"Even I find it way too convenient." Haihane continued. "Every time we look, all the data has been wiped clean. This mole guy is really good."
Natsuo allowed himself an inward snicker, as the car sped through another red light, narrowly missing an oncoming bus.
"Who do you think it is then?" He asked his sekirei.
"Who knows, probably some higher up." The blue sekirei shrugged. "Someone who can be bought I guess, they all look pretty scummy to me."
"Probably why that crazy man can't just execute someone. He'd have to kill everyone in the company." She continued.
"What if I said that person was me?" Natsuo said, turning to smile mischievously at the blue sekirei.
"Don't even joke like that." Haihane rolled her eyes.
"You're the one person who can never be bought."
Minato could have sworn he had seen that twisted tree? before. It had been only a few minutes into the overgrowth but they were already lost. He had come here mostly just out of curiosity but also because he had a feeling that Yume would reveal herself again if he came here.
"We should turn back." He called out to his two sekirei. "This is getting us nowhere."
"Ah Karasuba sempai!" Musubi suddenly shouted from in front of him. He looked up and sure enough a woman with long grey hair, dressed in black robes appeared from the shadows.
"Oh Mu-chan " The Black Sekirei chirped. "Are you here for the last sekirei too?"
"Yeah!" Musubi beamed with enthusiasm. "Or at least I think so, actually come to think of it, Minato never told us."
"Minato!" The brunette shouted. "What are we here for?"
Minato on his part was stunned at how Musubi acted in the presence of a potentially powerful sekirei and could only gawk at her. Tsukiumi's face was buried firmly into her palm.
Karasuba couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle, partly from amusement and partly from relishing at how Yume's legacy was being denigrated by this airhead before her. The slip of her mask didn't get pass the brunette however.
"Ah! Senpai!" Musubi pouted at Karasuba, her cheeks puffed. The action however only served to amuse the older sekirei more.
"But why is senpai here though?" The brunette asked.
"We came to look for someone." The black sekirei replied nonchalantly "Head researcher Sahashi Takami, maybe you've seen her?"
"Sahashi Takami. Wait, my mom?!" Minato gawked at the mention of her name.
"Oh right, yes, she did mention her son was an Ashikabi." Karasuba said while she lazily inspected her nails.
Tsukiumi glared at the smiling demon. "That was a deliberate baiting."
"This is bad Minato!" Musubi cried, turning to her Ashikabi "We need to find her!"
"Don't worry about it." Karasuba hushed, disinterested, before turning to face Musubi "MBI already have a fix on her distress beacon. I think Haihane should have found her already."
"That said, Mu-chan." The black sekirei, fixed her gaze square at the brunette while her hands reached to draw her nodachi, slowly and deliberately.
"I heard you did an interesting trick last night." Karasuba flashed her signature manic grin as her blade glowed menacingly in the moonlight.
"Care to show me?"
"Almost there…" Takami heaved as she dragged her bad leg along the ground. The deeper she ventured, the darker her surroundings were becoming. But that didn't matter as Kusano's echoes were leading her, almost like a magical sixth sense.
Finally she reached it. An endless mass of vines that coiled into a colossal spherical fortress. Green light glowed from within, leaking through the gaps between the vines, illuminating the surrounding undergrowth. In her fright, Kusano had constructed what looked like a fort, made completely out of the surrounding plant life. The plants had reacted to her panic and shielded her from incoming danger. Takami was taken aback by how a sekirei this young could already possess this much potential.
"I guess she's here then." The head researcher gave one last lunge and stumbled herself forward, managing to grab onto a vine on the sphere and stopping herself from falling face first into the dirt.
"I'm here now Kuu-chan." Takami whispered into a slot between the vines. "Don't worry, I'm here now"
"Mama?" The voiced of Kusano whimpered through echoes in her mind.
"Yes, Mama's here." She allowed herself to whisper the maternal title for the child's sake.
Slowly, the vines shuddered and pulled themselves apart . The green light flickered and dimmed as the overgrowth forest canopy receded and exposed the night sky above. Moonlight pooled in through the newly opened gaps, lighting the form of an apprehensive Kusano, crawling out from the darkness.
She leapt at the sight for Takami into the embrace of her adoptive mother figure.
Kusano gasped as she saw the state Takami was in, and stumbled quickly to her side. She reached out and touched the gash in Takami's leg, earning a yelp from the head researcher.
The young sekirei looked up apologetically.
"I'm fine" Takami breathed through her teeth. "Let's get you out of here."
Kusano was not convinced.
"Wait!" The young sekirei said as Takami was about the get up. She stretched out her hands over the wound and closed her eyes. Green energy started to glow over the area, and Takami watched in surprise as the wound began to close.
"Wow." Takami blinked. "Neat trick."
Kusano looked up back at her, grinning ear to ear. The head researcher couldn't help but pat the young sekirei's head, making her giggle.
"Right! I've just about had it with you people!" Yomi screamed as she burst from the shadows.
She had her scythe raised and ready to cut the pair clean in half.
Takami had just enough time to react, grabbing the child sekirei and rolling out of the blade's arch, before it embedded itself into the ground below.
However Yomi wasted no time in pulling her weapon free and going for a second swing. This time Takami couldn't dodge, only watching stunned as the blade came straight for her neck.
"Mama!"
Musubi kicked off the ground at lightspeed, swiftly switching her weight around to attempt to plant a knee into Karasuba's chest. But for whatever speed she was going at, it was still light years behind the Black Sekirei's.
The elder sekirei simply sidestepped her opponent and grabbed the back of Musubi's collar, redirecting the girl straight into an overgrown tree.
"Musubi!" A worried Minato and Tsukiumi shouted in unison. They were relieved when said brunette climbed out of the rubble, shaken but relatively unhurt.
Karasuba waved her blade lazily as she stretched.
"One more." The Black Sekirei said through a grin.
Musubi charged once more, closing the gap in an instant.
The water sekirei's expression hardened, this person was way out of Musubi's league. Her fingers twitched as she considered stepping in to help.
A metallic zing snapped her from her thoughts, and her reflexes did the rest.
Minato felt the air leave his lungs as he was pulled to the ground, followed by a shiver as a wave of cold water covered his body.
"You'll have to do better than that coward!" Tsukiumi roared into the darkness, and Minato got a look at Tsukiumi, whose bloodied hand was gripping a long icicle inches from her face.
"I won't ask again! Scrapped number!" The water sekirei barked, but all she got in response was the rustle of fabric against foliage. Tsukiumi huffed and chucked the icicle into the ground.
"Ah she ran away." Karasuba chuckled, having watched the brief conflict in her peripheral.
Musubi seized the opportunity while her opponent was distracted and went for a punch. However, Karasuba sidestepped her again with ease, using Musubi's own momentum against her to kick the younger sekirei into the same tree.
A ringing from Karasuba's earpiece pulled her attention from the fight.
"Yep, I'm listening." The Black Sekirei answered lazily.
"We found her, report at the edge for extraction."
"Already?" She sighed, shifting her eyes to watch Musubi tear up for another charge. "Just as well, I'm about done here too."
"Heeyah!" Musubi roared as she launched another powerful punch from behind. But the older sekirei dodged it just as easily as the previous ones.
She quickly pivoted to redirect the momentum to launch into a grapple at Karasuba, but was thrown off when the latter sheathed her sword.
The brief lapse was all Karasuba needed to slide a knee under Musubi's guard and counter grapple her.
"Sorry, but we'll have to stop here today." She said as she forced Musubi into an arm lock. Karasuba lifted her free hand thumped the brunette in the back of her head, letting her body fall limp to the floor.
"Let's play again next time."
Takami blinked, convinced she had just experienced being beheaded. But a double take confirmed that on the contrary, she was the luckiest woman in the world.
Yomi's scythe blade was caught between Haihane's claws, inches shy from her neck.
"That's a little too close for comfort don't you think?" Takami managed a quip as soon as her heart stopped pounding.
"Sorry it took so long boss." Natsuo said casually walking up behind her. He twiddled the broken halves of Takami's distress beacon in his hand. "We followed the signal from this, but we didn't find you."
"Oh, my bad then." She shrugged. Which if anything irked their scythe wielding assailant.
Frustrated, Yomi screamed and bucked Haihane with the staff end of her weapon before doubling back for another swing. But Haihane was much quicker and she dived under the range of the blade, causing Yomi to go back on the defensive again.
"Don't mind the scary onee-chan." Natsuo said with a small smile directed at Kusano, who was engrossed in the fight that taking place. "We should retreat from the area now doctor." He continued, turning to Takami.
"You're not going fucking anywhere!" Yomi shrieked and attempted another swing at the group, only to be kicked aside by her opponent and having to block another flurry of claw strikes.
"What's the official stand on number 108?" Takami asked as formally as she could manage. The mention of 'number' caused the child to huddle closer the her.
"She is fair game according to the director." Natsuo stated flatly.
"Overruled on grounds that her tuning is not complete." Takami dismissed, putting a hand behind the young sekirei and hurrying her along. "Her current state would only be a liability to herself and her potential Ashikabi."
"Minaka wouldn't be too happy about that." Natsuo chuckled as he turned and started back to his sekirei.
"Well he can go fuck himself." He heard the head researcher say.
Yomi however found a gap in Haihane's defence and swung the back of her death scythe at it, managing to hit the other sekirei in her side. With her rhythm broken, Yomi managed a few more fast blunt strikes before finishing with a roundhouse kick that threw her opponent back into a tree.
"She is really that strong?" Natsuo snickered as he knelt beside his recovering sekirei.
"No, I'm just still a little sore from yesterday." Haihane replied, as coolly as she could though the pained heaving.
"Hmm, I could kiss you if you want." Natsuo joked, earning a furious blush from the Blue Sekirei.
"Don't even joke like that." Haihane awkwardly coughed, unable to meet her Ashikabi's gaze. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was stopped when she felt lips press against hers.
Haihane felt a burst of pure white hot energy rush through her, as a pair of sparkling indigo wings of light sprouted from her back.
"Tots gonna rub this in Beni's face later."
The walk back to the edge of the forest was long and hard with Musubi on his back.
Minato was not quite sure what had happened between his sekirei and the disciplinary squadron's enforcer. One moment they were chatting like friends and then all hell broke loose.
He was quite sure Musubi was going to lose that fight. But for whatever reason, the black sekirei had left her mostly unharmed other than knocking her out cold and leaving her on the ground.
No matter, what murderous psychopaths do in their spare time was none of his business. Musubi was unharmed, and that was all that mattered.
"Argh" Yomi cringed as she tried her best to compress her injured side.
So close to beating a Disciplinary Squadron's sekirei, until her Ashikabi gave her the Norito. Then it was almost like her opponent was on rails, moving way too fast for her to counter with even one strike and instead having to bail out of there.
But not before receiving a claw to the side it seems.
Damn her.
Yomi managed to stumble close enough to the end of the overgrowth, using the pole of her weapon as a crutch. Her other hand pressed firmly to her abdomen, trying to stem the bleeding to moderate success.
She heard a stir in the forest ahead of her, and she looked up as the moonlight revealed the silhouette of an older woman with gray hair.
Yomi became immediately unnerved by the creepy smile plastered on the woman's face.
"What ya lookin' at bitch?" The scythe wielder gave her best intimidating growl. However, the woman seemed undeterred. "You lost or something?"
"I wouldn't say that." Karasuba turned to regard her prey with a sing song reply and manic glee as her fingers crawled up the hilt of her nodachi. "But you might be."
"Trash shouldn't be out so late at night after all." The Black Sekirei continued.
"What?!" Yomi growled, as she lifted her scythe and took stance. "You looking for a fight bitch?!"
"Not so fast now." Karasuba mock pleaded, however the growing depraved grin on her lips betrayed her intent. "You sure you want to attack a member of the disciplinary squadron?"
"I don't have time for this!" Yomi threatened. "So if it's a fight you want then let's fucking go!"
The scythe wielder drew her weapon back and bucked her knees, but was shocked when her opponent vanished in front of her.
"What?" Yomi gasped, confused, as Karasuba re-appeared beside her. Followed by her body going limp as the world spun and turned black.
"I did warn you."
Yomi barely registered her head being severed from her body.
Emergency personnel and scientists immediately ran up to Takami as soon as they saw her. Haihane set her down from a piggyback carry, to allow the paramedics to assist the head scientist to the temporary shelter they had set up
However Kusano whelped as she saw her mama leave without her and quickly ran after her before the scientists could catch her.
"Mama!" The little girl cried. Takami turned just in time to receive the girl.
"Kuu-chan!" The head researcher gasped as she was almost knocked off her feet.
"Don't go Mama!" Kusano
"I be fine Kuu-chan." "Go back with the others."
"No!" The young child whined.
"Kusano!"
"Bleh!" Kusano made a sound as she stuck her tongue out, dumbfounding Takami. The researchers and paramedics around them watched in awkwardness as their boss sparred fruitlessly with a child.
"Fine." Takami sighed, beckoning the child to follow her. Kusano however didn't move, instead raising both her arms, signaling she wanted to be picked up.
"Really now?" The head researcher sighed, and reached down to carry the girl in her arms. Then to her surprise Kusano pressed both hands to the sides of Takami's face.
"I've decided." Kusano proclaimed with an ear to ear grin. "I want to be with Mama forever."
"She's not going to-" Takami's thoughts were cut short when the little sekirei pressed her lips to hers.
"Life of my Pledge, Shine on my Ashikabi."
"Well shit."