Can't stop me now

Senketsu! I can feel him over my chest, replacing my jacket. Senketsu's barely decent straps cover me in a way that both completely exposes me and provides absolute defense. The latex feel of his sleeves filling my arms with strength. I can see his eyes on either side of me, protruding form my chest. He feels wonderful.

We rush at Satsuki and she barely has time to raise her sword in defense. She's knocked back a few feet but I've already kicked of off a nearby building. I jump over her and by the time she sees me I'm already coming down on her with a vicious kick that strikes her in the jaw. I stand looking down at her as she struggles to get to her feet. "What was all that about the power of humanity Satsuki? Senketsu and I are only at half strength and you can't even stand up to us."

Her unwavering glare turns back to me, "Do not- underestimate humanity, Matoi Ryuuko!" She twists on the ground kicking my feet out from under me and jumping a few feet away. It only takes me a second to get back to my feet but when I look at her she's a few feet away standing in a familiar pose, left arm down and right hand positioned by her left shoulder. "Thanks to our study of Senketsu we were able to isolate the chemical in life fibers that gives their hosts super human abilities. It's untested so I was going to refrain from using it but you've forced my hand. Kiryuin Satsuki will seize victory by any means necessary once her goal is within reach!" She closes her eyes and flicks the pins on her sleeve, I take a step back waiting for some flashy transformation but none of that happens.

Her eyes open and she glares at me with fiercely glowing rainbow colored eyes. Instead of rushing at me she starts walking towards me completely composed, never one to back down from a challenge I do the same. As we near I can feel the pressure of her presence, it reminds me of when I first saw her with Junketsu. She swings Kami Sori and I meet her with both halves of the rending scissors. I struggle against her thinking it's incredible that she can match our strength before I hear Senketsu in my head. 'Ryuuko I believe that we should withdraw'

Run away? We haven't ran once since my rematch with Sanageyama back at Honnoji. "What are you talking about Senketsu?" I put as much force as I can into my sword and manage to throw Satsuki back a few feet, before she dashes at me again and we dance equally matched in swordplay. Senketsu and I are so synced that communicating with him doesn't even break my concentration as I dodge, block, and counter.

'We cannot reach true Jin- I- Itai without the rest of my fibers. Because I cannot be completely worn by you and you be worn by me I continuously need blood to maintain this state.'

Shit I forgot about that, It has been so long since that was a problem. "How much longer we got?" I manage to kick Satsuki in the chest, doing no damage but I suspect annoying her greatly.

'Although your wounds have mostly healed, you lost a lot of blood before I woke up. You have eight minutes before I will be forced to revert form to keep you from passing out.'

That's not good. While we're not losing this fight Satsuki and I are pretty well matched. On closer inspection I may be physically a little stronger and faster than her but not enough to end this quickly. As much as I hate it we need to run. "Senketsu! Wanna try something new?"

I can almost hear his amusement, 'You never fail to fascinate me. I will follow your lead.'

Satsuki hears me call to Senketsu and takes a step back, ready to defend. To bad I'm not trying to hurt her, It's time for a leap of faith. I run straight at Satsuki, top speed. Surprised she turns her blade to block as I jump and kick at her with both feet. Just like I wanted. "This isn't over big sis. She uses her strength to push me off as I kick away from her sending me high into the air. I know that without his bottom part Senketsu Shippu isn't possible, lets see how fast Senketsu is on his feet. "Senketsu Hane!(Senketsu Feather)"

Senketsu's eyes go big for a second as he tries to align a new configuration, he's done before I even start to fall. His two eyes shift to my shoulder blades like Junketsu but spread outwards catching the air like gigantic wings. Although this form is slower than Senketsu Shippu I can already see Satsuki fading into the landscape as we retreat. Yawning I remark, "Okay Senketsu, now I'm ready to take a nap."

[Satsuki]

I activate the coms system on my suit as I watch my sister fly away. "Matoi's destination has changed. It appears she can fly."

Inumata answers from my mansion. "Done. How did the suit hold up?"

I lean against a nearby wall breathing heavily. "The suit is fine, but." I groan holding my head, closing my eyes for a second. When I open them it's to the same color shifting kaleidoscope image as before. "But the Seimei Chi (life blood) needs improvement."

I can hear Inumata typing rapidly, undoubtedly scrolling through the data banks for information about Iori and I's project. The files are only approved for the two of us, however encrypted files were never enough to stop Inumata. "Seimei Chi… . Let's see: artificial chemical created to mimic the affects of life fiber synchronization…In the tests on apes, it produced a four hundred percent increase in strength, side effects include, fatigue, blindness, heart failure, cerebral hemorrhaging, and death. Sastsuki sama. It says that this hasn't even reached the human testing stage yet. You didn't…"

"Change the data entry. I've just started the human trials." Fatigue is right though; if Matoi didn't choose to run when she did I would have collapsed in front of her. It's unacceptable for Satsuki Kiriuin to allow her enemies to see her weak.

"Soichiro is on his way with your extraction, a med team is with him." Good, for now. I'm just going to take a nap. I close my eyes and drift off. "Satsuki? Satsuki are you there?"

[Senketsu]

With no real destination in mind I continue to fly in the direction of the next closest banshi, although I can tell that we're still quite a ways a away. I can hear Ryuuko softly snoring in my grasp as we drift through the sky. 'I should land soon.'

I spot a clearing in the forest beneath us and glide down to land. I'm able to position Ryuuko leaning up against a tree before I revert transformation. I shimmy off of my host leaving her in her t-shirt and jacket. Without my bottom half moving around is hard but I manage to gather a few sticks together and dig out a shallow pit, my sleeves get a little dirty but I'm sure Ryuuko won't mind. 'A fire should keep her warm.' But before I can begin to rub the sticks together to attempt to generate heat I hear a growling coming from my right.

There's a single coyote approaching Ryuuko, instantly I put myself in between the two. The creature takes a step back and levels wary eyes at me. 'it has no idea what I am' I would spread both my sleeves out to try and scare it away but without my bottom half I need them for balance. The coyote takes another step forward and I look back to Ryuuko hoping to see her rousing, no such luck. The coyote pounces, but it's too high to possibly land on me. Ryuuko! The beast is attempting to bypass me and go straight for Ryuuko! There's no way I will allow that to happen, Never! I use my sleeves to jump into the air to intercept the beast, mid air I pull my right sleeve back and thrust it forward, I may not have much strength but maybe I can convince this mongrel to leave! I feel a familiar sensation in my sleeve and to my surprise when I thrust it at the coyote it transforms into a bright red blade and pierces the beast through the chest. When I land I quickly pull my sleeve out and it instantly reverts to normal. 'Was that senjin form?'

[Ryuuko]

When I open my eyes it's not above the clouds where I remember dozing off. I'm cold, I clutch my arms to my chest and realize what's missing. "Senketsu? Senketsu!" Oh god, where is he? I bolt to my feet. Was it Satsuki? Did she find me while I was asleep? Did she take him again?"

"Ryuuko." I look around for the voice and my heart fills with relief to see Senketsu hopping on the ground, a bundle of sticks in one arm. I quickly throw off my jacket, shirt, and underclothes and run over to him. He drops the sticks as I throw him on. "Ryuuko! What's wrong?"

I take a second to revel in the feel of his life fibers against my skin. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" I must look like a crazy person.

I bend down to pick up the sticks I forced Senketsu to drop. "I panicked when I woke up and you weren't there. I thought that you were gone."

It sounds silly when I say it out loud. Suddenly Senketsu's fabric tightens around my chest, 'I won't ever leave you alone, Ryuuko.' This must be a hug, I smile and do my best to hug him back.

I smell something cooking and hear my stomach growl concurrently. "What's that smell?"

"While you were asleep a coyote attacked." A coyote? I almost feel sorry for it, I'm not even sure how much of me is actual meat. I probably taste like fabric. "I killed it before it could harm you."

I notice a fire burning near where I woke up; I can see what probably used to be a coyote cooking rotisserie style over the fire. I add the sticks to the flame and bend over to inspect the meat. "You think it's done Senketsu?"

My stomach growls again and I hear one of Senketsu's rare chuckles. "It's been cooking for approximately thirty minutes, I believe it will be safe to consume." And with that I grab the stick off of the spit and take a bite of the meat. "Be careful it's hot!" My mouth gets a little burned but it heals so fast I just keep eating.

After my appetite is sated I lean back and sigh contently. I look down and see both of Senketsu's eyes looking up at me. I can't help but be curios, "Hey Senketsu. Can you hear anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Back at Honnoji, Satsuki said that your right eye was for communicating with life fibers, you getting anything from it?"

He closes his eyes for a second in concentration. "I can tell that there are life fibers in the universe, but there so far away they're like faint whispers."

My body stiffens a little at the idea of another invasion. "How far away?"

He opens his eyes again to look at me, "Hard to say, it's odd being included in a hive mind, but they're so far away it's like I have a spotty connection. I only get bits and pieces of jumbled thoughts, and only when I concentrate. At best guess I can say that they are very far away, the closest a few solar systems away."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Good, with Satsuki around I don't really think I could deal with another life fiber nemesis" Alright that's enough waiting around. "Let's go Senketsu, we've still got two banshi to collect. Senketsu Hane!"

[Satsuki]

When my eyes open I'm wearing a medical gown lying on my bed. "Welcome back Lady Satsuki." When I open my eyes my vision is thankfully back to normal. Sitting up I turn and see Sanageyama at my bedside. "The doctor said that whatever was in your system would have killed a normal woman."

I hear a high-pitched laugh as Nonon walks through the doorway, "Luckily for us lady Satsuki is no ordinary woman. How are you feeling."

I turn and let my legs dangle off of the side of the bed. Sanageyama moves to help me up but as soon as I raise my hand he sits back down.

"Kiriuuin Satsuki stands on her own two feet." Supporting myself with the bed. When my feet touch the ground my legs feel strong, I feel strong. I let go of the desk and take a step to grab my sword that's leaning on the wall. As soon as the first step lands, there's an intense sense of vertigo and my vision swims with the overwhelming shapes and colors of the day before.

"Satsuki sama!" When my vision finally returns to normal I'm in Sanageyama's arms. I try to get up by my strength has left me. I begrudgingly let Sanageyama and Nonon help me back to he bedside. "Are you alright? What was that?"

I close my eyes for a second and when I open them again my vision is still tinged with pinks and reds. "A side effect."

Nonon sits down next to me looking concerned. "How long is it going to last?"

I shake my head, I have no answer but also no regrets. I did what I had to do. "Any news on Matoi?"

Nonon hmphs and crosses her arms. "Yesterday nudist beach got the jump on her. They managed to knock her out of the sky but after that the fight was pretty one sided."

That's not good, as bad as the side effects of the life blood is it might be our only chance of fighting her. "Do we know where she's headed?"

Sanageyama sits back down on the bedside chair. "Well because we know that she's after the banshi we harvested from Senketsu we've loaded the other two on trucks each a full guard and have been having them drive nonstop to confuse her."

I lean back in my bed, thankful that my friends are so effective. "Good work, my elite four. Have one of the trucks come to Honnoji, keep the other one driving around."

Nonon pulls out her phone and I assume typing a text to Inumata. "The dog is re-routing the truck farthest from Matoi's last known location, but why?"

"For bait."

Okay I know this chapter is a little on the short side, but I needed to get this out already.

I know that the fight between Satsuki and Ryuuko was a little short but if I let them duke it one of them would have died. Right now the only question is as to whether Satsuki will be able to acclimate to the life blood before Ryuuko can get there. That and if it will be enough.

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