Chapter Seven: Back On His Feet
Yuzuriha smiled at Karen's speech. She could only wish that she could ever be that brave. Personally, she was still just a coward. Even now, she was afraid of death. However, judging from Karen-san's confidence, she could care less what happened to her. Yuzuriha hoped that one day she could be that confident and brave and selfless. But for now...
She turned to Arashi. "Arashi-san, daijobu desu ka?"
His water cannon missed as the spirit beast shoved the young priestess to the ground, but he recovered quickly, never letting his guard down. This may have been a mere hologram, but its physical bearings still allowed for him to be injured. He could not afford to be too careless.
When he looked up again, he found himself staring into the face of an extremely beautiful young woman...with a little less clothing than seemed appropriate. Flames licked at her eyes as she declared her challenge, standing with fierce determination before him.
At first a surprised expression fleeted across his features, startled that such a lady would defy him so arrogantly. But as she enveloped him in her own kekkai, he regained his smug composure. This was, after all, one of the Seven Seals.
Then a word struck him meaningfully. "Sumeragi-san...?" he mused, glancing down into the pale face of his battered hostage. "The clan of Onmyouji...led by a man. This is the head of the infamous Sumeragi, then?" He could not help but laugh out loud at this. "My, my, Sakurazuka-san certainly chooses his enemies well."
His face turned serious. "You would think to attack me while I have your dear Sumeragi-san as my human shield? You surprise me, taking the risk of burning him alive just to fight me. But...I'll humor you." Carelessly he shoved the limp body to the ground, knowing that even if one of the Seals tried to save him, they would not be able to touch him. Sumeragi's holographic image was weaker than Yuuto's, on account of not wanting to lose the hostage. The young man was his trump card to luring the others away, and he would not give him up that easily.
Straightening his trench coat with a cocked eyebrow, he rotated his neck and cracked his knuckles, as though preparing for a brawl in a wrestling arena. "All right, so now we answer the age-old question: which would prevail, fire or water?" And with this he raised a hand, stained with a bit of the Onmyouji's blood, and summoned the essence of his power...
Arashi stood and dusted herself off. She should have seen that water attack coming, and thanking goodness for Inuki and Yuzuriha. She listened to Karen's speech before answering Yuzuriha, "I'm fine... but we must end this quickly. Kamui-san still needs to be found and having all of us tied up here is not going to help him wherever he is." she stated, her sword in hand still. She walked up and stood behind and slightly to the right of Karen. She was there to back up the fire user whenever needed- no one had to be hurt in this battle... and she didn't want anyone hurt either...
Though Kamui still had his suspicions of these people, Satsuki's explanation of the hologram seemed reasonable to believe. He couldn't tell if she was lying anyways. The girls composure never wavered. She was either a good liar or as heartless as she seemed.
"No, it's not ok..." he told Kotori.
Kamui had been standing quietly for some time now, watching as Satsuki disappeared a reappeared from the other rooms. He had no idea where Yuuto went off to. He seemed so eager to get him here and he doesn't stick around afterwards. Not to mention the strange noises from the other rooms. Like a machine or something.
Patience wasn't Kamui's strong point, and the neglecting of getting any kind of answers from these people were getting him angered rather quickly.
"If all I was invited here to do ,was clean up a half dead man, then I wasted my time! If I don't get some answers soon I'm taking Kotori and..."
Kamui suddenly stopped in his tracks and quickly held his head. A high pitched like noise began to ring through his ears. Not once, but twice. He was familiar with this sound...
"A Psychic Barrier?" questioned Kamui. Sorata had explained this to him before and he never forgot that sound since.
Things were starting to make sense now. Yuuto's disappearance, Satsuki's odd behavior and the strange noises from earlier. Kamui looked up at Kanoe,his eyes filled with rage.
"What's going on here!? Is this some kind of set up!?" he shouted.
Kanoe looked up at Kamui and paled slightly. "No, no, it's not a setup at all," Kanoe hastened to reassure him. She shot a desperate glance in Satsuki's direction and continued talking to Kamui, keeping his attention on her. "You see, our equipment here has been rather faulty lately…" she said, saying the first thing that came to mind.
Satsuki took her cue from Kanoe and slipped wordlessly from the room, going unnoticed by Kamui. As soon as she was out in the hall, she dashed to the chamber where BEAST was located. "BEAST!" she cried out as she burst into the room, "Bring San-san back right now! Hurry!"
To Satsuki's surprise and horror, the supercomputer simply hummed slightly and continued on with its projection. "BEAST, what are you doing?!" she shrieked, temporarily losing her usual cool demeanor. "This is no time to be temperamental! Bring San-san back immediately!"
This time, the computer did not even acknowledge Satsuki's command. Satsuki slowly sank to the floor, dropping to her knees. For the first time in her life, she was unable to understand her computer's actions. The thought frightened her greatly, and she felt as if her powers had suddenly been stripped away from her. In desperation she again spoke to the supercomputer, her voice trembling:
"BEAST, bring Yuuto-san back! Please, listen to me!"
"SUBARU-KUN!!" Yuzuriha screamed, with an outreached hand. There was no way that she'd be able to reach him before he fell against the hard concrete.
She watched as his body hit the ground and bounded up again from the impact, then made its final landing. Blood flew onto Yuzuriha, and she found herself trying to wipe it from her face and hands, with no avail.
She got up and ran over to Subaru...
Karen bristled with fury as her opponent casually dropped Subaru on the floor. She couldn't believe that anyone was capable of being so heartless, yet the proof was right in front of her, in the form of a smiling, handsome blonde man. She could feel her anger almost exploding from within her and had to roughly push her feelings down before she lost control of her powers.
Karen winced as the Subaru's battered figure hit the floor with a dull thud, yet was at the same time relieved that the Dragon of Earth had let him go. It would give her some space to carry out her plan. She had an idea that was slowly taking shape in her mind, and she prayed that it would work.
Karen slowly became aware of Arashi's presence behind her; she hadn't realized that the girl was there, so distracted was she by her fury at the Dragon of Earth. Her fellow Seal's presence caused her idea to click firmly into place in her mind. From the corner of her mouth, she muttered to Arashi so that her opponent wouldn't hear, "Try to get Sumeragi san out of the way. I'll distract the Dragon of Earth." Then, without waiting for the water caster to send his attack at her, Karen leaped to the side, away from Subaru, and threw a blast of fire at her adversary.
Arashi's
eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. She took a step back then
leapt
gracefully from the building. She landed neatly near Yuzuriha.
"Are you alright, Yuzuriha-chan?" She asked unnecessarily. She then looked to Sumeragi-san. She winced slightly at all the blood and gore. Her sword re-entered her body as the priestess knelt down beside Yuzuriha, looking over the man before them.
"We need to get Sumeragi-san out of here- can you help me?" She asked gently, knowing Yuzuriha was probably horrified.
The flames came hurtling at him from close-range. He had no time to think, barely enough to move. Luckily his instincts had not totally died on him, and he sprang out of the way just in time to watch the stream of fire blast past him. However, he did not escape unscathed. A stray flare singed the lining of his coat sleeve, and he slapped a quick hand over it to put it out. The occurrence did well to remind him that he was not invincible, nor anything like.
"That was close," he called out, scowling smugly, throwing her a debonair smile. "You're a ruthless little thing, aren't you? I bet you would shoot me through the head at point-blank if I gave you the chance. Am I right?"
Landing on the opposite corner of the high rooftop, Yuuto brought forth his awaiting buildup of hydroelectric power, forming it into a lethal attack of his own. "It seems you've all but set the place on fire. Allow me to extinguish that flame!" Thrusting his hands forward, he released three simultaneous blasts of water, one directly at the fiery Dragon of Heaven, and one to each side of her. If she tried to escape to the right or left, she would be struck. The only alternative was to jump straight up out of the way, and he would be ready for that.
He needed to breathe. All these imbeciles crowding his space... If he did not die from blood loss, he would most certainly perish from suffocation.
Then it dawned on him. He could think clearly again. It was finally kicking in, the power of Onmyoujitsu that flowed through his veins. His strength was slowly returning, though he could not sense it taking place.
Irritably he brushed the prying hands from his blood-caked form, reaching out for the closest body to pull himself to his feet. Kotori. He felt her shuddering gasp as he clung to her shoulders for support, forcing himself with endless effort to his feet. At first he felt as though he would instantly collapse again, like his legs were made of pudding. But after a few moments of finding some semblance of bearing, he found that no bones cracks as he stood. This was a definite improvement. He could have sworn Subaru had broken at least one leg in two different places, cracked three or more ribs, and he was sure he had seen the bone protruding from his left elbow earlier. Yet none of that was apparent now.
He looked down into the young girl's eyes. So full of innocence...of wonder. "Such a shame," he murmured, and was surprised to find he no longer choked on every word. Gingerly he lifted a hand that was no longer tingling with impending deadness, and stroked her satiny cheek. His finger left a streak of blood across her angelic complexion. "So much beautiful life...wasted."
Straightening himself through a painful crack in his spine, he kept his head lowered as he glanced around the room. Kamui. -Baka!- he screamed at himself, turning his head sharply away. Big mistake. His temples suddenly throbbed with searing pain, and he nearly tumbled to the floor again. This was the one chance the Dragons of Earth had to bring Kamui to their side. If the young man were to recognize him...everything would be for naught.
Suddenly it occurred to him, and he glanced once more around the room when it stopped spinning. It had been Kigai Yuuto's job to contact Kamui and bring him to Kanoe. So where was the suave playboy now? Certainly it must be something very important to miss confronting the infamous Shiro Kamui, now that the opportunity was finally here.
"Where's Kigai?" he questioned casually. "And..." Subaru. Gods of night, what had happened to Subaru? Surely Satsuki would... He glanced toward the closed toward leading to the room where BEAST was housed. "If you'll excuse me," he muttered, trying his best to keep his fragile composure, "I think I'll go clean up. And...don't wait around."
Without awaiting a response, he trudged one gradual, shaky step at a time to the door, shoved it open and passed through.
Yuzuriha trembled violently. She had never seen so much blood in her life. Could that mangled body of bones and flesh really be Subaru? He was hardly recognizable now...
She forced herself to crawl over to him. She really had no idea what she was going to do, but...
She tried to pull him face-up, only to find that her hands went straight through his flesh. At first, she was confused, and convinced herself that there was no way she could have done that-- that it was merely an illusion she had formed in her head to keep herself from the reality-- that the mangled body WAS Subaru.
She cupped her hand around a hand, only to find that she felt nothing...
Karen snarled angrily and leapt straight into the air to avoid the blasts of water. At the same time, she threw out her hands in front of her to create a fiery wall, shielding her from any stray streams of water.
The fire-caster landed lightly on the roof where she had been standing. She glared fiercely at her opponent and retorted, "That's right. I'm never any good at being angry, but you, sir, just might be the only person who I won't hesitate to hurt."
Flames swirled around Karen's body as she called upon all of her power, enraged as she was at the Dragon of Earth. "How dare you hurt my friends like this? How dare you?!" The flames surrounding Karen grew even stronger; her eyes burned as brightly as her psychic flames. "I swear you'll pay for this!" And without further ado, she sent a huge column of fire blasting towards her adversary.
Kotori's hands were pushed back, and she gasped. The man that could hardly move now, was pulling on her.
She tried to help him steady himself. "Sir...I don't really think you should move yet..." she whispered in her soft voice.
"Such a shame," he murmured.
"E-Excuse me?" she asked. She
tilted her head; her blonde locks falling in to her face.
"So
much beautiful life...wasted."
Kotori stiffened as he touched her. She felt the coldness of his hands and the warmth of the blood mixed together. She shivered, closing her eyes tight. She was a bit nervous, and all she could mutter was:
"K-Kamui..."
Kanoe's rambling easily told him that she was hiding something. Kamui's eyes filled with rage as he held out his hand, his energy slowly began to charge. With one simple wave Kanoe would be forever gone from this world, as well as the rest of these people.
"I should have done this from the start," said Kamui with a smirk.
"K-Kamui..."
He suddenly snapped out of his trance as he heard his name called out. "Kotori...?" he questioned. Kamui dropped his hand and turned around.
The man from before seemed to be up on his feet again and walked away after muttering a few words. Kamui rushed to Kotori side. "Are you ok?" he questioned looking her in the eyes with concern. She seemed shaken, but fine nonetheless.
Kamui suspicions began rise further as the battered man had walked away. He then noticed to that the girl with the glasses had disappeared as well. When she did was beyond him.
Every fiber of his being told him to run and get Kotori to get out of there, but he hesitated. That man, his Ki was stronger than from a few moments ago and it seemed all too familiar...
"Kotori..." He said looking down at her. "I'm going to follow him. If anything happens, even the slightest incident, I want you to run. Run as fast as you can back to the shrine without stopping. Understand?"
He placed a hand gently on he cheek and neatly wiped a bit at the blood off her face with his thumb. Without saying another work. Kamui darted off after Seishirou.
Kotori looked at Kamui. She rubbed off the rest of the blood with the back of her hand as he walked off. She had nodded her silent agreement.
Kotori had gotten over the shock, and looked at Kanoe. "Uhm..." she said uncomfortably. She really had no idea what was going on.
Satsuki sat helplessly on the floor, unable to think of a solution. She had always trusted BEAST to solve any problems that came up, but now the computer itself was the problem. She hated to admit it, but, for the first time in her life, Satsuki was completely lost.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching, and someone entered the chamber. Satsuki immediately leapt up and spun around to face the intruder. To her surprise, the figure in the door was none other than Sakurazuka Seishirou, looking bloodied and ready to collapse but still standing.
"Sakurazuka-san, what on earth are you doing?" Satsuki hissed. She swiftly moved to his side and pulled him into the room, quickly shutting the door behind him. Pushing aside her own predicament for the moment, she said to him in frustration, "You're injured! And did you just leave Kamui with Kanoe like this? What if something happens? He might have followed you here!"
He glared at Satsuki, but before he could get a word out, she grabbed him and yanked him the rest of the way through the door, causing him to stumble and nearly fall flat on his face. Fortunately he caught his balance by leaning on the girl for support; he doubted he would have been able to get up again.
Ignoring her accusation concerning the one with which the world's fate rested, he reached out languidly and grasped her throat, incomprehensible rage driving his purpose. "Where's Subaru?" he demanded, nodding toward the place where his adversary had lain not an hour before.
But before Satsuki had the chance to answer, the door burst open behind them, and he turned his head wearily to see Kamui, equal furor written across his fair complexion. Groaning at the interruption, he shoved the girl aside.
"I don't have time for you!" he shouted ardently, forgetting momentarily that he was still very weak. Suddenly he could no longer control his rage. Was it delirium? Perhaps. All he knew was that Subaru--the only person on this God-forsaken planet whom he cared enough for to love or hate--was missing, and these fools were hindering his progress. Avidly he pitched a hand forward in Kamui's direction, unleashing a barrage of physical illusions--much like the asteroid field he had trapped sent them to in the basement of the DIET building. Unfortunately the effects were minimal, as his psychic energy was far from restored.
Uttering a curse under his breath, he staggered back and reached for Satsuki. "Where is he? Answer me! What has Kigai done?" Yes, Yuuto. Now he remembered. Just before drifting off into the realm of his memories, he had heard the faint utterance of the words "psychic barrier," just shortly after Yuuto had walked past him.
So now, caught between Kamui and his reckless, undefined search, he glared at Satsuki for the answers. They were all fools: Dragons of Heaven, Dragons of Earth. It made no difference. His fight did not concern any of them. This matter concerned the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi clan alone. The rest of them could burn in Hell for all he cared...
No sooner had his hydro-barrage ceased, when the elegant Seal shielded herself in a wall of flame from an immediate second attack, and then hurled the divine column of fire in his direction. There was no acute target; the thing was huge. Even if Yuuto walled himself with a barrier of ice, he would suffocate in moments from the density and heat of the steamy smoke.
He leaped, but not high enough. The cascade of fire caught his legs and collided with his supple midsection, knocking the breath instantly from his lungs. Each split second became an eternity as the flames bit and tore through his fair flesh. But he knew that forever had not yet passed, because the shrill cry he released on impact did not cease until he hit the solid surface of the roof.
The world was spinning. His entire body was suddenly covered in fervent perspiration. Using his arms to prop himself up, he smirked at the radiant Seal, flinching as his legs continued to sear with pain. He could have sworn they were still on fire. "Not bad," he sputtered, his nose inadvertently twitching upward in an attempt to form a snarl. He stayed the intuitive effort. "But you still can't save your precious Sumeragi." He did not wait to see the perplexed expression mount her exquisite features. "Take a look for yourself," he added, jerking his head in the direction where the young Onmyouji's body had plummeted from the building.
Only then did he turn his head to the side, out of range of the Dragon of Heaven's hearing. "I think I've had enough fun for one day," he muttered with grimace. "All right, BEAST, time to get out of here."
He waited. Nothing happened. New beads of sweat began to dot his knitted brow. "BEAST, this isn't funny. Recall the hologram now." When more silence followed, he clenched his teeth and slammed his fist against the pavement. "Damn it, Satsuki, what the hell is going on?"
Tentatively he glanced back at the Seals, far down on the ground where the youngest girl and her spirit dog had apparently discovered the secret of Sumeragi's hologram. He knew full and well that he would not be able to take on three Dragons of Heaven at once, especially now that he was injured.
-I don't have time for this...-
Arashi stared at Sumeragi-san's body. Her eyes began to narrow. "This was a trick." She murmured, looking up at Yuuto and Karen. She set her hand on Yuzuriha's shoulder.
"Come on. This is fake, Yuzuriha-chan. Let's help Karen-san... That man can't handle three seals." She said, her sword sprouting from her palm again. She snatched it from the air and then jumped upwards towards the roof.
Karen watched as her handsome nemesis was knocked to the ground, struck by her column of fire. The Angel screamed in pain as the fire licked over his skin.
As she watched, Karen's rage suddenly left her body, leaving her feeling deflated. What had she done? She had never in her anger lost control of her powers like that before. Karen shuddered as she realized that the man could have been killed. A great pang of remorse swept over her. She lowered her hands and let her flames go out. She had done enough damage to this man already; besides, she highly doubted that she would need the protection while her opponent was injured so badly.
Karen had already begun to walk towards the man when she stopped and stiffened at his comment about Subaru. "What are you talking about?" She looked over to where Subaru was, and instead saw Arashi and Yuzuriha coming towards her wearing identical furious expressions. Instantly her guard went up again, and she looked suspiciously towards the Dragon of Earth. "I'll be back to deal with you later," she hissed at him. She turned away and hurried over to her fellow Seals, coming to Arashi first. "Arashi-san, what's going on?" Karen asked in concern. "What's happened to Sumeragi-san?"
Arashi was defiantly angry. "Its a hologram, Karen-san. A fake. This... Man has had us fooled. He's simply trying to stall us!" She said, almost loosing her unfathomable temper.
"He's simply trying to keep us from finding Kamui." She said, her eyes darting towards Yuuto.
