Erika – Final

The office of Major Harunobu Kazama was just as Toshikazu Chiba had imagined it. Sparse and clean, with nothing unnecessary within its wood-paneled confines except for a few old army pictures on the wall. It smelled faintly of furniture polish. It was lean and mean and meant for business, much like the Major himself.

Probably in his late forties, there was only a faint trace of gray in his otherwise brown hair. He was in top shape both mentally and physically, and had obviously seen combat and likely would again. He certainly looked ready for it.

Major Kazama was almost a myth to most people. He was rarely seen outside of military gatherings, and he didn't attend very many of those either. He was almost invisible to anyone outside the military, and even within it he was not well-known except for his reputation.

There were conflicting rumors about him and his exploits, but what everyone aware of him agreed on was that he was a good man to have on your side, and a terror as an enemy.

The Major sat staring at the young Chiba in front of him as if measuring him. Or just thinking over Toshikazu's proposal. Or maybe both. The young man really couldn't read this man yet.

His attention was on the Major, but he spared a glance at the woman standing beside him.

Second Lieutenant Kyōko Fujibayashi stood at rest, her hair in its usual ponytail, her combat fatigues starched and crisp. Calm, yet ready for action at any moment. She looked like a recruitment poster for the JSDF. A poster he would gladly hang on his wall. That's one hot woman.

He mentally shook himself. Now was not the time for such thoughts. He had a critical mission to complete, and he needed the Major's cooperation to do it successfully.

The Major leaned back in his chair and looked over at his subordinate. Toshikazu's heart skipped a beat as he guessed what the Major was going to say.

" Fujibayashi."

"Sir!" Snapping to attention, the woman calmly awaited her commander's order.

"You will take your squad and assist young Chiba here in his mission this evening. You will recover the artifact and return here. The enemy are to be considered foreign nationals and you will treat them as such. I leave the planning to you and the young detective here. That is all."

"Yes, Sir. Understood, Sir."

She turned to Toshikazu with a blank expression, but he could see her eyes twinkling. "It will be a pleasure working with you again, Chiba-san." Was that a wink, or was he imagining it?

Toshikazu bowed low to them both. "Thank you for your assistance."

Upon rising, Toshikazu saw the man smile for the first time. It was a predatory smile. It reminded him of a tiger when it first spots prey that had wandered too far from the herd.

"I believe that we are both doing each other a favor in this instance, detective. Good hunting."

With that, the meeting was concluded. The second lieutenant led the son of the Chiba family to a conference room and gathered her squad to formulate a battle plan. It would be a very interesting afternoon.

It was 7:30pm now. Half an hour before the sword was to be moved. The sun would be completely down in a few minutes and the operation could begin.

Erika was crouched down with her companions a short block away from the loading docks at the back of the warehouse. Glancing at Leo, she could see he was trying to scan in all directions for enemies. She said nothing, but she knew he was wasting his time. It was completely unnecessary to do this.

She then watched Tatsuya close his eyes and do whatever it was he did that told him exactly where the enemy was. It was an unnerving ability that she had seen him display once before when the criminal organization Blanche had tried to steal some classified magic secrets. Once again, she found herself thankful that Tatsuya was a friend and not an enemy.

Opening his eyes, Tatsuya had a grim look on his face. That couldn't be good.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"There are twenty-five of the enemy. And, we have company." Leo's eyes darted around even faster, trying to find this new threat.

"They are allies, not enemies."

"What! Do you know who it is?" she asked in a vexed whisper. In all the contingencies they had tried to plan for, they had never thought of allies showing up.

"There is a group hiding across the street from the building. They are... friends of mine. Also, there is one other person with them. I believe it's your brother, Toshikazu."

Erika's countenance crumbled. "He knows about the sword. I'll never live this down." She looked as if she was going to cry.

"Erika!" Leo had been following the discussion as he scanned the area. Now he turned his full attention on the beautiful flame-haired woman in front of him. "All we have to do is make sure we get the sword before anyone else and get out of there. If we have to fight them all to do that, then that is what we will do! Or," here he gave her his best smirk, "should we run away with our tails between our legs?"

Erika could only stare at him at first, shocked that he would be so blunt and provocative towards her. He had never spoken to her this way before.

A part of her loved that he did that. She was on the verge of hugging him.

Another part of her was angry enough to pound him into the pavement. She was on the verge of killing him.

It need not even be said which part of her won out this time.

Her eyes narrowed at him and she was about to tell him off when Tatsuya interrupted.

"I hate to get in the way here, but our plan has to change and we don't have much time."

Both of them turned to Tatsuya to listen, and Tatsuya noticed that while Erika was still scowling, Leo had a very satisfied smile on his face.

"Now, we will attack from the flank. Since we have 'friends' out there, they will act as our diversion instead of Leo."

He caught Leo's eye. "Leo, you will attack from the left to draw a little attention away from Erika, who will be with me on the right."

Now he turned his attention to Erika. "Erika, your objective is the sword. You will engage only with the person holding the sword. You will not fight anyone else. I will take care of anyone in the way. Do you understand?"

To refrain from combat while her friends fought for her went against everything Erika believed. But she realized that the most important thing was to retrieve Orochimaru at all costs, and Tatsuya's plan was the best chance to do that. Again, she found herself swallowing her pride as she nodded her acceptance of her role.

"Good. Put your masks on and let's get into position." Tatsuya had ordered them to wear dark clothes and ski masks in order to hide their identities in case of any bystanders who may wander into the area. Now that Erika knew that her brother was out there, she was relieved that she had heeded that order.

Both groups were now in position in front of the warehouse. The plan was in place and everyone knew what it was.

At the planning meeting, Toshikazu had proposed a frontal assault. Kyōko had looked at him strangely at such a bad strategy, but he went on to tell her that there would be reinforcements attacking the flanks.

She'd also looked at him strangely when he didn't elaborate on exactly who those reinforcements were. Kyōko assumed it would be more people from the Chiba family. This would also explain why Toshikazu was the only Chiba involved in this mission planning session.

Toshikazu was okay with letting her think this. He liked this female officer very much, and was sure he had a major crush on her, but half of this mission was family business and she was not part of that.

He, like Erika, had his own network of spies and informants. They were a necessary part in the life of any members of the Master Clan families. Without them, you were practically blind to any important things that were happening around you.

Unlike Erika, however, his network was better. He knew about Orochimaru being lost and he knew about the transfer of it tonight. He knew she was aware of all this and would be planning to get it back before the rest of the family found out. He could also guess exactly how anguished his little sister would be feeling about all of this as well as the need for secrecy.

While really a half-sister, as far as Toshikazu was concerned she was no different from a full-blooded sister, and he loved that sister dearly. Despite her prickly demeanor. Or maybe because of it. He wasn't sure, and it didn't really matter.

He loved her enough to help her out when she was in a bind, whether she wanted that help or not. He knew that his brother Naotsugu felt the same way.

What he didn't know was whether Erika was aware of the fact that the group holding the sword was also planning to smuggle out another item. An item that, at least to the JSDF, was even more important than Orochimaru.

Sorcery Booster. A small box-shaped device believed to be used to amplify a magician's magic. It was also an illegal device that has, as one of its components, the living cells of a magician inside of it. Magicians who had to be sacrificed in order to create one.

The JSDF had made it part of their mission to confiscate, study, and then destroy these infernal objects. This is how Toshikazu was able to obtain the assistance of the country's elite military organization. He had broached the subject to Kyōko over dinner last night (which he had fond memories of), which led to his meeting with Major Kazama today.

He glanced at the woman at his side, to find that she was staring at him. She gave him a sexy smile that seemed a little out of place on a woman wearing combat fatigues. She was actually looking forward to this!

"Are you ready, Toshikazu-kun?"

"Yes, as soon as the objects come out of the warehouse, we can begin."

He didn't know who Erika had recruited, but he hoped they were capable. He also fervently hoped that her group had noticed that he and the JSDF would be employing a frontal assault and take that as a hint that they should flank attack.

Erika and her two companions had managed to get into position at both corners of the large loading dock without being seen, with the help of the darkness that had just descended.

Each corner of the dock was about 50 meters from the central doors. That was as close as they could get before the festivities began. Now, all they could do was wait.

It wasn't long before the loading dock doors opened and bulky men in sweatsuits began to emerge, eyes darting all around for signs of danger. Chinese nationals. No surprise there for anyone. Both Erika's group as well as Toshikazu's group had surmised during their afternoon planning sessions that these might be their foes.

After them came a man carrying a box. It was roughly the size of a cakebox, and the man was carrying it carefully.

Behind him came another man carrying the sword in its cloth bag. This man, in turn, was followed by another group of 'guards' to cover the rear.

This confused Erika's group, who had been expecting just the sword. With the JSDF involved and seeing that container, though, Tatsuya soon put two and two together. In that moment, he understood what had probably transpired between Toshikazu and the JSDF.

As soon as both men emerged from the warehouse Fujibayashi shouted the order to attack and the men ran towards the dock. There was about 100 meters of space to cross between their hiding place and the dock where the transport van sat idling.

She noticed that the lip of the dock was high enough so that the thieves would have to lower their package to a man waiting below instead of loading the package directly. In other words, they had a vehicle that was too short for the dock. Just how stupid were these guys?

Fujibayashi's dozen men covered the distance screaming and yelling, hoping to paralyze the enemy a moment with shock to give themselves time to close the distance.

Fortunately for the JSDF men, none of the enemy were carrying firearms. In this respect both sides were equal. It seemed that neither party wanted gunfire that could attract unwanted attention.

Everyone did, however, have either knives or katanas or both. Fujibayashi noted briefly that those men wearing swords and knives with their sweatsuits looked ridiculous.

No firearms meant a higher probability of there being combat magicians within the enemy ranks, Erika realized as she sprinted towards the man carrying the sword. Her sword.

Well, technically, Orochimaru belonged to the Chiba family, she knew. But since she was the only one able to use it to its full capabilities, she always thought of it as her own.

Her anger burned and she wanted to cut them all down, but she remembered Tatsuya's admonition. She would, however, have the satisfaction of cutting down the bastard who happened to be carrying her beloved Orochimaru.

As fast as Erika was, Tatsuya was faster, cutting down men and clearing for Erika to reclaim her sword.

Men began to activate their CADs to stop them, but Tatsuya pulled out his own pistol shaped CAD and pulled the trigger. All the magic sequences disappeared. Gram Demolition. Erika had seen him use that technique before and so she was not caught completely by surprise. Her charge never faltered.

This left half a dozen confused and frustrated magicians who were easily mowed down by Tatsuya on one side, Leo on the other, and eventually the JSDF personnel as soon as they could cover the short distance to engage.

From the corner of his eye, Tatsuya saw the man holding the Booster attempt to lower it to the waiting man behind the van. At the moment of exchange both men were peppered with needles and electric currents jolted them to unconsciousness. Not one needle missed its mark. Thunder Needle, executed perfectly. As expected of the second lieutenant, Tatsuya thought.

The box fell to the ground, but since everyone around it was fighting for their lives, it was left on the ground where it fell.

By this time, the full two dozen or so Chinese had poured out of the warehouse and joined the battle. It was no longer a coordinated battle between two forces. It had deteriorated into a desperate melee of dozens of individual battles.

Tatsuya suddenly veered to the left, leaving the charging Erika, katana in hand, a clear shot at the man holding Orochimaru. To her chagrin, however, she saw that he had taken the long sword from its cloth bag and removed it from its sheath. He was going to use her own sword against her!

The man may be a swordsman, but there was no way he could use Orochimaru to its full potential. However, in capable hands, this long sword was deadly even without any magic. By his stance alone, Erika could see that this man was indeed a capable swordsman.

She let out a howl that was full of her anger, her shame, her joy, and her battle lust as she closed in on her enemy. As with everything else Erika did, she plunged into battle at full speed.

She was able to focus solely on the man in front of her because she had complete faith in the two men she came with. They would have her back and she didn't even have to think about it.

Orochimaru slashed and Erika ducked, but the enemy had expected that. The arc of the long sword came down directly at her and she barely managed to bring her own, much smaller sword down to block. The sword to sword contact jarred her to her toes.

The swordsman in front of her wasn't in Erika's class, but the huge sword he wielded made up for any deficiencies he might have. Erika had no doubts about her ability to win this fight, but it would be a drawn out battle. She couldn't afford that. She had to recover the sword and get out of there before her brother showed up or her life would be ruined. That is how she truly felt.

The swordsman, who had been crouched and ready for the next attack, suddenly stood bolt upright before toppling forward. Without thinking, Erika rushed forward and grabbed the sword out of his hands before it could hit the ground. The man's body hit the ground with a dull thud, a dagger stuck in his back to the hilt.

Following the likely trajectory of the blade, she saw her brother in the doorway of the warehouse. He wore a strange smile as he walked forward toward her. She was very thankful for the mask right now, but if he came too close he would definitely pierce through the weak disguise.

Suddenly, both Tatsuya and Leo appeared, shoulder to shoulder between her and her brother.

Tatsuya did not turn his head when he yelled "Go!", but she knew that command was meant for her. Gathering up the sheath and Orochimaru's cloth bag from the ground, she then hesitated to leave. The fight wasn't over and it wasn't in her nature to just flee.

"Move!" Tatsuya growled. She turned and ran into the night, her body on fire with her shame and her tears.

She didn't see her brother smile as he raised his hands to Tatsuya and Leo in mock surrender. He then turned away from the masked men to go find Fujibayashi and clean up.

Erika had no time that night to reflect on the events that transpired. She managed to drag herself home and put Orochimaru into the main vault and then fall into bed, still fully clothed.

It wasn't the physical exertion that had exhausted her, but the mental fatigue. She had been stressed out ever since she discovered the sword missing and it had taken a toll on her body.

In the morning, however, she had time to reflect on some things.

Erika had killed no one in that battle, yet she had recovered her sword. In her mind, this was a textbook example of a bitter-sweet ending. She resigned herself to the fact that retrieving the sword was the only satisfaction she would get from this whole affair. And that, she knew, would have to be enough.

Later that afternoon, when she went to thank Tatsuya for his help, she found Leo there again. Miyuki wasn't feeling well and, having decided to take a nap, was still abed.

While Tatsuya made coffee for them, Leo filled her in on what happened.

"After you left, it was really just a matter of mopping up. They soon realized that they couldn't win the fight and most of them surrendered. That officer woman took them and that box away with her when she left. Amazingly, there were only two fatalities, neither of which were on our side."

She looked at him sharply at the awe in his voice when he said "officer woman", but did not comment.

When Tatsuya joined them he didn't really have anything to add to Leo's account of things. She again offered her heartfelt thanks to them and took her leave.

To her surprise, Toshikazu did not mention the incident during the next couple of days. There was no way he didn't know it was her that night. Mask or not, the family sword was taken from the scene of battle and had miraculously appeared back at home. Men were stupid creatures, but nobody was that stupid.

However, he gave no hint whatsoever that anything had happened. She was confused, but by the second day she had decided to just let sleeping dogs lie and be grateful. As long as he wasn't going to throw it in her face, she would have the grace to leave the issue alone.

Lying in bed a couple of nights later, she once again found herself reflecting on the help her friends had given her. The thankfulness in her heart felt overflowing. She resolved to take them to a nice dinner soon. It was the least she could do.

Maybe friends don't barter favors, but they do manage to show their appreciation for their friends' efforts.

End