Chapter 11 – Intuition
After watching Kako and Kazama commentate on Tamakoma 2's match, Akemi went down to the training area, carrying her Kogetsu and wearing her uniform. People seemed surprised to see her there in her Border Uniform rather than in more casual clothes, and anyone who didn't recognize her was asking about the "new girl". "Akemi-senpai!" she turned to see Eita waving at her, jumping down from his perch. "What're you doing here, senpai?"
"Eita…" she smiled. "I wanted to fight…"
"Fight…?" Eita's eyes went wide when he realized she was carrying her kogetsu again, grinning wider. "Eh, since when? You haven't picked that up since… well…"
"Since today." She stated, smiling. "Mukou's not happy but he's also been acting up more and more, so its harder for me to stay stable in a fight…" she added. "So I thought backing up my kogetsu skills in a pinch would be a good idea." She added. "My trion level's are biting the dust, too, cause of Mukou's appetite."
"Eeeh… since when does senpai think she'll need to get out of a pinch?" Eita asked, glad to see his leader back in the same mindset that he'd met her in. That strong, confident woman that had always been so fearless… the kogetsu-wielding leader that never let anyone get away with things that hurt those she loved. As well as have the tenacity to talk bad about her own Black Trigger.
"I dunno… maybe I'm getting old?" she chuckled, Eita smiling as she looked around. "Now who can I fight…? I don't wanna pick on anyone new… and I shouldn't fight anyone with too few points…"
"I'll fight you, Akemi-senpai." Akemi turned, eyes widening to see a certain red-haired individual from Kazama's squad.
"Utagawa-kun…?" she stated at him still, shocked. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. I've heard from Kazama-san about your skill as a kogetsu-user… I really want to see it for myself." He added, bowing his head. Akemi agreed, the two heading off to their places to start the rank war. Akemi was surprised that Soya mentioned her former use of kogetsu, but she didn't mind. It was just a surprise for her that Utagawa was the one to want to fight her.
Kazama rushed down to the viewing area, seeing Akemi's fight against Utagawa end. She beat him 10 to 0, and though it was no surprise to Kazama, it was a shock to everyone in the crowd who hadn't seen Akemi fight before. "Che… what's he doing, fighting her?" Soya noticed Kikuchihara standing nearby, grumbling. "I should've been in there…"
"Kikuchihara, what are you grumbling about?" Soya asked, making him jump.
"Kazama-san…" he sighed. "Utagawa that jerk… I was gonna fight her, but…" he remembered how Utagawa just walked right up to her, smiling and offering a fight. But Kazama knew it was more than that… Kikuchihara didn't want to lose to her, so of course he talked big. But Soya knew Akemi would have ended him in 10-0.
"You think you'd do better?" he asked. Akemi wouldn't have tolerated his mouthing off in the ring, so she'd have cut him down quickly. And judging by the crowd, she'd only been using the basic Kogetsu, none of her other tricks.
"Of course." He replied.
"I don't think it would have helped." Soya replied. "Either of you would lose to her… she's very good at what she does… Kogetsu used to be her favorite trigger." He added. "She doesn't fight like most people." He noticed Kikuchihara tense, then walk away without another word. He wondered why. He sighed, seeing Akemi emerge. She saw him and hurried over, earning a small smile. "Since when do you bring kogetsu out on a whim?" he asked, earning a pat on the head.
"I do when I need to remind myself of things… but… something tells me I'll need to rely on kogetsu more." She added.
"Jin say something?"
"No… this is more woman's intuition." She chuckled, smiling more. "Did Kikuchihara stay home or something?" she looked around. "I expected to see him… but I only saw Utagawa-kun…"
"I don't know… maybe he was bored." Kazama didn't think he should bring up his team mate leaving because he was upset by something. He looked around, noting all the C-Ranks staring. "Um…"
"Ah, sorry." She pulled her hand away from patting his head. "Can't go ruining your rep, now can I?" she asked, Kazama thinking about something else though. "Anyway, it seems I've caused a fuss… I think I'm going to go home…" she added.
"Home…? Are you sick?" he asked, noting her looking a little wobbly as she stood there.
"No… at least, not yet… I have patrol tonight though, so I can't be sick." She added. "And Kido-san said I have to use Mukou on patrol… he wants to check on my regeneration level for Trion." She added, sighing. "So much problems." She grumbled. "Anyway, I'll see you later~" she waved as she noticed Kagami and Sanyo at the door, Eita standing a little closer to wait for their captain. Kazama watched heer go, Utagawa finding him a moment later.
"Kazama-san…?"
"She beat you without using anything but Kogetsu, huh?" he asked, Utagawa sighing a little.
"She's really incredible… I see why you praised her. It was like she'd fought me a hundred times before…" he smiled. "But this was my first fight… and only 10 rounds, too…"
"That's how she was trained." He replied. He began walking off, Utagawa following him. He wondered now if Kikuchihara would have done better, but then again from what his leader mentioned, the way Kikuchihara mouthed off to people would have made Akemi slice him up that much faster.
That night on patrol, Akemi was walking by herself while her team was taking care of a small group of neighbors nearby. She heard something move, turning to dodge and trying to see what it was. But there was nothing. Suddenly something sliced her side, causing her to fall back and kneel at a distance, trying to see the attacker. She saw nothing. Mukou's energy suddenly started going unstable, and Akemi felt weaker. The white tips of her hair receded and her lungs felt blocked.
"Akemi-senpai?" she heard Eita on the comms but she had no breath to respond with.
"Akemi, what's wrong?" Kagami asked. Akemi's hands shook as she tried to get her nerves under control. This was the first time Mukou had receded so violently. She was suffering from shock, trying to focus through the pain of her headache seeping in and the loss of her Black Trigger's stability. Kagami found her first, calling it into base before warding off the thing that attacked her. They rushed back to base, Akemi's breathing labored. Sanyo and Eita went back out to fight the Trion soldiers as Kagami kept an eye on her. He paused, looking to Akemi's phone. "Should we call Kazama?"
"Ah, we should, shouldn't we?" Kagami sighed, turning to see Jin standing there. Where had he even come from?
"I'll call him." He added, opening his phone and dialing Kazama's number. He only had the blackette's number because Akemi gave it to him in case of emergencies, as well as Kazama having the rusty-haired man's number in return.
"Kagami? What is it?" Kazama answered immediately, Kagami sighing.
"Come to base… something happened to Akemi and Mukou… she needs to see you." He added.
"Is she alright?" he heard rummaging, likely Kazama pulling on his jacket. "What's wrong? Is she injured?"
"Not so much injured… She'll be alright once you're at her side, I think." He replied. "Mukou rececded in the middle of a fight… she's not hurt but the recoil seems to be hitting her hard…"
"That's… I'll be right there." Kagami heard him hang up, sighing a little.
"Want some?" Jin offered some rice crackers, but Kagami shook his head. "Are you blaming yourself?"
"No… but…" he looked at Akemi as she did her best to stay conscious. "Mukou's never receded like that." He added, gripping his hands into fists. "Something invisible came at her… I guess…?" he shook his head. "Akemi's never suffered such a drawback from him before…"
"Is Mukou breaking?" Jin asked.
"Akemi said he's been highly unstable… but I thought it was because he ate too much trion…" he sighed. "It's never affected her physical body before…"
"Must be hard… being the number one pupil of a dojo and tasked with keeping the little princess safe." Jin stated, Kagami making a face at the mention of it. "But your teacher wouldn't have left her safety in anyone else's hands."
"… He told me once… that she was troublesome… but she's never been that way." He replied. "Akemi's always level unless someone says something bad about family or her team… she always is too strong to fight off easily…" he sighed. "So when Rindo-san told me that I would be on a team with her when we entered Border, I of course thought she would be a better captain… but maybe it put too much pressure on her to constantly go off on her own… maintain that air of power?"
"Don't over think it." Jin pat Kagami's shoulder. "Your squad leader is still strong. She just can't use that Bottomless Pit for a while, probably." He said, Kagami noting the tone in his voice. A prediction? Kagami sighed, tousling his own hair to snap himself out of it.
"Thanks, Jin…" he watched him leave, sitting quietly next to Akemi to wait for Kazama. Without Mukou…? He'd never thought that was possible. He turned, seeing Mukou's pendant form around Akemi's neck still. He reached for it, but this time, unlike times before, it didn't react and try to attack him. He took the pendant off and left it on the side table. "Akemi… your woman's intuition is scary… you knew before Jin did…" he stated.
"Kagami…?" Akemi asked, opening her eyes. "Where…?"
"You're back at base… what happened?"
"I… don't know…" she stared at the ceiling. "Something hit me… it wasn't like a regular trigger or a trion soldier… it was…" she turned to him. "It felt like Mukou… but not…"
"Felt like…?" he stared at her. "That's odd…" he kenw Mukou lashed out at her when she didn't feed him enough, but for her to say that… she'd never fought anything like Mukou before. "Well in any case, Kazama-san's on his way." He added to her, noting her calm down a little. "For now just get some rest…" he added, letting her calm down and fall into sleep before getting up and checking her forehead. "Fever, huh?" he shook his head. "I swear, if you're sick…" he added, going to get some medicine for her as well as to check on the other two if they needed more assistance with the enemies outside.
"Soya…?" Kazama turned, eyes wide to see Akemi awake. "When did you get here…?"
"Akemi… how are you feeling?"
"Feeling?" she looked around, sitting up a little and coughing. "Like crap… Mukou receded and I blacked out after about a minute…" she coughed again, Kazama rubbing her back. "Where's Kagami?"
"He's getting you another compress for your head. You were running a high fever." Eita said from the door, carrying another blanket.
"… That bad, huh?"
"More than." Eita added, tossing the blanket at her, the girl fumbling with it for a second. "You should get some more sleep, Akemi-senpai." He added. "And Kazama-senpai can keep you warm." He added as he turned to leave, Akemi's face coloring redder.
"… Has Eita always made fun of you like that?" Soya asked, Akemi shaking her head. Of all the times they'd met, Kazama had never once seen Eita poke fun at Akemi for being with him. Maybe it was because she was sick? "Anyway…" he turned to her, noting her leaning to one side. "Get back to sleep… I'll take you home after your fever goes down so you can relax, okay?"
"Eeeh…" she pouted. "Okay…" she gave up surprisingly easily, and that's when Kazama realized she was no longer wearing it… Mukou's pendant. She'd always worn that since her grandfather died.
"What's wrong?"
"No… just…" she looked at her hands. "It's weird… not hearing Mukou grumbling about being hungry all the time…" she muttered, Kazama patting her head. "It's quiet…"
"Is it?" he smiled, knowing she must be almost lonely without Mukou complaining all the time. "Well you focus on getting better… take time to yourself for once."
"Got it…" she whispered, smiling back at him. "Thank you… you always make me feel better."
"Well I can't make the cold go away, so don't push yourself." He added. "Are you going to sleep better at home or Tamakoma?"
"Mmm, probably at home?" she smiled. "I don't wanna get anyone sick." She added. "Ayumi and Azami can work around me at home… the others would have a harder time at Tamakoma."
"Then I'll get you home once your fever goes down." He added, glad she seemed okay aside from being concerned about her Black Trigger's lack of operating ability. "Get better quick, okay?"
"Okay…" she muttered, looking over at Mukou's pendant as Kazama got up to leave. He was inoperable until things got figured out. She sighed, narrowing her eyes at the pendant. "Mukou… what happened?" she asked softly, hoping for an answer. But none came.
((Wahaha. Back in action.
But a new development! No more Mukou?! At least for a while. Let's see what Akemi can do without him, shall we?
-Winter Cheshire))