Michiru's eyes widened and she narrowly managed to lean back in her chair, the tiny knife slicing the air above her face. At the same time, her foot swung up and she caught the Lady's knee, taking it out from under her. Lady Anouke's face planted against the table and Michiru felt hot pain in her thigh, a slice on her bare skin. She stumbled from the chair and ran, the woman cursing and yelling.
Michiru limped into the hallway, sliding into another room. She closed the door behind her, hearing maids running past the door. She looked to the lavish colored silks and stained wicker and ran to the window, cursing to find it overlooked a courtyard. Suddenly, she heard a crash and a yell.
"I'll find you, you little bitch! Don't think I don't know my own house!" Then, the doorknob jiggled and Michiru launched herself from the window, sailing down from the second story to the gravel courtyard as the door swung open. She looked around quickly before bounding into the deep fountain at the courtyard's heart. She sunk into a bed of water lily and quickly forced her way under. She gripped the fountain's central vertical column to hold herself under, the water lilies making the fountain appear dark. She looked upwards, barely able to see the sky through their circular pads.
Michiru did her best not to let out her breath for several seconds, though her hands began to shake as she felt the buildup of old air in her lungs. She allowed herself to slowly come up beside a little family of lilies, her lips surfacing carefully. She let out a breath, then took one in. The girl slid her face so her ear was surfaced. Water moved out of it and she heard yelling in the ornate house and stones moving in the courtyard.
"Check all of the halls!" Lady Anouke yelled, close to the fountain. A man's voice yelled her order again, and Michiru assumed they must be the guards she'd seen wearing red and black coats with pistols and sabers at their sides. Michiru heard them run from the courtyard after they assaulted the bushes nearby, and heard the soft, confident walk of Lady Anouke in the gravel. She heard the woman pause. "I know you're here. I suppose you'll strike in the night, with no guards to distract our fight. You're a brave little girl. But I can smell your fear." She walked off into the house and Michiru sunk into the fountain again, her nostrils flaring in anger, waiting for the night.
The guards ended their search an hour later, but Michiru knew they were still alert. She moved to the fountain's edge, thoroughly soaked, and peeked out. A guard patrolled the upper balcony, but he looked bored and paid little attention. When he went into the hall, Michiru stood in the fountain to ring out her hair with a sigh, picking out a lily pad. She let the rest of the water drip from her upper body before stepping out of the water and slowly onto the gravel, her steps soft. She glanced around warily before taking refuge under a one of the thick flowering bushes of the grand courtyard.
As Michiru braided her soaking hair, she cursed, realizing her sword was still upstairs, and likely now in the Lady's possession. She attempted to ring out her socks, taking out the little knife from her shorts as she did so. This was no time for her to chicken out. She would have to make due with any weapon she found. It was, after all, she thought to herself, a soft smile on her lips, her job.
The guard on patrol was easy to kill. The others played a few rounds of Blackjack in a back room, laughing. Michiru ignored them and moved up the hall, going to the stairwell. From the wall she selected an antique saber, its edge not quite sharp. She ascended the stairs silently, her nostrils flaring to take in the scents of the house and her ears alert for the sounds.
Her nose led her to a wooden door scented with incense, music from inside. Frowning, Michiru paused at it, then eased it open, the saber at the ready. Inside old-time music wafted through the air on ringlets of smoke. Incense scented the room with patchouli and lavender. Michiru slid inside and closed the door, looking into the darkened space.
Suddenly, the lights snapped on and Michiru jumped, alarmed. Lady Anouke moved to sit in the windowsill that was open to the night. She wore a lovely antique silk robe, her hair pulled up into an intricate bun. She lifted her dark eyes to the young girl. "Michiru... I knew I would be right."
The girl growled. "So? It doesn't matter. Your guards are still occupied elsewhere."
The woman laughed, her confidence infuriating Michiru. "You think I can't call them at will?" She lifted a small remote. "Modern conveniences put whatever I need at my fingertips. Guards...," she pointed to a red button. "Weapons." She pressed a blue button and the wall to Michiru's left turned to reveal a lit panel covered in at least two dozen guns. The young assassin swallowed nervously.
"Even... a bit of freedom from curiosity." She pushed another button and the music in the room turned up, the sounds of jazz filling the room, yet her voice was still clear as she stood. With her confident, long-strided walk, she moved to Michiru, looking down to her. "Michiru. My dear, sweet Michiru." She reached out a hand, Michiru's nostrils flaring, furious, as she stroked her cheek. "Give up this charade. You can't hope to defeat me here. You think your meager experience is any real match for mine? Child, you can't even hope for it." Her eyes were soft and gentle, her tone like a mother's with a hint of bite.
Michiru's mind went back to the carnage her father's body, blood everywhere, no sense of love or mercy in the way he had been killed. She considered her journey here, nearly a year and a half of searching, her anger over Lady Anouke's lies, her unexpected love for her bold teacher. To go back empty handed, or even dead would have meant it had all been a waste and that her father had been killed for the selfishness of another.
"No." She lifted her defiant eyes. "This is the cross you gave me to bear. I will see its weight lifted tonight!" She brought up the blunt saber and struck the Lady in the side of the neck. Anouke gave a cry and fell to the floor, the blaring vintage music covering their fight. Michiru leapt onto her, pulling out the knife from her pocket, lifting her hand to stab her, but Anouke's hand flew to her thigh under her robe where a gun waited and brought it up, pulling the trigger.
Michiru leapt out of the way and the bullet lodged into an African mask on the wall, sending half of it clattering to the floor. The girl rolled and grabbed the saber, launching herself from the floor and to the case on the wall where she grabbed a pistol and turned. Anouke was nowhere to be seen. Michiru's eyes dashed around the room, her chest rising and falling in gasps. The girl moved into the middle of the room, the gun pointed in front of her, ready.
There was a hiss behind her and she turned just in time to see the woman slide from behind the bed, her gun pointed to Michiru's head. Michiru brought hers up to point at her heart, her eyes lighting with fear, then courage. Anouke grinned. "You're not as bad as I had thought."
"One more move and I'll kill you," Michiru growled through grit teeth.
The Egyptian woman laughed, her eyes amused. "Michiru. One thing you should always remember about guns. Take the damn safety off." Her finger tightened on the trigger.
There was a loud crash, and the other window burst open, the shutter slats pattering the floor. Both women turned their eyes in surprise to where a streak of blonde jumped into the sill. Haruka's one eye was dangerous and full of emotion. "Drop the gun, Anouke!" She stood on the sill, wearing a grey tanktop and black pants. In her hands was a massive machine gun.
Lady Anouke laughed, but it was weaker now, less cocky, a mix of shock and apprehension. "Ah, we see each other again, Windchaser." She lowered her gun but didn't let it go. Michiru still pointed her gun to the Lady, her bewildered eyes turning to her lover. "I suppose you've come to protect your assets. I'm sure it would be a shame to you to lose her." Lady Anouke's dark eyes turned to Michiru once more and she lifted her gun, barely flinching as she shot.
Michiru felt white hot pain shoot through her chest and her eyes rolled back as she felt her collarbone shatter by her left shoulder. She fell to the floor, clinging to consciousness, her sapphire eyes lifting desperately to her teacher.
Haruka let out an anguished cry and jumped from where she had been standing, shooting the machine gun. Anouke rolled away with a laugh, the bullets pock-marking the stucco wall and Michiru heard nearby a banging on the door. The woman turned to the door, lifting her remote from her robe's pocket, and the door's mechanism locked with a click, sealing them in. She turned to Haruka. "This is our fight now." She lifted her gun and shot at the blonde, who moved out of the way just in time and swung around to shoot at the other woman again.
Their fight circled the room, bullets dissecting the walls. The banging on the door became louder, and soon it sounded like a battering ram on the wood. Neither flinched, however, and finally a sweating Haruka met a disheveled Anouke in the middle of the room, the blonde's eye furious.
"Either way, you will lose, Anouke," she snarled, her gun pointed at her abdomen. Anouke's gun raised to her neck.
"You think so? I'd say my guards are almost in." The door was splintering near the middle. Anouke's eyes became steel as she prepared to shoot the blonde.
Michiru's breathing was labored, sweat dotting her face and neck, blood pouring onto the floor, but she sat up. "Time for you... to bear this cross, bitch." Her pistol swung up and she pulled the trigger.
Anouke faltered, then stumbled some, finally dark blood dripping down her raven black hair and onto the floor. Her hand shook, her eyes quickly glazing. The door burst open just as Anouke fell to the floor and the guards were yelling. A gun went off and Haruka, who had been looking to Michiru, let out a grunt.
Michiru screamed, blood appearing on the blonde's grey top over her ribs. Haruka lifted her hand to the wound, then looked to Michiru before collapsing to the floor. The girl let out a cry of agony and jerked herself towards the blonde despite the intense pain in her shoulder that made her dizzy and disoriented.
The guards paused, staring at the scene of disaster before them. One walked in, checking the Lady's pulse, shaking his head to the others and looking to Michiru. The girl sobbed, then lifted her eyes to the man in red and black. He looked down to her, then to the men again, his voice accented. "Call an ambulance."
Michiru turned her eyes back to Haruka, whose eyes fluttered some. The blonde opened her eye and gave Michiru a small smile after she winced. "You were so good."
"Why did you come?" She cried softly, the pain in her heart worse than the one in her arm.
"Please. Like I would let you come here without a backup plan." The blonde winced again when she tried to laugh. She lifted her hand to Michiru's cheek and smiled some, a bit of blood appearing at her lip.
"Hold on," the girl begged. "Please!"
"Thanks... for saving me." Tears appeared in the blonde's eye and she let out a grunt, laying back, her eye closing as she fell limp.
A.N.: Sorry for my absence! Our internet has been crap lately! But I only have one more chapter to go anyway. :) I have been rolling around some new ideas, so please stay with me here. I hope to get a new story up soon. I am also trying to write a book and have begun the stages of researching information and preparing a story line. It's been quite fun so far! Hopefully eventually it will take the handsome Lost and I to the New England area and also Las Vegas. :) We love to travel so we can't wait!
Anyway, look for the next update soon and hopefully a new story! 3 Thanks all!