Disclaimer: "I own none of the cast and crew, I am merely borrowing them for the sake of a retold story. Hope you're reading, Akamatsu. Make Negima longer than Love Hina."
GoldamonX – "Glad to see some people are paying attention to detail. I feel loved."
Now, ladies and gents. I hope this chapter will make up for most of the scenes that were advertised as "Action/Adventure". Now then, enjoy the show.
A five foot five boy with long white hair twirled a thin metal pole between his fingers, sticking it up straight after a few seconds of spinning. At the top of that rod was a pointed head; an arrowhead, at its base, grey tail wings. The owner of it smiled as he watched the light reflect from the metal tip of the arrow.
Several soldiers with odd insignias on their arms whisper among themselves, observing the boy as he leans back against some cold, hard plating of a vehicle.
A chinese man asks, "Do we have to put our trust in a boy? I mean, he doesn't even use a gun. What could he be good for?"
"It's said he's a prototype for an economical soldier. A sniper at that."
"Economical isnt always better."
"It wont matter. Our target is just a kid. Once we finish the job, I'm going right home to my wife."
"Shen, think about boning your ball and chain after this."
A russian man stepped up to the conversation. "Doesn't anyone find it odd that they commissioned so many people, for one target? Is this kid so valuable that they send in Spetsnaz, AND the Red Guard?"
Shen replies, "We don't get paid to bitch. Let's do our deed for the day and move on."
One of the soldiers approaches the boy with his bow and arrow. "Hey, you going to stand there all day playing with that like some idiot or are you going to put some work in?" The boy kept silent, still playing with the arrow. His hair was a shoulder length coal black with his body a surprisingly a lightweight frame. He was dressed in the same bodily equipment as the Spetsnaz unit soldiers without the patch. His eyes were a piercing red, and his lips refused to give any other expression other than a scowl.
The solider was agitated, "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"I have a name." The boy spoke up in an innocent sounding voice.
"I don't give a damn. You'll do what you're told. Now get off your lazy—!"
With a groan, the solider kept silent. He falls backwards onto his back showing off the arrow lodged into his skull. The others are scared stiff, trembling over their comrade's corpse. The boy looks over to the crowd of soldiers that were once whispering to one another.
"My name is Matsumura Ohiko. Remember it."
Chapter 13 – "Road to Recovery" (Part 3 – Fight Your Own Battle!)
A few minutes after we left our ronin trio, they had raft-wreaked onto a deserted isle…
"Wake up…wake up!"
Keitaro groggily wakes up from unconsciousness, to his surprise, Naru was wearing a two piece bikini.
She laughs, "We got lucky."
"Yeah, REALLY lucky." The male ronin thought as he mentally drooled over her.
He gets up off the grainy sands to meet up with Mutsumi, whom was also splashing around in a large pool of warm water in a very conservative (yet still very form fitting) bathing suit.
"Urashima-san! Come in! The water is nice and warm, almost like a hot spring!"
Naru and Mutsumi continually splashed around in the water, enjoying themselves as Keitaro watched the two of them play.
"Wow…I never knew Mutsumi had such a nice pair…and Naru, whoa! I've never seen her in a bikini before. She looks great!"
Meanwhile...
His chest was burning from constant sprinting, looking around for the Mabuchi Laundromat. Walking past several dozen stores, and through a city park he completely forgets about the bomb threat.
"Daimyo, didn't they say there was a bomb threat in effect?"
"Andrew said to meet him first. I'll worry about it when the bomb goes off."
Pharsti sighs, "You're so hopeless. We had better hurry; after all, the sun is starting to set."
He strolls along until finally seeing a sign reading "Mabuchi Laundromat". Soma pounds on the front door, but to his avail it was locked. He steps back several feet and took a moment to breathe. With a big sprint he runs at full speed toward the metal double doors, charging at it with all the weight put into his shoulder.
"Soma-kun!"
"Huh?" WHAM! He lost his concentration as he slammed face first into the door. "Argh…who're you?"
The voice stepped out from behind a corner, "It's me, Andrew."
"Next time, be a little faster with the introduction."
"Maybe you shouldn't be so rash. But now isnt the time to talk about that. I know that this threat is dangerous, but I can speak to you freely without anyone eavesdropping."
"Sure. But whatever it is, you'd better hurry."
"I do this so you keep your bearing. For now, I'm here to check if the nanotech has integrated properly." He withdrew the visor from their meeting several weeks ago and reattaches it to Soma's temple.
"Pharsti. Andrew here. How have the nanomachines integrated?"
"The chibi-chans are driving me nuts. But the upgrade seems to have gone smoothly. With some time I can update it to a much better magnification."
"Good to hear. Has Soma been a good boy?"
"Of course."
Soma sighs, "You know I can hear you, right?"
His conscience giggles, "Duh."
Andrew continues, "How is the level two limiter coming?"
Pharsti shakes her head in grief, "Not so well. We don't even know what broke the first one."
"Really? I was hoping you and Soma had stumbled upon something."
"Andrew, I want to know." Soma interjects, "What is the second limiter hiding? I understand that the first one unlocked enhancedathleticism."
He shrugs, "Honestly, only your mother knows. She doesn't even trust Pharsti with it."
"Terrific…"
Andrew disconnects from his mind and speaks normally. "I've told you much about your mother, but tell me, do you want to know about your father?" He nods silently in reply. "Well, to start…"
Nearby on a rooftop of a local bakery with a billboard of Coca-cola, Ohiko was looking through a pair of binoculars peering down at Soma. On his back was a tall, powerful looking bow; a solid black color with a thick wire running down the hind end. "Onii-san, I've found you." Upon further examination, he spots another target.
"What's this?" He draws out his bow and fished out an stainless steel APFSDS arrow with a smooth tip from a quiver laying against the side of the railing he was looking off from. With a small tilt to the right, he adjusts his aim and arms his weapon; with the closing of one eye, he fires, a soft twang is heard echoing.
"Long ago, your father was with a clan known as, the Shinmei Ryu—"
A crowd of chibi-chans cried out "—Daimyo! Projectile incoming!" Soma looked to the right to hear the faint whistling of the arrow. With a quick calculation from Pharsti, he knew where the arrow was going to hit.
He tackles Andrew behind the corner of the building, the arrow barely misses his old friend by an inch, but hits Soma's shield, piercing through it, and hitting him directly in the upper portion of his right arm. Soma groaned painfully as he lay bleeding atop his uncle.
"Soma! What the hell!" He grips his nephew's arms to shake some sense into him.
"Andrew…run for it…"
"I'm not going."
"Damnit…run!" he shouts.
Reluctantly, Andrew runs off into the alley. He runs out of Ohiko's line of fire to safety, thinking of his next move. "Damn…how did they find me?"
Soma crawled upright and sat against the wall while yanking out the arrow. "Argh…What the hell was that?" He ditches the arrow and runs off into the alley for cover, peering up at an angle.
"It's an APFSDS arrow. It relies on kinetic energy to pierce a target."
Back in Okinawa…
Mutsumi had passed out from exhaustion for a short period.
"Oh dear, I think I overdid it."
"No Mutsumi-san, it's my fault. I should've known not to push you, what with your condition."
Mutsumi relieves her of any guilt, "No. It wasn't your fault Narusegawa-san."
Naru turns to Keitaro, who sat next to her. "Stay here with her, I'm going to go get her some water." She walks off to go fetch water across the beach. All the while, Keitaro kindly offers Mutsumi his coat to keep her warm.
"Damn! It's so irritating how well they fit together. I mean, what is that guy's problem? He said to Mutsumi that he liked me. Wait, why do I care so much?"
Back at their makeshift camp, Keitaro and Mutsumi relaxed under the stars. The busty Mutsumi apologizes again for falling unconscious again.
"I'm sorry for this. It's been so long since I've had fun."
Keitaro turns around to grab an ice pack from Mutsumi's bag. "Don't think too much of it. It's really nothing. Right now, I'm just glad you're feeling better."
Mutsumi stops him, "Urashima, could you come here?"
He obliges his newfound friend by kneeling by her side. Suddenly, she removes his glasses looking deep into his eyes with her own. Keitaro felt awkward as she suddenly kisses him timidly on the lips.
"Wah! What was that for?"
Mutsumi blushes, "I'm sorry. I wanted to see what you looked like without your glasses and I guess I just…"
Nearby, Naru observed the two and in shock, dropping her pail of water.
"Naru?"
Narusegawa clenches a fist, then punts him several feet. "You pervert!"
He chases after her, "I can explain!" Mutsumi sat in confusion over their peculiar behavior.
"There's nothing TO explain! I'm happy you've found yourself such a beautiful girlfriend! I hope you're happy together!"
"That was an accident!"
"What the hell kind of an accident leads to kissing?" she asks, "Now stop following me!"
"If you don't care, why are you still running?"
"Just quit chasing me!"
"Wait!"
Along the shoreline, Keitaro grabs her arm, in the confusion trips and falls on top of Naru, pinning her down in a spectacular fashion.
"…what is it?"
Keitaro struggled to speak, "You see…'
Naru speaks up, "Listen, I heard from Mutsumi that you said you liked me."
"You see, I really do lo…"
A massive foghorn cuts off his speech.
Back with Soma…
"The shot came from that way…" Soma zooms in the calculated direction of the shot. There, he spots Ohiko, spying through his binoculars.
"Pharsti! Is he another of my brothers?"
"Afraid so. I've pulled the data up from the latest driver. That's Ohiko, model two. He was designed to be a sniper and spotter, with a bow being much quieter than a rifle. The design was scrapped due to some errors regarding logic routines and close quarters combat."
"Think they may have added anything?"
She mused "It's been a while, so I suppose that they had plenty of time."
"One guy? Why not just send an army after me?"
Through a corridor in the alley, a figure dressed in tactical gear raises a small radio and presses a small red button. "Enemy sighted! Fire team beta through delta proceed!" The shuffling of many feet can be heard in the distance. Many guns were raised in preparation as few stormed through each exit to the alleyway.
"You and your big mouth, Soma-kun."
Soma runs through the alley looking for something to help him escape; at this point, he'd take anything, a window, or a door. Luckily, he finds a fire escape leading all the way up a three story building, leaping up from edge to edge until he reaches the top. This was difficult due to the fact that he only had one fully working arm.
"This is your plan? Running?" Pharsti criticizes his plan.
"It sure beats being filled with lead. Right now, I gotta lose these bastards."
As he reaches the roof, gusts of wind ripple across the ground and scrape his face as Soma looks straight ahead to see a helicopter rise above him. A cold streak runs down his spine as his eyes tracked a Mi-24 Hind-D circling him. The pilot wore an invisible grin as his finger lay on the trigger.
"Shit…"
The pilot squeezes the trigger, letting loose a flurry of twelve point seven mm rounds in Soma's direction. The panicked child runs for his life as he struggled to keep his appendages attached to his body. Behind him, bits of granite kicked up as dust particles danced franticly in a cloud of ever growing smoke and sizable rock chunks. At the edge of the building, Soma makes a desperate attempt to escape from harms way by leaping off the edge straight down, taking Saiketsu and plunging it into the side of the building, and as he fell the blade digs into the infrastructure slowing his decent as he lands into a dumpster full of plastic trash bags.
Meanwhile, back in the western and much more quieter part of Kyoto…
Suu and Shinobu wandered amongst the crowds, taking a breather.
Shinobu said in distress, "Suu-chan! We can't go spending any more money! That means, no more souvenirs!" Suddenly, she looks up to see Suu munching on a dozen dumplings.
"These are yummy, Shinobu!" she manages to say with a mouthful.
"She hasn't heard a word I said!" Shinobu fumes.
Nearby in a crowd, Mitsune and Motoko continued to draw a large audience as Soma's sensei performed another act of amazing swordsmanship.
Kitsune spoke out, directing all the crowds focus onto her friend. "Here we have a lovely and very noble young lady! But don't let her beautiful appearance deceive you; this little lady is a descendant of the legendary Yagyu Jubei!"
Motoko facefaults, "When did I become a descendent of Yagyu Jubei?"
She reluctantly slices up a lucky raccoon statue, earning the two of them valuable funds for their trip that mainly consisted of trying out each districts specialty foods. Kitsune congratulates her as the show ends, jiggling the payload with a satisfying rattle.
"Mitsune, is it just me or have we done nothing but sample food? Like the fish cake we had in Odawara, the eel we had in Hamanako, or the Miso cutlet from Nagoya. I'm thinking you're just using this as some lousy ploy to just try the food from old Tokyo to Kyo—" Motoko looks up to see her ordering a box of soba noodles. "She hasn't listened to a word I said!"
Back with Suu and Shinobu, they made much more progress than the older search party.
"We're sorry ma'am." Shinobu apologizes for the both of them.
"It's quite alright." The old innkeeper examines pictures they carried with them as to help people identify Keitaro and Naru. "I did see these two not too long ago. They said they were heading to Kyushu by ferry I think."
The two regained their composure with the news and headed out into the prefecture of Kyushu.
Wearing a strange contraption with a small radar dish, she confirms "Got it! They're in Okinawa!"
"There? I don't have enough to get us there."
"Oh, I know how we can get it. But you'll gonna hafta earn it to earn it," a dramatic pause from Suu "with your body."
Shinobu freaks out, "With my body!"
Within several minutes, Shinobu was yelling out exhaustedly from patrons as she tries to keep her cool under pressure. She found out that this was a tiresome task that made her lower her standards lower than she was used to. At this rate, she'd be on her back in no time flat.
She was wearing a peculiar outfit that made her look like a modern day Red Riding Hood, "Matches! Sir, would you like some matches? Matches, like some matches gov?" after ten minutes of shouting she sighs, almost exhausted. Shinobu lights a match out of spite, "Nobody needs matches in this day and age." She started sounding very melancholy.
"I'm going to die here…without even a yen to my name…" she started to breakdown into tears, "Mommy!" Unbeknownst to her, the sounds of hustling and shuffling feet grew louder behind her.
A large crowd of tearful men applauded her plea. "Working at such a young age!" "Little girl, I'll buy ten boxes!" "I'll buy them all!"
Shinobu brandished a happy smile as she explains, "A box is forty yen each!"
Through the crowd, three very gruff men, maybe haven't shaven in a few days and using musky deodorant. "Well, isnt this an outlook on society, when little girls run part time scams like this. C'mon, work for me."
"Suu! Run! It's the fuzz!"
The yakuza men started to chase her down. "Come on, little girl. You've got some serious talent going to waste out here!"
Their chase continues until Shinobu bumps into a stranger. Deciding it was better than nothing, she pleaded for her life. "Help! There are these bad people trying to kidnap us!"
Two cronies of the yakuza boss spoke up out of confidence. "Hey big man, you got somewhere else to be?" "Get out of our way, or you'll get burned!"
Shinobu started to whimper in fear. "Suu! What do we do?" A firm hand grips her shoulder softly. To her surprise, it was Motoko's hand.
"Damned common thugs! Harassing little children like that, you should be ashamed!"
A thug on the left of the boss spoke up, "What're you going to do about it, lady?"
Flicking out an inch with her left thumb, she places her right hand in preparation on the hilt of Shisui. One quick draw, and one fluid movement, sunlight bounced from her blade in a blinding show of flashes. In an instant, she appeared behind them as if she had simply walked around them. Motoko retracts her left thumb back and allowed Shisui to rest back in its sheathe. The clank of the tsuba against the metal lining of the sheathe signaled the spurting of blood that flowed freely from the three yakuza's inner elbows and backs of their kneecaps, resulting in the three collapsing to the dirt ground twitching in pain.
A scowl crosses Motoko's lips, "May you never walk again."
Mitsune opens her eyes in amazement, "Holy crap! That was cool!"
Suu leaps onto Motoko, squeezing her ever so tightly. "Motoko!" Her ride yelps "Not so tight, Suu-chan!"
Nearly out of breath, Shinobu runs to Kitsune for comfort. "Kitsune!"
"Now, now, you're safe now." She comforted the little blue haired princess.
"What were you doing here?" Shinobu asks.
"Well, looking for you two."
"Thank you, Kitsune!" Shinobu said with a sigh of relief. This was short lived, as a few moments later, Kitsune asks—
"Could you loan me some money?"
"No!"
"That's it Kitsune!" snapped Motoko, "If you aren't going to help look for Narusegawa-sempai, I'll do it myself!" She storms off in a huff to the east.
In the distance, and explosion could be heard for miles. People turned to the east where they spotted a helicopter near a crumbling building.
"That must be the bomb they were talking about in the announcement!" said a random civilian.
Back in East Kyoto…
Soma was still dripping blood from his arm as he dashes down a corridor, through a back alley trying to evade the Hind-D.
"You're leaving a trail."
"I know. I just got an have an idea."
Pharsti sighs, "That's a first."
Not too far behind them, one squad was in pursuit, following the trail of blood Soma was spilling. The stains led into a narrow dead end, no ladders, not even a fire escape.
"Exercise caution. He's here somewhere." The group slowly walked down the alley with guns raised. The trail led into a trash can with a piece of shirt cloth sticking out.
One member whispers, "You've got to be kidding. This is almost insulting." Everyone raises their MP5s to the can, and unleashed a barrage of gunfire, putting a good number of holes into it. Out of those holes was dripping red blood from the back.
"Ugh, nasty shit." One of them comments. Another decided to open the lid out of curiosity, seeing an old worn coat atop many rotten fish corpses. "We didn't get it."
"But the trail ends here!"
A scream comes from the back of the ranks. From the rear was Soma (no longer bleeding thanks to the quick patch job), Saiketsu impaled into the spine of his first victim.
"What the hell—?" An exclamation was cut short by an upward slash to the face that tore apart his face, exposing a gash that cut well past the muscles and past the skull to an incision of the brain.
Soma's movements were being executed with all the precision Motoko had crammed into him. Pivoting in place, using the momentum of the spin, he decapitates him then pushes his corpse forward with the victims last movement being a painful squeeze on the trigger as the body falls backwards. He takes the opportunity to grab the corpses now firing submachine gun and aim it towards his friends. Three men were caught in the barrage as bullets continued to pour out until a confirming click of the magazine being empty sounded. As the next set fell, Soma takes several quick steps forward then hacks downward to cleave an MP5 in half before thrusting Saiketsu forward into another soldier's solar plexus. Turning right, he bum rushes with his back to the last member of the unit. Slamming into him, he snatches the gun from his grip and swings the stock to the chinese man's chin.
He fell to the ground with a loud thud, looking up to see his own gun being pointed at him.
"Sorry Yi Shuen, guess I'm not coming home tonight." Shen screws his eyes shut and awaited punishment.
Soma grips him by the throat, and knees down closer to his hostage. Upon closer inspection, he sees a small locket with a clasp. Curiously he opens it to see a picture of a man, woman, and a little girl happily posing for a picture.
"Is this your family?"
"What do you care…?"
"Answer the question! Is this your family?"
"Y…yes."
"Listen, don't make me kill you. Go back home, to your family. They must really miss you."
"Does this mean, you're sparing me?"
Soma carefully removed Shen's QSZ-92 pistol and combat knife while still keeping him at gunpoint. "Yes. Now get the hell out of my sight. I don't want to ever see you again."
Shen staggers to his feet, bows politely "Thank you…" before running off.
The child waited for him to exit the alleyway by listening to his footsteps. As Shen turned the corner, Soma collapses to his knees, drops the gun, and held his head painfully.
"I think I'm gonna barf…"
"Soma! Get a grip! You had to! Otherwise they would have killed you!"
"But I…"
"Listen, it was either you or them. We don't have time to mourn for them. Right now we have to take out your brother."
He shook his head to get rid of his dizziness, "…okay!"
He grabs an MP5 from the floor while snatching up several clips of ammo, stuffing them into his jacket as he runs out of the alley.
Shen had reported back to another unit. They greeted him with a worried look on their face seeing as how his uniform was covered in blood.
"Lt. Dao! What happened to the others?"
"It was that kid! He killed the others, then spared me!"
"Bull. You ran."
"No! They kid told me to run home!"
Their captain turned to them, then to Shen. "If you say so. Go back to the van and rearm yourself. Hook up with Fire Team Charlie."
The lieutenant shook his head and turns to run to the street. Within several steps, their captain draws his pistol.
"Sir! What are you doing?"
Wordlessly, the captain fires several times into Shen's cranium, watching his comrade collapses to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
"Captain! What in the hell were you thinking?"
"I don't like cowards. That kind of man makes me sick. Lets continue, unless someone else has any objections?"
The team scrambled out in formation behind their leader in the direction Shen retreated from.
From another corner, Soma traces the gunshot to a familiar alleyway. On the ground he looks to see Shen's corpse, long gone from the world. The child kneels down to try and see if there is any ammunition left.
"This is the guy I let go. Why did they kill him?"
Pharsti shakes her head, "I'll never understand human logic."
"Those bastards…!"
Soma takes the pendant from Shen's neck and stuffs it in his pocket. Noticing a cluttered mass of footprints, he follows them with a fully loaded MP5. Meanwhile the Hind-D hovers overhead in circles as it tries to reacquire its target.
"Unit one to Alpha lead, I've lost visual of the target. Requesting assistance."
"Granted, Unit one. In pursuit of the target."
"Sir, I heard gunfire over the radio. Anything wrong?"
"No. Just a false alarm. Return to reconnaissance at once."
"Yes sir."
Back with Soma and Pharsti, they traversed the alleys, evading both the choppers and the attack teams.
"What are you going to do about that Hind?"
Soma shrugs "Can the chibi-chans think of anything?"
"Let's see what they got." Pharsti calls them to attention. "Daimyo has a request! He wants you to figure out a plan to take out that Mi-24 Hind-D!"
All the little maids reply in sweet unison, "Yes sir!"
Taking cover behind a corner, Soma peeks around to see three men scanning their corridor carefully formed up with one on each side of their team leader as they drew ever closer. Pausing to think, he notices they were equipped with M11 Smoke Grenades on their belts. Taking a chance, Soma takes his pistol and fires once, managing to cause one of them to explode with a thick cloud of vapor erupting around them.
One swallows their own spit as he shakily aims his gun. With the gasp of the soldiers as his cue, Soma draws out Saiketsu, runs from behind his makeshift cover, then proceeded to jam his sword from his kissaki to the mune through the center enemy's neck. As the first enemy collapses, he lets go of his blade to move to the second target on the left flank. Soma grabs the second soldier's arms, kicks the back of his left knee, bringing his arms around to his back, then pushes both forearms so high that the shoulders and shoulder blades shatter like fresh peppercorns in a grinder. Not wasting any time, he moves to the last guy, then taking Saiketsu out of the neck of the first soldier, pulls the last of them back by the insides of his eye sockets forcing him to lean back like a meat table. With one mighty action, he plunges the blade again through the ribcage of his victim.
He pulls out his sword again, swiping once to clear off the blood. A churning develops in his stomach, the stench of blood making him queasy and nearly throwing up in his mouth.
"Daimyo! We have a plan!" said a chibi-chan triumphantly. "Listen carefully..."
"The Hind-D has terrible maneuverability on it's own, leaving it vulnerable. The Russians countered this by usually making them work in pairs. Analysis shows they may have underestimated you. As for this target, we recommend you evade it until you either procure sufficient weaponry or we can devise a plan of action."
Not too far away, Motoko walked through the streets that were entirely devoid of life. The wind whistled as it brushes up against the street lamps and signs while electronic stores had televisions that flickered on and off. She didn't understand why, but she felt drawn here, by a force unseen.
One squad of men arrived down the street. They break formation, one russian soldier politely walking over to the female swordsman.
"Ma'am, this area is under quarantine. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"What is the meaning of this? Why have you evacuated the people?"
"That's none of your concern."
Another soldier walks up to the first that was conversing with Motoko. "Sir, surveillance reports that this woman is in league with the target."
Motoko wonders what they were talking about, realizing this after a brief sigh. "I'm sorry ma'am. It's nothing personal." He raises his rifle at her. Before the trigger was pulled, his throat was already slit, and the rifle split into halves. Others open fire as she approaches them at blistering speed. His sensei dodges nimbly dodges the gunfire bobbing and weaving left and right before pulling out a technique from her repertoire.
"Shinmei Ryu, Zanmaken!"
A powerful sonic blast tears through the ground, shredding through four men leaving three more. Through the confusion, the female swordsman swiftly amputates one soldiers right arm, forcing him to drop his rifle and pass out. Another locates her through the rubble and tosses a fragmentation grenade.
Click, click, click… The grenade rolls to Motoko's feet.
"!" She wards it off using another powerful gust.
The grenade explodes, lighting up the area in a reddish yellow glow. Motoko's peripheral vision notices the assailant, and she leaps high above several chunks of debris. Her opponent looks high up, firing at the shadow that nearly eclipses the sun. He barely began to scream as Shisui cleaved through his Kevlar vest, through his shoulder, snapping several ribs before exiting.
Motoko kicks her victim off of her blade before exhaling from a deep breath. Unbeknownst to her, the last remaining soldier sneaks up behind her and readies a knife. The blade stabs down, then stops in mid flight.
The soldier was being held at the neck, his jugular veins being throttled.
"Don't waste my time." That was the last thing he heard before Shisui pierced his heart.
Walking over to a body writing in pain, clutching his chest from a near fatal wound. He crawls to his feet in defiance of Death, struggling for dear life. Before he could do much else, Motoko picks him up by his shoulders.
"Why did you attack me? Answer me, you cur!"
"…we were ordered…to re…move…anyone associated…with…" he babbles in russian. The bleeding man begins to pass out; Motoko shakes him several times.
"Wait! You fool, don't die on me yet!"
A rumbling hits the ground, shaking up pebbles and stray rocks as something apparently massive object comes her way. Motoko turns right, ending her interrogation to see a russian T-90 tank. It's one hundred twenty-five smooth bore cannon is pointed in her direction. The two bodies of power readied themselves almost in an all-or-nothing duel. After a slight pause, the tank unleashes a shell.
The female swordsman drags her blade along the ground, raising it to the sky with a powerful trail of fire carving a trail through the air "Shinmei Ryu, Shinkaken!"
The blast engulfs the shot through the barrel of the tank. The energy builds to the point where the crew shoots out of the top, landing on their backs. The tank was left nothing more than a smoldering pile of scrap melted from the inside like a cordon bleu.
"What in the world is going on? Are gaijin invading?"
Taking several steps towards the center of east Kyoto, she accidentally steps on something with a crunch. Looking down, she notices it's a document written in Arial font. "Hmm?"
Invoice-
To Capt. Rabinovich,
Your orders are as followed
1) Eliminate the target, Soma Matsumura.
2) Eliminate anyone associated with the target.
3) Refrain from creating leaks of information to America.
Pursue until further notice.
"So-ma Mat-su-mu-ra…Matsumura-kun? What do they want with him?" Another explosion shakes the ground, this time only much shorter, and seemingly off in the distance. She turns to see a tall building lose a chunk of itself, spilling onto the sidewalk.
"Matsumura-kun, what are you hiding?" his strict sensei rushes in his direction.
Back with Soma, the Hind managed to locate him. He had narrowly dodged a fifty-seven millimeter rocket while exiting back onto the street. Soma desperately seeking for cover, runs behind another building. Out of breath, he turns to the Chibi-chans for a recommended plan of action.
"Do you have anything for me?"
"Daimyo, keep in mind that the maneuverability of the Hind is extremely poor. While it is able to move forwards at a speed of around two hundred miles per hour, moving back is another weakness."
"Sounds good. Where do I hit it?"
"The tail section has lighter armor than the rest of the airframe. A precise shot there would bring it down. But we are not properly armed to make such an action."
He thought for a moment, "How much can the shield take before it breaks?"
"About four shots from the machinegun. Needless to say, nothing from the rockets."
"Great. I know what to do now."
"You're kidding."
Taking one peek around the corner, the Hind patiently hovered in place only a few feet off the ground looking for him to appear. Clenching his right fist, he leaves his cover to charge headlong towards the copter. The two pilots take notice, and prepare to attack again. The main pilot squeezes the trigger to loose bullets like raindrops.
Soma was making a mad dash, using cars as temporary shields, but to no avail. A bullet narrowly wizzes past him taking a good chunk of his shield with it. A red flash warns him of the imminent danger, making the move to dive and roll out of the stream of fire as quickly as possible. He lowers himself to streamline his upper torso for a burst of speed with failed results, as he trips, falling on his face. That was sloppy.
The Hind launches another rocket launches from one of its pods at breakneck speed at an angle at the fallen boy. Soma looks up from his position to see a flaming object speeding right for him, with a startled reaction of scrambling to roll to the right. The flames from the rocket degenerate precious percent of his shield as Soma sprinted toward the Hind again.
"What the hell is that kid doing?"
The stream of bullets was closing the distance to its recipient. Another rocket is launched, this time Soma sprints to the right just letting it pass him by as it then explodes via hitting a car. He then jumps over the left wing, sliding on the edge for speed. There was his target of opportunity, the tail.
"Naru Punch!" A powerful uppercut in the bottom of the tail blows it off, taking the rear propeller with it. The tail collides with the main propellers causing them to tilt forward, cutting the craft in half with a massive explosion following. Soma rolls out the way, once again landing on his face. As he lay, he clutches his right arm again in pain as the wound had not fully healed.
He coughs from the dust created from the tremor. "See? I knew what to do."
"Soma-kun?"
"Yeah, Pharsti?"
"NEVER, do that again."
On another building, Ohiko was already priming another arrow. "Not bad, onii-san. A real shame that I have to kill you." Another arrow is fired.
"Another projectile incoming!"
It seems Soma has trouble keeping himself upright, flipping back onto his feet the arrow just barely grazes the side of his left sneaker. With a squint, Soma looks to see the face of his other brother. Ohiko lowers his bow, and appeared to be…waving at him?
"That bastards mocking me…" Soma groans, running to Ohiko's location.
Several more attack teams fell in Motoko's wake. At this point, she was on the warpath and was going to rip an explanation from Soma's cold and lifeless fingers if need be. The questions burned in her mind; Who are you? More importantly, what are you? Why do these people want from you?
"That's right onii, come and get me." Ohiko mused to himself. Soma had run behind a newsstand in a park. "Predictable. Might as well have a chat with him." He raises a hand to his right ear and closed his eyes.
"Pharsti, how do you think I should get in close?"
"I don't know. You'll—
"Hello, onii-san."
"Ohiko, right? How'd you get in my head?"
"He's using a frequency that the nanomachines can pick up" said Pharsti.
"Tell me, why do you kill?"
Soma replies, "Because I have to."
"Oh really? Humans are such flawed creatures." Ohiko took a stab at his human brother. "Always making excuse after excuse for their mistakes."
"Just because I have free will, doesn't make me flawed."
"You don't even have any right to speak like that. You aren't even human! In the end, you're like me."
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
"Remember, you were killed when you weren't even a year old. Then reincarnated to help destroy."
Pharsti begs, "Soma, don't listen!"
"You take away other people's lives just because you can't have your own!" Ohiko continued to scold him, "Guilt. That's the problem with organic creatures. When they kill for the first time, guilt forms. To try and ease that guilt, they have to kill another, and another, and another until guilt inevitably consumes them. It's pathetic. And with you, even more so. You thrive on killing. I may be a machine, but I know more about you than you know yourself."
"You're wrong!"
"Am I? From what I can tell, you're getting really good at it. In fact, I think you like it."
"Shut up!"
"Come make me if you can, onii-san." His voice disappeared from Soma's head.
He peeks around the corner to see that his brother was gone. "The guy is fast! How does he do it?"
"His body is much lighter, and the tendons in his legs allow him to move much faster than any normal human being."
"She's right."
"What?"
Ohiko was behind him, the arrow already fired. Soma ducks under the arrow and draws out his pistol. Before he could even get a bead on him, he was gone.
"Multiple projectiles incoming!"
All around him, arrows upon arrows in all directions. Without thinking, he draws Saiketsu and lunges forward to swat several arrows out of the air. He manages to dodge the shots from the rear with a leap but…
"Wait! I'm a sitting duck up here!"
Soma was hit in the back of the left shoulder by another arrow, this time piercing straight through him. He collapses to the ground in a bleeding mess.
"Damnit…how could I have let my guard down…?"
"Onii, I'm really insulted. You didn't even see me much less land a blow on me. Maybe in your next life, try spending a little less time thinking and more time running." Soma hears the winding back of a string.
"I'm pathetic. I'm going to die like this?"
Soma closes his eyes and awaited the end. Slowly the world was becoming a blur to him, voices managing to become distorted, images mixing colors into mishmash, soon he started to pass out with darkness slowly enclosing around him…
…
…
…
…
Am I dead…?
…
…
"No, you aren't."
"Pharsti? That you?"
"Who are you talking to? Do you intend to stop talking in your sleep?"
A bright light seeps through the cracks of Soma's eyelids. The light fades down to an orange sunset, face to face with the beautiful swordswoman.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Soma."
"Don't lie to me. Who are you really?"
"What do you mean?"
"Those people back there, wanted to hunt you down and anyone you were in contact with—mainly myself. I want to know the truth, now."
"…Okay." Soma adjusts himself against a tree he was propped up against. He told her everything, from start to a few moments ago.
"And that's it."
"That explanation is quite farfetched, but at this point I don't know what to believe."
"Listen sensei," he smiled "thanks for helping me." Soma felt relieved as he was out of danger for now. This was replaced by a stinging sensation, followed by his air being cut off. He struggled to collect and whiff of air he could to no avail.
Motoko was throttling him angrily, "You idiot! Do I have to fight your battles for you? Your life is mine, and mine alone." She squeezes harder to emphasize her point, "Do you understand?" his master releases him.
Soma wipes the tears from his eyes, obediently bowing to her "…yes…sensei." Motoko picks him up, tossing him upon her back. "Let's not make the others wait." Her apprentice's arms hung loosely around her neck as she piggybacks him through the street.
Several minutes ago…
The twang of the bow was imminent, but was stopped short by a demand.
"Stay away from him."
Ohiko turns to see Motoko, Shisui drawn. Her eyes were locked onto Ohiko as he trained his bow onto her. With a twang, the shot is fired and flies with subsonic speed. Retracting her blade, she sidesteps the arrow, letting it pass beside her.
"Interesting. You're much more talented than onii-san."
"You two are related? I'm afraid I cannot see the resemblance."
"It matters not. I'm afraid that you have seen enough. I must bid you farewell."
In a matter of milliseconds, he nearly vanishes. Motoko's acute hearing picks up whistling all around her. Expertly, she leaps high into the air to avoid them, leaving the arrows to collide into eachother. Another volley is heard, coming her way.
"Cheap parlor tricks. I suppose I haven't trained him enough."
"Shinmei Ryu, Inazuma no Jutsu!" She creates a three sixty rotation with the air currents creating a powerful vacuum to repel the shots back down to earth, one of them barely scratching Ohiko's ribcage.
As she landed, another attack team came to support their sniper. With submachine guns blazing, a stone walkway was torn apart as Motoko slipped between shots to her assailants. With a battle cry and the brief shimmer of a blade, she cuts upward, slicing through a soldiers Kevlar vest, splitting his head open with a spurt of blood from the top. She throws a forward thrust kick to send her first corpse into another soldier before offering a coup' de gras with a downward stab to the neck. She gives a pivot around two more streams of bullets just before she unloads yet another attack.
Using Shisui, she leaps above them, unleashing what appeared to be lightning that strikes their guns, making them explode in their hands, "Shinmei Ryu, Raijingeki!" The blasts hurling them back several feet.
Another whistling occurs, this time, Motoko tracks the sound that came from the ground. Landing safely, she runs quickly towards it's source.
"Found you!"
With his defense gone, Ohiko had little choice but to find vantage points to shoot from. He was running out of options. As he tries to run he gradually began to pick up speed, he suddenly stops in his tracks. He looks down to see Shisui impaled through the back of his chest.
"I must congratulate you. You are no ordinary human. Perhaps humans are not as flawed as I thought."
"Keep quiet and die."
"But I must ask you a favor. I want you to tell onii-san…"
Present time…
"Uchideshi, your brother told me to tell you something."
"…What is it?"
"He told me to tell you that…
"You can go ahead and keep your stupid excuse for humanity."
"I'm sorry, sensei."
"Lying to everyone about something such as this? What is keeping me from telling them?"
"Sensei…I beg you…don't tell them, please!"
She sighs, "They will not believe me even if I did. If you could barely handle people like them, I shudder to think how youwere living this long."
Soma sunk his head between Motoko's neck and right shoulder, letting her hair caress his cheek. "I guess I'm not as strong as I thought…"
Back with the ronin couple, they sat on a dock feeding their new pet given to them by Mutsumi. An adorable turtle with the purest of eyes, just like Mutsumi herself.
"Wow, it's only been a week since we left Hinata-sou. Kind of feels like years!" said Naru. "What are you going to do when we get back?"
Keitaro mused for a moment, his thumb on his chin. He comes to a conclusion, "I have no idea." Naru gonked at his stupidity. "Then why the hell did you go on this trip?" He asks her back, "Well, what are you going to do?"
"…I don't know either." Naru scratches the back of her head.
"How's that any different than me?"
"But, in the long run those feelings of disappointment I had are gone. I guess the trip did what is was supposed to."
Keitaro kept silent as he looked upon Naru's beautiful smile. She turns to him with the vacant look on his face, "What's wrong?" He snaps out of his trance. "Huh? Oh nothing."
A few more minutes of watching the sunset pass. Naru was happily letting her bare feet passively float in the water, "Hey Keitaro, you wanna try kissing?"
He turns to her, "I beg your pardon?"
"I'm just kidding."
He regains his composure, "That was a lousy joke."
Naru sighs, "Your fault for being so gullible."
"Yeah, after all, what am I to you? A perverted good for nothing lecherous asshole."
Naru smiles, "Pretty much." Keitaro gonks.
The redheaded genius gives him a consolation compliment, "But you know what? A girl sometimes likes being told that she's liked."
"Naru?"
A moment passes and they found themselves drawing ever closer, their lips within breathing distance until it happened…
Keitaro was kicked in the face by Suu-chan. "Heya Keitaro! Long time, no see!"
"Hey guys! Great to see you again!" Mitsune happily cheered as the group reunited. "Man, we were really worried about you!"
Motoko sweat drops, "Utter lies!"
The male ronin notices Soma who was still piggybacking Motoko. "Whoa, Soma-kun! What happened to you?"
"Motoko says he got in another fight. This kid sure loves to pick fights" said Mitsune.
"Heh, sorry sempai." Soma chuckled "Oh yeah, sensei found something of yours."
She holds up a leather carry on, "We found you with this. Next time, be more careful with your life."
"My wallet!"
Suu chirped, "—is empty."
Kitsune nervously laughed, "Funny story. We had to use the money to pay for the ferry ride here."
"Gah! My life savings!"
Shinobu hesitantly walks over to Keitaro, willing to lend him a warm welcome. "Sempai! It's good to see you again!"
"Oh, Shinobu. You must be pretty peeved at me right now. After all I did break that promise I made to you."
She thankfully forgives him, "Oh no, I'm just glad you're alright!"
Meanwhile Kitsune was interrogating Naru for anything incriminating. "So Naru, what were you two doing here? A private little getaway? You weren't trying to I don't know, kiss him?"
"What?"
"Maybe you were taking your relationship to a much more, adult level?"
This infuriated the usual executioners. Motoko and Suu deliver more pain to him while causing more property damage. After several dozen apologies, they forgave him and went on. Mitsune asks, "You've got a choice. Are you going to try again, or are you gonna give up?"
"Well, if it's not too much trouble…I was wondering if I could stay at Hinata-sou just a bit longer?"
Shinobu agrees with his decision. "Of course!"
"Idiot…" Naru thought to herself as she smiled at his enthusiasm.
Nearby, Suu-chan was excitedly yelling out to him, "Kwetawo! Kwetawo!"
"Hmm? What is it, Suu-chan?"
In her mouth was their turtle, wondering what in the world was going on. "Dis sovenier is hard to eat!"
"Hey! That isnt something to eat!"
With the sun setting, the harem had reunited with their friends and were headed home. How they would get back with no money would forever be a mystery. For now, they would walk into the sunset happily telling eachother stories of their travels.
Uchideshi – (N) "Personal pupil, apprentice" (I thought I just might use this confirmed word instead of minaraikou.)
Shinkaken – "Sword of Sacred Flame" (Loosely translated)
I'dlove some reviews out there. Go ahead, tell me what you think, peace.