Chapter 13 – Void to be Filled

"You're lining up your new trigger already?" Shiori asked with a smile.

"I want to have it ready." Akemi replied, still wearing her mask to prevent anyone else from catching her cold. "If I remember right, the dominant hand is fine… Kogetsu, Shield, Grasshopper… but the sub side I want to change."

"Oh? Let's see let's see." Shiori smiled, going to check the configuration. "So what were you going to use?"

"Something… different." She smiled. Shiori smiled back, nodding her head and getting to work at Akemi's askance.

"Hyuse is causing such a stir…" Akemi sighed as she watched the Solo matches while waiting for the results of her checkup. "No fun…" she pouted. "I want to fight him too, damn it…" she bit into a cookie, trying to calm down. But the rookie causing all this fuss really made her want to pick up Kogetsu and get into a serious fight. But she was told not to because she was still feeling dizzy sometimes. She just watched though, not noticing until he sat down a certain blackette with red eyes. "Soya…"

"You really should be sleeping, but you're still here?" he asked.

"Waiting for test results on my Trion." She replied. "If I'm back to a suitable level, I'm going to work on some fighting tactics before I get back to using Mukou… if I ever do…" she added, Soya quirking an eyebrow at her. "Soya, he still won't answer me…" she added.

"Still? It's been a while though…" he didn't think Mukou was the type to ignore, just to brood and complain. He rubbed her back, making her jump a little. "I'm sure it's fine…"

"Y-yeah…" she looked away, Kazama wondering why. "Soya… I um…"

"It's not you, you know." He stated, making her turn to him. "What Kikuchihara said… It's not your fault I'm distracted…" he added. "I let myself think about you all the time… it's not your fault." He added, his hand sliding down her back a little, pulling her closer. Not much, just enough to comfort her. "So don't be sad…"

"… O-okay." She muttered, leaning against his shoulder a little, the man taking a breath as her phone rang. "Ah. There are my results… wanna come?" she asked, smiling.

"Sure." He got up and followed her to the medical room, seeing Kido and Shinoda both there as well.

"Kido-san…? Shinoda-san?" she looked at them, then at the doctor. "What is it?" she asked.

"Akemi… um… your Trion levels…" The doctor was fumbling. "How do I explain? It's really incredible though…" she replied with a smile. "It might be better to show you…" she hooked up the trion reader, the two heads of the organization along with Soya stood aside and let Akemi sit, the reader results coming up on the screen. All their eyes widened, Akemi's as well.

"That's…"

"Black Trigger level, but without Mukou present." Shinoda replied, turning to her. "Akemi… all that time, I think Mukou was doing more than just eating your Trion…" he stated, Akemi still confused. It took about half an hour or more, but finally it was clearer. Mukou had, while eating Akemi's trion, been building up a resistance to loss so he didn't hurt her. This caused her level of Trion to rise, which was why she was able to handle Mukou for so long. On top of that, the lack of stability was because Mukou was eating essentially a "concentrated" trion, which without him present, made Akemi's Trion level spike drastically.

"That's…" she looked to the floor, her hand in a fist. "Let me test it."

"Eh?"

"Let me test it." She stated. "Give me a training room to borrow, I need to see." She stated. "If its not viable in combat, then I need to change strategy." She added, Soya smiling a little. There was that determination he found so appealing in her.

"You can't just test it against a dummy." He spoke up, stepping forward. "I want to see… how we stack up now versus how it was when you used a shooter trigger."

"Eeeh, a match with the number two attacker? Quite the first opponent." Shinoda smiled. But he knew Akemi was ready for it. "Call it if you get dizzy, Akemi." He added, the girl nodding and hurrying downstairs, Soya following her. "Doesn't she remind you of Rendo?"

"She is his grandchild." Kido replied. "But she's hot headed… like the old lady."

"Don't call her that, she'll come find you." Shinoda laughed a little. "She's not dead, you know." He added, Kido just walking out of the room. Shinoda knew though, that he did see it… and that was why he allowed for her to fight. That was why she hadn't been kicked out. Rendo and Okami, the two old-timers that joined Border's war when their daughter and her husband were kidnapped. Rendo was a truly impressive mechanic and trigger user. On the other hand, his wife, Okami, was a huge asset in holding down the home front thanks to her own skills in using swords, but also in her use of "defense".

"A match?"

"Yeah, that Tamakoma Floater girl and Kazama Squad's leader!'

"Eeh, Tamakoma's O-Rank girl against Kazama-san!?"

"No way, I wanna see!" The crowd began to gather to watch the match. Akemi waited in the room, kogetsu in hand. She'd made sure her trigger was altered to her liking before this fight, but she was worried.

"It's been a long time… Kogetsu…" she stated, gripping her hand into a fist. "Let's see what we can do now, ne?" she smiled. "Against Soya." She was teleported into the field, taking a breath. She arrived, looking around. Was he using Chameleon already? "No." she jumped off the ground, turning her shield to block Kazama's scorpion and avoiding the mole claws, using the jump's momentum to push over him and flip over his back, landing on the roof nearby. "Sneaky, Soya." She smiled. He just jumped at her and their fight continued. All the people watching stared in fascination as they fought, the two going back and forth in terms of points for the first 5 matches. Then Akemi smiled, Soya's eyes going wide when he realized she had a glowing cube in her left hand. He jumped to avoid her range, suddenly the girl jumping up at him with incredible speed and slashing him. He bailed out, pausing when he got back to stare at the ceiling. She'd used a distraction?

"Surprised?" she asked, smiling. "I had to try~ Distracting you~"

"There are better ways to do that." He grumbled. "But not bad." He replied. "4 more… ready?"

"Ready!" she smiled as they headed back in for another match. The two were evenly by the 10th match, Kazama having surprised Akemi with a tactic he'd borrowed from Kuga. "Eeeh… A tie, huh?" she asked. "That was fun." She smiled, walking out of the room to see the crowd. "Eh…?"

"They were watching your fight, Akemi-senpai." Sanyo stood next to Akemi, Azami with the boy as well.

"Nee-san went and showed off… without letting me fight first." Azami made a face, Akemi smiling and ruffling his hair.

"Sorry sorry… I have to adjust my triggers again though, so once I do I'll let you have my next fight, okay?" she smiled. "I only loaded 5 for now, so I have to make adjustments."

"5…?" Sanyo thought about it, wondering why. "Why only 5?"

"Because I was just testing it." She smiled. "I'll load two more later." She added. "With those 5 for now is fine, though… cause I'm just making my comeback…"

"Comeback huh…?" Azami smiled. "Akemi-nee is scary… a comeback from being a Black Trigger user…" he pat her back. "It's no wonder Kazama-san likes your tenacity. It's unyielding once you're made up your mind."

"Aza, don't say that." She pouted, pinching her brother's cheek. "B-besides, I'm not that tenacious…"

"Akemi-san." The three were interrupted when Kazama walked over with a certain member of Suzunari-1. Murakami, Ko… He bowed immediately, Akemi jumping a little at the sudden motion. "Please have a match with me."

"E-eh…?" she stared, Kazama smiling. "A… match?"

"It doesn't have to be today, since I heard you were not feeling well… but please." He stated, still bowing. "I'd really appreciate a match with Kazama-san's favorite opponent."

"E-eh?!" she blushed, Soya averting his gaze because he'd said it to himself, but Ko heard him. Akemi was always his favorite, not because she was his girlfriend, but because she was always so serious when she fought. In contrast her personality outside was too cute. "O-okay, but… um…" she smiled as he stood straight again. "I'm gonna train first so I can handle it better, okay?"

"Eh?"

"Soya held back on my account in there." She stated, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was just testing something, so he wasn't going all out… granted he could have…" she looked up at him and smiled. "But I'm still shaky… so give me a week?" she asked. "Once I'm ready I'll let you know." She added, Ko nodding and agreeing to her terms. "Thank you."

"No, thank you, Akemi-san." He bowed his head to her.

And as promised, one week later... "Azami?" The brunette boy turned to his sister, who was tagging along so she could take a break from all her studying and practice to watch some solo rank wars with her brother. "What's all this fuss about? There's so many people."

"Ko-san and Akemi-nee are gonna fight." He replied, his sister's mouth dropping open.

"E-eeh?! Ko-kun is gonna fight Onee-chan?!" Ayumi questioned, eyes wide in shock. "W-wait, why-?"

"He saw her fighting Kazama-senpai with Kogetsu, so he wanted to try… in fact a lot of the A-Ranks wanted to have a match with her." Azami said, sipping at his drink. "Nee-sama is so popular… Kazama-senpai must be feeling neglected."

"If I was, I would be down on the stage too." Kazama walked up behind the siblings with Utagawa, causing them to turn to him. "The stage is just full of people of all sorts who want to see how they stack up against Akemi…"

"K-kazama-senpai…" Ayumi looked worried, but the younger sibling just shrugged his shoulders. "But won't it be easy enough for Ko-kun?" Ayumi asked. "With Nee-sama unable to use Mukou or Nitrous, she's at a disadvantage."

"That's only if she uses the same technique for her first 5 matches and her second five." Azami replied, Ayumi turning to him. "You know she's got two distinct fighting styles. The one she uses when she fights rank wars against agents with less experience, and the one she uses to fight someone she knows is stronger than she is…" she smiled.

"… Even then, though…"

"Don't you trust her?" Azami asked, smiling a little more. "Akemi-nee fights to preserve the training and pride that Grandfather built up… despite not liking how rude he was, he was a great teacher… she wants people to remember that."

"… I guess…" she muttered, turning back to the stage, noticing a familiar head of reddish hair in the crowd. "Is that…?" Ayumi stared, the face coming into view. "Kikuchihara-kun…?"

"Ah, he really went down there?" Utagawa sighed. "That's just like him…"

"He wants to fight her too?" Azami asked, turning to Kazama.

"He said something about seeing how good she really is…" Utagawa looked to his leader, the man staring at the stage. "Since Kazama-san gave her some high praise…"

"All I said was she's very adept with Kogetsu…" he muttered. "She's always been good with a sword… Its not conventional, but she makes the style her own… that's why she's good at it." He added, noting Akemi preparing nearby the stage door.

"And Kikuchihara-kun took it to heart, huh?" Ayumi sighed. "Ah well… hopefully she makes an impression." She added, smiling. "Nee-san hasn't gone all out in a long time, so I hope she enjoys this fight."

"I'm sure she will." Azami replied. "It'll be her first time fighting properly in a very long time without Mukou inhibiting her." He added, Kazama turning to see Azami staring at the field. "I'm sure she's been looking forward to this."

"Did you get to fight her too?" he asked, Azami nodding his head.

"She didn't make It complicated… it was all sword skill… and Akemi-nee beat me 10-0, like always." He added. "If I'd been using anything other than Scorpion, my times would have been really awful." He added. "I'm sure Akemi-nee will make a BIG impression today… since her points were capped after she got assigned as a Floater…"

"Is she not a Floater anymore?"

"She is but…" Azami turned to Utagawa. "Without Mukou, Kido-san had little choice but to give her another way to show her skill… and prove why she was put in the position to begin with… since without a Black Trigger at her side, many might see her as less of a threat." He added.

((Distinct battle time! Akemi vs. Ko! And perhaps more, next time!

-Winter Cheshire))