Samurai and Ninjas Chap. 21
I do not own Persona or the character's likenesses, sorry everyone. Atlus does. Blame my lack of creativity.
This story takes place towards the middle of the Heian period of Japan. I am not being completely historically accurate with this, so do not get all over my back about it. I could, but I am not going to be. How much Personas will play a part in it, I do not know about that one.
A note, I will mainly use first names first, then last names. I know this is the one glaring difference that I am using in respect of their culture, but since I am writing in English… I will write as such.
So busy… yet happy to be able to write for you. I am now beta reading too. It will just be another thing that will make me a little slower in producing a piece of art… so if you could be patient with me, please.
Towards the Gate and Hall of the Nara Palace
Evening
Nagi had been dragged around various corners of the Mercantile District and into the Palace District by Souji Seta. She felt like her left arm was going to be pulled off by the samurai as they made their way towards the long straight road made of stone that led to the palace. Nagi's original plan was to take care of Tanaka while her brother dealt with the person who had a hold on Naoto. Nagi did not expect to run into Souji again. It was awkward, but a new issue seemed to have emerged. Nagi probably expected some complications, but the idea that Raidou might lose control of Gozuki or Mizuki? That was beyond her imaginings.
The only way the pair made it into the gate and palace so quickly was because of Souji's presence and his loud voice. His yelling made quite an impression on the guards at the gates.
"Open the damn gate!" Souji yelled, "Lord Tatsumi could be in danger!"
Any guards that were in a dozing state woke up in a hurry and started opening the gate as quickly as they could. As soon as it was open, Souji and Nagi rushed through; it was still Souji leading the way, however.
Souji had no idea what would happen if Raidou found Lord Tatsumi with Naoto. It made him cringe internally when he tried to think of what would happen if Raidou found the pair if they were "together". If they were found that way, it would all be on Kanji though. Souji remembered earlier today when Naoto begging him to save her from these sorts of actions. It was now that Souji wished he could have saved her from something like this.
It did not matter now. Souji had a duty to protect Lord Tatsumi, and he had to do his duty. It was hard to carry a yumi and drag Nagi along at the same time, but he was the one who knew his way around the palace. As he resisted the urge to shift his silver hair, he remembered to be wary. Even if there was an issue and they dealt with it, Nagi was now in the palace. Nagi was someone who could attack Lord Tatsumi just like Raidou could. This was why Souji was even more wary.
Souji was not sure what was more disturbing as they made their way into the main hall; that there were large chunks that had been removed from some of the stone columns, or the widespread amounts of smoke, darts, stars, and shruiken in the hall.
The young woman with the green coat looked confused, "What happened here?"
"You tell me," Souji looked at Nagi.
Souji walked forward, motioning Nagi to come with. When Nagi bumped into something spherical, she nearly kicked it… half in fright, half in shock.
"What is that?" Souji bent his knees to get a closer look at the spherical object.
"I think it's a head!" Nagi exclaimed.
As Souji placed his hand on the object, he felt blood on his fingers. It was flesh-colored, indeed. Souji bent his knees even more… so that he was almost on the ground. The purple eyes of the assassin, Jin, were staring back at him. He rolled the head away towards Nagi.
"Well… so that's what it was," Souji muttered.
"Someone cut a guy's head off?" Nagi asked.
Nagi asked the question, but she knew it was not really a person that killed this man. She knew if there someone to blame it was Raidou. He must have set off a demon against this person, whoever he was.
"Well, I found the rest of the body," Souji announced, walking a few steps into the smoke and pulling out a body clad in a green tunic and black pants. "Who is this guy?"
"Someone who evidently did not belong here," Nagi shook her head.
Heavy footsteps were coming in from the smoke. Nagi had had her head down, looking at Jin's body. The shaking caused by the incoming…
"What is that?" Souji asked.
"Remember when I told you that my brother was able to summon something, and I would not tell you what it was?" Nagi responded.
"Yes…" Souji nodded.
"Well… here comes one of them," Nagi told Souji.
Souji drew his blade as a large object formed inside the smoke. The object that came out of the smoke was the same brown, eleven-foot minotaur that Raidou summoned when he was bumped into by Jin. It had a ratty blue tunic on its body and a gold ring through its body. There were multiple darts and other objects lodged into his body, but he shook his body and the weapons fell off harmlessly. The minotaur roared shifted his grip on long-handled axe that he held in both hands.
"Well… this is exciting," Souji smirked.
"I guess my brother did not bother keeping track of his demon," Nagi shook her head again.
Her blade slid out of the sheath in her right hand as she grabbed the small tube in her left hand. It looked like that she might have to deal with her brother's mess after all.
Souji un-shouldered his bow and took an arrow from behind his back. He went down on one knee and pulled back as far back as he could as he aimed right between the demon's eyes.
Nagi's metal tube hit the ground and the pixie hit the ground. The kimono-clad fairy appeared out of nowhere and smiled at Nagi. Her smile disappeared when she saw Souji on one knee, next to her master.
"What's he doing here?" the pixie asked.
"He's fighting with us," Nagi responded, "Just get ready to fight the minotaur."
The pixie scowled but faced the demon. A piece of a nearby column fell as Nagi raised her blade vertically over her right shoulder. She sighed as she waited for Souji to make the first move.
Souji took a deep breath as he readied himself to fire the shaft. When Naoto's face popped into his mind, he tried to push it out of his mind. He soon decided it was pointless and instead focused on the blue pools that were her eyes. The blue-haired girl… it made him smile. With that smile, Souji let the arrow go. As long as he kept that picture in his head… he knew one thing.
"I can't miss!" he yelled out for some apparent reason.
Kanji's room
Evening
Kanji was anxious, the most anxious he had ever been in his life. He had finally built up the courage to ask Naoto to stay longer to talk after dinner. He was meaning for it, hoping… that… that it would turn into something even better. Naoto seemed hesitant in her answer, but Kanji was surprised that she had stopped blushing. Kanji had been blushing enough for the both of them.
Kanji thought about it. If he really wanted… he could always tell Naoto to do what he wished. He did not really want to do that to Naoto; he wanted to respect her and such. It was just Kanji… was having so much trouble controlling his urges.
His face widened to something unbelievable when Naoto suddenly lunged from across the table, exclaiming, "Kanji…!"
For one moment, Kanji was full of jubilation, happiness, and disbelief… until Naoto's hands came out and pressed against both of his shoulder blades. It carried the two of them to the hard stone floor behind them. It knocked the wind right out of the lord.
"Uggh…" Kanji wheezed, "N… Naoto!"
Naoto was shielded by Kanji's body as she fell. She rolled off of the lord and moved to the bottom of the chair. She saw the small dart that had lodged in one of the legs that had hit there when Naoto knocked both Kanji and the chair into the air. Someone had aimed a projectile at Lord Tatsumi. Naoto only noticed the impending attack when she turned her head slightly while using her peripheral vision. She carefully pulled the dart out, making sure not to touch the edges, lest it be poisoned.
"Lord Tatsumi… we're under attack," Naoto told Kanji, keeping her head down.
As Lord Tatsumi struggled to catch his breath… he realized what Naoto said, and saw what was in her hand. Kanji, still winded, started rolling away vertically, while keeping as low as possible. Using the table as a pseudo-shield, he was attempting to reach the right side of the room so he could grab his weapon. He was looking for his kanabo.
Shruiken flew into the room as Kanji's hand finally grasped his club-like weapon with metal studs. Though Kanji was still somewhat out of breath and on the ground, he was only concentrated one thing; protecting Naoto.
The wood was cold in his hands as he raised his weapon at a slight 45 degree angle horizontally, facing downwards, so the spinning projectiles would bounce harmlessly back from whence they came.
As the bladed stars first hit the stone wall and then the floor, Kanji breathed a sigh of relief. There was no time to relax though. It was time for him to go on the offensive and get rid of whoever is attacking him and his Naoto.
Kanji took the biggest breath he could manage and stood up, while using his weapon as support. He yelled at his servant, the girl he cared about, "Get away from here!"
Outside the room
Same time
Takaya had seen his first dart miss. The non-target, who was identified by the smaller shadow, had lunged and pushed the target out of the way. It had hit a foreign object that was not the target. The target had begun rolling out the way; presumably to protect himself. There was a shadow in the corner that was shaped like a weapon. Takaya believed the target was moving towards that, so he aimed his two shruiken so by the time he grasped his weapon, the target would have the stars in his chest. Though, it seemed he underestimated the target's size to speed ratio. The man was able to block the projectiles with his weapon.
His mission was to either eliminate the target from outside his room or draw him to the target's left side of the sliding door so Jin's sliding trap would spring. Right now… Takaya had done neither.
The new problem for Takaya was that the target had braced his legs and was preparing to charge the assassin. Takaya knew he had to do something, so he prepared something to try and slow the target down. As Takaya readied a few more projectiles to throw, he aimed them towards the target's legs. The target would have a hard time keeping his weapon low to block the stars, darts, and other weapons. The target's weapon, not the projectiles, could be more of a hindrance to his impending charge. As he fired a few of the shruiken and stars; it was then when Takaya noticed the other person in the room heading towards the sliding door.
It was a detriment to Takaya's plan. If he could not draw the target to that part of the sliding door to set off the trap, then he would have to deal with the target personally.
Inside the room
When Lord Tatsumi told Naoto to run away, she knew to listen to his commands and get out of the room. Of course, she had to listen to her lord's commands, even if there was a crazy man trying to kill them outside of the room. She only hoped that they would ignore her when she ran out.
"Here goes nothing," Naoto muttered.
Naoto lifted up enough of her yukata so she could start running towards the sliding door, her tabi forgotten. It did not even pass her mind that the second section of the door might be a shield for Kanji as Takaya continued to pepper him with projectiles.
Naoto slammed open the sliding door and passed through it. As she stepped through it, glancing to the right; Naoto saw a shirtless man with tattoos all over his upper body throwing weapons at Kanji. She was afraid that the man would turn his attention onto her, but he only gave her a look of disregard.
She thought she would be able to escape. If Kanji was under so much duress, she might even be able to go home to her grampa. It was then she heard the two clicks of wires being tripped.
"Huh?" Naoto looked up.
It was like Naoto saw the world in slow motion. Naoto's eyes gazed up to the case that was opening above her, and her eyes widened as weapons started to fall at great velocity towards the ground. Many thoughts started flashing through her head as the small objects were coming towards her head, shoulders, and chest.
Her mind was drawn to her grampa, Geirin, who had raised her and taken care of her ever since her parents died. Her thoughts went to her cousins, Raidou and Nagi, who protected her and taught her how to fight. She thought of those in her village, from Eri to Hisano. All of the villagers were always so kind to her. The ones in the village were not the only people she thought of. Lord Dojima, the noble who helped save his life from Lord Tanaka, and maybe the only noble she had any respect for. The one person she did not have on her mind was Lord Tatsumi. He was just too… annoying.
As Naoto closed her eyes, one more person filled her mind. It was the one person that both stopped Togodai from taking her life, and watched over her from Tanaka and even Lord Tatsumi at least once. Souji Seta changed her perspective on both him and some upper-class citizens in general. Naoto never understood his kindness towards her.
The green light that flashed around Naoto forced her eyes open. There were no weapons around her anymore, and instead… he saw a man in all black with black eyes. Naoto had found her cousin!
"Raidou!" Naoto yelled, "I'm so happy to see you!"
Raidou, with his stoic face, showed the slightest amount of emotion… what looked like relief to see Naoto. Raidou's thin and ridiculously sharp sword was at his side, and the black cat that always accompanied the man was trailing behind him.
Naoto wanted to run to her cousin and hug him, but she had no idea how all of those weapons had been destroyed.
"What happened to the weapons?" Naoto asked.
Raidou lifted his sword slightly and a green hue appeared. No words came from his mouth, but an understanding between the cousins occurred.
Raidou suddenly spoke, "Who attacked you?"
Naoto pointed to her right, in the direction of where the shirtless man was, "He did."
Raidou looked that way, but the shirtless man was not right next to the door. He was against the stone wall across from Kanji's room.
Lord Tatsumi had charged Takaya. Takaya did throw the projectiles, like Naoto described, and a few stars and other tools were lodged in Kanji's legs. Yet, Kanji had closed the distance between Takaya and slammed his kanabo across the exposed chest of Takaya. Kanji's attack knocked Takaya all the way to the other side of the hall.
"I see a dead guy," Raidou muttered.
"I guess he was killed," Naoto shook her head.
Raidou watched Gouto walk towards the ragged hole in the door that was caused by projectiles and the kanabo and where Kanji was.
"Gouto says there is another person here," Raidou said to Naoto. He asked, "Is this the person who has been holding you?"
"He's the one I was a servant to. The Lord of Nara," Naoto admitted.
She probably should not have said that, but what else could she say to her cousin. It was her way home.
"Can you wait one moment?" Raidou held out an open palm to Naoto.
"Wait a minute!" Naoto exclaimed.
Naoto did not enjoy being Lord Tatsumi's servant, but the last thing she wanted outside of sleeping with him was Raidou killing him.
"It will only take one second, Naoto" Raidou said in a monotone voice.
As he walked towards the left side of Kanji's room, Kanji exited the room, most likely to see if Naoto came out unharmed. Seeing the young man with the thin sword in hand, made Kanji take a step back and tighten the grip on own his weapon.
Naoto just shook her head. The last thing she wanted to see is her relative and people she knew fight each other for pointless reasons. She was safe now and she would be able to go home.
Main Hall
A few minutes ago
The arrow from Souji's bow flew straight and true to the brown minotaur. It went straight to the demon's forehead and though it was a shallow hit; the arrow lodged itself right above the eyes.
Souji dropped his yumi and unsheathed his sword. Both he and Nagi charged the demon as the pixie trailed behind. The minotaur ripped away the shaft in his forehead, but he could do little about the ice forming around his legs to stop his movement. Souji rolled from the sweeping axe that came to remove his torso and head from the rest of his body, while Nagi made a cut around the right side of his own chest.
As the demon shifted the position of his axe to make a diagonal slash towards Nagi; he found his movements more and more restricted by the second. Nagi's own pixie was using ice to immobilize every single limb of Raidou's rogue demon.
Souji was quick, but what made him feared was his jumping abilities. He needed something to smash.
"Have your stupid pixie freeze its head!" Souji yelled at Nagi as the samurai jumped away from another axe strike.
The four-winged creature closed its eyes as the minotaur felt first the metal ring freeze, and then the rest of its head chill. That was the signal for Souji to attack as he ran up, flipped upside down once and then used that momentum to sky up in the air, thankful that he had no armor to hinder his leaping abilities. There was no way Souji could jump all eleven feet, but Souji jumped just high enough to sever the head of the minotaur. The head fell to the ground, rolled away, and the demon dissipated into nothingness.
"You killed him!" Nagi exclaimed, exhaling in relief. It took a good amount of energy to keep the pixie in check and not letting go out of control like Raidou did.
"Of course I did," Souji shook his head, "I just needed the right conditions to attack effectively."
Nagi sheathed her blade, while sidestepping. She said to Souji, "Let's go find my cousin. You can go find your idiot of a lord."
"That's not very nice," Souji rebuked.
"It's true," Nagi replied.
"It kind of is," Souji thought.
He needed to relax and find his lord, and then Nagi can find Naoto and get off his back. She was annoying, and who knows what would happen if they stumbled upon Nagi's brother. Raidou nearly killed Souji the last time, and who knows what happen if they encountered each other again. Just… maybe… Souji wanted to see if Naoto was okay.
There was just something that bugged Souji. Before they encountered the brown minotaur, they found the head and body of some guy in green. Souji believed it was an assassin. There might be more assassins, and that could put both Lord Tatsumi and Naoto in danger. Souji wanted to see if both of them were okay.
Souji suddenly turned towards Nagi and said, "We can probably check up on Naoto. It's probably best we find her before your brother does."
Nagi gave Souji a confused look, "And why is that?"
"Why does it matter?" Souji replied.
"I'm curious," Nagi answered, "I'm thinking… you want to find her to keep her."
"To keep her?" Souji was the one with the confused look now.
"You were one of the original targets, remember?" Nagi reminded Souji.
Souji asked, "What are you saying?"
"Maybe… Gouto was wrong," Nagi closed her eyes, "You are more dangerous than you look."
"Are you threatening me?" Souji's hand moved towards his sword hilt.
"We did not expect you to survive, even if we did not finish you," Nagi explained, "I guess we did not expect you to show affection towards my cousin."
"I can't believe you would say something like that," Souji sounded affronted.
"Don't lie!" Nagi yelled, "You care for Naoto!"
"What!" Souji exclaimed.
Souji did not know if he cared for Naoto. He was unsure of his feelings for Naoto. Just because Naoto clouded his mind every once in a while did not mean he had feelings for her.
"Gouto spared your life because you love my cousin!" Nagi yelled, "I won't let a samurai fall in love with Naoto!"
Nagi's blade slid from its sheath and Souji did the same. Souji waited for the pixie to appear, but it never did. It looked like she was not going to summon it. It was a relief to the samurai, but a wide-open battle was going to be a better battlefield for Nagi than the close-quarters fighting space in Tanaka's residence.
"Prepare!" Nagi yelled as she ran forth.
Souji closed his eyes, waiting for the young woman to reach him. He was tired and his headache was pounding. He was not ready for this.
This is a fun little chapter that I posted while searching the archives and translating Japanese. Auf Wiedersehen!