I wish everybody a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and everything else going on this holiday season. I hope that all of us can get through all of them alive, sane, in one piece, and without killing any of our dearly beloved relatives while there are witnesses around.

Things are happening everywhere now and none of it is good. Omote's barrier has been destroyed. The Golems are advancing towards her, the house, and everyone in it. Gin makes a run for Carl to take him out, but is intercepted half-way there by a number of Harpies. Behind Carl's forces, Amaya and Nariko were battling the Kamaitachi when Amaya loses her temper and transforms into her true form, despite knowing its severe drawback and hearing to her sister's desperate pleas. Fubuki, Setsura and Yukiko are surrounded and exhausted at the beach by both the Nagas and Kappas who were about to finish them off when Naoya arrives and turns the tide of the fight. In the process however, he is temporarily blinded by the last Naga and is forced to fight the rest of them blind after that. In the woods, Takeshi was able to injure two of the four remaining Trolls by using a severed Troll's arm as a club while Orihime fought against the one that had captured her, but was wounded in the process. Hurt and unable to move, she can only watch as the Troll raised both of his fists over his head to pound her into a small, bloody mess. Watching his fists come down towards her, she cries out.

Chapter 26: Family

The Woods

March 7, 2017

"Onii-chan!" cried Orihime.

A cloud of dust rose up after the Troll's fists hit the ground.

"Gotcha, brat," the Troll gloated.

He then lifted his fists up to wipe the blood and guts off.

"What the hell?"

But he sees that there's no splatter where he had just hit.

"There's nothing here. Where'd that brat go?"

He looks around but he doesn't see either of the kids.

"You damn slippery brats!"

Even though she was only semi-conscious, Orihime could feel her body moving around and heard what sounded like heavy breathing a long ways off.

…Wha… …What happened…? Orihime thinks. …Where am I?

"…Am I… …dead?" she weakly asks.

"Not today sis. Not if I can help it."

"…Who…?" she faintly asked.

"Damn, you must be really out of it to not recognize your own big brother," Takeshi told her.

Ignoring everyone and everything else going on around him, Takeshi had perfectly timed himself to scoop up and run away with Orihime in his arms just before the Troll was going to splatter her. He knew that by timing it just right that the dust cloud and resulting confusion would buy them at least a few seconds to make good their escape and it worked. They were now out of sight of the remaining Trolls and getting further and further away with each stride.

"…Onii… …san," she whispers as she tries to open her eyes to look up at him, but all she can see is a blur.

"This should be good enough."

Takeshi jumps up into a big tree that is full of leaves and would give them good cover. He holds her up and tries to snap her out of it.

"Snap out of it, Orihime. Come on sis, wake up!"

"…Onii… …san," she weakly said.

"Damn it, you should be recovering and regenerating faster then this. How much blood have you had today?"

"…None," she answered.

"None?" he shouted. "What are you trying to do to yourself? No wonder you were doing so poorly! It's impossible for us to bring out our full power if we're starved for blood! What were you thinking?"

"…I was... …just trying to… …train my body… …to go without feeding… …for awhile."

"Well your timing sure sucks," Takeshi lectured. "Here…"

Takeshi held up the Troll arm that he had held onto up to her face.

"…Have some Troll."

"…I don't want to," she tells him and tries to push it away.

"I already know that it tastes bad, but even so, you need to regain your strength."

"…I don't want to," she repeated. "Besides, it's dead blood… we're not supposed to drink dead blood."

"It's still fresh so it hasn't gone bad yet, but it will if you don't do it soon, Orihime."

"I don't want to!" she shouted as loudly as she could.

"Stubborn girl!" an angry Takeshi said. "You need blood to get better not matter what it is or where it came from! That stubbornness and your bad habit of doing things that are too tough for you just because you want to be able to compete with the rest of us is going to get you killed one of these days, but it's not going to be today!"

Takeshi bit down on the Troll arm and sucked it dry. He then threw the arm down, rips the collar of his already torn shirt down, exposes his neck and lifts Orihime's face up to it.

"My blood is not dead, so drink up."

"…I don't want to do that either, Onii-san!"

"You leave me no choice then!"

BITE!

AHHH!

Takeshi bit Orihime's neck and started giving his own blood to her. She tried to push him away but didn't have the strength to do so.

"…Onii… …san," she whimpers with tears in her eyes. "…Why…?"

Takeshi pulls his face back and looks into her watery eyes.

"Orihime," he replies. "You're my sister; I care about you and will do anything I have to in order to protect you. Just because we have different moms doesn't mean that we're not still siblings and still a family. Sure most of the others are closer to our siblings who have the same mom and all yeah, but we all still have the same dad and most importantly… we all still love each other as siblings and no matter what, in the end… that, more then anything else, is what makes us a family."

Orihime is stunned by what she hears and is completely speechless.

"That's why I will do whatever I have to in order to protect you and all of my other brothers and sisters. That's what it means to be a true family. You're only four years old Orihime. You shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard just because most of are stronger than you are. We weren't always this strong you know. We were all just as strong as you are now once, or as dad might put it:

"All who are now strong were once weak themselves. That's why it's the duty of the strong to protect the weak, just as it is the duty of the weak to become the strong so that one day they can become the ones that will protect the weak."

"You will become strong like the rest of us one day and then some. Only an idiot would think otherwise. Until then, you need to relax a little and not stress yourself out about it so much. You will get there and beyond and we'll all help you to get there as well."

"…Onii-san," she tearfully said.

Orihime could only break down and start crying. Takeshi hugs her and she hugs him back.

"…Thank you, Onii-chan."

She then bit him and started to drink her fill.

Orihime... Takeshi thinks, touched by her actually calling him Onii-chan. [*1]

A few minutes later, Orihime finishes feeding and stands up.

"I feel better now, Onii-chan. Are you okay? I didn't drink too much blood, did I?"

"Nah, I'm good. Let's go get them sis."

2

The Beach

Naoya feels the Kappa's choke-hold getting tighter as he slowly crushes his windpipe. He keeps calm, pulls the Kappa's arms away just enough to breathe, takes a deep breath and holds it, just as his father had taught him. As long as he wasn't struggling to try to breathe, then he would be able to keep his cool and think of something to beat his opponent instead of only making everything worse by panicking.

I guess at least one of them managed to protect his eyes, he thought. If this goes on much longer, then we'll all be in big trouble. I need to finish this as fast as I can for all of our sakes!

Still holding his breath, Naoya stumps on the Kappa's foot as hard as he can…

CRUNCH!

GYAAAH!

…Breaking it. Distracted by the pain, the Kappa loosens his choke-hold. Naoya then grabs his arm, throws him over his shoulder and onto the sand in front of him.

"Bakuryuujin!"

He then hits the Kappa square in the chest at point blank range, caving it in and flattening his entire body into the sand.

"That's one more down," Naoya says to himself.

"Are you okay, Onii-chan?" Fubuki yells as the three girls rush to his side.

He senses where the last Kappas are and from their youki, figures out what they are about to do.

"Get back girls! The rest of them are hiding in the water!"

Just as he yells his warning, the last four Kappas leap out of the water that they had retreated to in the battle's confusion and ambushes the girls. Yukiko threw her last Kunai at one of them, but she was so tired and disoriented that it missed them. Now they were all exhausted, unarmed and easy targets. The Kappas then grab and throw all three of them face first into the sand. Then, just as they were about to finish off the girls, Naoya appeared, grabbed two of them by their throats, slammed them to the ground and then…

I've never tried doing this before, but…

"Twin Bakuryuujin!"

…Fired off a Bakuryuujin from each hand, flattening both of them.

"Keep your damn hands off my little sisters you pathetic scum!"

Oh man… he thought. Doing two at once really drained me more than I expected. I can't even detect the last two Kappas very well now.

With Naoya disoriented, he couldn't see the other two Kappas both jump him. One got a hold of both of his arms from behind him and pulled them back so that he couldn't use his youjutsu's again. The other one…

…GISH!

…GISH!

…GISH!

…Started punching his face over and over again.

"These guys really are strong, especially for being so short,"Naoya thought. "It's a good thing that they weren't able to catch any of us like this before, but now these guys are keeping me pinned and defenseless and there's nothing I can do about it. How am I supposed to get out of this now?"

3

Behind Carl's Forces

"Kiiill!"

Amaya pounced at Shun and Saburou, but they both manage to dodge her in mid-air.

"Get Shou, I'll distract her!" Shun yelled.

"Okay!" Saburou yelled back.

"Come and get me 'pussy!" Shun calls out near the ground.

It gets Amaya's attention and...

"Kill!"

…She takes off after him.

At the same time, Nariko chases after her sister in the hopes that she can get her to change back again.

"This is bad," Nariko thinks. "She's so angry with these weasels right now that she's losing herself just to get them! Oh, Nee-sama… I know why you got so mad at them so fast. I know that you still carry your emotional scars from what happened in Shanghai, but even so, you still shouldn't have done that! Now your life is in grave danger!"

"Nee-sama!" she yells. "You have to change back before it's too late!"

Completely ignoring Nariko's desperate pleas, Amaya kept chasing after Shun who continues to taunt her to keep her attention with cat calls.

"Come on baby, just a little bit more, just like how you did it for me last night," he taunts as he rides his air gust away just as fast as he can.

It only enrages her further.

I'll never catch her in this form! Nariko thought. I have no choice now.

With no other options, Nariko also transforms into her true form, a big silver cat. She then chases after Amaya with everything she has.

"Just as long as I keep my head and don't let the anger or blood-lust gets to me, I should be okay," she thinks. "I just have to do this as quickly as I can for all of our sakes!"

Nariko catches up to Amaya and she tackles her. They both rolled across the ground together several times before finally stopping. As soon as they stop rolling however, Amaya crouches down low before pouncing and…

"Nee-sama!" screams Nariko.

…Attacks her sister.

"This is convenient," Shun thinks as he looks back at them. "Now the pussy cats can take care of each other for us."

He circles around and passes by the two girls to rejoin his brothers.

"That's two less things for us to worry about," he thinks.

4

Between the House and Carl's Forces

SCREEEEEEEECH!

Gin clutches his ears tightly in a futile attempt to protect his sensitive ears, but…

AHHHHH!

…It is impossible for him to protect his ears from the Harpy's ear-piercing screeching.

GUUUHHH!

A Harpy knocks him over from behind and…

SLASH!

GWAUH!

…Another rakes her talons across his back as she flies past him. Gin then rolls to the side, gets back on his feet, leaps up and catches a Harpy by her leg and grabs her wing. Unable to fly with only one wing no matter how much she struggles, they fall down until they both crash into the ground.

"You're mine now 'feather duster!" Gin shouted in anger.

The Harpy screeches at him but…

SLICE!

GYAAAH!

…Gin charges through the pain anyway and cuts her chest open. He then starts running again towards Carl in the hopes of drawing more of the Harpies to him and away from everyone else.

That's one down, he thought while he ran. These girls really have pretty sorry chests too. Sun is a lot bigger than these feather-brains.

Gin looks over his shoulder and catches a glimpse of at least four Harpies, all coming right at him and all with very angry expressions on their faces.

SCREECH!

Not wanting a repeat of what happened at the beginning, Gin turned around and jumped up at them.

It's not really my policy to hit women, he thought. But in this case, I'll make a few exceptions!

OMPH!

He collides with the first Harpy and drives his fist into her stomach, knocking her down to the ground, back first. He then landed right on her and…

SNAP!

…Broke her back.

"That's two down now."

Gin stands back up and right away two Harpies each grab one of his arms and lift him back into the sky. Seeing another diving on him he realizes that these two were just holding him up for the others to attack him in mid-air. So he waits until she gets close to him, flips his legs up and over his head, both dodging the diving Harpy and flipping the two that were holding him over. Thrown off balance by his unexpected move, the two Harpies both drop him, but he grabs onto their legs and hangs on.

"Change your minds about playing with the big bad wolf, birdies?"

Gin suddenly pulls on both of their legs and pulls them into each other, hard. They both get tangled up with each other and fall towards the ground. Just before they hit, Gin throws them both towards the ground, head first and…

SMASH! SMASH!

…Lands a foot on each of their heads, crushing them.

That's two more down.

SLICE!

GWAUH!

A Harpy had surprised him from behind and cut deep into his back. He looks at the Harpy that just flew by him and…

SLASH!

GAAAH!

Another Harpy surprised him from behind and cut up his back. His blood ran down his back and fell into little pools on the ground.

It looks like they figured out a new tactic to deal with me. I need to figure something out and fast! Otherwise I could die from the blood loss alone.

He looks up and sees the two Harpies circling around him, keeping their distance.

5

The Front Yard

Oh no! Omote thought. Gin got held up and won't be able to do what he was planning to do and we're out of time and options now. Whatever happens, at least Akane and Akihito are somewhere else and safe.

"Mommy!" two young voices shout.

Omote looked behind her where she heard those very familiar shouts from and went white at what she saw.

"Akane, Akihito, what are you doing here?"

Her own kids were there and running towards her.

"Go back!" she yelled. "Go back into the house!"

"Get back kids!" Ageha yells as she runs past them.

Ageha ran to the nearest Golem, jumped up onto it and tried to cut off the top of its head, but…

THUNK!

…Her nails got stuck halfway through and…

"What the hell?"

…She could not pull them out. She was stuck.

The Golem that she was on reached up and grabbed her. Not wanting the Golem to rip her nails out of her fingers, she…

AHHH!

…Stomped on them as hard as she could and broke them herself just before the Golem…

AHHHHH!

…Started squeezing her. It then flung her toward the house and she lands against the side…

GWAAAUH!

…Back first, hard. She then falls to the ground and…

THUD!

…Lands on her side.

"Ageha!" shoutedOmote.

Omote tearfully watched as her grandchildren rushed to her motionless side and cried for her to wake up. Turning forward again…

This is no time for tears. It's up to me now!

… Omote renewed her determination and resolve. She then took quick aim at the nearest Golem, aimed for its legs and…

"Tabaneru!" [*2]

…The Golem stops and…

CLUNK!

…Falls to the ground.

That should at least buy us some time.

Fortunately, even though Golems are extremely powerful and tough, they are also very slow, clumsy and cannot adapt to new things happening. However, all of this is of little comfort if a way to permanently stop them cannot be found in time since they never, ever, stop coming until they've carried out their mission.

Omote shot a Baindingu ya at each of the remaining ten Golems and one-by-one they all fell over onto their faces with a clunk.

SCREECH!

Omote looks up and sees three Harpies diving right for her.

"Perfect," she said.

Omote then took aim at them and…

"Fukusū ya!" [*3]

…Fired three arrows at them. Startled to see not one but three arrows coming at them, the Harpies all tried to dodge them, but one of them wasn't quick enough and got hit. She then fell to the ground. The other two keep their distance as they circle around Omote, waiting for an opening.

Wanting to finish the fight as soon as possible, Omote turned around and yelled for the kids to quickly get themselves and Ageha inside the house. She then saw that they were already doing so under Yukari's direction.

Thanks, Yukari, she thought. That makes things easier for me.

Omote pulled back on her bowstring again, but this time she aimed straight up.

"Hikari no Ame!" [*4]

She fires the arrow and a second later a storm of arrows rains down upon everything around her.

6

Carl's Forces

"Would ya look at that, that girl's got some mad skills boss," William comments as he watches the battle through his binos.

"She is far more talented then I had expected," Carl replied. "That makes me want her even more now."

"Well they don't call her the Cherry Blossom of Death for nothing," Hajna added.

"That aside, maybe we should send in the 1st Squad now since your "Tin Men" are taking their sweet-ass time getting back up and the bird bitches are taking a pounding."

"What about the guys behind us, Willy?" Hajna asked. "There're only three of them left now."

"We can go back there ourselves if we have to," William answered. "Our main objective is in front of us and so that's where our main focus should be, right, boss?"

"Well said, William. But the time is not yet right for them. They will be sent in when they will be the most effective."

"You're the boss, boss."

7

The Front Yard

Looking around, Omote sees that she got two more.

"They would have to be really fast in order to escape that technique," Omote thought. "No matter, a couple more of that technique and the Harpies will be all gone."

"Come back guys! It's too dangerous!"

Omote looks behind her and she can't believe her eyes. The kids that were all safely inside the house were now running outside. Shino was by the door calling for the others to come back, but it was no use. None of them were going to turn back now.

"No! What are they doing?" Omote thought. "With them out here they're all in great danger and I won't be able to use that technique again!"

"Get back in the house kids!" Omote shouted. "It's too dangerous to be out here!"

"We're going to help you mommy!" Akane shouted back.

"I said go back!" Omote yelled.

"No, we're helping!" Akihito yelled back.

Omote realized that it was pointless to argue any further. Akane was stubborn and Kurumu's girls all wanted to get back at the bad guys for what they did to their grandma.

"You really are just like me, Akane. But now I need to come up with something else and fast!"

Omote turns forward again, looks up, sees two Harpies right in front of her and were both too close for her to react to them.

SLASH! SLASH!

They both slashed at her with their sharp talons.

BUNG! BUNG!

But Omote was protected by the barrier from her Baria Yumi. She fires an arrow at them as the two Harpies quickly fly away but misses.

"That was too close," Omote quietly says to herself. "If it hadn't been for my bow…"

She stares at it for a moment.

"Oh Tsukune… Even though you're not even here you're still protecting me. Please be safe and quickly come back to us with everyone else."

Omote looked around and saw the kids fighting their own battles. Nemu, Yume and Kuramori were all locked in an air battle with one Harpy. Hinata was standing next to the water fountain surrounded by countless large drops of water and Sousuke watching her back as she fired off some drops at another Harpy, keeping her at bay. Then Omote sees Akane and Akihito nearby and that another Harpy was diving right at them.

"Akane, Akihito, you need to get back to the house now!" Omote yelled. "You don't have any good battle techniques!"

"Yes we do, just watch us mommy!" Akane yelled back.

The Harpy got close to them and Omote frantically fired an arrow at her, but missed.

Just watch us mommy, we'll make you proud of us! Akane thought.

"Fūin no kōtsū!"

Akane created a seal between her and the Harpy (who couldn't stop in time to avoid it) and she flew right into it and was swallowed up.

"You see that mommy, did you see that?" Akane excitedly yells. "I did it!"

Seeing the seal technique open up 20 feet above Akane and Akihito and the Harpy flying out of it and continue her dive towards her now unsuspecting children, Omote cries out in terror.

"Akane, Akihito, NOOOOOOOOOOO…!"

To be continued…

Note #1: Onii-chan is a more affectionate way of addressing an older brother whereas Onii-san is more neutral. Until now, she had only called Naoya that. So it made Takeshi happy when she called him that too.

Note #2: Tabaneru or Bind up – It is a charged arrow that when it hits its target, it tightly wraps itself around it and binds all of its movements.

Note #3: Fukusū ya or Multiple Arrow - It is a charged arrow that splits into three arrows before it is fired which then can hit up to three targets if they are near each other.

Note #4: Hikari no Ame or Rain of Light - It is a very highly charged shot that when it is fired upwards it then explodes in the air and rains down a barrage of smaller arrows in either the general direction that it was originally shot in or a downward angle (depending on Omote's will). These arrows do less damage, but they there are so many of them that they are extremely difficult to avoid.

If you have any questions regarding my story then please ask them all in the forum that I created on this site and not in the reviews. I would also appreciate it if everyone did not talk about potential spoilers or have back and forth discussions in their reviews as well. That is what the forum is for. Thank you.

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