Apologies for the tardiness but I finally alloted some time to post an update! Hooray!
Work offered some incentive-ized overtime over the last few weeks and being a single income, I could not resist and MAN am I exhausted. BUT I have not forgotten about all of you who have still stuck by me with this story. I'm working on it every cance I get and now that I'm not bound to sacrifice my nights and early mornings, more chapters will be coming.
Granted this one is a shorty but I don't want to jump the gun and post two in a day without having a chance to do some deep-rooted proof reading. But stay tuned because there may be another update THIS WEEK. :)
Thank you thank you THANK you!
Imayoshi huffed strained breaths. Akashi opened the melee in front of the fountain of the upper quad. Three shots was all it took to send them scurrying for cover. The first pushed Susa back. The second drove Imayoshi back toward the colonnaded walk they'd emerged from. The last shot sent Susa leaping the waist-high barricade of the walk. As Akashi charged a fourth round, Imayoshi saw his out and sprung into the break. It'd been too long since he moved this agilely and he'd felt something fold uncomfortably as he tumbled. He pressed his spine to the cloudy wall of ice he'd erected to close the gap and caught his breath.
Susa ducked low twenty feet away at the base of the stairs.
He cursed himself for not delving further into the Lord's records. But he doubted he would find anything incriminating. Porous record keeping was commonplace one hundred years ago when integrity came by word-of-mouth or as a signed certificate of acknowledgement. His own circum vitae was lacking body up until the last fifty or so years with the Ice among the last to conform to proper archiving practices. Still, he could not just accept that lazy justification.
Never displayed a trace of power, his ass.
Since the start of the clash Akashi had only unloaded three rounds.
He and Susa had the advantage of quantity but realized caution must still be heeded. Two against one could easily be evened out to a fair fight with one well-timed attack. And he was not prepared to take that bullet. Nor face Akashi alone.
His gaze found the assassin still hunkered at the foot of the narrow steps. Susa's hand was searching the small of his back, attention trained on the threat beyond the barricade. Imayoshi noted the teasing gleam of metal pinched between the man's fingertips. Steeling himself, Susa risked a peek over the edge.
The fourth bolt punched the base of the pillar and Susa shrunk back to the stairs, debris dusting his eyes. Like all the other projectiles, this one hadn't been remotely lethal. Arrow-thin and always just off the mark by a hair's width. Almost as if—
Realization slammed into him.
They were off target because Akashi was herding them.
And a cramped stone enclosure, partially secured by a wall of ice, was the perfect kill zone.
Susa yelled, "Imayoshi."
Boot soles pounded the ground to his left. He swerved his head.
Akashi had hopped the wall and was towering over him.
Imayoshi scrambled to get his feet under him.
Akashi whirled and drilled a kick into his chest. The milky fortification fractured as he was sent tumbling head-over-foot into the upper quad. His skull clapped hard as he unrolled onto his back a few feet from the trickling fountain. Agony seized his muscles and he strained to force them to draw breath. Bowing his back only maximized his torment and he flopped onto his belly, hoping downward force would reduce the pressure crushing his diaphragm. That bastard Akashi made certain to angle his strike just right.
Crunching ice alerted him to the Lord's advance. He groped his throbbing chest, attempting to work himself from the floor. He managed nothing more than rickety wheezes, elbow dropping to the coarse flagstones in submission as the Lord sauntered closer. Icy granules still clung to his skin, struggling to solidify into a proper shield.
He craned a look through scuffed lenses. No measure of anger traced the calm lines of Akashi's face. If anything he looked entirely composed.
Imayoshi wedged a knee under him, ratcheting his trunk up. Movement behind Akashi, in the arcade near the cloister stairs, attracted his eye. Peeking over the top of the half-wall, dagger still between pinched fingers, was Susa. A quick glance at the Lord told him what the assassin intended.
Imayoshi's attention snapped back to Akashi, who was three steps away.
He stole a sharp breath then slapped the ground. Pikes hurtled across the stones and clamped Akashi's foot in a vice. The Lord balked, arms flying out for balance as the frost expanded to lock his ankle. Imayoshi clambered to get away as Susa bent around the pillar, arm cocked.
Lack of air sapped his legs of strength as he veered to Akashi's right but he urged them to move.
Then sounds. Like crisp snow being crushed underfoot. From behind.
A firm hand hooked his arm and yanked him back. The courtyard reeled by in a nauseating blur as he was roughly spun, his own arms crossed around his belly like an ill-conceived straight jacket. Panic exploded through him and he thrashed.
Pain lanced his right forearm and he wailed. Retaliation stalled.
He strained a glance down.
Susa's dagger protruded, its tip embedded deep.
He did not understand. How could Akashi have detected their deceit so quickly and maneuvered him so accurately before Susa could react?
His associate's face drooped with similar astonishment.
Akashi leaned close and said into his ear, "Didn't think I could handle two-on-one odds? Don't flatter yourself, Imayoshi. I was and always will be leagues ahead of you."
He rocked back at the slight, hopeful to pop the self-righteous prick's face but knew Akashi wouldn't be stupid enough to give him the chance.
Unease squirmed up his spine, ridging the ice. If he acted swiftly, Akashi wouldn't even realize his mistake.
Susa shook away the daze and darted from cover, toward the break in the half-wall Akashi had propelled Imayoshi from moments ago.
Crooked sharpened spines speared through his shirt.
One of Akashi's hands dropped away. The other, still tightly locked on his injured arm, ripped hard and unwound Imayoshi in another disorienting spin. Again the Lord's foot pummeled, this time into his stomach. Breath heaved from Imayoshi's agape mouth as he crashed to the flagstones. The spines cracked and ground into the stiff muscles of his back as he writhed to snatch air.
With bleary eyes he searched for the colonnaded walk. Susa stood frozen in the gap of the half-wall, its stones still crusted with ice, seeming to stand his ground. Akashi faced the shadow, appearing to have disregarded Imayoshi entirely.
Like a whip, Akashi cracked off a fifth bolt that pierced the base of the column closest to Susa.
The assassin drew back. Then turned and charged into the lower quad through an opposing partition.
Akashi took off after him.
Apparition Aging (aka "Triplicate Scale"): Apparition's age divided by 3 reveals how old they APPEAR. (ex: Aomine: 100/3= ~33.3)
Glossary of Apparition terms:
NEUTRAL: the offspring of a hybrid and purebred that possesses a normal Apparition's lifespan and biology but has no nature affinity (i.e., Fire, Lightning, Ice, etc.)
[BLANK]-INCLINED: a term used to indicate the nature of a hybrid, because they carry two natures instead of one (i.e., Aomine is a Lightning-Ice hybrid but he is only able to use Lightning, therefore he is a Lightning-inclined hybrid Apparition)
ATARAXIA(N): the name of the Wind Apparition country and a demonym of Apparitions who hail from there (i.e., Kise is a Wind Apparition, therefore he is an Ataraxian)
ARMADURA(N): the name of the Earth Apparition country and a demonym of Apparitions who hail from there
GORYŌKAKU: the capital of the Ice state of Shi Tudi; Aomine, Momoi, and Imayoshi live here
HIROSAWA: the capital of the Fire state of Bokoku; Akashi and Kagami live here
CASIMIR: the capital of the Lightning state of Pervobytnyy Les; Hyuuga and Aomine's father hail from here
FRINGE APPARITIONS: Apparitions of one state/country that regularly and illegally trespass the boundaries of neighboring states/countries
RUS-AINU EMPIRE (or RUS-AINU): the partnership of the Fire and Lightning, originally forged in 1000 CE
XIA UNION (or XIA): the past partnership of the Fire and Ice, starting in 2000 BCE and ending in 1000 CE (3,000 years)
MOTHER'S MERGER: the partnership of the Wind and Earth, starting in 3000 BCE and ending in 1945 CE (4,945 years)
WOLF PACK PACT: a punitive arrangement between the Fire, Lightning, and Ice enacted in 1990 CE that forbids the three powers from launching attacks on one another; it also deconstructed the Ice's military and defined present-day boundary lines