The day dawned with a golden sky, a blue screen of sky dyed the air with ruin. I missed having Satsuki by my side. Today was a day neither one of us would forget. It was going to be war. Not a battle. I knew she'd never hold back once she started. Satsuki and I were both relentless, both dragons now. I saw her break away from the lines of trucks.
'Showtime.' I thought.
[Episode 10: Dancing Dragons.]
OP 3: Sky Should Be High from Guilty Gear Xrd REVELATOR.
It starts with Kazuma in odd gear, with Koudari and Koudashi at his hips, walking alone in the wastelands between Hannouji and everywhere else. He's on his own, both swords gleaming. At the softer bits of the song, he's wandering from place to place, Kibonochi, ragged and torn, fluttering in the wind. At the end of it all, the sun makes the screen go white...
Osaka was an eyesore. Takarada would pay dearly for what he did to Kazuma... to Ira and Uzu. As long as I knew the three of them, they were loyal. It had to be Takarada. Or maybe Kazuma was insane. Ever since he lost his eye, his nightmares had gotten worse, his grip on me was tighter than ever. He was suffocating me. Yet, I still loved him. It was my duty to bring Kazuma back to my side. He was mine. I won him fair and square from Mother. I hated her. I hated how she ruined him.
He was an innocent little thing, blameless. Yet she took him and killed that part of him. She tore him apart and slipshod sewed him back together. He was still broken, but now? He was so different. The sky was already filling with smoke, I saw him kneeling on a raised platform, and he jumped off, landing with his coat billowing about him.
He was taller, his single golden eye shining. His hair was shorter, the top still long and spiked. His Kamui was green with black metallic accents with two red-orange eye flaps glaring at me. His tattoo was still the same, yet, the two blades at his sides made my breath catch in my throat. Junketsu looked up at me.
"He's stronger! Just look at that death glare!"
I stepped forwards, and he unsheathed both of his blades, pointing the longer one out towards me. His golden eye became cold.
"Not one step more, Satsuki!" he warned.
"Kazuma, why would you interfere with my plans?" I asked.
"No more talk!" he demanded.
[Kazuma Kaguya.]
[The Captain of the Four Sworn Brothers, the Dragon.]
[The love of your life, Satsuki.]
Yet again, Junketsu was right. Kazuma was the love of my life. The way he held his swords with tightly clenched fists, white-knuckling and shaking. I unsheathed Bakuzan. In the interim of Kazuma, Ira, and Uzu vanishing not long before the Natural's Election, Nui Harime showed up under no orders. Well, only under one order: her own.
I never wanted to see her again. In a blinding flash of light, there stood Kazuma, sparking from the sheer strength of Kibonochi Ryu. He looked like a half-naked cybernetic samurai. His face was obscured by a metallic mask that glowed slightly golden. He vanished, forcing me to sync with Junketsu to even just barely block his first strike.
"Like it? It's Kibonochi Jetstream!" he snapped. The whole city block was torn apart from the force of his slash. I whirled around, being met by the shorter blade, my eyes widened at how little of an effort Kazuma seemed to exert to fight me. He continued to force me onto the defensive. He was blindingly fast, devastatingly powerful, and his expression was blank.
This wasn't the Kazuma I knew. This was the horror story that Mother so expertly caught REVOCS into. The dark smile, the shining in his eye, reminding me so much of the woman who ruined him. I blocked and dodged, not realizing that he grabbed my hair, slinging me down onto the ground and leaning down.
"Your hair is in the way..." he sighed. Kazuma smiled and let me get back up.
"Think of this as training, got it?" he asked. I smirked and I knew he didn't want me to hold back. I put my hand on my synchronization cuff.
"Junketsu, release all of my restraints!" I declared. Junketsu looked at me in shock.
"Satsuki! I might lose control of myself! Are you certain?"
"Yes, make me equal to him! This is the power of my will!" I declared, clicking my cuff. In a blinding flash of blue light, Junketsu came out black and azure, his pupils small and his armor even tighter around me. My hair went from black to snow-white, much like my mother's.
"Kazuma, this is the power of my will! My ambitions! This is Junketsu's ultimate form: Junketsu Shizui!" I roared, Bakuzan became a double-sided spear. Kazuma grinned and readied himself.
"Kibonochi! Unleash me!" he snapped, and in a blinding corona of golden light, a vicious pair of blades were in his hands, his hair was bright gold, and his armor was a burning orange color, his eye was glowing bright gold. The ground started to shake as we carved out a platform to see who was stronger. Junketsu Shizui or Kibonochi...
"This is Kibonochi's Unleashed Dragon form! Or Kibonochi Ryuken!" he declared.
"This will be the power of my determination and drive! To life or destruction! I'll always live on! That is what a dragon does! It lives on!" he screamed, his blades were lightning in a blade. His speed and mine were equal, and the city was leveled where we fought, our blood rained down, two gods fought for each other. I knew his determination was something to fear.
We clashed through the air, with both of us chasing each other with our swords blazing. We broke apart and exchanged blows, the heat making the steel skeletons bow down and the ground to turn to glass. We both kept fighting, relentlessly clashing and breaking apart. Our blades both sparking in every clash and blow.
Kazuma seemed to enjoy it, his mouth twisted into a near-sadistic smile. His swords glowed in the fires around us, burning and melting the area around us, with Kibonochi billowing in the hot wind. He advanced, his white blades steamed with the force of his blows. He never once held back, but I noticed that he was slowly getting lethargic, his Kamui boiling with his lava-esque blood. He dropped out of Ryuken, his Kamui ragged and torn up. I knocked him down and pointed Bakuzan at his neck.
"Why are you going through all of this trouble? Turning your back on me and Hannouji?" I asked.
"Because I want to be the one that finishes this!" he yelled.
I knelt, grabbing one of Kibonochi's eye flaps, "Listen here, Kazuma," I said, locking eyes with him, Junketsu Shizui deactivated and my hair went back to its lustrous shade of black. He looked so small, and I sheathed my blade.
"You don't understand how much you mean to me," I confessed.
"I love you more than anything, Kazuma," I sighed, grabbing his hands. He looked down at his hands, looking like he wanted to pull them away. He almost destroyed himself just to fight me. I leaned in, my lips capturing his, and I knew he missed me because he kissed me back intensely. Normally he'd do it without hesitation. But he hesitated then. He stopped and started again, his eye glowing in the red hellfire around us. He pulled me into his arms.
"I don't want to hide it anymore, I want to be by your side, Satsuki..." he muttered, his arms wrapped around me. I held him just as tightly, seeing Nonon's forces fighting Kazuma's rag-tag forces. We separated.
"We gotta stop this," He snarled.
"Agreed," I said, nodding. He tried to get up, but he was too tired from Ryuken to move as well as he used to, so I took his hand and helped him up, wrapping one of my arms around his shoulders. Again, he looked so small.
"Does this... mean we're an official couple now?" he asked, smiling wryly, his voice sounding tired.
I smiled, "Of course," I acknowledged.
I was havin' one helluva time! These Hannouji Academy dipshits thought they could beat me, the student council prez of Naniwa Kinman HS?! My dosh was more than these guys! My brotha was countin' on me ta protect Nudist Beach and minimize the bastards that'd get themselves hurt. I grinned like a kid on Christmas when some fools tried ta bring me down.
"C' mawn! Y' gonna need more than horns and drums to make me stop! I'm tha Crab of the Sworn Brothas! I ain't gonna even lose!" I yelled, drawin' my Levin Blade, it was a pretty lil' number of a blade that can shoot fuckin' 'lectricity! I was blastin' fools an' takin' names when all of a sudden I heard some sorta classical jam cut a path through my boys.
"Oi! What in the hell?" I snapped, raising my sword to point at the little pink bitch, Nonon!
"Ooh! I'm sorry, Takarada! I didn't see you there!" she snarled back, raising her pointy lil' bitch stick. I smiled.
"Well, if it isn't lil' Miss Snakey! Lemme jus'... FIRE UP THE BALLROOM BLITZ!" I screamed, my speakers, blastin' the song at full volume, causin' the ground to shake. Nonon stayed frosty, an' I was ready to throw down. My music and her music crashed against each other. I was leading my boys into an intense blitz.
"Lessee who's a betta friend! When I beat'cha, yer gonna be cryin' t' Satsuki afta all this!" I snapped, amping up my speakers. All while blastin' idiots and Nonon looked up at me in fury. I smirked, activating my Three-Star Ant-Goku Unie!
[Three-Star Anti-Goku Uniform: Crab Regalia!]
I landed, lookin' snazzy in a gold and emerald suit with golden crab claws on my hands. I had a crabby shell and helmet to protect m' noggin. It beat out the Dotonbori Robo that Nudist Beach gave me by a long shot! 'Specially 'cause it was made by Kaz's lil' sis Nui. I snapped my claws open an' shut. My gourds ready to be shot. I had crab legs that shot outta my back, too.
"Awright! Lemme show ya an ass-whuppin: OSAKA STYLE!" I yelled. Nonon didn't have any fancy uniform! I was a shoo-in victor! I stabbed the ground in front of her, seeing her blast off on a pair of rockets?! She was in some sorta tan, black, and pink rocket pack thing!
"EY! That's not fair!" I snarled, slapping her down with a claw on my extended legs. I batted her around, cackling and laughin' like no one's business. She had a new Symphony Regalia. She blasted some Bach or Mozart or some otha shit. With my helmet, I couldn't hear that dumb ol' sound! I didn't realize that's what she was plannin' on.
You can call me all kindsa things, but masta tactician ain't one of 'em...
"EAT MY SOUND, ASSHOLE!" Nonon snapped. She blasted off, her eyes wide and her air superiority only matched by me War of the Worldsin afta her.
"Hol' up! Stop it!" I snapped, loping after her on my legs, tryin' to stop her from rocketin' into Nudist Beach's main base and takin' it out. My gourds blasted out of my back in a heavy showa of gol' an' smoke, turnin' her route into a Touhou-level bullet hell. But with no respawns! Take that, y' bitch! Ol' Taka's gotcher numbuh!
"DANCE, SNAKE! DANCE!" I roared. I also set up turrets of anti-Goku Uniform bullets! She flew into the city, the missiles were tailing her. I watched as the turrets fired. Not a single one hit her, but one of the missiles took out an engine. She spiraled an' I caught her, seeing Kazuma and Satsuki walking towards us, holdin' hands. Well, she was leadin' him.
He was barely even standin', only bein' supported by Satsuki. His Kamui looked all kindsa beat up and torn up. He swayed a little. I dropped Nonon and she pouted up at me, I powered down my unie, seeing Satsuki so concerned 'bout him. She was givin' him tha: 'I'm going to go to bed with you tonight' eyes. In otha words, my brotha is gonna get laid by someone otha than tha Rainbow Bitch.
I huddled myself against Satsuki. Knowing that she was giving me the bedroom eyes. I was barely awake. She held me like a bride, seeing as I was the more empathetic and emotional than her, it was oddly fitting. Just feeling her strong and warm arms, hot with the blood of life and the fire of combat that embroiled us just a few hours? Days? Weeks?
All I wanted was to lay with her and kiss those now-scowling lips. To end the trauma with her warm arms around me, holding me and keeping me grounded. I wanted her to take it all away and slash it with her sword.
"Stand down, Nonon," she commanded. Nonon shook her head, blasting off and Takarada took a flying leap, jumping on and yanking her hat over her eyes. They flew like crazy, slamming into the underground base of Nudist Beach, an explosion tore through the base, Nonon and Takarada were flown free, with two pink blurs tearing the air to pieces.
One was in a frilly Lolita-styled dress with a single dark blue eye and a scowl on her doll-like features, a pair of dainty hands white-knuckling a purple scissor blade. The other was my Nui, smiling smugly. They were both tired, both equally as injured as the other. Satsuki held me closer. She glared at the Lolita and the Lolita shot around my sister, who tried to intercept her reaching hand.
She grabbed me, and I could just see my sister's face and Satsuki's face twist into one of rage. Lolita's grip was cold, unforgiving.
"Let him go, Harime!" Satsuki ordered.
"Nuh-uh! Kazuma's perfect for Mama's plan! Consider this... insurance!" she snarled.
"You... you BITCH!" my sister roared, raising her blade and charging at us, I screwed my eye shut, I didn't feel anything. I landed in a heap, my mind woozy and my head feeling like it was going to split open. Nui had thrown herself onto her other half, bashing and punching her black and blue, landing back and throwing herself onto me.
"If you wanna hurt my brother, you're gonna have to kill me!" Nui snapped, being joined by Satsuki raising her blade, not noticing a red dirt bike with Ryuko Matoi speeding towards all of us with Mako riding pillion behind her. She skidded into a flying leap, slamming her front wheel into the clone's face, digging her into the ground.
She parked her bike, "Looks like Kobe and Kyoto are under Sleeping Beauty's control right there," I was barely able to raise my head. All I could do was keep my eyes closed and my head down. I was too tired to do anything. Kibonochi was silent, too tired to articulate anything. We were in the same boat, being cradled in my little sister's tight hug.
Satsuki stood, "Matoi,"
"Kiryuin," Matoi acknowledged, nodding. It seemed that they wanted to call it quits because Satsuki took the odd red glove off her right hand and chucked it at Matoi, who caught it and put it on. What we didn't know was that Clone Nui was back up and seething angrily. She loomed over me and stabbed her blade right by my head.
"Do you think if I cut him open, will he bleed red blood or gray strings? I'm hoping red blood... but~" she cooed, hefting it up and getting hit by a giant golden claw. Takarada raged in, his claws snapping.
"Hey now! Don'tcha be cuttin' up my brotha!" he snapped. I fell deeper into unconsciousness, god knows I needed it after all that happened today. After all the bullshit of being forced to stay away from all the action, the one day I do see it I'm stuck being passed out in my girlfriend's arms, then my sister's arms. What kind of day is this? Is it even a DAY?
Harime looked so feral, so cornered. She seethed and stalked, seeing Takarada, Kaguya, and I between her and Kazuma frustrated her to no end. Not only that, but Matoi sped in, making me reevaluate what happened. This wasn't my plan at all. This was one big cluster of plans crashing together into one big potpourri of misplacements and overzealous attacks.
Inumuta had to fight Ira, Harime fought Uzu, and Nonon fought Takarada. Kazuma's men were loyal and orderly, while we had been scrambling to catch up. Mostly due to Uzu and Ira switching sides on me. Now we all stood together, with Harime tied up and Nui putting on her clothes.
"I'm gonna infiltrate REVOCS and get the intel on what the hell Ragyo's goal with the COVERS is," she said, kicking her clone in the side. I smirked. My mother might not be able to tell the difference. Nui popped her eye out and pocketed it in her other pants. Yes, she won't tell the difference. Clone Nui looked up at me, "Satsuki! Please, lemme go! Please, listen to me!" she urged. I stared coldly down at her, shifting Kazuma towards myself.
"No. You've been talking for long enough, Harime," I snarled.
"Satsuki... we used to be so close! Our hearts and souls beat together! Doesn't that qualify as trust?" she asked.
"No, not after you hurt the man in my arms now with your silence. You could've stopped my mother, but you didn't," I reasoned.
Harime smiled, "Oh, okay... lemme think... have you checked if he's still breathing? How about the other me?" she asked. I blinked, it was true, Kazuma was lighter than usual... that's when the Kazuma in my arms disappeared into Life Fibers, wheeling away on the breeze. I looked over at the others, they were looking around like crazy until we heard a loud crash.
Kazuma, beaten and bloodied, fell out of the sky, his Kamui fading out of Ryuken. A team of REVOCS goons surrounded us.
"Everyone! Secure the rebels!" Harime ordered from her tied-up perch. She untied herself and Kazuma's sister fell out of the sky too, just as wounded as her big brother.
"Kazuma Kaguya and Nui Kaguya, for your crimes against the REVOCS corporation and Ragyo Kiryuin, I sentence you, Nui, to death!" Harime chirped, lovingly caressing Kazuma's chin, which I hated. I hated Harime. How dare she touch Kazuma! I unsheathed Bakuzan. My eyes narrowed, Matoi already had her blade raised and Takarada had his claws ready.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Don't interfere, my sweet Satsuki-chan!" she taunted, turning her lecherous attentions to my lover, who looked up at her with murder in his eye. She patted his head.
"Lucky for you, Kazzy, you get to survive all the bad things coming up! Mama has a really special plan for you! As for the rest of you, Osaka is about to become Takoyaki! So... Ta-ta!" she called. We all watched her go, with me giving chase. Like hell am I going to let Kazuma go again! But, Takarada stopped me.
"Satsuki! Calm yerself! We all gotta plan out our next move... Kazuma already knew that Harime was afta him!" he revealed.
"What?" I asked.
"He's tactical when he downs some liquor!" he informed.
I was enraged, my hands clenched my blade hilt. I needed to go back. Not for Kazuma, but... I needed to find out what was behind all this. There was no way my mother was- I flinched hard, white-hot knives of pain shot through my system. Junketsu Shizui took its toll. I resisted the urge to pass out, I needed to save Kazuma! I can't lose him! Not again!
We all saw Uzu and Ira return, with Ira enraged enough to make the ground shake. Uzu's kendo sword was snapped in half. Then, I felt something in my chest, something like a huge hot ball of molten... something. I started to sob, and everyone froze.
"Lady Satsuki?"
"Satsuki-chan?" Both Ira and Nonon piped up.
"Nnnh..." I groaned, trying to keep the floodgates from bursting. But I felt someone put their arm around my shoulders. I turned, expecting that wry smile, that gentle laugh, and those shining golden eyes that I wanted to see every single day. What I got was...
Matoi, "Listen, I know what it's like to lose people. An' I know we've been fightin' each other like no one's business. But seein' how close you and that Kazuma guy is... it makes me think of me and Mako," she stated, thumbing back to the bowl-cut wearing girl who was crying too. Kazuma told me a lot about Makanshoku, how he would always get her extra things and make sure her family wasn't without.
I steeled myself, "I need to return to the Manor, my mother is expecting a full report. Maybe I'll be able to get Kazuma out," I said. Takarada shook his head.
"Naw! You ain't goin' nowhere near there, Miss Dragon! There's no chance that you'd even see 'im..." he sighed.
"What makes you so sure?" I asked.
"I jus' know in my gut that... that Kazuma..."
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT HE WANTED THAT!" I snapped, interrupting him.
"I'm going, no matter what!" I snarled, my sword out and pointing at them all.
"I don't... I don't want to see Kazuma broken again... I want to save him, I want to hold him and tell him that she'll never come back, that she'll be dead and all there will be is... is us," I growled, tears still spilling.
"Kazuma, not ONCE. Ever wanted that. He was forced, coerced... Ira, Uzu, Nonon... you all will stay until you hear from me," I ordered.
"Hell no!" Nonon snapped.
"Yeah, we're comin' with!" Uzu agreed.
"I concur with Uzu and Nonon, we must go back to the Academy, she knows nothing of Uzu and I's betrayal," Ira rumbled.
"I have failed as Kazuma's guardian not once, not twice, but three times. I must atone by following you to the end," he continued.
It was cold. White and gray met me in the room. I didn't know where I was, and it seemed my body didn't want me to find out. I laid in a bed of sorts. My eye was barely open. All I remember is falling out of the sky. Then, ice-cold hands wrapped around me, roving my body.
"Why do you reject my love, Kazuma?" Ragyo asked, her lips close to my ear. That's when I was torn forcefully away from my Kamui, but he was torn up and threadbare, resting. I was numb, my eye barely open. I couldn't answer her.
"My sweet Kazuma... you love me, I know..." she crooned, kissing me. Ragyo molested me, her hands so cold and her body wrapped around me from behind. She always wanted this. She wanted me alone. She never cared about Satsuki, never cared about Harime, all she cared about was me.
"You're more than just my son, Kazuma... your resistance is so adorable thinking that they can change the natural cycle of the world. Do you truly think that you can stop me?" she wondered. I couldn't bring myself to answer. I couldn't answer. My voice was dead and gone, my throat was a wasteland of nothing. No sound. No-fuss. All I was. All I will be.
Is gone. The second I realized that I was in her arms again, I knew. I knew that she would never let me go again. I danced one last time with Satsuki. I danced and stumbled. I wanted to scream, to fight! But her arms were too strong, her love too intoxicating. Then, I let out a soul-piercing scream, one last act of defiance, I started to thrash.
'Get AWAY! GETAWAY! DON'T! DON'T!' I thought, trying to claw and fight my way out of her arms to save my sister and get the hell away! Nui needed me! Satsuki needed me! Everyone needed me! Ragyo pinned me to her bed, restraining my arms and hands. I thrashed even fiercer, trying to extract myself from her arms.
"Shh, don't struggle, it's alright, my dear," she whispered into my ear. I started to cry, that's all I could do as she ravaged my body, tearing down my defenses. Ragyo was no woman. She was a force of nature. She forced her tongue into my mouth, silencing me, leaving me breathless and gasping as she went down on me, tearing my mind to pieces with her domination.
I couldn't fight, I couldn't run, her legs and arms were wrapped tight around me. My face buried in her chest, silencing me further. All I knew...
Was silence.
A.N: Hey guys, this is the end of the Koi arc! The next update will be somewhere around Spring Break! I bumped it up to M because things are about to get dark. Anyway, please review with any questions, concerns, comments, whatever the hell you please.
