Fingers plunged into a grayed bluff jacket, a smattering of snow in the air, she rarely witnessed him wearing civvies. She caught his watching the scarf tied around her neck, the only part of Senketsu she thought to bring. He didn't mind her short tresses, their free fall from a skullcap, never oily.
"So this is Greenland?" Ryuko breathed out. "It kinda sucks."
"You said fly you somewhere new." Son could only see ice and more ice. "Sheesh! It's freezing!"
She let herself smirk, keeping close, but not going so far as to grab him.
"Needed to leave Honno City. Hell. Japan even," she said and she meant it.
Seeing the fleece on her coat and jeans Son thought the downtime worked. Ryuko abandoned angst, much of her change in attitude having to do with it. With him. She thought his air a cynic's remedy.
"I can't say sorry enough," she gave him the eye.
"You don't have to. We're alright," he assured her. "Fighting that Nui chick made me realize something. I'll be prepared next time."
"Back on the training kick, eh?" she said.
"What other choice do we have?" he shrugged.
They wandered on the hike hoping to find a vista worth capturing. Son watched a slate-tinged sky watching him back.
"You're thinking I plan to hunt the broad down?" Ryuko said, inattentive, kicking slush from her shoe.
"We should. Fighting her was a blast!" he said cheerfully.
"Then what?" she glanced.
"We beat her and...who knows," he quieted down.
She didn't get what to make of him. She wanted to. "There is an endgame. Wish I knew what it was. Knowing what happened to dad, who's responsible makes me...I mean, I should be pissed but I'm not. Sure I'd like to tear her a new one but there's a sort of, I don't know, peace, in knowing the truth? Maybe I've officially lost it."
They discovered a lake with a thick sheet hiding what may have thrived beneath it.
"I'm glad you're better," Son said.
"You say that now," Ryuko smiled needing to check how he would react. "What if I flip again?"
"Mako'll bring you back," he said like it was fact. "Or I will."
His gaze abandoned nature to see her staring off, until she didn't.
"I'll always be around," he said simply.
A moment of vulnerable softened her tough.
"Yeah," she said. "And always a headache."
He smiled at the thought, took a gander at where they were.
"Man it's alotta snow out here," he said.
"Sure is," she said.
They wore gloves but Son didn't question her taking his hand. He gripped it, glad at her being so close, so relaxed. Ryuko watched his mouth. Then his wide open gape.
"Thanks, Son," she humbled herself. "For always being you."
"Anytime," he said.
Hand in hand their short journey had plenty to do with banter. It went as far as they would.
x.x.x
Night was the perfect antidote. She felt as she should: on top again. Far beneath her, students allowed to go filled her militia's trucks that would take them to their assignments.
"Three years of study here at Honnoji Academy!" Arms out her hands topped the highest end of her weapon. "This battle is the first step towards realizing our ambitions!"
Nature's breath kept hair out of her face though some strands of it grazed her jaw. Coolness touched wherever a depowered Junketsu and thigh-high boots didn't.
"I have but one word to bestow upon you. Win!" she said at the top of her lungs. "Honnoji Academy Tri-City Schools Raid Trip...roll out!"
Engines revved at a specific position and swerved off at the same rate. Order was key. The grounds, under heavy renovation, were as busied as the top of her main building. Uniformed pawns parted to let her reach its sole helipad.
"We're going, Soroi," she said.
Satsuki's strut was to get on with it.
"Yes, Milady," he answered.
Soroi could see something else. Apprehension. Though ambition was there he doubted she wanted to end her night in the throes of conflict. Twice in the same day, he never bothered to ask.
x.x.x
Behind closed doors Ryuko shed what she wore for the day spinning to see Son turned around so she could change. Less inclined to feel shame he stripped free of a thicker cloth. His well muscled torso under their one bulb light could accentuate every line. Ryuko took full advantage. The change in sculpt happened whenever his arms tensed; she bet he could crush a car between them. Stepping from her jeans, cheeks red as a beet, she shook her head, glanced for her fingers.
"We should make some hot cocoa or, whatever," she quickly thought.
"Didn't think we had any left," he said.
Son finally slipped his favorite set on. Shaking on the floor their space heater, the loudest thing in the shack, was an odd quirk not needing to be fixed. He stopped by their rusted stove and the bottled waters stacked next to it, some for boiling or drinking as the only sink was in the bathroom. He focused like his place wasn't in a kitchen because it wasn't. Filling a pot he was careful not to break the new knob she recently purchased. Adjusted to a suitable heat a burner sparked. Seeing him able to handle such things brought her a bout with thinking it funny. She buttoned her pajama shirt always leaving two free at the top. Her bra not a push up let it appear as naturally full as it was.
"Mako really left you chocolates and dandelions!" Son stuffed a few into his face. "Mmmm. Pretty good!"
"Are you even gonna drink this crap?" Ryuko smirked.
"Nah," he said.
As he was one to he crossed his legs when he sat on the floor, sifting through the basket in his lap to find another treat.
"These almond ones are great!"
"Tch."
Ryuko took her cup with her to the bathroom. A knock on the door stopped her shuffle to it, Son's eating junk, and stirred Senketsu from his slumber.
"I got it," Son said, on his feet.
When he opened the door the figure cloaked in shadow made no sudden moves. It simply offered an option. An envelope damp at its four edges in his hand when Son looked again the one that brought it ceased to be.
"Who was it?" Ryuko asked on the move.
Son closed their door, mugging as he held it out.
"It's for you I think," he said, and he waited.
Feeling her woolly pajamas on his skin he let her press her lean against him. They both wondered.
"... It's saying we both need to be present at this address by tomorrow afternoon," she read. "... Why Osaka though?"
"Say. That looks just like Mister Mikisugi's handwriting," he noticed.
As Ryuko glanced from his lips back to letters telling her nothing she chose to acknowledge it. The dead silence outdoors, and suddenly in, was no good omen.
x.x.x
She didn't mean to boost Mako's scooter as much as they had to. The canal they found on the outskirts of a ruined Osaka wasn't just rundown and abandoned. Ryuko set her sneaker against the brake, kicking the scooter's stand out, feeling Son's arms leaving her waist and belly but wanting him to hold on longer.
"Ooooo. In the middle of nowhere. Creepy looking. This is the spot!" Mako chirped like she knew, arms still around Son's neck as they forget he carried her for the duration.
He barely felt her weight to scrutinize the only tunnel in the way. They didn't yet dare it.
"Underground," he said. "What do you think, Ryuko?"
"I think this bs better be worth the trip," she said not in the mood.
"... If you wanna back out, I'd understand," he said and he considered when she chose to look.
An eternity passed in her making him her focal point with his not shying from it.
"I got it! You two just have to do your weird sensory stuff," Mako waved her fingers.
"Sensory stuff?" Ryuko's eyebrow raised.
"You know. Feeling the cold in the air. How it changes. How it makes the spot over Son's butt crack tickle."
"How did you know about ...?" Son didn't finish.
He shook his head to chuckle.
{There is something ominous about the request.}
"Ugh! Not you too!" Ryuko griped shooting an eye at her scarf's.
{I didn't say it was troublesome.}
She took point, ready to go, ready to do anything. The tunnel's catwalk less inviting they couldn't see through the canal water's being so dirty. Ever so often Son had to reach for Mako's almost falling over the railing.
"Stay close to me," Ryuko said not going so far as to take him by the hand.
The impasse they came to offered one way left, one way right. Catching them off guard the wall across where they stood separated itself. Like the tunnel, it wasn't lit, and like the tunnel, it appeared in the form of nothing they wanted to step through.
x.x.x
She had fewer students than when the day started. Opposing schools were resourceful, their tech, a problem. It would have been worse if she wasn't so proficient at guiding her Bakuzan. When they fired ionized beams each shot bounced from curves they could see, the hard to spot turns of her wrists. She cleaved through a cannon burst and didn't watch it split into two vaporizing a swath of less useful grunts to her back. Moving for the source and shoving her blade through its front she kicked a tank across fire and brimstone.
"Imbeciles!" she yelled, stabbing down, cutting out so hard the ground ripped open.
The sea of bodies rolled over metal scraps slipping into it never to be seen again.
"Lady Satsuki!" one of the last standing called.
She turned for Gamagori's new regalia; bulkier, of whites, rigid golds, she didn't expect it to be looming over her.
"Join the others Gamagori. Your uniform's abilities would be of more use to them," she said.
"We have routed the remaining schools forces, per your orders," he said, taking a knee.
She didn't miss Nonon's zipping back and forth in her upgrade, Sanageyama's sliding to a halt, and Inumuta's gleaming brighter than anything his computer could conjure.
"Excellent. Return to the Academy at once," Satsuki kept her back turned.
"We would never leave your side," Sanageyama said.
"Mister monkey hit the nail on the head...for once," Nonon said, her woofer-thrusters keeping her suspended while making too much noise.
"Honno City is vulnerable every second we linger here," Satsuki's eyes closed.
Nearby flame left the area warm but not as warm as Junketsu letting off fatigue she didn't feel. She didn't sweat for it. She didn't sweat for anything.
"Do this for me because I am asking as your peer. Not your superior," was all she said.
Her walking off in no rush said nothing more, and she didn't, flicking the stains from her blade, keeping it held away from the skin of her hip. Wanting to disobey her Elite Four froze as they didn't know whether they should or not.
x.x.x
"I wish we brought a picnic basket!" Mako marveled for the view.
For all of their teacher's bluster the headquarters really was an underground resort, complete with a sparkling grotto and white sands dipping for clearer waters. Ryuko didn't snicker for any of it. Not even the men and women going this way and that scantily clad in shoulder and waist holsters for their firearms with nothing else.
"A den of freaks," she turned her nose up. "You sure my dad had anything to do with you people?"
"That mouth won't win you friends, Matoi," Tsumugu walked up with Mikisugi's nonchalance.
"It won me these two. They're all I need for whatever's next," she retorted.
And she watched Mikisugi's shaking hands with Son, Tsumugu doing nothing of the sort, and Mako wondering if their holsters were fabric or some bizarre latex she wanted to finger.
"A cooler head, Matoi. You'll need it," Mikisugi stopped before her.
She rolled her eyes for his nipples shining like neon orbs she didn't care to see, pointing her blade tip for his nose just in case he thought to inch closer.
"This is the part where you tell me what the hell we're doing here," she said.
Mikisugi waited for his comrade's glance. "... Your father organized a task force to counter the ACTUAL threat. Something to aid you and Son in a unique way. Subterfuge, sabotage, traps, guerrilla style tactics. Where are we standing? It's all that's left after the Raid Trip."
"What does that even mean?" Ryuko said.
As a group they took in the rabble, headed for the water's edge.
"Satsuki and the Elite Four," Tsumugu finally said. "It's likely she knows where this location is. The only part of the Kansai region not blown to bits."
Ryuko gripped her blade harder, not yet fuming. It took Son's placing a hand on her shoulder and Senketsu's eye keeping still.
"Fortune favors you, Matoi," they all heard her say.
Satsuki took her time not put off by the cocking of too many weapons and the rolling of multi-tiered machines to box her in. Her pointed shoulder pads set on their target, she held her weapon just as close, lifting her chin.
"I'm all alone. Now is your chance," she smiled to rub it in.
"You got some nerve bitch!" Ryuko barked.
Outside of her frustration it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop with her friends awaiting her next decision. She surprised anyone to see it when she relaxed her shoulders.
"I'm not gonna kick your ass for me," she said, waiting for her eyes to open. "But you better believe I will for them."
"You tell her Ryuko!" Mako pouted ready to see her do just that.
{We can defeat her. Together.}
"I know. Somehow it isn't me just sayin' that for once," she grinned, and she glanced for Son as she knew what he could do. "Clear everyone out of here."
"On it," Son nodded.
It wasn't just Mikisugi and Tsumugu following his lead. Satsuki never took her stare from his because she knew what his wrist cuffs and gi meant to not just her enemy. She put on her usual coldness to forget it. Scrambling to gather needed tech, bipedal machines programmed to carry some of them off in heavy steps, Mako stood the odd girl out when everyone else was in a hurry. Her fascination never left their emblem plastered on almost every surface; an outline of underpants made of the letters NDB inside red circles with x's over each. All focus shot to Ryuko's change, limber metal straps hitting her skin to squeeze blowing sand from the space under her boots. When she dropped to them she was anxious for it.
"Here's what Kiryuin. You get to live a while longer. I want you to see what happens next," she smiled like the cards were in her favor.
"... Let us see how you fare then," Satsuki said.
When she blinked Ryuko was there, her blade testing hers, the result chipping away at less durable warehouses cracking from the foundation and beyond. Working to leave was harder with the rock detaching from the cavern. It shook if ever the two met. Ryuko's next swing tossed Satsuki high but another was stopped to sever a line by her neck as she leaned from it.
"Senketsu Shippu!" she cried stopping her fall.
Satsuki never had the chance to drop as Ryuko rammed her with the force of a sidewinder missile to drive her through it.
"AHNNH!" Satsuki winced at her head opening the ground above.
Turning over once, then twice, she smacked her boots to dust, one arm out to push away the barrage of Ryuko moving just as fast.
"C'mon! Make it interesting Student Council President!" she provoked past the sparks hitting her face. "Haahhhhh!"
An end to her attempt caved the earth beneath toes that were no longer touching it. Osaka burning in the distance nowhere near as pertinent, neither took the moment to let their guard down.
{It seems we have gotten stronger.}
"You're damn right we...have!" she struggled.
Satsuki chose to double grip her blade, clenching teeth she flashed for Ryuko's not bending.
"You are nothing but an impudent child feigning tough! Not...READY in the least!" she spat.
"Said...the spoiled...overconfident BRAT!" Ryuko returned.
Forcing her off Satsuki didn't miss a beat when she blitzed, her attacks less wild, which suited her love for precision. Carried along her heels Ryuko spun away what she could or shifted from the air being cut as it snapped at her living armor and not her flesh. Slamming her chest with her blade's pommel Satsuki watched her opponent rupture the first floor of a building on its last leg, then another to bring it down around her ears.
x.x.x
Son tired of seeing nature reduced to ash. Scorched skies mingling with blacks from the smoke and orange as dusk drew near. Despite the chill he thanked Mako's being with him, Tsumugu and Mikisugi armed to the teeth behind her, and if they couldn't spot where Satsuki and Ryuko were, he could. All of them could hear the sky popping.
"Mankanshoku!"
When they turned to see the deep voice it wasn't alone. Gamagori brought Sanageyama, Inumuta and Nonon along. The lines drawn no one closed the gap that was left.
"You dare support your friend's reckless behavior!" he hollered behind his imposing helmet.
Mako took her place ahead of Son to leer. "Me?! Lady Satsuki attacked us!"
"If you push this it won't end well for you," Son cut in.
"Idiot! This is all your fault! Brainwashing her into thinking you're worth the hassle," Sanageyama said and like Gamagori's his regalia shined as much as it overshadowed the rest.
"What's the play, Son?" Mikisugi readied himself.
Their first line of defense Son stood his ground letting the wind carry his hair but not his scowl. They couldn't see why charred dirt rose to circle him at its own pace. It didn't touch his cleaned top, nor his skin, pressured to tense as it was, it burst into smaller bits just as suddenly.
"Let the two of them sort it out," he warned. "I'll take on all four of you if I have to."
"My, my. Transfer student's boyfriend has a pair on him," Nonon couldn't help but jest. "Still envious of the facts, Sanageyama?"
"Son's got the skills to pay the bills! Of COURSE he is!" Mako poked her tongue out.
"Shut up! This isn't about being better than anyone anymore," Sanageyama saved face.
"We don't have to fight you, Son Goku. I've gathered enough data to know it would be futile," Inumuta was frank.
Son couldn't see through the transfiguring suit coating him in layers he thought were too synthetic. It was immaterial. Inumuta's words sufficed to change everyone's tune.
x.x.x
Ryuko felt her back folding in dark, wrought iron. Rolling off missed Satsuki's slicing through it, how they got to the lattice tower something neither cared to question. Her bones rattled when her blade smacked another, again, and again on the fall back to a ground they couldn't see from their place in the clouds. Any in the way tore apart twisting with them, not so quick to reform.
"Is this the extent of your new worth, Matoi?!" Satsuki grimaced.
"Shut! The hell! UP!" Ryuko snapped.
On the twirl she flung her blade into Satsuki's riposte. Tall claws popping from her wrists ready she turned her waist to throw her left hand with her right cutting past Satsuki's defense. She shoved her heel into a firm gut hearing the whistle as their drop hastened. Junketsu's eye fired a pronged hook opening the skin of her cheek, and her arms arched to return the favor. It was too late for her attempt as Satsuki's back opened cement, the highest level then the second lowest, finally stopping for a first floor with nothing but cracks and the dampened pain of the impact.
Ryuko shot a glance to see her blade planted in the ground some ways off. Springing from Satsuki's long legs when they spun she dove for it snatching it loose, remaining in her crouch. Swinging it out stopped metal carving past her to open one wall at two ends. Her lungs burning with each breath she noticed Satsuki's heavy bosom moving back and forth, how she didn't peek at how everything behind her violently flattened.
"This was what?" Ryuko caught her breath. "Another ploy to piss me off? It won't work!"
Satsuki kept the sharp edge of her blade about face. If anything her turned, bent-knee stance left no way in. The clamor not so bothersome anymore it was the dead silence that came after.
"Wrong again, Matoi," she said like it wasn't so pressing.
Ryuko stood on her own two, her blade grip in both hands and keeping a straight line to protect her middle. The armor tips poking from her hair felt hot to the touch, not unlike her whole body. The sensation was different. Pleasant. She exhaled for how good it felt.
{What should we do?}
"That's up to her," she said with renewed calm.
Satsuki's longer locks chasing the wind it was easy to hear the crackle of the fires she helped start. She was fast. Too fast. When her motion stopped Ryuko heard the slide of metal against stone as three, towering structures not within arm's reach were cut in two. She turned surprise to her enemy standing still like she didn't move at all.
"RYUKOOOOO!" she heard Mako shout.
Not wanting to take her eyes from Satsuki the small feet pattering at her back were a sound she wanted. Mako brought Son with her, Mikisugi and Tsumugu with guns in hand. As curious was Satsuki's Elite Four lining to her rear in depowered garments she could tell were recent. She puffed her exposed chest out, keeping her weapon held to her fore.
"We can do this all day," Ryuko ran her mouth.
Even Satsuki's sheathing her weapon opposed her brash; slowed, calculated, of perfect symmetry.
"The Nudist Beach is no more. I've accomplished everything I set out to do," she said. "Son. Things are not always what they seem. If she refuses to understand this, I assume you will."
Son walked for a spot between differing methods. "We want the whole story. I ain't so sure I can cool her jets anymore."
Satsuki denied herself a smile because smiling hurt. She hated the fluttering in her stomach. She hated that he was the cause. Her chopper's rotor blades getting louder it was a sight to see Soroi standing by its exit ramp, balanced, despite the air rushing in to knock him back. It touched down. No one moved.
"Miss!" he had to raise his voice.
Her Elite Four separated to allow her through, bowing as was their custom. When they could follow her they chose to. Junketsu reverting to a less hardened state Mako watched Senketsu mimic the intent. Satsuki not all the way aboard she stood firm to demonstrate why she outshined even the stars. She put her foot down.
"Do not think this an ill gotten victory, Matoi!" she said.
As her point was made her ride sealed her in.
{We did it.}
"Without me losing it," Ryuko sighed her relief. "And she still strikes a pose like none of it mattered. Tch. Figures."
{Everyone's survival is the important thing.}
When she turned to see the result it left her humbled.
"Except everyone didn't make it," she muttered. "This can't happen anywhere else."
The glove over her left hand a seki-tekko, she brought it up to stare in wonder as she didn't feel when it drew her blood anymore. Her skirt tickled her thighs, like her fringes swaying against her brow. She had her strengths. She had friends. She had him. Son took a place at her side to try a different kind of bold. His hand felt as rough as her uniform when it slid along hers. They didn't laugh for Mako's bug eyed staring like it wasn't their norm because it was. Ryuko squeezed his touch, unashamed to.
"Thanks for keeping her safe," she said.
Turning to face Mikisugi and Tsumugu's quiet she wasn't about to let Son's hand go.
"What now?" she added.
"Satsuki did as she said. She took out our hideouts. Not our people." Mikisugi slicked some of the shiny mousse in his hair back. "A lot of the equipment is still intact. Mostly."
"Then it's settled! We take it to 'em with everything we've got!" Mako said. "I gotta protect my mom, my dad, my snot nosed brother. And Guts. And everyone one in Honno City! And my bottle cap collection!"
Her soft brown eyes lost their warmth.
"... You're all insane. Her especially," Tsumugu grumbled.
"INSANITY IS RELATIVE!" Mako stared for his backing down.
"Mako's got something at stake too. If she wants to help she's gonna," Son said.
He felt Mako squeezing his arm as he angled himself from her as best he could.
{Is there something you want to say, Ryuko?}
Ryuko felt at her sailor fuku. She was pleased that it was in one piece.
"I'm done talking," she put on resolve. "Mako's right. Enough is enough with the games."
x.x.x
The problem wasn't her bathhouse with its diamond encrusted walls and overabundance of space. She let the towel wrapping her hair and body be, glad that she was alone, at last. She didn't realize how sore she was until she dipped a toe into a hot spring and flinched when it stung. Braving it she let her cover drop, wading in. She sighed for the stiffness melting away from her hips to her neck.
"How does she do it? How can I?" she whispered surprising herself in thinking it too bright when her eyes opened.
"I had no doubt the Raid Trip would be a complete success," her visitor said.
"Mother," Satsuki gasped.
Her arms wrapped her bare chest as if by instinct. Ragyo always surpassed her in confidence. She always wore a smug smile because she knew she did. The seven scars on her back not seen like her hourglass figure Satsuki wondered if she ever blinked a day in her life. Watching her take her time made her skin crawl.
"The Great Culture and Sports Festival can wait for its Student Council President. You'll need to be at your best," she said.
"... Yes mother," Satsuki's gaze lowered.
Ragyo eased herself next to her, starting with her hair. She unwound the wrap holding it over her shoulders.
"It excites you, doesn't it?" she said. "... Or is your enthusiasm for something else? Someone else."
Her daughter relaxed, trying to, her back against a warm edge. Her mother knew precisely where and how to touch. Blocking it out didn't stop her quiver. Ragyo never rushed anything, cupping her daughter's breasts and pinching softly at their erect centers.
"Saiyans. Life Fibers. Kamui against Kamui. I forget your youth. That you've never been with a man. Less so with one as intoxicating. Such is a rare thing. Cherish it. Know that your mother shares your burden."
As if by design Ragyo worked her hand between her daughter's thighs. Satsuki didn't know whether the tear she shed was for the worst kind of discomfort or the best kind of pleasure.
"Poor child. So deprived," Ragyo smiled for her squirming. "All of that will change with his arrival. The true climax of what COVERS will be. We will bind the heavens, the earth, mankind, covering all."
Feeling wet fingers stroke in places no daughter's mother ever should Satsuki submitted to the tingle, the faster rush of her blood. Her aching body went limp it was no longer listening to her. The euphoria only producing shame she clenched her shut eyes tighter, hoping. Any thoughts of him she wanted to be rid of, especially then. There was no denying why.
"Your next objective is a simple one," Ragyo whispered next to her ear. "Bring me Son Goku. Alive."