Kamaitachi Chronicles

By: Aviantei

Thirteen

I had been just prepared enough that I stopped my breath before inhaling whatever nasty chemical concoction my attacker had prepared for me. In a maneuver that Rito had taught me, I drove my elbow back into my assailant's gut, earning a mix of grunt and gasp. I tried to snatch onto the attacker's arm, hoping to leave them with a broken bone, but they managed to break free. From the tenseness of muscle I'd felt beneath the thin fabric of their sleeve in the few seconds I'd had a hold on them, it wasn't that hard to guess why.

This person's pretty strong. I mean, yeah, I figured they'd be decent given that they murdered a few people, but that's a bit more than I expected.

Well, it wasn't like I was unused to fighting with a size disadvantage, anyways. Plus, I was learning from Rito, who was a prime example of how to kick ass against people who were bigger in size. I could manage.

I spun around to face my assailant, hoping to get a few clues we could use to track the suspect down in the off chance they got away. They were dressed in dark colors, from their long-sleeved shirt all the way to their shoes—enough to give some cover in the dark, but not enough to be outright suspicious. They'd also chosen to don a mask, which sort of ruined the effect, but did also give them the advantage of not being easily identifiable. Even with that barrier, their muscles twitched in a way that I recognized as a sign of fight vs. flight instincts debating with each other.

And then they reached behind their back and pulled out a rather nasty knife, so it wasn't hard to guess which conclusion they'd come to.

I reached into my own pocket for my scythe capsule at the same time that my attacker rushed forward, the blade of their weapon reflecting half orange glow of the streetlamps, half darkness. I clicked my tongue, dodging out of the way, not appreciating that I could feel the swipe of wind ripple past my face. That was an attack I didn't want to take.

Not having enough safe ground to pull off my transmutation without a possible error, I ducked low and swept a kick along the ground, knocking my assailant down. They twisted their body enough to bring the tip of their knife headed straight for my calf. I shifted enough to avoid a debilitating blow, but the blade did slip right through my pants and open up a thin yet burning wound across my skin. That thing was fucking sharp!

As I wasn't a fan of leaving open a prime opportunity to get an even worse injury, I lifted my unharmed leg and aimed a kick right at my opponent's head. They chose to dodge, slinking away and back onto their feet. I performed a roll to the side of my own (a maneuver that Rito had all but made essential with how many times she'd knocked me to the ground), using the momentum to push myself up with one hand and retrieving my capsule with the other.

I didn't need too big of a tossing arc to set off the transmutation, so it was just a little bit of will and a quick flick of the wrist that brought my scythe to the forefront. I even had enough time to give it a twirl, though it was the one-bladed version. Then again, did I need more than one blade to come across as intimidating?

Not likely.

If my opponent was once again considering the pros and cons of fighting me, I didn't bother to give them the chance. When it came to knife vs. scythe, I had the range advantage, and I took it. My attacker had enough awareness to step back and parry a few blows, but I managed to score a hit against their side. Much like my own wound, it was a thin and shallow thing, but it was still damage.

Whatever the enemy was thinking, they picked up the pace, working on trying to knock my scythe back, and I continued on the offensive, wondering if I could wear them down. I wasn't sure how likely that was, considering that they had more muscle than I did, so it wasn't too hard for them to counter my blows without staggering. Letting them make it into close range wasn't the ideal situation, even with Rito's training.

But with my attack range, I should have more than enough to stay safe.

I took another horizontal swing, but my assailant managed to wedge their knife right in the spot where blade met pole, halting my attack. Getting ready to recoup, I went to pull back, but my enemy pushed forward. With their force combined with my own movements, my scythe went back way farther than I'd planned, and my left hand slipped off the handle as my right arm flew back. I prepared to use a pirouette move to help cover my vital spots for when my opponent charged—but instead they drew their free hand back and then forward again in a delicate, smooth movement.

Any thoughts cut off in favor of a curse spilling out of my mouth, along with pain ripping along the front of my shoulder. My fingers fumbled thanks to their newfound sense of numbness, and it was the reflection of streetlamp on metal once again that made it clear what had just happened.

The fucker threw a knife at me!

It wasn't as big as the weapon I'd been squaring off against, but it didn't have to be. That little knife was just as sharp, and, thanks to it landing a successful hit, it hurt way more than my last injury. The adrenaline was almost enough to dull even the sound of my scythe causing a racket as it tumbled to the road, and then my body and mind clicked into survival mode.

Fleeing might have been an option, but I, like my attacker, decided to stick with the fight. Tearing the knife out could have the risk of too much blood loss, so I left that alone, too. I charged in as soon as I caught my bearings, trying to aim for surprise and hoping to disarm them. I succeeded on the first part, striking at their arm, but my enemy's grip was way stronger than mine, and the knife stayed in their palm.

Recovering from my surprise blitz, my enemy swiped back at me. I managed to dodge, but my injured arm was getting number, limiting my counterattacking and movement in a way I wasn't a fan of. I tried one more time to get in a punch, and, while I managed to hit, I earned just a grunt. Either they were tougher than I could manage, or I didn't have enough reliable strength behind my blows, and I didn't like either of those options.

I kept my eyes out for the next slice to come my way, but my attacker's left hand shot up instead, smacking right into their throwing knife—which I recognized in retrospect thanks to the shit ton of pain that raced through my nerves as a result. I went to protect the wound, hissing all the while. Since I was wide open, my opponent came in for another big slash, and I stumbled backwards, avoiding a fatal wound but smacking into the ground as a result.

More pain joined everything else, and I was aware of a warm patch of blood forming around my stomach, too, but the next priority became rolling the fuck out of the way of my attacker's foot as they tried to trap me in place. Every inch of my body was in the middle of hating me, while my enemy was making a quick pursuit to follow after me, their free hand wandering into their pocket, likely for another throwing knife.

Fuck. That.

Trying not to be the most obvious target I could me, I tried to keep moving, shoving my hand into my own pocket. I managed to find the notch in the paper of the circle I was looking for and pulled it out, shifting into a sitting position as best I could. My injured arm was way less cooperative, but I managed to slap my hands together and get in the transmutation.

The entire road shifted, tons of light from the alchemy flashing as my opponent stumbled and one of the knives dinged against the now upturned stone. I took a moment to breathe and assess where I was, then dived towards my scythe. The moment the metal hit my palm, a rush of relief joined in with the adrenaline and every other jumbled feeling coursing through me, even if I didn't have as much confidence in wielding it with just the one arm.

Doesn't matter. Make it happen, Caiman.

My title may have been new, but I was still a State Alchemist who had passed based on combat merit. I wasn't about to lose to some random asshole in a fight.

I kept an eye on my opponent as they worked to get back to their feet. The now uneven and broken ground made the process difficult, and I took advantage of that to make a swing, catching the back of their knee with my scythe's blade. I didn't have anywhere enough strength to pull off something like amputating their leg at the joint, but the hiss of pain was plenty indication that I'd still made an effective cut instead. My attacker stumbled back down, their combat knife clattering away to the ground, and I felt myself grin through the slight dizziness starting to affect me.

And then they grabbed onto the middle of my scythe and yanked me forward.

I tried to use the momentum to score a headbutt, but my enemy was much quicker, jabbing a rock-hard fist right into my gut. Every ounce of breath vacated my lungs in an instant, and I almost didn't register that I'd been grappled and pinned to the ground, a halo of orange around the dark shadow of my attacker's mask. There was a glint of silver as they ripped their throwing knife out of my shoulder, and I couldn't even begin to fumble around for my scythe since they'd pinned my hands down with their knees. My own blood dripped off the small blade.

I already knew it was more than sharp enough to slit my throat. My own heartbeat and breaths created a cacophony in my ears, but I could have sworn I heard a satisfied chuckle—though I could've just as easily been imagining it.

What I didn't imagine, however, was the gunshot.

The sound was like every memory of a firecracker going off I had overlapped at once, and then more. My attacker started, their hand stilled in a very precarious position for my health. I tried to blink the forming spots out of my eyes, but the rubble combined with my spot on the ground made it difficult to tell what was going on. Judging by the lack of injury on my assailant, though, the gunfire had been a warning shot.

There were voices—something sounding authoritative and like the start of negotiations. It was getting harder to tell what the hell was going on; I didn't think I'd lost enough blood, but I might have had my head bashed too hard against the ground. Even though I wanted to do something, I couldn't even keep my eyes open, let alone pull off any combat maneuvers. Rito would have made me do extra drills for sure…

"…Oh, shit, it's Caiman! Hey, Caiman, can you hear me? Come on. Caiman!"

Rito…?

I forced myself to pull open my eyes, though falling asleep sounded great—no, wait, passing out after getting hit in the head was bad, wasn't it? At first my vision was blurry, but I blinked as best I could to clear it up. At some point, my attacker had been navigated off of me, given that I was still breathing. Instead, the uniformed shape of Rito was beside me in the dark, and I thought I could make out Kain not too far away, too.

I blacked out there for a minute. How much time did I lose? If I lost track of time for even a bit, it screwed everything up.

"I'm gonna sit you up, Caiman. We gotta wrap you up."

Even if I wanted to complain, I didn't feel lucid enough to get the words out. Gentle arms worked their way underneath me, and Kain—yes, that was Kain—helped Raito prop me up. My already throbbing skull got worse, and a groan tumbled out of my lips, while a pounding blocked out the rest of the sounds around me. Rito and Kain were pulling off a rather coordinated effort at tearing away any loose fabric of my now shredded clothes from my wounds. I tried looking around to figure out the rest of the situation, but spots in my vision combined with the dark weren't doing me any favors. Moaning in pain wasn't going to help me, either, so I tried to turn that into words.

"Did we…get them?"

"Caiman, you've gotta be kidding me right now," Rito said. I couldn't say if I succeeded at conveying that I wasn't kidding in my glare, but Rito sighed anyways, her hands never stopping moving. "Yes, we caught them. Ugh, you better wipe that smile off your face, kid. Do you even realize what kind of trouble you put yourself in?"

A necessary amount. I had a feeling Rito wouldn't like that answer, though, so I kept my mouth shut. All things considered, I technically outranked her, right? She could be upset all she wanted. It didn't change the fact that I'd ended their stupid stalemate. Rito let out a louder sigh as she finished tying off a temporary set of gauze around my stomach. "Fuery, you keep an eye on Caiman before I do something stupid. I'm gonna go see how we're doing on getting transport out of here."

Kain nodded, and that movement was enough for me to catch the worried expression on his face. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was coming up with twenty different ways this was his fault. Really, he'd done all he could, considering.

Like I'd said, forgetting wasn't something I could do. It just so happened that knowing where to go was a side effect of that.

Not being able to ignore the stern expression of the person approaching me was another one.

It was funny how the addition of a dark jacket over his uniform could change the impact his arrival made, but it was enough for me to pause. After all, Rito aside, there was one person who did outrank me, and he didn't look happy in the slightest.

"Well now, Caiman," Mustang said as he crouched down in front of me, "I'd like to hear your very good explanation for what you're doing here."

[Author's Notes]

There are consequences for your poor decisions, Caiman.

Thanks to BethxAngel and VictorianMustafa for the favorites and follows since last chap! Take this extra upload in celebration of this fic's ancient anniversary! Tune in next time for more consequences!

Atm I'm posting stuff for Aviantei (for Shaman King), walk steady on this cruel world's path (for Kimetsu no Yaiba/Demon Slayer), and my Saplings collection for [Twelve Shots of Summer], so those are current priorities. I do plan on rewatching FMAB this year, so maybe that'll spawn some more progress, though I make no promises considering how hectic my brain has been. Do know I have some rough versions of upcoming chapters, though, and they will see the light of day!

-Avi

[06.06.2021]