Love Hina: Once Again

Fifteen

The demons charged forward, howling their fury as the dozens of misshapen beasts bubbled up from the broken seal in a old shrine in the middle of Tokyo. The night was lit up by a ugly red glow as the demons tore apart construction equipment and the remains of the old seal stone. The evacuation was going as quickly as possible, the members of the Phantom Quest Corp and the local police pulling people out of nearby homes just in case.

"Move, move!" Kitsune yelled as she guided people out of the probable danger zone, silently cursing the construction company that had called her only a hour before they knocked the old shrine over a day early. She had warned them that something was sealed away under there, but could they listen to her? Of course not!.

"Come with me, ma'am," Anthy bodily picked up the granny as they hurried away from the demon gate, her purple hair flowing as her short skirt seemed to shimmer, becoming a longer dress before shrinking once more.

Ema blinked in surprise, wondering how such a small woman could be so strong, then decided to worry about it later as she stuck another talisman on the wall. Using her cellphone she reported, "I've placed the wards, Miss Hino!"

"Thanks, and just call me Rei," she answered as she snapped the phone shut, chanting softly as she activated the talismans. In seconds they sealed three sides of the area the monsters were emerging from, leaving them one avenue to move. She looked at Kitsune, "It's ready."

Kitsune dialed her phone, watching the creatures charge off before saying seriously, "They're on their way. Be careful, okay?"

Rei still wasn't sure about trusting this to Motoko and the other swords women, but she was reassured to know there was backup around if needed. Ami would have already called the other Sailor Senshi and the Outers about this, and she had also called Kagome too. Inu Yasha probably wouldn't get along well with Sailor Moon, but she was confident they could work together in a crisis.

"They're coming," Motoko flipped the phone shut as she hefted her wooden blade, the air around the black haired young woman shimmering with power.

"I know," Utena Tenjou agreed as the pink haired woman took up a dueling stance, her ornate sword held at the ready, "I can feel them."

"Would I regret asking where you got that sword?" Tennyo Masaki asked, her silver white hair flowing around her. Like Motoko she hefted a wooden blade, but hers had a strange, glowing green gen set in the hilt.

"Long story," Utena answered grimly as the first demons roared towards them.

"God's Cry Technique!" Motoko swept her sword around, "Demon banishing sword!" There was a wave of swiftly traveling air shimmering with 'chi' that struck the front rank, pulverizing them as the rest piled over the gory mess.

Tennyo cut down the first demon that reached her, moving on to the n ext before the first could even finish falling. "Come on, then," she growled as she chopped off another one's arm then sliced it right across the middle.

"For the revolution of the world!" Utena called out her strange battle cry as she attacked the next ones, her sword seeming to blaze with silvery fire as she destroyed the first demon that reached her and burning the wound closed so they weren't splattered with blood..

Soon the three women settled into a pattern, Motoko launching long ranged 'chi' attacks while Utena and Tennyo did the close in work, swiftly becoming like a demon killing machine. The beasts mindlessly charged in to kill and instead were killed, destroyed by sword, chi or mystical force.

"Incredible," Rei murmured as the last of the demons fell, leaving three wounded and very weary looking warriors knee deep in the muck and blood.

"Is that all of them?" Kitsune asked as they hurried over to the three fighters, wishing she had some kind of offensive ability..

Rei nodded seriously, "Yes, that's all the lesser servants. There's still a malicious force in the old shrine itself, but Kagome and I can restore the seals on it."

All three women were scratched up and bloody, but were otherwise largely unharmed. "Let's not do that again anytime soon," Tennyo sighed tiredly as she leaned on her sword, blood seeping down her arms from multiple claw cuts.

"Seconded," Utena agreed with a groan as Anthy hurried over.

Anthy looked her over before puffing out a sigh of relief. "They're mostly shallow," she said as she washed Utena's wounds with water from a canteen.

"Are you all right?" Kitsune asked Motoko, forcibly pushing up the woman's billowy sleeves to check out her cuts and wounds.

"Nothing serious," Motoko answered her calmly, "my elder sister would be ashamed if I was injured battling such minor demons."

"Your sister is nuts, Kitsune pointed out as she cleaned and bandaged a deeper gash on her arm that was leaking blood.

"And what do you mean, MINOR demons?" Tennyo asked as both Utena and she looked at Motoko, aghast.

"Well, individually minor, anyway. As a group they were somewhat more challenging," Motoko clarified her point.

"You're as crazy as your sister," Kitsune sighed as they headed up to the old shrine to help with the final sealing. And to make sure there were no more nasty surprises, too.

A tall police woman was getting statements up by the shrine once they finished the sealing, her long brown hair flowing in the faint breeze. Kitsune recognized the man she was talking to and growled, stalking over towards them.

"Ah," the president of the construction company smiled weakly, sweating, "what a pleasant surprise seeing you here, miss...."

"Why?!" Kitsune yelled as she punched him in the face and sent him sprawling. He gibbered as he tried to get away but she stalked after him, "Why the hell did you have your crews try to knock over the building now of all times? After I warned you there was something in there!"

Kitsune moved to kick him someplace delicate and he blurted, "The preservation society was moving to stop work and save the shrine! I had to knock it down now!"

The police officer watched Kitsune haul him up, then moved forward with a smile. "Could you let him go?" she asked politely. Looking over at him she said, "You are under arrest for demolitions without a permit, endangering the public and whatever else I can come up with."

"You can't!" be tried to bluster.

"It's come downtown with me," she said and nodded towards where a clearly pissed Kitsune and several area residents who were pissed off about being kicked out of their homes this late were gathering, "or stay here and deal with them."

He looked over at the glaring people and gulped loudly. "Please," he held out his hands, "take me downtown."

A young police officer took him away as the crowd grumbled in disappointment. "Thank you, Officer Futaba," Kitsune said as she read the woman's name tag, "I'm not sure what I would have done if you hadn't stopped me."

"Call me Aoi," she smiled as she put away her notebook. "I wanted to slug him, too," she admitted, "as unprofessional as that sounds."

Kitsune sighed, "I'd better hope he doesn't press assault charges."

Aoi winked as she said, "I didn't see anything."

As the police and clean up effort finally wound down, the women piled into the Hinata Inn van and took off. Rei grinned as she looked over at Kitsune, "That officer was totally hitting on you."

"She was not," Kitsune blushed, focusing on her driving.

"She came back to talk to you twice," Utena looked amused from where she sat in the back, "and even gave you her card."

Kitsune slumped in her seat, "Yeah, well...."

"Uhm," Ema looked up from where the girl was updating her paranormal website with details of tonight's adventure.

"Yes?" Anthy looked at her, having learned the quiet girl was good at finding things out.

Ema blushed as she noticed almost everyone was looking at her. "I was talking to one of the other officers," she said, "Aoi apparently is a guy."

There was a long beat of silence then Kitsune blurted, "What?!"

Ema shrugged as she relayed the story she heard, "He started dressing like that in doing the anti-pervert patrols on trains and eventually started dressing as a woman full time."

"Wow," Motoko shook her head ruefully, not having seen through the disguise.

Rei looked over at Ema curiously as she asked, "Do you think the officer made that up?" She smiled slightly, "I've seen a few crossdressers before, but I never spotted Aoi...."

"I think he was trying to pick me up," Ema said dryly, "I doubt he'd say something I could catch as a lie later on."

The teasing of Kitsune immediately stopped only to focus on Ema, while Kitsune concentrated on the road. "What a night," she sighed.

"We did pretty well, though," Motoko offered was they drove on.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well, that was a waste of time," Sailor Moon muttered from where they waited on a rooftop not far away from the shrine. The blond was dressed in a modified sailor fuku/leotard which didn't do much to stop the winter cold.

"Sorry everyone," Sailor Mercury apologized as the blue haired girl ran scans with her mini-computer. "The gate is sealed," she reported, "it looks like we won't have to do anything."

"Too bad," Inu Yasha sighed, the white haired half-demon crouching nearby. "Too bad we didn't get here earlier, I'd have liked to join in the fighting," he complained.

"Don't mind him," Kagome apologized, "he just hates to miss a fight." The black haired girl shivered in her street clothes, "Can I go home, now?"

"Thank you both for coming," Mercury bowed as Inu Yasha carried Kagome off, bounding away at high speed.

"This really wasn't such a waste.," Sailor Pluto offered as they prepared to go, her long green-black hair flowing in the breeze.

"Oh?" Sailor Moon looked at her curiously.

"We've learned about a potential new ally and even know what they're capable of," Sailor Pluto smiled as she added, "not bad for a night's work."

"True," Sailor Uranus conceded thoughtfully, "very true."

Mercury smiled as they bounded off the roof, "See you later, I need to get back to the Hinata Inn before Kitsune and the others or there are going to be some very curious people there."

"See you," Sailor Jupiter waved as they split up.

To be continued....

Notes: Aoi Futaba is from You're Under Arrest and is in fact a he. In fact Aoi is also one of the most feminine characters in the series, which is often played for laughs. Was Aoi hitting on Kitsune? In my fanfics I've featured Aoi as a 'male lesbian' in that he thinks of himself as a woman but still chases girls. Canon is less clear in that in the manga series Aoi doesn't date, nor does she in the first anime series. In the latest one she's seeing a guy online, but no other data....