Kyandi: Hey everyone!
Elektra: So, it didn't take her as long to readjust this chapter as she thought.
Kyandi: I just had to find a good point, halfway through, to stop. And I did.
Elektra: That means that this chapter is going to be a little shorter than the others.
Kyandi: True, but it makes me feel better about spacing.
Elektra: You just didn't want the whole incident in Asakusa to be crammed into one chapter.
Kyandi: Is that really a terrible thing?
Elektra: I suppose not.
Kyandi: Good, then everyone, please enjoy and review.
Elektra: Kyandi-sama does not own Fire Force.
Chapter 6 False Identity
The day Obi decided to visit Company 7, he called ahead, but didn't wait to hear back before he loaded up all of them and their gear.
"You are aware, Captain, that he's not going to be happy about us dropping in without confirmation, right?" Elektra asked as Hinawa drove them over to Company 7's guardhouse.
"That's very well the case, but you almost seem happy about it." Obi observed.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Captain. I'm almost always happy." Elektra replied, but he was sure that her lips twitched just a little bit wider into a grin.
When they arrived, a member of Company 7 tried to stop them from going to the guardhouse, but Obi wouldn't take no for an answer. He pushed past and right on to the guardhouse. Elektra followed with a smile and wink to the soldier over her shoulder. Reaching the guardhouse, Obi swiped aside the curtain over the door, stepping inside with the others just behind him.
"Excuse us…we're Company 8. We called earlier. Sorry, but we're here." Obi announced.
Elektra slipped in just behind Obi, leaning around him to get a look at Benimaru. She couldn't tell if he was more surprised or angry at their sudden appearance. One of the guardsmen stepped in front of Obi. "Get outta here, all of ya! What do you think you're doing, dropping in on us unannounced?"
"Would you rather we followed Fire Force protocol and made an appointment?" Obi asked. It was at this moment that Elektra noticed that Benimaru was staring, not at Obi, but at her with two young, twin girls handing off his soldiers like he was their jungle gym. Elektra blinked in surprise as her eyes met his, but she merely smiled at him in greeting. "I decided to just head over, because I'd heard that Captain Shinmon Benimaru hates red tape."
Benimaru stood then, shaking off the girls and fixing his haori. "Fine, you're here. Whatever. But I don't care if you're investigating the Evangelist. I can't let you come in here and mess up our turf. Company 7 has its own way of doing things."
"Yeah, you left the captains' meeting early, too. Do you intend to ignore the Evangelist and his cronies?" Obi asked.
"It was the empire that decided that the Evangelist and the White Hoods are our enemies. I don't care, and that's my honest opinion." Benimaru replied.
Elektra's eyes shifted to Obi as he replied. "The Evangelist is artificially igniting infernals. The townsfolk here could be their next target."
Only a slight twitch of Benimaru's brows was the only change in his expression. "You got that from the empire, too, I bet. It's not like I ever saw them actually turn a person into an infernal. I'm not inclined to believe everything I hear."
"That's why we're here. To find the truth." Obi insisted.
"I saw it, sir!" Shinra exclaimed. "I saw someone connected to the Evangelist turn people into infernals!"
"I saw it, too!" Tamaki added.
"I don't give a damn what some dogs of the empire saw." Benimaru retorted. "I'm not interested in the word of a mutt who doesn't know how to ask questions."
"I'm no dog of the empire." Benimaru's eyes snapped to Elektra, being graced by her smiling face. "I am a Slade, not an empire mutt as you called it, and I saw it as well."
"You wear the empire mark." Benimaru told her, gesturing to the Fire Force coat tied around her waist.
Elektra's eyes fell to the coat before returning to his face. Her eyes crinkled then in silent laughter. "As do you, my grumpy captain. Tell me then, what makes the difference between you and me? Is it, perhaps, the fact that you accept the support and funding from the empire that my people still refuse even with my deployment to one of the companies?" Benimaru's brows twitched again, Elektra's lips mimicking them. "I wear this because I chose to expand my horizons outside my little slice of the world and to do something to help both my people and others."
"She's right!" Shinra growled, annoyed. "We don't need to take that from a guy who sits around doing nothing but ask questions."
"You two've got guts, you little punks." Benimaru grumbled.
"They're bringing 'em up right in Company 8." Konro agreed.
Obi, though, turned on Shinra when it looked like he was close to starting a fight. "Shinra! We didn't come here to fight them."
"But they're fighting us! Listen to them!" Shinra protested. "Captain of Company 7! You're supposed to be the toughest soldier in the Force! You're so tough, they empire had no choice but to recognize your town's fire brigade as part of the Special Fire Force! So now it's my turn! I'm gonna beat the crap out of you and make you see things my way!"
"Fire and street fights are the flowers of Edo, eh?" Benimaru remarked.
Almost as if a signal, bells begun to clang an alarm, someone yelling, "Fire!" from outside. Konro turned on Benimaru. "This is your fault, Waka. You jinxed us with you said that."
Benimaru cursed lowly before he moved past Company 8 an out the door. "I better not see you here when I get back."
Benimaru walked out then, calling to one of his men to find out what was going on. When he was told who had gone infernal and that the spot was being marked with matoi, he picked up another matoi and, to Elektra's surprise, destroyed the houses between him and the infernal. While her comrades were struck dumb by the display, Elektra was in pure awe of the whole thing.
Benimaru picked up another matoi and used it to fly away, the trailing ends alight with his fire. With that matoi and others tossed up to him by his men, Benimaru attacked the infernal, taking down more houses but no the infernal.
"What's going on? Is he igniting fires and controlling the flames?" Arthur asked.
"I wonder if he's done something to those matoi. This is insane." Maki remarked.
"Waka can use the ignition powers of a Third Generation and the manipulation powers of a Second Generation." Konro told them. "He lights the fires at will and controls them like they're apart of him. There's no one else like him…he's a composite fire soldier."
"Composite fire solider? No one else like him, huh?" Konro glanced at Elektra only catching the twitching smile on her face as she turned away from him.
Shinra, not catching Elektra's comment, was too busy staring at the damage before him. "But he's the one doing all the damage – not the infernal."
"Houses can always be rebuilt." Remarked an old lady near them. "But now that he's an infernal, Kantaro's life is over."
At a request from the old lady, Shinra, with Elektra's help, loaded her onto his back and carried her to see her friend's last moments. Together, the three watched as Benimaru put his friend to rest. When it was over, Shinra lowered the lady back to the ground.
"Thank you, for helping me see Kantaro's last moments. Does Benimaru-chan's style seem rough to you, Company 8?" the old lady asked. "Your Holy Sol Temple prayers are an offering to the dead, and so is our destruction of the town. In this world, everyone lives in fear of the flames that will turn them infernal. We're all looking for a place to die. Everyone here agrees that if they're going to die anyway, they want it to be at Benimaru-chan's hand. The hands of Shinmon Benimaru…the Destroyer of Asakusa. Believe it or not, he can be very nice."
"Is that so? It seems lonely." Shinra and the lady turned to look at Elektra who was watching Benimaru with a sort of sad look on her face. "He supports so many shoulders, so many people's hopes, but who does the same for him? It's so lonely that it makes my heart ache for him. I think…I think that despite our distinctive styles, we might not be so different."
Shinra had to agree. He trusted Elektra's opinion of Benimaru. Thus far, her judgment of people had been pretty on point. She usually turned out to be right. He liked to hope that she would turn out to be right about Benimaru as well.
They saw the lady to safety before returning to their comrades. There they found Benimaru directing his men to get to work on repairing and rebuilding the destroyed houses. Elektra couldn't help but smile when he grumpily declared that those whose houses had been ruined would be staying at the guardhouse until construction was done.
"Tear down my house next time, Beni-chan!" called one man with a love struck look on his face. "I'd love to shack up with you!"
Benimaru turned to one of his men then. "Reinforce his house so it never falls down."
Elektra barely contained her urge to laugh, though her shoulders still shook. Shinra turning to Obi was a good distraction for her. "Captain…may I go help with the repairs?"
"Me as well, Captain?" Elektra asked.
"Well, we can't discuss our investigation while they're busy fixing the town." Obi remarked.
With that, Company 8 became part of the efforts to rebuild the houses that had been destroyed. It took a moment before Benimaru even realized that they were helping, and he approached Shinra, like he was about to insist that they leave. Shinra instantly jumped to urging him to let them help before he took to the skies. As he took off, leaving Benimaru on the ground, a laugh met Benimaru's ears. He turned as Elektra walked past him, a crate of nails in her grasp.
"A bit of advice, Captain, let it go. Shinra is incredibly stubborn. You won't change his mind once he's made it up and the rest of us at Company 8 are the same way." She told him.
She continued walking, only stopping when he called outro her. "Hey," Elektra half turned, blinking at him in questioning. "Your name…what is it?"
Elektra paused for a moment, blinking in surprise. She had obviously not expected him to be curious about her name in the least. Then her eyes crinkled in a look of mirth, her lips spreading wide in a smile. "Try learning to ask nicely, dear Grumpy Captain, and then I will answer you." With that, she turned and walked away, humming under her throat as she left him with a frown on his face.
After that, Elektra, like the rest of Company 8, was too busy with repairs for Benimaru to approach her. Every time he tried, she was called and went rushing away. Instead, he stood back, watching as Company 8 used their many talents to help speed along repairs. To further surprise Benimaru, the twins, Hinata and Hikage, took a shine to Elektra, the too soon following her every step with smiles on their faces.
Benimaru didn't know how she had managed that, but after that, every time he saw Elektra, he saw the twins right on her heels or hanging from her in some fashion. He was glad for the break from the two, but he wasn't sure how he felt about this development.
When night finally feel and work stopped for the day, Benimaru was in Konro's room, changing his bandages when the twins suddenly came running, Shinra on their heels. The two claimed that Shinra was chasing them, trying to eat them and called him a "damn twerp."
"Damn twerp? I'm playing tag with you, you little punks." Shinra corrected. "I'm not gonna show you my spinning fire top anymore."
"Spinning fire top?" Konro asked.
"He shoots fire from his freakin' feet and spins and spins and spins! It's so stupid!" Hinata told him.
"It's called breaking! Break dancing! It's not stupid, it's awesome!" Shinra insisted.
"Sorry, Company 8 kid. First you help us with the repairs, now we have you babysitting the runts." Konro apologized.
"We're not runts! We're gonna squish you, Konro!" Hinata declared.
"Oh…no…I don't have a problem playing with kids." Shinra replied.
"Quit treating us like kids! We're gonna squish you, Shinra!" Hikage threatened.
Shinra ignored her. "Besides, I'm not the one doing the heavy lifting with these two."
Konro raised an eyebrow before someone else stepped up to the door behind Shinra. "Talking about me behind my back, Shinra?"
Shinra stopped aside to reveal Elektra. Hikage and Hinata instantly ran over to her, jumping to grab her around the waist and hang there. "Ellie! Ellie!"
Elektra gave them a hug and, when they released her, she crouching to be on eye level with them. "What is it?"
"Konro and Shinra are looking down on us!" Hinata tattled.
"So, we're gonna squish them! You help us!" Hikage demanded.
"Really? Well, that's not very nice of them." Elektra feigned indignation at this. "Tell you what, I just finished making some dinner. How about we go eat, build our energy and strength, and then we can squish them into dust. How's that sound?"
"Yeah!" The twins agreed readily, throwing their hands into the air.
"Alright. I'll race you there." Elektra told them.
With giggles, the two took off, slipping past Elektra and out the door. Elektra rose to stand again, laughing lowly to herself while Shinra turned to her, disbelief on his face. "How do you do that?"
Elektra gave him a smile. "You have as many younger siblings as I do, and you learn how to deal with even the most difficult of children. They're not bad kids, just…unique."
"Yeah, unique." Shinra shook his head as he walked out of the room.
Elektra chuckled before turning to look at Konro and Benimaru. "I'll save you two some food." She turned to leave but didn't get far.
"Ellie, is it?" Elektra looked back at Benimaru.
"Not actually, sir. That is just a nickname the twins decided to call me. It's Casteel Elektra, sir." Benimaru looked up at her in questioning. "What? I thought you introduced yourselves with surnames first here. I'll never have it said that I can't adapt."
With a smile and a wink at the two men, Elektra turned and left the room, sliding the door closed behind her. Konro glanced at Benimaru, who was still staring at the door with an odd look on his face that Konro couldn't quite place. "Those Company 8 guys…they're not a bad bunch to be around. They're not like the other companies."
"Yeah…" Benimaru returned to bandaging Konro.
"They're more like us – like Company 7. And Casteel seems especially more like us." Konro remarked. He could feel Benimaru's fingers twitch at Elektra's name, revealing his interest in the young woman. "Why don't we help them with their investigation."
"Would you, if you were captain?" Benimaru asked.
Konro turned to look at him. "Waka! We didn't make you our captain just because you're tough. And Company 8 chose to help out because you – "
"I know." Benimaru cut him off. "I've heard it a thousand times! But I'm not cut out for this…being in charge of people. Now face forward so I can get you wrapped up." Konro did as told. "I think we will help them. I don't have anything against Company 8."
Konro was silent for a moment before he spoke. "She is a uniquely attractive woman."
Benimaru paused for a moment, processing Konro's words. When the meaning behind them finally sank in, he frowned. "What the hell are you talking about? She's just a woman."
"And yet…you knew exactly who I was talking about." Benimaru frowned at him, looking a little more annoyed than usual. "Fine, fine."
Konro fell silent, but his words had already sank their claws into Benimaru's mind. Had his slight interest in Elektra colored his decision to help Company 8? Was he, perhaps, more interested than he thought he was? What was it about her that he found intriguing?
Her willingness to speak her mind to him despite their difference in rank?
Her scarred face that she kept hidden behind a curtain of tundra white hair?
The way she always seemed to be smiling when he was forever frowning?
He wasn't sure why he was interested, but he was, and Konro had seen right through him. Whatever it was, Benimaru chalked it up to her just being an odd novelty and finished wrapping Konro up. When he was done, he headed outside where he found Elektra perched on the front step with Hinata and Hikage sitting on each of her knees, cheering that Shinra's Spinning Fire Top was stupid.
"How is it stupid?!" Shinra demanded, coming to a stop to stare at the twins. "Why?! I'm doing this for you, you know…can't you say something nice?!"
"Ah! Waka!" The twins calling out to Benimaru drew Elektra and Shinra's eyes to him, Elektra having to lean back to peer up at him.
Shinra jumped up to greet him while Elektra remained sitting with the twins. "Sir, I'm Shinra Kusakabe, Second Class Fire Soldier. I apologize for my intrusion earlier."
"Yeah…that's okay." Benimaru glanced over at Elektra as she allowed the twins to mess with her hair.
"So," Benimaru's eyes returned to Shinra. "Um…is Lieutenant Konro alright?"
"Shinra," Shinra turned to Elektra who shook her head. "That was Tephrosis. It's what happens to Third Gens when they overuse their powers and keep overheating. Eventually, it turns the body to ash, fire resistance or not."
"Was that your first time seeing it?" Benimaru asked.
"I learned about it at the Academy, but no, I'd never actually seen it." Shinra replied.
"I have. Themi, the Slade leader, has it." Elektra said with a sigh. "It's life altering, for sure. Both for the person and for those around them."
"When it happened, I…" Benimaru trailed off, unable to finish the story. He turned to Shinra. "Shinra, was it? I want to talk to your captain. Where is he?"
"Oh! That's why we're here, actually – the captain wanted us to come get you! He's talking with Lieutenant Hinawa over that way!" Shinra told him, pointing down th street.
Benimaru headed off without another word. What he found was Obi and Hinawa, discussing how their plan to turn people of Asakusa into infernal was working.
Back at the guardhouse, Maki, Tamaki, and Arthur had joined Shinra while Elektra made a run to the matchbox for something. They were talking to a couple members of Company 7 when there was a sudden explosion. Hinawa and Obi came running their way, an angry Benimaru right on their tails.
"Captain?!" Shinra was confused as to what was going on.
"What did we do?!" Obi asked, turning to look at Benimaru.
"Can it. Don't think I'm gonna let you out of Asakusa without paying for what you did." Benimaru told him. Using nearby objects engulfed in his flames, Benimaru launched them at the other men. Obi and Hinawa dodged them the best they could.
"Waka! What wrong?" one Company 7 man asked.
"The real reason they're here is to mess up our town! They tricked us!" Benimaru declared. "They're the ones that made Kantaro go infernal!"
"Wait…we made him an infernal!?" Obi repeated, dumbfounded. "Captain Shinmon, what are you – "
"Don't play dumb with me! I saw it with my own eyes!" Benimaru snapped, raising a wash basin to send it hurtling at them next.
Shinra smashed it out of the air before he could and landed behind Benimaru. "I don't know what you saw, but please calm down!"
"Go to hell. I don't need to calm down!" Benimaru retorted. "Evangelist, my ass! I saw you both plotting to turn this whole town into infernals! I'll beat every one of you to a pulp and hang you out to dry! I know what I saw…I know it was you."
"Captain, I don't think he's joking." Hinawa said, concerned for where this conversation was going.
"Wait, please! We're not here to fight you!" Obi insisted.
"Then beat me and prove it! In this town, might makes right! If you don't want to fight me, then fight me and prove it!" Benimaru yelled.
Every single member of Company 8 shared the same thought in that moment…Elektra would have called him on his contradiction.
Shaking the thought from her head, Maki stepped in front of Obi, Hinawa and Arthur, hand extended to ward off anymore flames thrown their way. "Get behind me."
Benimaru called out to his men to stay out of it before he attacked. Maki repelled the flames, but Benimaru curled them around her, Maki having to jump to the side to avoid it. She hit the ground running, aiming a jab at him that he avoided. He dodged the follow up kick, grabbing her pants leg to throw her back into Shinra as he launched an attack on Benimaru's back. The two went down, both Hinawa and Arthur stepping up only to be knocked down, too. By this time, Obi had retrieved his gear from where he had left it.
"What do you think you're doing to my company?" Obi demanded, snapping his mask into place. "Let's settle this boss to boss!"
"Why did you turn somebody from my town into an infernal?!" Benimaru demanded.
"I doubt you'd listen to anything I have to say." Obi pulled out his shield, preparing for confrontation. "So, you might as well shut up and fight me!"
"Finally ready to show me who you really are, scumbag?!" Benimaru attacked, but Obi merely hunkered down behind his shield. "You're not going to put out my fire?"
"Put it out?" Obi heaved his shield up, using it to attack. "I couldn't if I tried! I don't have any powers!"
"What?" Benimaru dodged and kicked off the shield to land a kick across Obi's helmet-covered head. "Then aren't you scared of the flames?"
Obi took the hit and tackled Benimaru. "Damn right I'm scared! They're hot as hell!"
"If you know how terrifying the flames can be then how could you turn Kantaro into an infernal for no reason?!" Benimaru landed a jab to force Obi to release him. The two slide apart.
"I'm telling you, you're making some kind of mistake!" Obi insisted.
"I saw it clear as day! There's no mistake!"
Hit after hit, attack after fiery attack, Obi took all Benimaru threw at him. Even when Benimaru bent Obi's helmet around his head, Obi kept coming until he finally landed a headbutt on Benimaru. "I finally landed a hit."
"Do you even know how to flinch?" Benimaru asked, silently impressed as blood dripped down from his forehead.
Obi threw his now useless helmet aside. "I can't afford to flinch. I have the weight of Company 8 on my shoulders!"
Benimaru attacked again, aiming a fiery fist for Obi's now exposed face. "Enough already, boys." Benimaru and Obi only saw a flash of blue and white before they each felt a hit to their guts that sent them sliding apart. There, now standing where they had just been…was Elektra.
"Elektra!" Obi gasped in surprise.
"Get out of my!" Benimaru demanded, something he hadn't done with the others.
Bright green eyes turned to Benimaru, an easy smile on her face as that green gaze burned into him like no flame ever had. "I don't know what's going on, but I think you have done enough damage to my captain for the time being. And from the looks of it," Elektra's lips twitched just a little bit more into a wider grin. "He's done enough to you."
"I won't let him go after what he did!" Benimaru snapped.
Her pretty, little head tilted bird-like to the side in curiosity. "What he did? I don't understand. What did he do?" She had apparently missed a lot in the time it had taken her to go back to the matchbox.
"Don't play dumb! He turned Kantaro into an infernal!"
Elektra blinked, her smile dimming for a moment before it was back and brighter, a laugh leaving her. "My captain? Are you sure we're talking about the same person? He wouldn't hurt a fly."
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Benimaru snapped.
"You did, huh?" Elektra turned to look at Obi. "Captain, is what he said true?"
"No, it's got to be a mistake." Obi told her.
"Don't lie! I saw – "
"Enough." Benimaru jolted at the sternness in Elektra's voice as she turned to look at him. There was a smile still on her face, but the friendliness of it was long gone. "My captain in many things, but a liar is not one of them."
"You trust him so blindly!?"
"No." Benimaru started at her in surprise. "I trust him, yes, but it is not blind. I knew he's telling the truth."
Obi was touched to hear how much faith Elektra had in him, but it only annoyed Benimaru, who snapped back at her. "How?"
"Because I can feel it." The simple answer left him dumbfounded. "I can feel it in the heat of his warm blood pumping from a stead beating heart. If you concentrate hard enough, I bet you could, too. He's not lying and nor are you." Elektra shifted her stance to a fighting one. "I'm not sure what is going on, but I trust my instincts and I trust my captain. If you want to insist on attacking him…well then I will have to retaliate, and just so you know…Slade women are horribly vindictive."
Her expression was serious despite the smile still gracing her lips. She was ready to fight in defense of her captain. That was fine with Benimaru. It would give a chance to see if she was truly worthy of being intriguing to him.
"Fine, ready yourself."
End
Kyandi: You're having a grand old time.
Elektra: I'm…eager.
Kyandi: Admit it, you so want to kick Benimaru's ass.
Elektra: I'll admit, it's…appealing.
Kyandi: There's a difference between theory and practice, though. Think you can do it?
Elektra: I think I'll sure as hell try. He's cute, but that attitude needs just a little bit of adjustment.
Kyandi: Sure…just a little bit.
Elektra: Hey, he's fine the way he is. I just need that attitude to change where I'm concerned.
Kyandi: Of course, you do. Anyway, everyone enjoy and review.
Elektra: We'll probably be back again today, if not then tomorrow.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!