By : Naki
Chapter Six
Mitsuko lay on the ground; her eyes closed and she was massaging her bruised neck. The grass was cool and damp against her skin as she felt the rain pick up. Heavy raindrops fell onto her face causing her to open her eyes. She turned her eyes to see both Ichiro and Rei ganging up on Kikaider.
"Jiro..." she rasped out.
Kikaider was holding up rather well considering he was outnumbered two-to-one. He dodged and deflected his brothers' attacks. It was obvious that his heart really wasn't into fighting his brothers, but...Mitsuko noticed that he seemed to be fighting something other than his brothers...perhaps something on the inside.
Kikaider took a punch to the face and a kick to the gut that sent him sprawling on his back. Attempting to sit up he almost saw stars exploding in front of his vision and his head swam. He barely heard Masaru call out to him.
"Jiro-niichan!"
Rei turned his head slowly to the direction from which the new voice came. His glowing red eye stared at Masaru, causing the small boy to quake with fear. Rei took two slow steps towards the boy as Kikaider rolled onto his side to get to his feet.
"Dammit!" He swore. "Masaru! Run! Get away!"
Rei quickened his steps to a slow run and then to a straight out dash. Just before he was upon Masaru a blur rushed by Jiro, scooped Masaru up and rolled away. The blur turned out to be a young woman; she was barefoot, wearing a torn blue dress, and had black hair that was down to her backside. She was on her knees, holding Masaru against her, and staring over her shoulder at Rei. Her eyes were frightened but at the same time defiant. It was as if she were saying, How dare you target a child. Only a coward would...
Rei emitted a small gasp and blinked at the woman several times. With each blink his eye returned to its normal dark brown. He turned to see Ichiro face-plant Kikaider into the ground. Rei shook his head at Kikaider. "You never learn, do you?" He said quietly. He took one last look over his shoulder at the woman who was still glaring at him. He turned back to the fight. "I guess I have to bail him out again. Change! Double-O!"
Just as Rei reverted to 00, Ichiro was upon Kikaider once more. 00 dashed towards Ichiro and rammed his shoulder into Ichiro's torso, knocking him to the ground. Standing over his older brother, 00 reached out with his hand and his fingertips changed into guns. They cocked.
"Ichiro."
Stare.
"Ichiro."
Defiant stare. "Shoot me."
Blank stare. "Make me."
"Coward."
"Oh, am I?"
"If you weren't you would have shot me by now."
"Bite me."
"Get bent."
"Been there."
"Done that."
Kikaider was busy looking from brother to brother, totally shocked with the running exchange. This was so out of character for Rei. He was arguing with Ichiro. Kikaider shook his head, exasperated. It looked as if Ichiro wasn't just affecting him but Rei as well.
The young woman who was cradling Masaru against her gasped suddenly at something that shot out of the undergrowth from the trees nearby. "Look out!"
A tentacle shot between Kikaider and 00 and wrapped about Ichiro's ankle, catapulting him into the air.
"Oh ho! I don't think so, you moron!" Ichiro growled, spinning his body before pulling against the tentacle to propel himself upwards, striking the tentacle with his foot. It severed and Ichiro plummeted to the ground. Before he touched down he crossed his hands over his face.
"Change! Zero-One!"
Just as 01 landed a giant snake-like creature slithered out of the forest. 01 cocked his head to the side and critiqued it. He then grinned maniacally and rubbed his hands together. "Ooo! Fun!"
"Brother!" Kikaider called to no avail. He shrugged at 00. "Shall we join him?"
In answer 00 pushed off against the ground and flew towards the beast. He didn't get far before tentacles whipped out towards him. 00 dodged but got no closer. 01 laughed and held out his left arm. His blue hand clicked down on its hinge and he let fly an energy blast that took off many of the tentacles close to its...um...head? "Is that what that is?" 01 wondered aloud, a finger absentmindedly scratching at his face. He immediately jumped to avoid a tentacle from further down its body. Behind him Kikaider jumped in, his forearms crossed and glowing green.
With a yell Kikaider sliced down its length, stopping just before its tail. He was forced to jump back to where 01 and 00 stood.
"Way to go bro!" 01 pumped his fist in the air. Then, "Eh?!"
The beast seemingly healed itself, forming two from the split one. There were now two "heads" connected with one tail. More tentacles sprouted from the new doppelganger.
Kikaider cringed. "Not good."
"Man," 01 whined. "The damn thing's like the Hydra. You chose the wrong head, Jiro!"
Kikaider turned to his older brother. "How could I? There was only one!"
01 motioned to the two-headed beast but kept his face on Kikaider. "Yeah, well, now there's two! How are we supposed to destroy it now?"
00 had the answer. "Move."
01 and Kikaider moved back. 01 had a childish grin on his face. "Yay! Fireworks!"
00 stepped up to the beast, tentacles flailing around him. He looked up to the twin heads. "Blow up."
The young woman still held Masaru to her as she made her way to Mitsuko. The massive explosion from 00 rocked the ground and cause her to stumble, but she kept her footing.
"Are you all right?" She asked as she crouched down. Mitsuko had managed to sit up but she was still holding her throat.
"I thought I was going to die," Mitsuko gasped.
"No!" Masaru exclaimed. "You can't die Mitsuko-neechan! You're all I have!"
"Don't worry," Mitsuko brought her hand up and tousled Masaru's hair. "I won't die intentionally. Not with Jiro here to protect me." She looked to the young woman. "I thank you for protecting Masaru."
The young woman smiled. "I didn't even think when I was doing it. I guess you could call it maternal instinct."
"Maternal instinct?" Masaru asked.
"A mother's desire to protect her child," Mitsuko explained.
"Perhaps you shouldn't talk so much," the woman advised. "It might not be good for you right now."
Mitsuko nodded.
"Hey," Masaru said, looking up at the woman. "What's your name?"
She was silent for a moment, looking pensive. "Angel. For now, anyways."
"Mitsuko!" The Kikaider brothers walked up, back in their more "human" state. Jiro came up and helped her to her feet. He saw the bruising on her neck and hugged her. Ichiro's usually happy face was the opposite. He scratched at the back of his head.
"Uh…listen. I'm sorry about that."
Jiro turned around with Mitsuko still in his arms. Rei turned to Ichiro as well, eyebrow raised.
"What?" Ichiro demanded of Rei.
"Developing a conscience, Ichiro?"
The older brother proved his immaturity by sticking his tongue out at Rei. "As if. I didn't even have control over my own body. I felt like a damn marionette."
"Ichiro!" Jiro admonished.
"What!"
"Language."
"Hmph. Sorry."
"Right." Rei said flatly, walking past them.
"And where are you going?" Ichiro demanded.
"Inside."
About ten minutes later all six were dry, warm, and comfortable inside the Komyoji house. Ichiro and Rei had changed back into their usual clothes. Mitsuko had changed as well and so had Angel. She was wearing some of Mitsuko's own clothes, at Mitsuko's insistence.
Masaru had taken Jiro by the hand and steered him into the kitchen.
"Uh…Masaru, I don't think this is such a good idea. Remember what happened last time…?"
"Oh, shush, you big baby." (Big baby? thought Jiro.) "We're just going to make Mitsuko-neechan and Angel-neesan some soup. Relax, it's instant."
To Tenniyo: Wai! huggle Thanks for sticking up for me. It's comforting to know that not all people are stuck on themselves. And I'm also real touched that you'd plug "Gemini" into your story. (Tell me which one it is please!)
To Aknol: Thanks for pointing that out! It never occurred to me that the cat's name was the same as the bad guys in the OVA. You see, Shadow (Masaru's cat) is my cat. I just plugged my own cat into the story. Not very original but those who don't know me personally would have never guessed it. If you want to see Shadow, please see my author page for the link.
To BlackyGirl: The one big problem I had with the release of Chapter Five was you, I'm afraid. I consider your review to borderline flaming. I'll take constructive cricticism anytime but I do not and will not accept threats and accusations. I HAVEN'T and WILL NEVER purposefully torment my readers (or anyone for that matter) by waiting half a year to post. I'm also appalled at your inconsideration to other people's feelings by being so self-absorbed. So what if I haven't "felt like" writing? If you're an author yourself you'd know that if you force yourself to write it comes out like crap. There were many reasons why I haven't felt like writing. Over the past six months I 'd been overwhelmed by college, work, and taking my dad to the hospital to combat his cancer. If you had paid any attention to my author page (where I leave updates at the bottom of my "bio" section) you would have known that at the end of March my dad passed away. I don't know about you but I was very close to my father and for a while I couldn't do anything but grieve. Writing tends to become difficult at times like that. I'm sorry if this offends you but you offended me first by not considering the reasons behind my lateness in posting.
To everyone else: I apologize to those of you who this does not pertain to but I just got so upset I had to acknowledge it. I will not deny that when I read BlackyGirl's review the "B-word" initially came to mind but I will not resort to name-calling. I thank everyone for their support and positive words during the duration of this fic. I also thank everyone for their patience. Patience is something I have little of, especially for those who are inconsiderate of others' feelings. If you have a question as to why I'm so late in posting or just simply want to talk email me anytime (please see my author page for my email address. It won't let me post it here)