Solitary Mask
Chibi Tsuki
A/N: Half yearly exams are coming up on Monday and I still haven't finished studying . eek! Couldn't think of anything good for this chapter's title so you'll have to deal with it… … ^.^;; ß going all random once again.
Chapter 12
Determination
Unable to get himself to eat, Kurama picked at the rice with his chopsticks, letting the clumps of sticky rice fall back into the container again. To get his mind of the departure of Mikazuki, he started thinking about the mysterious pair of youkai he encountered a week ago. If he remembered correctly, his opponent had silver hair and ears, much like his own youkai form, except the ears were slightly different. His own youkai ears were pointed in diagonally, in a direction more horizontal than vertical, whereas his opponents had ears points nearly vertically. If his assumption was correct, then his opponent was a wolf-type youkai. His tail was another piece of evidence. But why were they there and what exactly did they want? Surely not another group wanting to destroy mankind! Kurama had a feeling that he would meet them again, but before then he would have to investigate all he could about them.
"Hey Shuichi, you've been so reserved these few days, what are you thinking about?" Raku asked, pointing his chopsticks at Kurama with a cheeky grin. They were seated inside a classroom, having home packed lunch boxed on their desks.
"Nothing really," Kurama said, waving his arms stiffly. When Raku returned to his conversation with the others, Kurama sighed and glanced out of the window like Mikazuki usually did. Mikazuki, I wonder what you're doing at the moment…
The door slid open and one of his classmates stated, "Minamino Shuichi, there's a girl who wants to see you."
"Botan?" he murmured before casually greeting her. He signalled for the blue-haired girl to follow her out into the quieter section of the corridor.
"That girl must be new, I've never seen her around," the boy who had brought Botan to Kurama uttered with a shrug.
~*~*~*~
Looking at her straight in the eye, Kurama sensed that she had something not so good to inform him. "What's the problem?"
Botan replied in an unusually quiet manner, "The recently formed youkai gang Kokudo are planning to approach the Fury Whirlpool. The two youkai we encountered last time were from that gang. It seems that over the past thirty years, they have been training youkai with the intention to master it. Although it is easy to assume that their attempt will be futile, but the powerful groups within Makai are trying to persuade Kokudo's water elemental user to join their legions. Some have even gone as far as to trying to kidnap him."
"Water elemental user? So would it be the youkai I fought last time?"
"The possibility is rather high."
"Does he have a name?" Kurama knitted his eyebrows, thinking seriously. His green eyes were staring at nothing in particular but his mind was focussed on his previous fight.
Botan shook her head as she replied, "We only know that they label him as Tsuki (moon), for he has a specialty in restoring energy from water bodies into his own body through reflected moon rays."
"He's a wolf-type youkai." Just as Botan was about to speak, he continued, "Our enemy is a weapon user, and I would think the choice of weapon would be either a thin-bladed sword or something lightweight-"
Suddenly Botan grabbed a round blue device with the shape of a pikelet from her pocket and opened its thin lid. A small screen appeared under the lid, a familiar face on the screen. "Koenma?" she muttered as she addressed the toddler.
"Come back immediately, I need you to investigate something for me," Koenma said seriously. From the tone of his voice, Kurama could feel the urgency. Botan shut the lid and apologised, leaving immediately on her oar. Kurama merely watched as she left at full speed, whizzing pass the clouds until she could no longer be seen. He returned to his room and sat back down at his desk. That was when he noticed several girls smiling at him with their flirty body movements. Right at this moment, he was not in the mood to conduct a conversation with anyone, but he definitely didn't let his emotions show it.
~*~*~*~
Slowly getting up from her fall, Mikazuki snatched her double bladed sword from the ground and stared straight into her opponent's eyes. She changed one of the blades so that together, they formed a right angle with its only hilt connecting them. The weapon was lightweight, having two blades, both able to be rotated three hundred and sixty degrees to the user's preference. Like most weapons, it is not easily mastered and can be hard to control.
Hiketsu stood there, holding his heavy bladed sword with one had as if it weighed nothing more than a feather. Both fighters fell into an attacking stance again, ready for an on-coming attack from the other. Between her fingers were three hidden shards of ice with sharp and ragged edges. With her other hand; her left hand, she flung her double bladed sword like a boomerang at him. Immediately, Hiketsu dodged it but he definitely didn't expect the assault of the fragments of ice which he hastily blocked with the flat-side of his blade. At his left, Mikazuki's weapon came flying back, managing to scrap his arm but during this time, she had vanished. A shadow flew over, catching the weapon by its hilt with one of its blades resting against the neck of the flaming-haired man. "Smart manoeuvre," Hiketsu chuckled as she withdrew her sword, "but you've failed to realise that I've scored an attack on you." He pointed to the torn area on the leg of her britches.
"Now I'll have to mend this…" Mikazuki sighed as they made their way back to the old worn-down shack they took refuge in. "But before that, I'm getting a bath!" She waved at him just before she darted through the shrubbery and trees to one of the cleanest lakes in Makai. The area surrounding it was peaceful and quiet with her clothes lay in a pile next to her sword while she dived into the clear sparkling water. Water splashed onto the dry bank. This is life… The young youkai smiled, relaxed as she leaned against a rock, twirling her index finger in the water. Slowly the temperature of the water dropped. Taking the water creatures in consideration, she made sure that the water wasn't too cold for them. This was a nice way to relax the sore muscles and wash off the dirt and sweat. The water caressed her skin, each little molecule wanting to meet her.
~*~*~*~
A rustle of leaves redirected her attention. With her left hand stretching for her clothes and weapon, she pulled them into the water and disappeared underwater altogether. Cautiously a man made his way to the edge of the pond and lowered his hand to scoop up some water. His right arm was injured; blood seeping through his already bloodied bandages. The clothes he was wearing were torn to shreds and his tangled blue-green hair was a total disaster. His frame was slender and slightly under five feet seven. Unmistakable red and yellow stripes were visible on his pale skin, they were markings inherited by his ancestors of an ancient and nearly extinct clan. He quickly bent down to wash his face, scrubbing off the grim as best as he could.
Mikazuki smirked at his roughly scrubbed cheek which was nearly as red as his red stripe that ran straight across the bridge of his nose. She continued to peer up at him from under the water's surface. It was about time for her to leave now that she had skilfully pulled on her clothes underwater. Judging by the appearance of this youkai he seemed too wounded to be able to attack her if she were to leap out. So she sprung out onto a rock and used it to push off, flying onto a thick branch nearby before leaping off once again. The stranger suddenly grinned and flung his arm at her direction, catching onto her ankle and dragging her down.
Although she couldn't see it, she knew that something had wrapped around her ankle. She gripped one of the branches with her freehand and glanced at the creature she had assumed to be wounded. This was set up! They knew she was there at that time! Thinking straight, Mikazuki noticed the thin fishing wire wrapped around her boot and slashed at it with her sword, freeing herself. Immediately she scanned around for her attacker again, realising that he had vanished. She predicted that he would appear either above or behind her but instead she found him coming up from below. Before she had the chance to dart away, he had seized the opportunity and slashed at her with a dagger. The sharp sound of the two bladed weapons smashing into each other could be heard and the smaller dagger was gaining the upper hand. He pressed down on his dagger, causing her to bend further back. Realising this, Mikazuki used the moisture around them to her advantage and created a fog. She twisted her sword to the right-hand side and broke the contact.
Not one to back off a fight, she ducked at leapt at him again, slashing her sword against his side. As she passed him, she caught the scent of mint from under the heavy stench of dried blood. Where have I smelt that type of mint before? Mikazuki sensed his attack and dodged to the side. They were now on ground level and not too far from the lake. She twirled two fingers three times and then pointed at her enemy with them. Almost instantly a surge of water gushed out from her fingers and headed straight at her opponent. It was a miss but she hadn't intended him to continuously stand there and let her launch an attack so she had planned for it to be a decoy. Her sword with both blades open was leaning right against his throat. "Who are you and who sent you here?" Mikazuki demanded, her mask sheltering her blue eyes from him. The defeated youkai refused to answer and merely glanced away, a stubborn look on her face. It reminded her of someone… someone she had long since forgotten. Blood tricked from his freshly opened wound and yet he refused to speak. His stubbornness proved to be a great challenge. "I don't like killing those who are in a weak state so I won't kill you," she admitted with a slight grin. "I'll even treat to your wounds and leave you to go free, but don't expect me to let you capture or kill me." Without coming in contact with him, she managed freeze his movements by transferring a certain type of water through his wound, tying his muscles together in some obscure way. Then she laid him on the bank of the lake and started the process of cleaning his wounds by ripping her outer shirt and using it as a rag. Her enemy's shirt was stuck to his wounds and so she had to gently peel it off in case it costed him more pain. After managing to do so, she dabbed the damp cloth gingerly over his cuts and wiped the blood off.
In the end she had to rip most of her outer shirt just to bandage his wounds. Luckily she had cleaned them when she pulled them into the water or else the cuts would probably get infected again. She stood up and spoke one last time before leaving. "You'll be able to move in another fifteen minutes but if you try anything before that you'll feel pain in your muscles and probably won't be able to move for a few days. When you're better, we'll have another battle." Jumping through the treetops she left him leaning against the tree waiting for the time to pass.
Mikazuki examined her ruined shirt and decided that she was very fortunate to have chosen to wear some old clothes instead of the ones Iryoku had especially made for her. Her mind was currently set on improving her own fighting techniques, nothing else mattered for now…
~*~*~*~
A/N: So Kurama's gathering more information and Mikazuki's determined to improve before 'that day', when will they meet again? I'm glad I typed most of this up before today's basketball game… *points to swollen fingers* ^.^;;; Anyways…
