Authoress' notes: I'm so sorry, this story is soo much longer than I planned it! (heh...)
Wayward Ransom, chapter 29.
by artisanrox
The old guy has to be kidding! Thought Bankotsu, gazing intently at the bird. But...the bird tried to kill him, not me...I don't understand...
The daimyo, noting Bankotsu's hesitation, glanced satisfactorily over at the demoness and the guard, both which grinned back, reveling in the opponent's confusion. Yukio released the lanyard and looked up at the bird. "Watersweep," he said quietly, the stone in his hand glowing purple, and the white light appearing again on the bird's breast.
The bird arose quickly again, and, hanging in the air, flapped its wings, screeching uncomfortably.
It brought the tips of its wings together momentarily, and Bankotsu soon saw a blue wave spiraling up from the ground around him at his feet, and growing upwards, compeltely encircling him. When it reached his head, it crashed inwards, and Bankotsu suddenly had a crushing, drowning-like sensation overwhelm him. Losing his grip on his weapon again, he hung painfully suspended in air and demonic water.
When the wave subsided, he coughed heavily, and was brought down to a knee. Stubbornly, he reached out for the shaft of his weapon.
"Your stupid pet...didn't even scratch me, Yukio!" said Bankotsu, taking an opportunity to charge at the daimyo.
I knew he wouldn't go down easily. Still, I have the advantage. Yukio, brought his palms together, entwining his fingers, and concentrated.
This time, a hot, red glow surrounded the quickly advancing young man. Yukio threw both hands towards Bankotsu, and with the sound similar to shattering glass, the red glow exploded into a bright white flash, obscuring Bankotsu from Yukio's sight.
Yukio regarded the white light with a calm countenance...
...until he saw Bankotsu, seemingly unaffected by the spell he had cast, still advancing toward him.
It was Yukio's turn to be thrown off guard, and he startled ever so slightly in shock. This version of the "Bridle" spell should have brought him to the ground! It always had in the past...and was much weaker back then! Is...is it possible that he has gotten so much stronger since I last dealt with him? The pendant in his hand glowed purple again.
"I won't lose to your pet, and won't lose to your old magic tricks, either!" yelled Bankotsu, bringing down the blade, this time with his left hand, on the daimyo.
The blade was caught in mid-air by the bird's claws, which left Bankotsu straining for a moment in an aborted effort to finish his downward sweep. The pause allowed Yukio to get out of the weapon's reach.
"Damn you!" cursed Bankotsu. Regaining his balance, he literally threw the bird from the weapon by jumping high into the air, swinging both powerfully in a fit of frustration. The bird's momentum caused it to be flung from the blade, and its claws made a high pitched ringing sounded as it scraped against the metal. It tumbled in the air a few times, leaving a trail of iridescent downy feathers, then regained itself, hovering in the air.
Bankotsu, still extended in an extended position from flinging away the bird, closed his eyes, and sighed. He grimaced with a corner of his mouth while he thought. I can't believe I actually got pissed enough to curse a demonic duck.
"Air feather volley!" called out Yukio, while his opponent was off balance, and the bird gave its wings a mighty flap, causing many feathers to fly out from its wings.
Bankotsu, hearing the flapping of wings signaling another attack, focused on his opponent agian. He dodged and blocked the projectiles, which impaled themselves deeply into the ground like arrows.
Yukio then caused the bird to use the swirling, constrictive water attack again. This time, Yukio caused the bird to concentrate its energy into this one attack, pushing the bird to its limits in holding the spell. Bankotsu remained hanging in the air for what seemed like an eternity of crushing, drowning pain. When released, Bankotsu was brought down to his side on the ground, holding his chest, hacking and coughing, trying to clear his lungs.
Suddenly, another hard hit, this time from the front sent him rolling on the ground. The bird stood above him, and, flapping its wings for balance. The claws on its feet sunk in when it took a hold of Bankotsu's armored midsection. Tiny cracks appeared in the armor's surface, and it shattered, then fell to the ground in small pieces.
Bankotsu made a blind attempt to punch at the bird, and its leg easily dodged his fist. It came in again, clawing deeply into Bankotsu's back, now that the armor was removed. Bankotsu succeeded in forcing himself to not even flinch from the awful, stabbing sensation.
Yukio had the bird pull back, and it hovered above Bankotsu, blood dripping from the claws on its right foot. Bankotsu was now panting heavily from the sheer effort of blocking out multiple levels of pain.
Yukio was quick to order the finishing move. "Fire feather cannon!" he called out loudly to the bird.
The flash came out of the bird's breast.
Yukio was satisfied with the bird's work, inspite of its headstrong behavior. Bankotsu refused to acknowledge it as a serious opponent, most likely because Yukio's words were playing on his mind. The bird was on its way to completely disabling him, and it was only aiding Yukio by defying him. It clearly showed that there was a human mind working in the bird's demonic form. "How fortunate of me to be in posession of a demon that is capable of attacking using all elements!"
But the bird screeched, and did nothing but hang in the air, once again defying the daimyo's orders.
"You pathetic girl!" Refusing to let his opening go, Yukio kept trying to regain control of the bird.
The bird, exhausted from its elemental attacks, lost the battle of wills, and tucked its wings, heading toward Bankotsu in another viciously quick nose dive.
This goofy bird...can't be Akiko! I won't believe that! thought the young man, still recovering from the devestating attacks he had just received, trying to ignore the gashes in his back, watching the bird speed toward him through blurred vision.
But...what if it is! She always did look a little weird...and that thing's refused commands three times already!
The bird was still speeding toward him. Yukio grinned, again seeing the young warrior's hesitation.
No matter...this is a deathmatch. I have to...
Bankotsu coughed again, blindly feeling around for his weapon, which he knew was somewhere to his left side at the front.
Even though...it shouldn't be this way...
Yukio frowned. The demoness clucked her tongue.
I was told to use the curved edge to kill it. The villagers said they'd rather it obliterated than simply cut to pieces. It'll work...if it's not that strong of a demon...
Reaching it, he felt for the lighter end, and flipped the curved edge to the front.
It shouldn't be this way...
But it has to...
No...
It's not her...
He picked up his halberd, and just before the bird was ready to crash into him, Bankotsu, using his right hand, threw his weapon out on front of him, confusion and profound sadness clouding his face.
With another agonized screech, the bird was pulling up, in another conscious effort to miss its target.
But it was too late for the bird. The purified, curved edge of the weapon bit into its breast, causing a brilliant white light to flash.
Bankotsu continued to hold out the weapon in front of himself with a stiff arm. In the blinding white light, a near explosion of iridescent, downy feathers fell to the ground.
The feathers continued to fall...and as Bankotsu continued to look into them, he noticed a mist, taking shape in a vaguely humanoid form in the center of the fading white light.
Bankotsu's eyes went wide in shock, as he saw the figure of an unconscious, naked young girl appear in mid air. The lanyard, which had been around the bird's neck, dropped limply to the ground below the girl.
A long distance behind Yukio, still standing by the teahouse, Soumeikarasu frowned. "This is clearly unexpected!" she confided to the guard aside her. "I have the feeling we should leave my partner to his own devices, and make our way out of here soon."
The guard raised his eyebrows in shock at the subject of desertion. "But...Soumeikarasu!"
The demoness cut him off by raising a finger to her mouth, and resumed watching the proceedings.
The girl hung above the young man, orangeish-brown ankle-length hair swirling around her, as the feathers and light cleared. Bankotsu lowered his weapon to the ground.
He smiled.
"Damn," commented Yukio.
Not losing any momentum from the nosedive, the girl's momentum threw her right on top of him. Her body hit his hard, and it knocked him back on his elbows. Her arms wound around his neck. Bankotsu was enveloped in the softness of the girl's small, fair, limp body.
And he found that hehad to scream. Every square inch of his body with which the girl came in contact, there was nothing but the feeling of white-hot, searing torture.
Yukio fisted a hand, smiling ear to ear. He had gotten over being annoyed that Bankotsu should have had his weapon altered to change the girl back to her human form, and was instead pleased at the success of his magical attacks.
The young man's pain-racked cries as he tried to get the girl off him could be heard clear across the large garden where they battled. He remembered those screams very well from many, many training sessions in the past. So he was being obstinate, and hiding it. "Bridle" does work quite well, after all!