A/N: May I just say that the anime Hellsing has the coolest soundtrack ever? I should know... SINCE I BOUGHT IT! Whee! And wow! You know I was just kidding about the fifty reviews, right? Hehe! My review count jumped from 38 to 50 plus. Mainly from the erm... noble?...efforts of Matt. I am a review whore, yes, it's true, but I would keep on with this story even if I got nothing but flames. So now we have a new chapter here, because I promised and because of peer pressure (if you can figure out where I got the shinobi's name from, I will give you a cookie). I would have updated yesterday but my Internet was down. Originally I was going to have it in Noishe's point-of-view, explaining what the heck he's been up to this whole time. Don't worry- I'll find a way to work it into the sequel if I don't explain it in this story. Read, review, and Enjoy♥
"R-Raine!" Sheena knelt over her friend even as the newly resurrected shinobi sat up and looked about him, confused.
"Chief...?" he asked, blinking at the blood that stained his clothing. He looked at the woman lying on the ground, an elf if the hair was anything to go by, trying to place where he had seen her before.
"Quick!" Sheena said to him. "Do you have any smelling salts?" He should, if she remembered correctly from her times working on assignments like this. He snapped back to reality and rummaged through his packs, finding the smelling salts and handing them to his leader.
"Who is she?" he asked, unable to look away from Raine. Something tugged at the back of his mind, a memory of a hand reaching for his, leading him home. But the silver hair made him frightened as well, of swirling red silks and the sound of death rushing by his ears. "What happened? Why am I here?" The shinobi rubbed his forehead, feeling dizzy.
"You died," Sheena said. "Raine brought you back. Now sit there and try to remember what you were ordered to tell me." Sheena waved the salts under Raine's nose, wincing as she remembered when she had been seven and Kuchinawa was eight, when he had used them on her one morning as a prank. "Sorry, Raine..." she muttered.
Raine jolted awake with a cry of shock and disgust, rolling away from Sheena and pawing at her nose. "Son of a bitch!"
Sheena dropped the pack in surprise, her eyes widening. Did Raine just curse? Raine never cursed. "You OK?" Sheena asked as Raine sat up and began to take in her surroundings, and the still-stunned shinobi she had saved. "You used that spell and then you passed out. Raine?"
Raine waved a hand in Sheena's direction, still trying not to throw up. "Fine. Fine." She looked past Sheena at the ninja, who was racking his memory for everything that had happened before he died. Slowly, but surely, it was coming back to him. "Is he all right? No memory loss?"
"No," the shinobi said, concentrating on his boots. "It's fuzzy but it's there. When our group went to relieve the ones in Iselia, we found them all to be dead. Talking to other shinobi on our way here, we found that this was happening all over the world, starting about two weeks ago."
Sheena nodded, making a small noise to show she was listening. "Yes?"
"We came here to inform you..." the shinobi paused, looking up at the sky. "To inform you..."
"Yes?" Sheena urged.
The shinobi was silent for a good long while; the tension was tangible. Looking up from his boots at Raine, he watched her silver hair flutter in the chill winds for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Silver hair!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and walking up to Raine. "Half elf. We found the silver haired half Elvin boy, Genis Sage. Your brother. Reports came in seeing him flying towards the Triet Desert area."
"Triet?" Raine stood up, rubbing her nose and eyes that were still watering from the smelling salts and Sheena followed suit. She should probably pack a few of those in her med kit, along with her gels and spell components. "What on Earth is he doing in Triet?"
"We don't know," the shinobi admitted. "Our orders were to find his location and bring it to the chief and the healer, Raine Sage." He bowed, respectfully, towards Sheena. Sheena tried to ignore it, still not used to the fact that she was the leader of Mizuho now.
"What is your name?" Sheena asked the shinobi. He peeled off his bloody gloves and mask, discarding them on the street. "I can tell you're not a native to Mizuho."
He held a strand of his blond hair, glaring at it before bowing again to Sheena. "My name is Ken Akamatsu, Chief."
"Akamatsu is a Mizuho name," Sheena said. "Did one of the families take you in after you became shinobi? Where are you from, originally?"
"I am from a small village from the world-that-was, Sylvarant." He glanced up at Raine again before bowing. "Iselia."
Raine's eyes widened for a moment before she shook her head. "I thought you looked familiar," she said, wondering why she hadn't noticed it sooner. Probably because he was in ninja clothing. "But you're a Mizuho man now, so it wouldn't matter anyway, right?"
"Right," Sheena and Ken agreed. "Anyway," Sheena continued, "You should wake the others up to help you, Raine. Ken, watch after Raine and make sure she gets to her brother." Sheena dropped something onto the floor and was surrounded by smoke, and when the smoke cleared she was all dressed in her normal purple attire. "I have business."
"Where are you going?" Raine asked at once, and hated herself for doing so. She didn't want to appear too needy, or like she needed to have Sheena with her at all times, but she couldn't help it. It was a reflex. "Kuchinawa and his goons might still be out somewhere in Meltokio. And Kloitz, too," she added almost as an afterthought.
"I'm going to Mizuho, and I'm taking my Rheiard. However these guys manage to move around so fast- probably Kuchinawa's doing now that I think of it- they can't fly. I'll be fine." Sheena bit her lower lip, trying hard to believe her own words. But there was no time to think about it now, was there? Maybe two years ago she would have clung to Raine and the others, but now she had a duty as the chief of Mizuho. She needed to get the bodies of the dead shinobi to Mizuho for proper burial services, and she needed to know how many had already died before this.
"Heeeeeey!" came an annoyingly familiar voice from the mansion. Zelos trotted over to the trio. "Sheena, I thought I told you: no wild parties late at night unless you invite me first."
"Oh, Zelos, you're awake. That's good," Sheena said, completely throwing Zelos off guard.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Zelos said, holding his hands up. "Did I hear correctly? Is the Angry Demonic Banshee actually glad to see me? I think this is a first!"
"Zelos! This is serious!"
"You can't take this away from me. I need to savor this moment. Is this what triumph feels like?"
"Zelos," Raine interrupted, and her tone of voice made the Ex-Chosen sit up and pay attention. "I need you to take me to where you keep the Rheiards. Now."
Zelos caught on at once. "You found the twerp?" he asked. Raine nodded. "Well then, come on! I'll get the Rheiards, you get the swordsman and his angel, we bump into Presea and the Ogre on our way there and we have ourselves a merry little reunion!" His smile was thin as he added, "And maybe I can say hello to this Kloitz person while we're-"
"No!" said Raine.
"No?" Zelos echoed.
"….we can't bring Lloyd," Raine finished weakly. "This is my problem, not his. Just tell me where the Rheiards are. Please."
Zelos mentally struggled with himself before finally relenting. "Fine, fine," he said, grabbing her by the elbow and leading her back to the mansion. "You're lucky I'm feeling nice enough not to press you for information," he added under his breath, so that only Raine could hear. He gave her a sharp glance that reminded Raine why he was the president of his own company nowadays. He might act like his head was full of mush, but in reality he was a shrewd strategist.
Just ask Mithos Yggdrasial.
Raine pulled back, dragging Zelos back to Sheena. "Wait. We have to agree to meet up somewhere."
"Huh? Oh, fine..." They all looked to Sheena, unconsciously designating her the leader. To Ken, she was the granddaughter of the former chief. To the two heroes, she was the one most like Lloyd- the most selfless, cheerful, and (thought Zelos would be loath to admit it) the strongest of them.
"Your orders, Chief?" asked Ken.
Sheena cleared her throat. "Ah- hem. Akamatsu-san, you will accompany Raine and Zelos and take them to where Genis is. I'll go to Mizuho alone and I'll try to meet up with you in the Triet Inn. If I don't show up within two days, go to Mizuho."
"And if you're not there?" Raine asked.
Sheena shook her head. "I'll be there."
Zelos smiled, utterly without humor. "You'd better be there," he said. "You didn't save the world just to be beaten by this punk."
Sheena grinned, reminding them of Lloyd for a moment as she made a fist in the air. "Hey, you guys trust me, right? I'll be there!"
"And I'll be waiting," Raine promised. Her lilac eyes sought out Sheena's, searching. "...Be careful," she said at last, embracing Sheena in one of her rare signs of affection. Sheena hugged her back before quickly taking a few steps back, and then turning and running off to the gates of Meltokio. Even though the gates closed at night, she could easily make her way over it by leaping onto the rooftops.
Zelos hid a smirk under his hand. "Well," he said, when Raine and Ken stopped looking after the ninja, "I guess it's a good thing I had those Rheiards modified, eh?"
"Modified?" Raine said, snapping back to the matter at hand. Zelos smiled evasively and snatched her hand again. He glanced at Ken. "I'm sure I can find a spare Rheird for the dead weight, too," he said, linking arms with Raine as if they were going for a stroll.
"Trust me, I'm no dead weight," Ken muttered, following the two heroes.
A/N: Please don't crucify me. It's short, but I have been Soooo busy.I'm leaving for NYC tomorrow morning and won't be back for a week, so that means I probably won't update for two weeks. But have no fear! This story will not share the fate of "Ridver Meets Vincent" and "World-Hopper". I very much wanna finish this. And to Chris, my beta reader, no beta reading this time around because I just wanted to get the chapter up, so you guys can have something to hang on to while I'm gone! Lataz, chill, and have a great spring break! Review if you love me!
BTW, working on an outline for the sequel already. This current story only has at the very, very, most (if I don't cheat and make short chapters) ten more chapters left. At the very least, five. Can't think of a title for the sequel though- right now I'm leaning towards "Partners", or something like that. More of a Genis-centered story, but I've decided Raine will have a big role too, along with her lady love Sheena.