Author: Jun-I
Chapter 10: Final Battle
Pairings: female Kyuuzou/female Heihachi
-------------------------------------------------
Kanbei sent Heihachi ahead to the village in the Yakan while he took the remaining samurai with him to the Capital. When the mechanic got to Kanna, she found Katsushiro there, preparing the villagers for the upcoming attack. It seemed that the child was still angry at Kanbei. He made it clear he was not going to rejoin the team, so the tomboy samurai left him to his own devices and headed off to face the approaching army of flying mecha.
As Heihachi put the Yakan on full throttle, she saw a streak of fire crossing the sky. It was Katsushiro, flying overhead on a giant log. The young samurai was headed right for the middle of the mecha army. Heihachi shook her head. That child was going to get himself killed. She raced towards him.
Sure enough, the piece of wood was hit by enemy artillery. The force of the blast threw Katsushiro off. The child was lucky to have survived. As he fell through the sky, Heihachi's Yakan caught up to him and seized him by the arm.
Now that the boy was safe, the female samurai focused on what was ahead. She saw her beloved making her way through the air by leaping from robot to robot, slicing metal like mud.
Heihachi landed the Yakan right on the lower platform of the Capital, next to the engine room. Just as Heihachi put Katsushiro down, the child screamed, "Kyuuzou-dono!"
It was a sound that froze Heihachi's heart. The tomboy threw open the lid of the Yakan, fearing the worst. She turned in the direction in which the child was staring – there was nothing there but the smoke from the explosion of a Nobuseri shell. The female samurai felt a hundred sickening emotions wash over her but she conquered them with a masterful effort. They were in the middle of a battle. The red-headed soldier reached back down into the depths of the Yakan and brought out the string of explosives the Shikimori people had given her.
Katsushiro said to her, almost in tears, "Heihachi-dono, Kyuuzou-dono is…"
Heihachi interrupted him before he could say the dreaded words. "This is a battlefield. Please shield me," she said matter-of-factly.
Katsushiro noticed that the other samurai's eyes were squeezed into even narrower slits than he had ever seen them. It almost looked as if the older warrior was about to cry, but when Heihachi spoke, her voice was calm and even, "I can blow this place up."
"Finish your work," Katsushiro declared. "I'll be your shield."
The boy held off the attackers while the mechanic ran from pillar to pillar laying the explosives. Still, there were too many attackers for Katsushiro alone to handle. A few times, Heihachi had to turn from her work to ward off mecha warriors with her bow.
Then one of them fired at her. Katsushiro killed it, but it was too late. Heihachi had been hit in the side. Still, the small warrior gritted her teeth and stood up. She shot down a robot which was coming up behind the boy samurai.
Even as she felt the life-giving blood draining away from her body, Heihachi forced herself to walk to last stretch and lay the last bomb against the last pillar. Just then, a Raiden flew up next to her. With what was left of her rapidly fading strength, she fired her bow at it. It blew up and fell to the earth, but not before crushing her against the wall with its sword.
Heihachi felt her own flesh mince and heard her own blood splatter. She was in great pain but she rejoiced at still having the use of her arms. She heard the boy yelling from a distance, telling her he would be right over. But the samurai woman called out even in her agony, "Don't come over!"
There was no going back for her. Kyuuzou was gone. Heihachi would finished what Kyuuzou had died trying to accomplish, even if it meant dying herself. "Let's do it!" She cried out to the child. Then without hesitation, she pushed the detonator button. The samurai maiden smiled as the blinding light flashed before her eyes. She would see Kyuuzou soon.